If Penelope Cruz ("Nine") wins on March 7, she'll become the third star to claim the Oscar for best supporting actress twice. One of the current dual champs was Dianne Wiest ("Hannah and Her Sisters," 1986; "Bullets Over Broadway," 1994). Can you name the other? To see the answer, click on the "Continue reading" link underneath the photos below.

After piping in with their Oscars predix for best pix on Tuesday, our forums' moderators now stick out their thin, tender, trembling necks to forecast the best-actress race. Chris "Boomer" Beachum, Matthew "Boidiva02" Cormier, Darrin "DoubleD" Dortch, Robert "Rob L" Licuria, Andrew "andrew" Pickett and Paul Sheehan.

Only two actresses get the bets of all of these pundits: Carey Mulligan ("An Education") and Helen Mirren ("The Last Station"). Yeah, I'm sure they're right about that duo. Those not putting their derby dollars down on Gabourey Sidibe ("Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire") and Saoirse Ronan ("The Lovely Bones") will regret it later. Personally, my fifth pick is Marion Cotillard ("Nine"). Check out our forums to see who other Derbyites are betting on in general; read reax to these specific predix here. Early fave to win is Sidibe, I think. Here are the views of 16 film journos we polled on the best-pic race.

Photos: From left, Carey Mulligan in "An Education." Credit: Sony Pictures Classics. Gabourey Sidibe in "Precious." Credit: Lionsgate

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Freida Pinto — the love interest in the Oscar-winning "Slumdog Millionaire," — is now the newest young beauty to be cast as Woody Allen's muse. Pinto joins Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins ("The Silence of the Lambs") and Oscar nominees Josh Brolin ("Milk") and Naomi Watts for this untitled project.

Woody Allen's last film — "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," — marked a return to form for the one-time perennial Oscar contender. And while he missed out on a 15th writing nomination, Penelope Cruz became the 15th performer to earn an Oscar nod under Allen's direction. And she was the fourth of Woody's women to win when she took the supporting actress Academy Award for her serio-comic portrayal of a woman on the verge.

The other three actresses who owe their Oscars to Woody Allen are: Diane Keaton, lead actress, "Annie Hall" (1977); Mira Sorvino, supporting actress, "Mighty Aphrodite" (1995); and Dianne Wiest, supporting actress, "Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986) and "Bullets Over Broadway" (1994). Michael Caine — supporting actor, "Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986) — is the only man to be directed to an Oscar by Allen.

The 10 more who earned Oscar nods are: Woody himself, lead actor, "Annie Hall" (1977); Judy Davis, supporting actress, "Husbands and Wives" (1992); Mariel Hemingway, supporting actress, "Manhattan" (1979); Martin Landau, supporting actor, "Crimes and Misdemeanors" (1989); Samantha Morton, supporting actress, "Sweet and Lowdown" (1999); Geraldine Page, lead actress, "Interiors" (1978); Chazz Palminteri, supporting actor, "Bullets Over Broadway" (1994); Sean Penn, lead actor "Sweet and Lowdown" (1999); Maureen Stapleton, supporting actress, "Interiors" (1978); and Jennifer Tilly, supporting actress, "Bullets Over Broadway" (1994).

While there are no details of this new project, it is possible that it will be made in Europe as it is being financed by MediaPro, the same Spanish company that funded "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." However, Allen's next film — the forthcoming "Whatever Works" — is set in Greenwich Village with Larry David ("Curb Your Enthusiasm") as the Allen stand-in and Evan Rachel Wood ("The Wrestler") as the catalyst for a series of love stories.

Woody Allen is one of the academy's longtime darlings. After ignoring him throughout the first decade of his blazing career ("Bananas," "Sleeper"), members more than caught up with him afterward. In fact, Woody holds the record for most screenplay nominations (14), compared with 12 for Billy Wilder. However, both Allen and Wilder have 21 nominations overall. And while Wilder won six Oscars for his efforts — screenplay, directing, "The Lost Weekend" (1946); screenplay, "Sunset Boulevard" (1951); screenplay, directing, producing, "The Apartment" (1961) — Allen has only two Oscars for writing and directing 1977 best picture champ "Annie Hall." and a third for his 1986 script for "Hannah and Her Sisters."

Woody Allen didn't bother to show up to accept those honors. In 1978 (for the '77 awards), it was far more important to him to remain in New York to play his clarinet in the New Orleans Marching and Funeral Band at Michael's Pub. Back then he scoffed, "I have no regard for that kind of ceremony. I just don't think they know what they're doing. When you see who wins those things — or who doesn't win them — you can see how meaningless this Oscar thing is."

Lead actor winner Sean Penn ("Milk") has completed production on "The Tree of Life." This new film from Oscar-nominated writer/director Terrence Malick ("The Thin Red Line") tells the tale of a boy growing up in the Midwest of the 1950s. As a framework to that, Penn plays the grown-up version of the character coming to grips with his past. Rival lead actor nominee Brad Pitt ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") also stars in this drama that has no definite release date as of yet.

Today Variety is reporting that the politically minded Penn may play another real-life character — Ambassador Joseph Wilson, whose wife Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts) had her CIA cover blown by the Bush administration — in "Fair Game" from helmer Doug Liman ("Mr. and Mrs. Smith").

After back-to-back filming of grueling roles in both "The Reader" and "Revolutionary Road," lead actress winner Kate Winslet is taking a well-earned rest. However, there is no stopping supporting actress winner Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Christina Barcelona") who just wrapped production on the highly anticipated "Nine," which is due out at Thanksgiving.

This movie version of the 1982 Tony Award-winning musical (which was inspired by Federico Fellini's 1963 Oscar-winning "8 1/2") is loaded with Oscar winners: Daniel Day-Lewis as a wayward film director, Marion Cotillard as his faithful wife, Cruz as his mistress, Nicole Kidman as his protege, Judi Dench as his mentor and Sophia Loren as his mother. All are under the direction of Oscar nominee Rob Marshall ("Chicago").

And Cruz recently reunited with her good friend and mentor Pedro Almodovar to make "Los Abrazos Rotos" ("Loose Embraces"). Almodovar directed Cruz to a 2006 lead actress nomination for "Volver." For their fourth film together, they have made a modern-day film noir about a love square that will be released stateside in the fall.

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After flirting with the Oscars for much of its 24-year history, this year's edition of the Independent Spirit Awards struck out on its own somewhat. For the first time in six years, none of the best picture contenders at the Spirits went on to reap an equivalent Oscar bid, though the ultimate winner — "The Wrestler" — was in the mix. By snubbing "Milk" as a best-picture nominee in favor of fare like "Ballast" and "Wendy and Lucy" that had no chance of making it into the final five at the Oscars, the Spirits regained a degree of their one-time independence.

However, while the acting nominees — as selected by screening committees — also had their fair share of unlikely Oscar hopefuls, the winners as chosen by the members of Film Independent are either Oscar contenders — Mickey Rourke ("The Wrestler"), Melissa Leo ( "Frozen River") and Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Christina Barcelona") — were also Oscar nominees or were from a film with eight Oscar nominations, albeit not one for him — James Franco ("Milk"). But don't make too much room on your mantle just yet, Mickey. The Spirits have taken on the status of consolation prize for Oscar acting contenders. As the saying goes, "Win on Saturday, lose on Sunday." That's not always true. Recent Spirit champs like Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Capote") and Charlize Theron ("Monster") repeated on a day later, but those victories tend to be the exception, not the rule.

"Milk" scripter Dustin Lance Black won the first screenplay prize at the Spirits while Woody Allen won the regular screenplay award for "Vicky Christina Barcelona." That Black is a contender at the Oscars for his original script for "Milk" is no surprise but that Allen was not Oscar nominated after 14 previous bids, including two wins, was quite the jaw-dropper. Oscar frontrunner "Man on Wire" won best documentary. And Oscar nominee "The Class" won foreign film, but I do not believe it will repeat tomorrow night at the Oscars. Read the Associated Press report on the winners here.

Oscar winning scripter Charlie Kaufman won the first feature prize for helming "Synecdoche, New York" while Thomas McCarthy took the directing award for "The Visitor." And Maryse Alberti won cinematography for "The Wrestler."

