The 84th Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor

Kenneth Branagh for My Week with Marilyn (2011) - (Oscar O-Meter: 4/5)

Kenneth Charles Branagh (born 10 December 1960) is a Northern Irish-born English actor and film director. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays, but has also directed and appeared in a number of other films and television series.

With his nomination for Best Performance By an Actor in a Supporting Role, he became the first person nominated for Academy Awards in five different categories. He had previously been nominated for Best Performance By An Actor in a Lead Role (Henry V), Best Director (Henry V), Best Short Film - Live Action (Swan Song) and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published (Hamlet).

Jonah Hill for Moneyball (2011) - (Oscar O-Meter: 3/5)

Hill grew up in Los Angeles, the son of a tour accountant for Guns N' Roses (Richard Feldstein). He graduated from Crossroads School in Santa Monica and went on to The New School in New York to study drama.

He began writing and performing in plays while at college in New York, and managed to get himself introduced to Dustin Hoffman, through whom he got an audition for his first film role in I Heart Huckabees (2004). A succession of increasingly high profile film and TV parts followed until he eventually landed one of the starring roles in the teen hit, Superbad (2007). Continuing to write and act, more roles followed as well as popular appearances on US TV talk shows.

He replaced Demetri Martin in Moneyball (2011) and went on to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance.

Nick Nolte for Warrior (2011) - (Oscar O-Meter: 3/5)

Nick Nolte was born in Omaha, Nebraska and began his career on stage at the Pasadena Playhouse and in regional theatre productions. His breakthrough role was in the TV mini-series "Rich Man, Poor Man" (1976), playing the role of "Tom/Tommy Jordache". Nick Nolte said that when he played a young man in the early scenes of the project, he weighed about 160 pounds. When he played a middle aged man in the later scenes, he weighed over 180 pounds.

On receiving an Oscar nomination for his role in 'Warrior': I put up boundaries at the beginning with Gavin [O'Connor]. I said, 'I don't think I should associate with the actors, with the boys. I should stay away from them.' There's a kind of familiarity that happens if you're out drinking with the boys and that kind of thing. It makes the work a little more difficult.

Christopher Plummer for Beginners (2010) - (Oscar O-Meter: 5/5)

Until the 2009 Academy Awards were announced, it could be said about Christopher Plummer that he was arguably the finest actor of the post-World War II period to fail to get an Oscar nod. In that, he was following in the footsteps of the late great John Barrymore, whom Plummer so memorably portrayed on Broadway in a one-man show that brought him a Tony Award.

Plummer remains one of the most respected and honored actors performing in the English language. He's won two Emmy Awards out of six nominations stretching 46 years from 1959 and 2005, and one Genie Award in five nominations from 1980 to 2004. For his stage work, Plummer has racked up two Tony Awards on six nominations, the first in 1974 as Best Actor (Musical) for the title role in "Cyrano" and the second in 1997, as Best Actor (Play), in "Barrymore".

He continues to be a very in-demand character actor in prestigious motion pictures. If he were English rather than Canadian (he is the great-grandson of Sir John Abbott, the third Prime Minister of Canada) he'd have been knighted long ago. (In 1968, he was a made a Companion of the Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian honor and one which requires the approval of the sovereign). If he lived in the company town of Los Angeles, he likely would have several more Oscar nominations to go with the one for "The Last Station."

As it is, as attested to in his witty and well-written autobiography, Christopher Plummer has been amply rewarded in life. In 1970, Plummer - a self-confessed 43-year-old "bottle baby" - married his third wife, dancer Elaine Taylor, who helped wean him off his dependency on alcohol. They live happily with their dogs on a 30-acre estate in Weston, Connecticut and, although he spends the majority of his time in the United States, he remains a Canadian citizen.

On receiving a Screen Actors Guild award for 'Beginners': I just can't tell you what fun I've had being a member of the world's second oldest profession. When they honor you, it's like being lit by the holy grail.

Max von Sydow for Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011) - (Oscar O-Meter: 3/5)

He was born in a middle-class family in Lund, where his father was an ethnologist. When he was in high school, he and a few fellow students, including Yvonne Lombard, started a theatre club which encouraged his interest in acting. After conscription, he began to study at the Royal Dramatic Theatre's acting school (1948-1951), together with Lars Ekborg, Margaretha Krook and Ingrid Thulin. His first role was as "Nils the crofter" in Alf Sjöberg's Bara en mor (1949). 

After graduation, he worked at the city theatres in Norrkoeping and Malmö. His work in the movies by Ingmar Bergman made him well-known internationally, and he started to get offers from abroad. His career abroad began with The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) and Hawaii (1966). Since then, his career includes very different kind of characters, like "Emperor Ming" in Flash Gordon (1980) or the artist Frederick in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). In 1987, he made his directing debut with Katinka (1988). He has become one of Sweden's most admired and professional actors.