The Academy's acting nods were nearly identical to those of the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
The best actress nominees are Meryl Streep (above), who earned her 16th mention for her portrayal of chef Julia Child in the comedy Julie & Julia; fourth-timer Helen Mirren as Leo Tolstoy's wife in The Last Station; and Oscar newcomers Sandra Bullock as a conservative well-to-do mom who discovers compassion after adopting an inner-city teen, Gabourey Sidibe as an abused pregnant teen, and Carey Mulligan as a 1960s London student who falls for a man about twice her age.
Streep has two Oscars: supporting for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and lead for Sophie's Choice (1982). Mirren won for The Queen four years ago.
The best actors nominees are Jeff Bridges for his troubled country singer in Crazy Heart, George Clooney for his corporate downsizer in Up in the Air, Colin Firth for his bereaved 1960s gay college professor in A Single Man, Morgan Freeman for his Nelson Mandela in Invictus, and Jeremy Renner for his bomb-disposing Iraq War soldier in The Hurt Locker.
Bridges and Freeman are five-time nominees; this is Clooney's third acting nomination. Firth and Renner are first-timers. Both Freeman and Clooney have won Oscars in the best supporting actor category; the former for Million Dollar Baby (2004), the latter for Syriana (2005).
In the running for best supporting actor are Matt Damon's rugby player in Invictus, Woody Harrelson's soldier in The Messenger, Christopher Plummer's Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station, Stanley Tucci's psycho murderer in The Lovely Bones, and odds-on favorite Christoph Waltz's Nazi in Inglourious Basterds (above).
Damon's and Plummer's supportingness may be debatable, but that's how those things go. Damon had previously received a best actor nod for Good Will Hunting (1997). Harrelson's prior nomination, also in the best actor category, was for The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996). Plummer, Tucci, and Waltz are all Oscar newcomers.
The supporting actress nominees are third-timer Penelope Cruz for Nine, and first-timers Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick for Up in the Air; Maggie Gyllenhaal for Crazy Heart, and odds-on favorite Mo'Nique for Precious. Last year, Cruz won a best supporting actress Oscar for Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
Of all the names listed above, only Maggie Gyllenhaal's was missing from the SAG Award nominations. Gyllenhaal replaced Diane Kruger for Inglourious Basterds.
The winners will be announced on March 7.
Photos: Inglourious Basterds (François Duhamel / The Weinstein Co.), Julie & Julia (Jonathan Wenk / Columbia Pictures)