The Spirits are handed out in a very spirited daytime party held in a tent on the Santa Monica beach. As Variety once reported: "Many celebrities mused that they could think of no other Hollywood awards show where the guests had to wait in line for portable toilets while facing hordes of autograph-seeking fans." The wine flows almost as freely as the profanities. Just how will AMC edit Mickey Rourke's F-bomb laden acceptance speech for the rebroadcast tonight? The free-wheeling nature of the event has led to many other memorable moments over the years. One that sticks with me still is when director Kevin Smith won for the screenplay of "Chasing Amy" in 1997 and said in his acceptance speech: "This makes up for every chick who ever told me I had a small d**k."

The Spirits declared itself to be just that with the first best film back in 1985 — Martin Scorsese's "After Hours," described by Variety as "a nightmarish black comedy [in which] the cinema of paranoia and persecution reaches an apogee." But the award went mainstream the following year and opted for "Platoon," which went on to win best picture at the Oscars as well. From then on, most of the Spirits' picks for best pic would be players to one degree or another at the Oscars.

At this year's Oscars there are only three foreign-born folk among the 20 acting nominees: lead actress contender Kate Winslet ("The Reader") and supporting players Heath Ledger ("The Dark Knight") and Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona"). However, that does not mean the Oscars are guilty of any home-grown bias. After all, those three are the front-runners in their races. And last year all four acting winners came from foreign shores.

While Daniel Day-Lewis ("There Will Be Blood") and Tilda Swinton ("Michael Clayton") were just the latest two of the 36 English actors to win Oscars, Marion Cotillard ("La Vie en Rose") made Oscars history by giving the first French-language performance to be so honored while Javier Bardem ("No Country for Old Men") was the first Spanish performer to win an Oscar.

That marked the second time in Oscars history that all four acting champs hailed from outside the United States. The first was back in 1964 when the winners were three Brits — Rex Harrison ("My Fair Lady"), Julie Andrews ("Mary Poppins"), and Peter Ustinov ("Topkapi") — and Russian born Lila Kedrova ("Zorba the Greek").

The Oscars rolled out the the welcome mat at the very first ceremony in 1929 when Swiss-born Emil Jannings won lead actor for his performances in "The Last Command" and "The Way of All Flesh." And three of the first four lead actresses came from Canada — Mary Pickford ("Coquette"), Norma Shearer ("The Divorcee"), and Marie Dressler ("Min and Bill").

One of our most prolific forum posters, the aptly named Academy Awards Guru, has compiled a list of the nationalities of all 265 Oscar winners for acting. During the course of 80 ceremonies, they have won 306 Oscars (there has been one tie in each of lead actor and lead actress). Of these, 77 winners came from outside the USA to take home 87 Oscars. While 22 other countries have produced Oscar winners, it is not surprising that England leads with 36 of her citizens winning 42 Oscars.

Over the last 80 years at the Oscars, lead actor has gone to a non-American 24 times and lead actress 25 times while in the 72-year history of the supporting awards, non-Americans won supporting actor 20 times and supporting actress 18 times.

In the following list, the Oscar-winning actors are listed under the country with which they are most associated with their birthplace given when it differs. In addition, those actors who were born elsewhere but raised primarily in the USA are not included, such as Elizabeth Taylor born in England, Claudette Colbert in France, sisters Joan Fontaine and Olivia DeHavilland in Japan, Anthony Quinn in Mexico, and Paul Muni in the Ukraine.

While there may seem to be as many Oscar theories as there are awards categories, a handful of them seem to hold up over the 80-year history of the awards. Chief among them is that playing the role of the long-suffering wife has a rewarding payoff: Oscar gold. And that bodes well this year for Viola Davis, who contends in the supporting actress race for her role in "Doubt" — a wife willing to defy her domineering husband to make a better life for their son. Conversely, Penelope Cruz — who is ahead of Davis in our latest odds — is an unstable woman who makes her ex-husband suffer in "Vicky Christina Barcelona," much as Oscar winner Joanne Woodward did in "The Three Faces of Eve" back in 1957.

From the very first year of the Oscars — when Janet Gaynor took home the best actress award for a trio of roles, including one literally billed as "the wife who suffers at the hands of her wayward husband in 'Sunrise' " — this has been a fairly trusty way to win an Oscar.

