81st Academy Awards nominees and winners

The nominees for the 81st Academy Awards were announced live on Thursday, January 22, 2009, at 5:30 a.m. PST (13:30 UTC) by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Sid Ganis and Oscar-winning actor Forest Whitaker at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in the Academy's Beverly Hills headquarters. The winners will be announced during the awards ceremony on February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California.

Major awards

Best Picture

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Frost/Nixon
• Milk
• The Reader
• Slumdog Millionaire

Best Director

• David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Stephen Daldry - The Reader
• Gus Van Sant - Milk
• Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
• Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon

Best Actor

• Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
• Sean Penn - Milk
• Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
• Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
• Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttonlllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Best Actress

• Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
• Angelina Jolie - Changeling
• Melissa Leo - Frozen River
• Meryl Streep - Doubt
• Kate Winslet - The Reader

Best Supporting Actor

• Josh Brolin - Milk
• Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder
• Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
• Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road
• Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight

Best Supporting Actress

• Amy Adams
• Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
• Viola Davis
• Taraji P. Henson
• Marisa Tomei

Best Original Screenplay

• Wall-E
• Happy Go Lucky
• Frozen River
• In Bruges
• Milk

Best Adapted Screenplay

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Frost/Nixon
• The Reader
• Slumdog Millionaire
• Doubt

Best Animated Feature

• Bolt
• Kung Fu Panda
• Wall-E

Best Foreign Language Film

• Revanche - Austria
• The Class - France
• The Baader Meinhof Complex - Germany
• Departures - Japan
• Waltz With Bashir - Israel

Other awards

Best Original Score

O Saya - Slumdog Millionaire Jai Ho - Slumdog Millionaire Down to Earth - Wall-E

Best Sound Editing

• The Dark Knight - Richard King
• Iron Man - Frank Eulner, Christopher Boyes
• Slumdog Millionaire - Tom Sayers
• WALL-E - Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood
• Wanted - Wylie Stateman

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

• Jerry Lewis

Notable nominations and awards

If Heath Ledger wins the Best Supporting Actor award for his performance in The Dark Knight, it will make him the second actor in the awards history to win posthumously, the first being Peter Finch for Network.

References

BBC News | Entertainmet | Oscar 2009: The Nominees http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7842438.stm retrieved 22 Jan 2009

See also

• 81st Academy Awards
• 2008 in film
• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences