Patricia Arquette in Boyhood
Director: Richard Linklater
Also starring: Ellar Coltrane, Ethan Hawke, Elijah Smith
What's it about?
The odds-on favourite to take out the top award, Patricia Arquette stole the show as a battling single mother in Richard Linklater's ambitious 12-year experiment.
Watch interview with Ellar Coltrane
The Toughest Scene i Wrote: Richard Linklater on Boyhood's Saddest Moment
Laura Dern in Wild
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
Also starring: Reese Witherspoon, Gaby Hoffmann, Michiel Huisman
What's it about?
Laura Dern is getting raves for her role as Bobbi Strayed, an ethereal, upbeat woman whose early death plays a key role in her daughter's breakdown and subsequent decision to embark on a life-changing hike.
Read review
Watch trailer & scene clips
Keira Knightley in The Imitation Game
Director: Morten Tyldum
Also starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear
What's it about?
Keira Knightley plays cryptanalyst Joan Clarke in the biography of Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch). Enlisted to help crack the Enigma code, during World War II, Clarke and Turing remained close throughout his post-war fall from grace.
Read reviewWatch trailer & scene clips
Emma Stone in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Also starring: Edward Norton, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts
What's it about?
Emma Stone plays the substance-abusing daughter of a needy Hollywood actor on the comeback trail, in Alejandro González Iñárritu's acclaimed ensemble piece.
Meryl Streep in Into the Woods
Director: Rob Marshall
Also starring: Chris Pine, Emily Blunt, Johnny Depp
What's it about?
A familiar face in the awards reels, Streep plays the villain in Rob Marshall's adaptation of the Brothers Grimm classic faitry tales: Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and Rapunzel.
