Oscars 2012: Best Supporting Actor

Screen greats vie for the Oscar in the ‘Best Supporting Actor’ category. In fact, the five gentlemen up for the trophy seem more likely names one would expect for ‘Best Actor’. These are actors who have given us stellar performances for years and yet gain recognition for continuing to challenge themselves.

Kenneth Branagh: Branagh embodied the great Sir Laurence Olivier in My Week with Marilyn. The greatest actor in the Anglosphere faced off with legendary blond bombshell Marilyn Monroe. Branagh had met Olivier earlier in his career and he brought the respect due to the late great thespian.

Jonah Hill: Hill played Assistant General Manager Peter Brand against Brad Pitt in Moneyball. Based on a true story, Hill’s character is a combination of several real life people. Hill is an entertainment genius and is only 28! Even if his feud with Matthew Morrison was just a joke, Hill has nothing to worry about. He’s got too much of a future to even give Glee a look.

Nick Nolte:A father-son redemption story was the main crux of Warrior. As born-again Christian and recovering alcoholic Paddy, Nolte coaches younger son Tommy for an MMA championship. Paddy must grapple with his war hero son’s anger at their troubled past while dealing with his older estranged son.

Christopher Plummer: Plummer was cast as Hal, the dying father of Ewan McGregor’s Oliver. When Hal is diagnosed with a terminal illness his son nurses him in his final days. Plummer plays a gay character to must come out of the closet to his grown son. It’s material that is touching and free of cliché.

Max von Sydow: The legendary Max von Sydow is only known as the renter in a post-911 film about a young boy named Oskar who loses his father in the World Trade Center. The renter befriends Oskar and helps him with his mourning .