Best Supporting Actor Oscar tops off Heath Ledger's string of award wins

Last night, Heath Ledger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as "The Joker" in The Dark Knight. This tops off a string of wins Ledger had this past award show season. Here is a short list of some of the awards Ledger won for his portrayal of "The Joker":
2008 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor,
2008 BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor
2008 Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor
2008 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor (Ledger also won in the San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix Film Critics Circles, to name a few)
2008 Australian Film Institute International Award for Best Actor

These awards add to the collection of multiple Best Actor awards he won for his role as "Ennis Del Mar" in the film Brokeback Mountain. For Brokeback Mountain, Heath Ledger was nominated for and won the following awards:
2006 International Award for Best Actor
2005 Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor
2005 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor (Ledger also won in the San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix Film Critics Circles).

IET's Official Oscar Preview

The 81st Academy Awards air this Sunday on ABC. Here are some of the things that I am interested to see:

How will Hugh Jackman do as host?
Hugh Jackman has hosted the Tony Awards three-times in the past, but this will be the first time he will host the Oscars. In fact, his performance as the host of the Tony Awards earned him an Emmy Award in 2005 for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. Hugh Jackman is most remembered for his role as Wolverine in the X-Men films. He is also an acclaimed singer, dancer, and actor in stage musicals. I am interested to see how good a job he can do as host of the Oscars. If you think about the different hosts of the Oscars over the last twenty years ( Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, David Letterman, Steve Martin, Chris Rock, Jon Stewart, and Ellen DeGeneres), Jackman will be the first host that is not a comedian. That doesn’t mean he won’t do a good job, but will he able to keep the audience in the theater and those watching on television entertained? I guess we will be able to find out right away when he starts the night off with his monologue.

Will Heath Ledger win Best Supporting Actor?












Heath Ledger was memorable as the Joker in The Dark Knight and has to be considered the favorite after a win at last month’s Golden Globes. It will be a major shock if he doesn’t get the award on Sunday. I'll be watching to see who will be accepting the award if he wins. Will it be Dark Knight director Chris Nolan, who accepted the award in Ledger’s behalf during the Golden Globe? I’m guessing it won’t be Ledger's co-star, Christian Bale, whose famous rant has been been a punchline on various comedy shows, most recently on last week’s episode of Family Guy.

Will Mickey Rourke win for Best Actor?
Mickey Rourke was brilliant in his role as Randy, a lonely, hard-luck wrestler, in the movie, The Wrestler. Not only did he give a great performance in the movie, the movie itself was also great. I thought the movie should have gotten a few more Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Also, I thought for sure Bruce Springsteen would get nominated for Best Music (song) after winning it for the Golden Globes. I will be really surprised if Rourke doesn't take home the Oscar for Best Actor.

The Oscars air this Sunday (2/22) at 5PM PT/8PM ET on ABC.

Ledger Gets Oscar Nomination

This morning the Oscar Awards nominations were announced. Heath Ledger was nominated for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight. This was not a surprise considering he had won a Golden Globe for the same role and has to be considered a favorite to win. The Dark Knight was nominated for a total of 7 awards, but it was mostly for sound and visual effects. I was disappointed that it was not nominated for Best Picture. I'm sure many fans feel the same. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was nominated for the most awards. It was nominated for 13 awards including Best Picture and Best Actor for Brad Pitt.

For the complete list of the nominee check out http://oscars.com/nominees/?pn=nominees

Heath Ledger wins Golden Globe

In a move that surprised few, Heath Ledger was won the Golden Globe for best supporting actor for his gritty portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight. There were numerous contenders in the same category including Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr. for their respective roles in the film, Tropic Thunder.

For details check
http://www.goldenglobes.org/nominations/