Jared Leto, Matt Damon, Michael Douglas
and Jim Parsons are among the actors nominated Wednesday for the 20th
Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, considered the first step on the
road to Oscar gold.
Leto's portrayal of an HIV-positive
transgender woman in the film Dallas Buyers Club earned him a
nomination in the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a
Supporting Role category.
Playing lovers in the HBO film Behind
the Candelabra earned Damon and Douglas nominations in the
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or
Miniseries category. In the film, Douglas plays the late pianist
Liberace opposite Damon as Scott Thorson, Liberace's alleged lover.
On the episodic TV side, Jim Parsons,
who casually came out gay in a The New York Times profile
published last year, received a comedy nomination for his portrayal
of science geek Sheldon Cooper on CBS' long-running sitcom The
Big Bang Theory.
Winners will be announced at a
presentation to be held on January 18 at the Shrine Auditorium &
Exposition Center in Los Angeles.
The
complete list of SAG Awards 2014 nominees.