Nominations for the 78th Annual Academy Awards were announced today by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis and Oscar-winner Mira Sorvino.

Gay cowboy romance "Brokeback Mountain" leads the Academy Award nominations, announced in Los Angeles early Tuesday. The movie earned eight nominations, including for best picture, best director, best supporting actor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and best leading actor, Heath Ledger.

Other best-actor nominees include Philip Seymour Hoffman for his role as writer Truman Capote in Capote, and Joaquin Phoenix, who played singer Johnny Cash in Walk the Line.

Among best actress nominees are Reese Witherspoon, who played the singer June Carter in "Walk the Line", Judi Dench for the comedy "Mrs. Henderson Presents", Felicity Huffman for her controvertsial role in "Transamerica," Keira Knightley for "Pride and Prejudice" and Charlize Theron for "North Country."

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Memoirs of a Geisha, and Pride and Prejudice will compete for the Best Costume Design award. The Chronicles Of Narnia, Cinderella Man and Star Wars: Episode III are nominated in Best Makeup Category.

Academy members selected the nominees in their respective branches, with the exception of the Animated Feature and Foreign Language Film categories, where nominations were selected by vote of screening committees.

All voting members are eligible to select the Best Picture nominees. Ballots were mailed to 5,856 members in late December and were returned directly to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the international accounting firm, for tabulation.

Academy Awards® for outstanding film achievements of 2005 will be presented on Sunday, March 5. 

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