Real-life? Not this time.
One has already taken the award before, two have received their rewards in the supporting stakes, three came to prominence in schlock horrors, but none this year have played roles based on real-life characters.But who will win?
After Jamie Foxx (Ray Charles), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Truman Capote) and Forest Whitaker (Idi Amin) the academy will have to plump for something else other than actors who have starred in bio-pics this year.
The last winner for a fictional role was Sean Penn as the emotionally wrought father in Clint Eastwood's Mystic River but which one of these fine actors will it be taking home the statuette come Sunday 24th February?
If you believe red carpet banter, no actor cares about winning, it's an honour just to be nominated. But, not since Marlon Brando sent Sacheen Littlefeather to refuse his Oscar for The Godfather in 1973 has a leading man shunned the Academy Award.
This year's crop of leading men are unlikely to buck this trend. Clooney, Jones and Day-Lewis have previously accepted the bald statuette, and Depp and Mortensen have graciously accepted other awards for their thesping.
Daniel Day-Lewis is odds-on favourite for for his incredible turn in There Will Be Blood, an epic, masterful film that could have overshadowed a lesser talent.
Of the other nominations, victory for Depp would be the biggest shock as the Academy famously snub comedy and fantasy movies. Viggo Mortensen deserves an Oscar for elevating the otherwise pedestrian Eastern Promises, but 24th February 2008 is going to be D-Day.
Find out more by reading our biographies on the leading men nominated for Best Actor.
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
Gorgeous George will be attempting go one better for his supporting gong for Syriana as the corporate troubleshooter mired in murder.
Hailing from a showbiz family Clooney hit the big time as the suave Doctor Doug Ross on the hugely successful medical drama ER.
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
Now on their sixth collaboration, the homicidal hairstylist provides a meaty, all-singing, all-slicing role for Tim Burton's favourite leading man.
Famed for his offbeat characters, Depp started his career in entertainment as a musician dropping out of high school to pursue his rock star ambitions.
Tommy Lee Jones - In The Valley of Elah
Another best supporting winner, the Texan is looking to go one better as a father on the trail of his soldier son's killer in Paul Haggis' emotional drama.
The grizzly actor who has a Cherokee Native American grandparent is a Harvard graduate who once roomed with future vice-president Al Gore.
Daniel Day-Lewis - There will be Blood
The driven actor delivers another tour-de-force performance as the oil prospector whose greed knows no bounds.
Holding dual British-Irish citizenship Day Lewis is one of the most selective actors in the film industry, starring in only four movies in the last ten years.
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises
There's no middle ground or Middle-Earth for the Russian mob enforcer at the cold heart of Cronenberg's London-set thriller.
Mortensen of Danish descent is also an accomplished poet, musician, photographer and painter with published works to his name.
