Golden Globe Awards

While she seems such a grand and welcome presence on our cinema screens these days, it is hard to believe that it wasn’t until 1997, after decades as the doyenne of British stage and TV, that Dame Judi Dench broke out to cinema audiences worldwide with her starring role in a movie playing Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown, for which she received her first Golden Globe nomination and subsequently won.

Matthew McConaughey, who first gained attention for his breakout role in Dazed and Confused, is known for his dedication to his craft. The 44-year-old Texan easily vanishes into whatever role he plays, whether it’s a criminal defense lawyer operating his practice out of a Lincoln Town car in The Lincoln Lawyer, a police officer moonlighting as a contract killer in Killer Joe, a strip bar owner who clashes with his star stripper in Magic Mike, or an overconfident, eccentric and jaded stockbroker in The Wolf of Wall Street.

He has played a stockbroker, a detective, a president, an adventurer, a lawyer, a judge, a drug czar, a divorcee and very often a man with a penchant for dangerous women. But no role took as much courage as slipping into the sequined clothes of Liberace in Behind The Candelabra:"When I was younger I couldn’t have played that part.

We cheered the guy when he got the mermaid, and the romantic hero who got Meg Ryan twice. We rooted for the ex-drunk when he tried to manage an all-girls’ baseball team to redeem himself.

Catherine “Cate” Blanchett, 44, is one of the world’s most acclaimed actresses and one who continues to surprise and electrify at every turn, be it in film, on television or on stage. This exciting awards season sees Blanchett gracing nomination lists galore for her searing turn in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine, widely acknowledged to be his best film in a while.

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