Movies News

PROFILES: Best actor nominees

Feb 23, 2011, 11:40 GMT

Los Angeles - Javier Bardem, Jeff Bridges, Jesse Eisenberg, James Franco and Colin Firth are nominated for the Academy Award for best actor.

Javier Bardem, Biutiful - Bardem is no stranger to Oscar glitz, having been the first Spaniard to be nominated for an Oscar, as well as the first to win an acting Oscar for his role in No Country for Old Men. Married to Penelope Cruz, the 41-year-old is a scion of a famous Spanish acting family. His other acclaimed films include Jamon Jamon, Before Night Falls, The Sea Inside, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Eat Pray Love. In Biutiful he plays a cancer-stricken father on the fringes of the Barcelona underworld who seeks to create a better life for his children before he dies.

Jeff Bridges, True Grit - A Hollywood icon famous for his roles including The Big Lebowski, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot and The Last Picture Show, Bridges won a best actor Oscar last year for his role as a country singer in Crazy Heart. Bridges, 61, is the son of beloved film and TV star Lloyd Bridges and brother of actor Beau Bridges. In the western remake True Grit, he plays garrulous US Marshal Rooster Cogburn, who accompanies a teenage girl as she tracks down her father's killer.

Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network - Considered one of the hottest young actors in Hollywood, Eisenberg is a 27-year-old native of New York, and the son of a hospital administrator and college professor. Eisenberg has appeared mostly in independent films including The Squid and the Whale, Adventureland and Holy Rollers. In The Social Network, he portrays Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as he invents the world's most popular social networking site, and changes from a nerdy undergraduate into one of the youngest billionaires on the planet.

James Franco, 127 Hours - A multi-talented US actor, writer, director and painter, Franco is also the co-host of this year's Academy Awards. He has appeared in films like Spider-Man, Pineapple Express, Eat Pray Love and Milk. In 127 Hours, Franco, 32, plays hiker Aron Ralston, who survives being trapped in a remote Utah Canyon by severing his own arm.

Colin Firth, The King's Speech - A renowned English actor, Firth, 50, has starred in The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love, Bridget Jones's Diary, Mamma Mia! and Love Actually. Firth is a human-rights activist and author of a collection of short stories. In the King's Speech, he plays King George VI who overcomes his debilitating stammer when he takes the throne to lead his country to victory over the Nazis in World War II.