Every decade at least two actresses can credit their lead wins to playing the put-upon spouse. In the 1930s, it was Norma Shearer in "The Divorcee" and Luise Rainer in both "The Great Ziegfeld" and "The Good Earth." In the 1940s, both Joan Fontaine in "Suspicion" and Ingrid Bergman in "Gaslight" endured great mental anguish at the hands of handsome hubbies Cary Grant and Charles Boyer respectively.

During the 1950s, two best actress winners — Shirley Booth in "Come Back, Little Sheba" and Grace Kelly in "The Country Girl" — suffered through marriages to alcoholics (Burt Lancaster, Bing Crosby) while a third, Simone Signoret, turned to drink herself in "Room at the Top."

While drink fueled the fire of the less-than-silent suffering of Elizabeth Taylor in 1966's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" both of 1968's winners — Katharine Hepburn ("The Lion in Winter") and Barbra Streisand in "Funny Girl" — went to great lengths to hide their pain at betrayals by hubbies (and "Lawrence of Arabia" co-stars) Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif.

Though this role went out of vogue in the liberated 1970s and '80s, Jane Fonda won her second Oscar for playing a variation on the theme in 1978's "Coming Home." More recently, Holly Hunter in "The Piano" and Jessica Lange for "Blue Sky" proved that the right role as the wronged woman can still win an Oscar. And just three years ago, Reese Witherspoon sang of her marital woes in "Walk the Line."

The role has not been as prevalent among supporting actress champs since this award was introduced at the ninth Academy Awards ceremony in 1936. Back in the 1940s, Anne Baxter ("The Razor's Edge") and Claire Trevor ("Key Largo") prevailed for playing alcoholic mistresses. The first long-suffering wife to win this category was Kim Hunter in 1951 for reprising her stage role as Stella to Marlon Brando's Stanley in "A Streetcar Named Desire." And Miyoshi Umeki won in 1957 for playing the doomed Japanese war bride in "Sayonara."

In the 1970s, Cloris Leachman ("The Last Picture Show") and Lee Grant ("Shampoo") won for playing unhappily married women who take lovers, while Beatrice Straight was rewarded as the wife who stands by her man (William Holden) even after he leaves her for his mistress (Faye Dunaway) in "Network." And Maggie Smith won for playing an Oscar loser married to a bisexual (Michael Caine) in "California Suite."

That's what the Oscars nominee told Gold Derby tonight when I called her in Madrid to ask her what she'd do next Sunday when this derby race is done, the victor is known and, win or lose, she can finally catch her breath.

Penelope Cruz has four extra tickets to the ceremony, so she'll be at the Academy Awards with her brother, sister, mom (dad got to go to Golden Globes and BAFTA) "and one of my best friends from Spain from when I was a little girl," she said. "I want my family to have a good night. To win, it would be an amazing thing! But I want to enjoy the night and the people around me."

But tonight she coped with the pre-Oscars jitters by drinking herbal tea as we gabbed on the phone. She leaves Madrid in the morning to head to L.A. and begin her exciting week.

Listen to our podcast chat here —

. . . to find out what she thinks of this crazy awards drama that she's lived this year, which started out with big wins from the New York and Los Angeles film critics and continued most recently with another victory at BAFTA. Should she prepare an acceptance speech for the Oscars? The vast majority of award pundits at The Envelope think she'll need one, but is it presumptuous to do so? Or foolish for an actress not to have a script prepared in case it's needed for the biggest moment of her life?

Penelope Cruz shared such thoughts with us plus the details of her schedule for the week ahead in L.A. She's got lots of fittings scheduled to pick out the right dress for her march up the Oscars' red carpet plus such work-related gigs as a photo shoot for her upcoming movie, "Nine," directed by Rob Marshall ("Chicago"), based on the Tony Award-winning musical.

"For me this has already been bigger than anything I could ever dream of," she told us.
"I started working in Spain when I was 16. To be in this situation twice, with the other nomination for 'Volver,' I am the first person to be surprised and overwhelmed . . . . Whatever happens, it's been a great adventure from the making of 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' to the great surprises that came with it and after."

Oh, yeah, and by the way, Penelope Cruz proves she has great cyber-taste. "I am a big fan of your website," she says. "I do look at the The Envelope, but I try not to read about myself . . . "

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When Tariq Khan makes a bold Oscar prediction, take heed. He's one of the savviest Oscarologists I know and this year he's going where no other guru dares: out onto a thin, shaky limb for Amy Adams ("Doubt") for supporting actress. Interesting call! That category, after all, is where most Oscar upsets happen.

