Broadway Vets Viola Davis, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close & More Receive 2012 Oscar Nominations

Tony winners Viola Davis, Glenn Close, Christopher Plummer and Janet McTeer plus stage and screen great Meryl Streep are among the nominees for 2012 Academy Awards. The 84th annual Oscar ceremony will be held at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles on February 26, hosted by Billy Crystal and broadcast live on ABC.

As expected, Davis, Close and Streep will go head to head for their leading performances in The Help, Albert Nobbs and The Iron Lady, respectively. Rounding out the Best Actress category are Rooney Mara for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Michelle Williams for My Week With Marilyn.

Christopher Plummer (Beginners) will compete with London stage vet Kenneth Branagh (My Week With Marilyn) for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar alongside Jonah Hill (Moneyball), Nick Nolte (Warrior) and Max von Sydow (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close).

Jessica Chastain (Broadway-bound in The Heiress) is up for Best Supporting Actress alongside Broadway vet Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs), Berenice Bejo (The Artist), Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids) and Octavia Spencer (The Help).

A total of nine films made the cut as Best Picture nominees, including Steven Spielberg’s War Horse. A wide variety of film genres and styles also made the list: The Artist, The Descendants, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball and The Tree of Life.

Tony winner John Logan (Red) was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay along with George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon for The Ides of March, an adaptation of Willimon’s play Farragut North. In the original screenplay category, Woody Allen (currently represented on Broadway in Relatively Speaking) nabbed a nomination for Midnight in Paris, his most popular film in years. Clooney received a second Oscar nod for his lead performance inThe Descendants.

Overall, Martin Scorsese’s Hugo led the pack with 11 Oscar nominations, followed by The Artist with 10.