Day-Lewis won his third best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Lincoln, and he is deserving of the award. Despite his English roots, the actor disappears so thoroughly into the role that it’s hard to imagine anyone else – American or British – playing it. As depicted by Day-Lewis, Lincoln is a charismatic man who is quick with a story and a smile, but he’s also a fearless champion of his beliefs.    

“Having 10 Best Picture nominees will allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize," AMPS President Sid Ganis said at a press conference.  While the expansion of the Best Picture category at the Oscars allows for more movies to receive the recognition they deserve, it does not change the fact that the voters lean towards awarding similar themes and performances every year.  They love dramas, lengthy historical epics, and tales of patriotism, controversy, and triumph over adversity.

This is one case where the hype is deserved because the movie, directed by its star, Ben Affleck, is a remarkable real-life drama. Set during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, the picture focuses on six American diplomats who escape a siege of the U.S. embassy in Iran only to find themselves trapped in the hostile country. Realizing the refugees are in danger, U.S. officials authorize an improbable rescue helmed by CIA specialist Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck).

Below are ten actors and actresses -- some more recognizable than others -- who represent the best and brightest currently working in film. Their differences are vast: they are men and women of various ages, representing many different backgrounds. So what do they all have in common? For starters, none of them have ever won an Academy Award, though several have been nominated at least once. Further, when it comes to the mainstream Hollywood career path, each one has diverged in slightly left-of-center directions.

“The Descendants” was a major player at the 2012 Oscars, as it was nominated in five categories, and won the award for best adapted screenplay. Co-written and directed by Alexander Payne (“Sideways,” “About Schmidt”), “The Descendants” is a profound and moving portrait of a family in crisis.

Director Martin Scorsese’s first stab at a family film couldn’t have gone better. “Hugo,” based on the 2007 picture book “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” is a beautifully rendered work that’s appropriate for children, yet possesses more emotional and thematic depth than the majority of films for adults. In other words, “Hugo” may be marketed as a family drama, but it shouldn’t be pigeonholed.

Declaration of War” (La guerre est déclarée), France's foreign-language film submission for the Oscars, has the merits of lightness and inventiveness. The director, ValérieDonzelli, freely expresses herself through whichever tool she finds most useful in each particular moment, whether it is comedy in a tragic situation, magical realism, insertion of a song she wrote herself, or a cut to abstract images outside of the scene.

Michel Hazanavicius wrote and directed “The Artist.” He had been planning to make this film for more than 10 years, and producers refused to work with him because  Hazanavicius had his heart set on filming a silent, black-and-white movie. The idea sounded anachronistic and bizarre. Finally, Thomas Langmann took a risk and agreed to invest in the film, becoming its producer. To the fortune of audiences worldwide, “The Artist” was finally  released in late 2011. It is a project Hazanavicius loved and stayed devoted to for more than a decade, and in the end he created a work of exceptional beauty.