Golden Globes Best Supporting Actor, Movie Nominees

The Golden Globes Best Supporting Actor movie nominees represent some of the greatest performances by actors in a dramatic or comedy motion picture for the year. The actors who garner nominations in this category are not the leading men in a film, but their performance is so great that it catches everyone's attention. The role might be smaller, but the actor makes it larger than life! Five nominees are chosen for the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture each year, and the winners are decided by members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, or HFPA. Nominees for the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor in a Movie included Kenneth Branagh for 'My Week With Marilyn,' Albert Brooks for 'Drive,' Jonah Hill for 'Moneyball,' Viggo Mortensen for 'A Dangerous Method' and Christopher Plummer for 'Beginners.' The winner of the 2012 Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie was Christopher Plummer for his role in 'Beginners.'

Many of the past nominees and winners in the Golden Globes Best Supporting Actor, Movie category are actors who've made their mark in a major way in Hollywood, including Jack Nicholson ('Easy Rider,' 'Reds,' 'A Few Good Men,' 'The Departed' and 'Terms of Endearment'), Martin Sheen ('The Subject Was Roses'), Max von Sydow ('The Exorcist'), Robert Duvall ('Apocalypse Now' and 'A Civil Action') and Denzel Washington ('Glory'). In recent years, winners of the Golden Globes Best Supporting Actor award went on to win the Academy Award in the same category. Among them: Javier Bardem for 'No Country for Old Men,' Heath Ledger for 'The Dark Knight' (awarded posthumously), Christoph Waltz for 'Inglourious Basterds' and, in 2010, Christian Bale for 'The Fighter.' Being a Globes winner doesn't necessarily guarantee an Oscar win. Kevin Spacey, for example, lost the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor to Brad Pitt in '12 Monkeys' in 1995, but went on to win the Academy Award for his role in 'The Usual Suspects.'

For more great lists featuring the Golden Globes, check out these lists of nominees for Best Supporting Movie Actress, Best Movie Drama, Best Actress and Actor in a Movie Drama, Best Movie Comedy or Musical, Best Actress and Actor in a Movie Comedy or Musical, Best Animated Film and Best Foreign Film.