Red Carpet Romance! George Clooney and Elisabetta Canalis!

 By: Desirea LaSalle, InstantCast Staff Writer

Click here to apply to act with Angelina Jolie on InstantCast!

By Isabelle Dungan, InstantCast Editor

BEST PICTURE

‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
‘Frost/Nixon’ (Universal)
‘Milk’ (Focus Features)
‘The Reader’ (The Weinstein Company)
‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Fox Searchlight)

BEST ACTOR

Richard Jenkins in ‘The Visitor’ (Overture Films)
Frank Langella in ‘Frost/Nixon’ (Universal)
Sean Penn in ‘Milk’ (Focus Features)
Brad Pitt in ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
Mickey Rourke in ‘The Wrestler’ (Fox Searchlight)

BEST ACTRESS

Anne Hathaway in ‘Rachel Getting Married’ (Sony Pictures Classics)
Angelina Jolie in ‘Changeling’ (Universal)
Melissa Leo in ‘Frozen River’ (Sony Pictures Classics)
Meryl Streep in ‘Doubt’ (Miramax)
Kate Winslet in ‘The Reader’ (The Weinstein Company)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Josh Brolin in ‘Milk’ (Focus Features)
Robert Downey Jr. in ‘Tropic Thunder’ (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in ‘Doubt’ (Miramax)
Heath Ledger in ‘The Dark Knight’ (Warner Bros.)
Michael Shannon in ‘Revolutionary Road’ (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams in ‘Doubt’ (Miramax)
Penélope Cruz in ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’ (The Weinstein Company)
Viola Davis in ‘Doubt’ (Miramax)
Taraji P. Henson in ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
Marisa Tomei in ‘The Wrestler’ (Fox Searchlight)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

‘Bolt’ (Walt Disney), Chris Williams and Byron Howard
‘Kung Fu Panda’ (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount), John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
‘WALL-E’ (Walt Disney), Andrew Stanton

BEST ART DIRECTION

‘Changeling’ (Universal), Art Direction: James J. Murakami, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
‘The Dark Knight’ (Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando
‘The Duchess’ (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Art Direction: Michael Carlin, Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway
‘Revolutionary Road’ (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage), Art Direction: Kristi Zea, Set Decoration: Debra Schutt

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

‘Changeling’ (Universal), Tom Stern
‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Claudio Miranda
‘The Dark Knight’ (Warner Bros.), Wally Pfister
‘The Reader’ (The Weinstein Company), Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Fox Searchlight), Anthony Dod Mantle

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

‘Australia’ (20th Century Fox), Catherine Martin
‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Jacqueline West
‘The Duchess’ (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Michael O’Connor
‘Milk’ (Focus Features), Danny Glicker
‘Revolutionary Road’ (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage), Albert Wolsky

BEST DIRECTOR

‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Fincher
‘Frost/Nixon’ (Universal), Ron Howard
‘Milk’ (Focus Features), Gus Van Sant
‘The Reader’ (The Weinstein Company), Stephen Daldry
‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Fox Searchlight), Danny Boyle

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

‘The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)’ (Cinema Guild), A Pandinlao Films Production, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
‘Encounters at the End of the World’ (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment), A Creative Differences Production, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
‘The Garden’ A Black Valley Films Production, Scott Hamilton Kennedy
‘Man on Wire’ (Magnolia Pictures), A Wall to Wall Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn
‘Trouble the Water’ (Zeitgeist Films), An Elsewhere Films Production, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

‘The Conscience of Nhem En’ A Farallon Films Production, Steven Okazaki
‘The Final Inch’ A Vermilion Films Production, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant
‘Smile Pinki’ A Principe Production, Megan Mylan
‘The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306’ A Rock Paper Scissors Production, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde

BEST FILM EDITING

‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
‘The Dark Knight’ (Warner Bros.), Lee Smith
‘Frost/Nixon’ (Universal), Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
‘Milk’ (Focus Features), Elliot Graham
‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Fox Searchlight), Chris Dickens