Tariq has one of the best Oscar prediction rates every year. Check out the forecasts he made last year for Fox News — he scored 100%. Earlier this derby season he was one of the first pundits warning us that Kate Winslet might be nommed for "The Reader" instead of "Revolutionary Road."

Below, Tariq makes his argument for Amy Adams, building his Oscar case carefully by citing past award trends and issues at play this year. I dare to disagree with him, though. I think the two points he's not giving enough due are the Babe Factor and the fact that, while, yes, Amy Adams has the most screen time, she doesn't have the big impact scene emotionally that, say, her costar Viola Davis has or even front-runner Penelope Cruz. The Babe Factor boosts Cruz hugely, I think, and it's a trump card that shouldn't be downplayed. Over the last two decades the largely male academy has turned the lead and supporting actress winners' circles into a beauty pageant.

But Tariq has proved me wrong often in the past. Just for Gold Derby readers, he's written out his case below.

I know that most pundits seem to think that Penelope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" is ahead in the supporting actress race. However, I am going to make a bold prediction: Penelope Cruz will lose to Amy Adams in "Doubt."

I'll admit that I'm not certain about this, the way I felt certain last year that Julie Christie in "Away From Her" would lose to Marion Cotillard in "La Vie en Rose." Still, there are some key historical voting patterns that suggest an upset victory by Adams over Cruz may be likely. Allow me to explain.

An Oscars upset usually happens when two factors are in place: support for the presumed front-runner is softer than people realize and support for another nominee is stronger than people realize.

First, let's take a look at reasons why support for Cruz may be weaker than we think it is.

1.) She lost both the Golden Globe and SAG Awards. True, she lost to Kate Winslet in "The Reader," who isn't competing in this category at the Oscars. But how can one really be a front-runner without winning at least one of the two awards? In the previous 14 years (since the inception of the SAG awards), only nine out 56 nominees have won an acting Oscar without a Globe or SAG win. They are Kevin Spacey in "The Usual Suspects," Juliette Binoche in "The English Patient," James Coburn in "Affliction," Russell Crowe in "Gladiator," Marcia Gay Harden in "Pollock," Denzel Washington in "Training Day," Adrien Brody in "The Pianist," Alan Arkin in "Little Miss Sunshine" and Tilda Swinton in "Michael Clayton." That's a 16% Oscar success race for those with neither a Globe nor SAG victory. It's true that the other four supporting actress nominees this year face the same odds -– but they're the same odds faced by Cruz.

2.) Her film, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," is up for no other awards. Remember the one-nomination wonder factor I used when dismissing the chances of Cate Blanchett in "I'm Not There" and Amy Ryan in "Gone Baby Gone" last year? Well, I'm using it again here. Over the past 15 years, only four actors have won Oscars for films not nominated for any other awards. They are Jessica Lange in "Blue Sky," Angelina Jolie in "Girl, Interrupted," Charlize Theron in "Monster," and Forest Whitaker in "The Last King of Scotland." That's four out of 60 nominees, just under 7%. And Jolie, Theron and Whitaker were all both Globe and SAG champs, while Globe winner Lange only lost the SAG race to Jodie Foster in "Nell" because no one had seen her long-shelved "Blue Sky." (The film played in just a handful of theaters for about a week.)

Over the last week or so you may have noticed the parade of Oscar nominees like Mickey Rourke, Taraji P. Henson and stars of best picture nominee "Slumdog Millionaire" Dev Patel and Freida Pinto on the morning chat programs like "Today," "CBS Early Show" and "Good Morning America." Amazing coincidence? Ha! Well, I've tried valiantly to compile a list of just some of them on similar shows for, well, your consideration. I haven't yet even tallied up their interviews in magazines like Sean Penn's current visit with Rolling Stone.

LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN
2/3 - Richard Jenkins

TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO
1/30 - Dev Patel
2/2 - Kate Winslet, Danny Boyle,
2/4 - Penelope Cruz
2/6 - Frank Langella
2/10 - Viola Davis
2/11- Amy Adams

LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN
2/5- Taraji P. Henson

LAST CALL WITH CARSON DALY
2/2 - Dev Patel
2/6 - Danny Boyle

CRAIG FERGUSON
1/28 - Freida Pinto

DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART
2/3 - Dev Patel

JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE
2/9 - Mickey Rourke
2/10 - Josh Brolin

ABC NIGHTLINE
2/2 - Meryl Streep
2/3 - Angelina Jolie
2/4 - Penelope Cruz

THE VIEW
2/3 - Dev Patel
2/4 - Richard Jenkins
2/11 - Kate Winslet

LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY
2/13 - Anne Hathaway

THE ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW
2/3 - Josh Brolin
2/4 - Penelope Cruz
2/5 - Taraji P. Henson

TAVIS SMILEY (PBS)
2/4 - Sean Penn
2/9 - Melissa Leo

Who'll prevail at the Oscars as best supporting actress: Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona"), Viola Davis ("Doubt") or Marisa Tomei ("The Wrestler")? Those are the front-runners, as most Academy Awards pundits size up the race, although Amy Adams ("Doubt") and Taraji P. Henson ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") are also nominated.

Members of The Envelope's Buzzmeter panel of Oscars experts come out swinging with their strong views: T.L. Stanley (Gold Rush, Hollywood Reporter), Greg Ellwood (HitFix.com), Pete Hammond (Notes on a Season, The Envelope), Scott Feinberg (Feinberg Files, The Envelope) and me.

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This year's 20 acting nominees include five previous Oscar winners plus another six previous Oscar nominees and nine newcomers. "Doubt" star Meryl Streep is the only two-time Oscar winner contending this year. She widened the gap for the most total acting nominations by earning her 15th nod today. And she tied Katharine Hepburn's record of an even dozen Oscar nominations in the lead race.

Streep's already staggering total of 14 previous bids exceeds the track record of the other four Oscar winners by five nominations. She has a supporting win for "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1979) and a lead win for "Sophie's Choice" (1982). She has 10 more lead noms for "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (1981), "Silkwood" (1983), "Out of Africa" (1985), "Ironweed" (1987), "A Cry in the Dark" (1988), "Postcards from the Edge" (1990), "The Bridges of Madison County" (1995), "One True Thing" (1998), "Music of the Heart" (1999), and "The Devil Wears Prada" (2006) as well as two supporting noms for "The Deer Hunter" (1978) and "Adaptation" (2002).

The other four Oscar winners in the running once more are:

Lead actress nominee Angelina Jolie, "Changeling" — supporting win for "Girl, Interrupted" (1999);

Supporting actress nominee Marisa Tomei, "The Wrestler" — supporting win for "My Cousin Vinny" (1992), supporting nom for "In the Bedroom" (2001);

Lead actor nominee Sean Penn, "Milk" — lead win for "Mystic River" (2003), lead noms for "Dead Man Walking" (1995), "Sweet and Lowdown" (1999), and "I Am Sam" (2001); and

Supporting actor nominee Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Doubt" — lead win for "Capote" (2005), supporting nom for "Charlie Wilson's War" (2007).

Among the half-dozen previous Oscar nominees, Kate Winslet set another record today. At 33, she is the youngest person to have amassed six Oscar nominations, having previously set that mark for each of her second through fifth nominations. She lost all five of those previous bids: three lead noms for "Titanic" (1997), "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004), and "Little Children" (2006) as well as two supporting noms for "Sense and Sensibility" (1995) and "Iris" (2001).

Winslet's five previous nominations equal those of the other five repeat nominees who all had one nod apiece before today:

Lead actor nominee Brad Pitt, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" — supporting nom for "13 Monkeys" (1995);

Supporting actress nominee Amy Adams, "Doubt" — supporting nom for "Junebug" (2005);

Supporting actress nominee Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" — lead nom for "Volver" (2006);

Supporting actor nominee Robert Downey Jr., "Tropic Thunder" — lead nom for "Chaplin" (1992); and

Supporting actor nominee Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight" — lead nom for "Brokeback Mountain" (2005).

The first-time nominees are:

Lead actress contenders Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married"; and Melissa Leo, "Frozen River";

Lead actor contenders Richard Jenkins, "The Visitor"; Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon"; and Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler";

Supporting actress contenders Viola Davis, "Doubt"; and Taraji P. Henson, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"; and