Oscars 2014: Chiwetel Ejiofor and Leonardo DiCaprio nominated for Best Actor

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Kelly Rissman

US News Reporter

The Oscar nominations have been announced, with many of last Sunday’s Golden Globe winners earning Academy Award nods.

Leonardo DiCaprio has been nominated for the third time for his role as debauched stockbroker Jordan Belfort in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, but will face tough competition from Christian Bale, Bruce Dern, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Matthew McCounaughey.

Ejiofor is tipped for his performance as Solomon Northup in Steve McQueen’s harrowing drama 12 Years a Slave. The British actor plays Northup, a black New Yorker who is kidnapped and sold to a New Orleans plantation, run by Best Supporting Actor nominee Michael Fassbender.

Should Ejiofor be awarded the Best Actor Oscar, he would be the first black British actor to receive the accolade.

David O Russell’s black comedy American Hustle has achieved nominations success with its two male stars Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper up for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor respectively. British actor Bale plays con artist Irving Rosenfeld while Cooper takes on the role of wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso.

McConaughey’s Best Actor Oscar nod comes off the back of his Golden Globe win in the same category last weekend. The 44-year-old plays AIDS patient and medications smuggler Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club, alongside Jared Leto, who is also nominated for his role as transgender sufferer Rayon.

American actor Bruce Dern’s performance as an elderly father reconnecting with his estranged son in Nebraska has also won him a Best Actor nomination.

In the Best Supporting Actor category, Jonah Hill and Barkhad Abdi are nominated alongside Cooper, Fassbender and Leto.

Hill is up for his role as salesman Donnie Azoff in The Wolf of Wall Street and Abdi for his performance as a Somalian pirate in Captain Phillips.

Video: 12 Years a Slave trailer