Announcing its nomination this morning in LA, Screen Actor Guild (SAG) has honoured The Help with four nominations: Best ensemble cast, Viola Davis for lead actress, and Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer for supporting actress.
The silent movie, The Artist followed with 3 nods: Best ensemble cast, best lead actor for Jean Dujardin and best supporting actress for Berenice Bejo.
The best lead male actor category was dominated by former nominees: Brad Pitt in Moneyball, George Clooney in the Descendants, Leonardo DiCaprio in J. Edgar. Surprisingly, they were joined by a Mexican thesp Demian Bechir from the independent immigrant movie A Better Life.
There were no surprises in the lead actress category though. Viola Davis will be up against Glenn Close for Albert Nobbs, Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady, Tilda Swindon for We Need to Talk About Kevin and Michelle Williams for My Week With Marilyn.
Meanwhile, Jessica Chastain, Octavia Spencer and Berenice Bejo, were joined by Bridemaids Melissa McCarthy, Albert Nobbs Janet McTeer in the supporting Actress category.
New comers Armie Hammer (J. Edgar) and Jonah Hill (Moneyball) echo landed a nomination for best supporting actor alongside a mix of veterans: Kenneth Branagh (My Week With Marilyn), Nick Nolte (Warrior) and Christopher Plummer (Beginners).
As expected, Modern Family received five nominations with individual actors bids for Ty Burrell, Eric Stonestreet, Julie Bowen and Sofia Vergara as well as nomination for best series.
It was followed by 30 Rock and Dexter, each scoring 3 nominations. While Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad , Game of Thrones, The Good Wife, The Office, Too Big to Fail, and Mirdred Pierce each took a pair.
Several past winners, such as Alec Baldwin, Julliana Margulies, Steve Buscemi, Betty White, Steve Carell, Tina Fey have also adorned the TV nomination lists this year.
Comprising 23% of Oscar voters, SAG members nominations are watched closely by the film industry and considered as a decent prediction of the Oscars. Winners, based on voting by SAGs 120,000 members, will be announced 29 of January in ceremonies at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.