BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Nominees:

Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips; Bradley Cooper, American Hustle; Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave; Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street; Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club.

Thompson:

Jared Leto. He disappears into his portrayal of the doomed transgender with AIDS. The portrayal is enough for an Academy Award — and for fans to forgive his alleged alternative rock band career.

Monk:

Bradley Cooper. So he’s not playing a transgender prostitute dying of AIDS, but he did have to put his hair in tiny curlers — which actually gives the latter-day sex symbol a new lease on sleazy in David O. Russell’s charming dissection of depravity.

Stone:

Jared Leto. Rayon, the tender, brave and heartbreaking transsexual with AIDS, isn’t just a feat of acting, it is a total immersion into another person. Where has this guy been all these years?