BEVERLY HILLS, California, Jan 25 (AFP) - Red-hot Jamie Foxx, Hollywood heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio and veteran Clint Eastwood led nominees for the 2005 best actor Oscar on Tuesday in a year dominated by real-life stories.
Also nominated in the top acting category for men for the 77th annual Academy Awards were Johnny Depp and Don Cheadle when the long-awaited line-up was unveiled before dawn.
Four out of the five leading actor nominees portrayed real characters in a year marked by biopics, with only Eastwood playing a fictional character in the form of ageing boxing trainer Frankie Dunn in "Million Dollar Baby."
Foxx, 37, is hotly tipped as the leader in the race for best actor following his acclaimed performance as blind soul legend Ray Charles in Taylor Hackford`s "Ray."
He faces competition from DiCaprio as Howard Hughes in "The Aviator," Depp for his role as Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie in "Finding Neverland," Cheadle who played hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina in "Hotel Rwanda" and Eastwood, 74.
Foxx, who is also nominated for a best supporting actor statuette for "Collateral," wore elaborate prosthetic eyelids throughout the gruelling filming of "Ray" and also played the piano and sang Charles` songs.
He won the support of Charles for his performance before the singer died last June at the age of 73.
But overlooked in the best actor category was Irish actor Liam Neeson and US actor Paul Giamatti, who lost out on a nod for his much-praised starring role in the road movie "Sideways."
Neeson has won acclaim for his gripping role as groundbreaking 1950s sexologist Alfred Kinsey in the biopic "Kinsey."
01/25/2005 17:39 GMT - AFP