Best Actor 2016: who are the Oscar nominees?
Leonardo DiCaprio, and the four men who might steal the prize from him
Were it not for the extraordinary feat of endurance undertaken by six-time nominee Leonardo DiCaprio, this year's Oscars race would be wide open. Below we run down everything you need to know about the five men duking it out for the prize for best actor.
Bryan Cranston
Age: 45
Nominated for: Trumbo. Cranston plays screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, whose communist sympathies led to his being blacklisted from film production in Forties Hollywood.
Oscars history: This is Cranston's first Oscar nomination. In recent years he's been better known for his television work, principally as Walter White, the meth-making chemistry teacher in Breaking Bad, a role that earned him five Emmys.
What the critics said: "Cranston's certainly overdue a nod," said the Telegraph's Tim Robey, "but this distractingly fussy, Tweedledum performance is trying too hard." The film largely received three-star reviews.
In his own words: "I've got a whole mantel just waiting for those awards to come, a whole big mantel. I've got the light fixtures hanging from the ceiling, all ready to shine on them."
Did you know? One of his first TV roles, back in 1987, saw him dressed as a skunk to advertise soap.
Age: 45
Nominated for: The Martian. Damon plays Mark Watney, an astronaut who finds himself stranded on Mars, presumed dead by his crew, and has to find novel ways to survive.
Oscars history: Damon shared the Best Original Screenplay award for Good Will Hunting (1997) with Ben Affleck. He was nominated for Best Actor for the same film, as well as Best Supporting Actor for his role as Francois Pienaar in Invictus (2009).
What the critics said: Damon's performance was mostly highly rated, with the Telegraph praising his "ruefully engaging solo showmanship." He won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical, and has also been nominated for a Bafta.
In his own words: "They should give [awards] out 10 years later, like the way they do the Hall of Fame in baseball."
Did you know? Damon studied English at Harvard, but never actually graduated.
Age: 41
Nominated for: The Revenant. DiCaprio plays 19th-century fur trapper Hugh Glass, who endures a savage bear attack, is left for dead, and drags himself over hundreds of miles of hostile terrain to find the men who abandoned him.
Oscars history: Surprisingly, DiCaprio has yet to win an Oscar, although this is his sixth nomination. He's previously been up for Best Actor for The Aviator, Blood Diamond and The Wolf of Wall Street, Best Supporting Actor for What's Eating Gilbert Grape, and for Best Picture as a producer on The Wolf of Wall Street.
What the critics said: The film was a hit with the critics, with most awarding it five stars. Tim Robey of the Telegraph was even willing to lay down an awards prediction: "If this raw revenge western doesn't win Leonardo DiCaprio an Oscar," he wrote, "nothing will."
In his own words: "I am really moved by all the people on the internet demanding that I should win an Oscar. But to be honest, I only do this job because I love it, not to win prizes"
Did you know? Leo's frozen beard in the Revenant isn't real: it was made to look so convincing with drops of paraffin wax.
Age: 38
Nominated for: Steve Jobs. Fassbender played the late co-founder of Apple in Danny Boyle's biopic.
Oscars history: In 2014, he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in 12 Years a Slave, but lost out to Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club.
What the critics said: Fassbender gives a "microscopically calibrated lead performance" with "a subtle, slow-burning warmth", said the Telegraph.
In his own words: "You know, I spent a lot of time out of work. Now I'm trying to make hay while the sun is shining."
Did you know? Fassbender claims that one of the movies that inspired him to go into acting was ET.
Age: 34
Nominated for: The Danish Girl. Redmayne plays Lili Elbe, one of the first known recipients of sexual reassignment surgery, in Tom Hooper's moving biopic.
Oscars history: Redmayne won the Best Actor award last year for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, which charted two decades of the cosmologist's life after the onset of motor neurone disease.
What the critics said: The Telegraph's Tim Robey said that Redmayne gave a "dazzlingly controlled" interpretation of Elbe, but other reviews were hit and miss, with some accusing the British actor of giving too mannered a performance.
In his own words: On his 2015 win: "Please know that I'm fully aware I'm a lucky, lucky man."
Did you know? When Redmayne attended Eton College, he was taught drama by fellow actor Mark Rylance.