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

‘The Baader Meinhof Complex’ A Constantin Film Production, Germany
‘The Class’ (Sony Pictures Classics), A Haut et Court Production, France
‘Departures’ (Regent Releasing), A Departures Film Partners Production, Japan
‘Revanche’ (Janus Films), A Prisma Film/Fernseh Production, Austria
‘Waltz with Bashir’ (Sony Pictures Classics), A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production, Israel

BEST MAKEUP

‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Greg Cannom
‘The Dark Knight’ (Warner Bros.), John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O’Sullivan
‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army’ (Universal), Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.),Alexandre Desplat
‘Defiance’ (Paramount Vantage), James Newton Howard
‘Milk’ (Focus Features), Danny Elfman
‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Fox Searchlight), A.R. Rahman
‘WALL-E’ (Walt Disney), Thomas Newman

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

‘Down to Earth’ from ‘WALL-E’ (Walt Disney), Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
‘Jai Ho’ from ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Fox Searchlight), Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
‘O Saya’ from ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman andMaya Arulpragasam

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

‘La Maison en Petits Cubes’ A Robot Communications Production, Kunio Kato
‘Lavatory – Lovestory’ A Melnitsa Animation Studio and CTB Film Company Production, Konstantin Bronzit
‘Oktapodi’ (Talantis Films) A Gobelins, L’école de l’image Production, Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
‘Presto’ (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Doug Sweetland
‘This Way Up’, A Nexus Production, Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

‘Auf der Strecke (On the Line)’ (Hamburg Shortfilmagency), An Academy of Media Arts Cologne Production, Reto Caffi
‘Manon on the Asphalt’ (La Luna Productions), A La Luna Production, Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont
‘New Boy’ (Network Ireland Television), A Zanzibar Films Production, Steph Green and Tamara Anghie
‘The Pig’ An M & M Production, Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh
‘Spielzeugland (Toyland)’ A Mephisto Film Production, Jochen Alexander Freydank

BEST SOUND EDITING

‘The Dark Knight’ (Warner Bros.), Richard King
‘Iron Man’ (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Fox Searchlight), Tom Sayers
‘WALL-E’ (Walt Disney), Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
‘Wanted’ (Universal),Wylie Stateman

BEST SOUND MIXING

‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
‘The Dark Knight’ (Warner Bros.), Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Fox Searchlight), Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
‘WALL-E’ (Walt Disney),Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
‘Wanted’ (Universal), Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
‘The Dark Knight’ (Warner Bros.), Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
‘Iron Man’ (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
‘Doubt’ (Miramax), Written by John Patrick Shanley
‘Frost/Nixon’ (Universal), Screenplay by Peter Morgan
‘The Reader’ (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Hare
‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

‘Frozen River’ (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Courtney Hunt
‘Happy-Go-Lucky’ (Miramax), Written by Mike Leigh
‘In Bruges’ (Focus Features), Written by Martin McDonagh
‘Milk’ (Focus Features), Written by Dustin Lance Black
‘WALL-E’ (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

By: Isabelle Dungan, InstantCast Editor

By: Isabelle Dungan, InstantCast Editor

It’s a hard business to get into, and only those who truly love it will find the experience worth the sacrifices.

Always remain realistic with your goals and realize that only you are in charge of your acting destiny. Here are a couple of suggestions on how to do that:

1. Give yourself a timeframe. I know a lot of actors who arrived in Los Angeles with a 3-5 year timeframe to somehow make it in the industry. It gives people the opportunity to possibly pursue both of their dream careers. They’ll never have regrets of “what if.”

2. Talk it over with your family. You are going to need their support both financially and emotionally. If you’re married, then the decision to become a fulltime actor is a joint decision that affects everyone in your family, especially if you have children.

Are you ready to make acting a full-time commitment? Click here to find out!

By Casting Director Renee Godbout