Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman among Brits in running for Oscars

Benedict Cumberbatch, Andrew Garfield, Olivia Colman, Dame Judi Dench and Sir Kenneth Branagh are among the British stars in the running to pick up Oscars as the star-studded ceremony returns to full wattage on Sunday.

Cumberbatch is nominated for the best actor prize for his role as a cruel rancher in Jane Campion’s western The Power Of The Dog, which leads the pack with 12 nominations, but faces stiff competition from frontrunner Will Smith, who is nominated for his turn as the father of Venus and Serena Williams in King Richard.

They are nominated alongside Garfield for his role as Rent playwright Jonathan Larson in Tick, Tick… Boom!, Javier Bardem for Being The Ricardos, and Denzel Washington for The Tragedy Of Macbeth.

Campion has made history as the first woman to be nominated for the best director Oscar twice and is widely tipped to take home the prize.

She was nominated for The Piano in 1994 and would be the third woman to win the gong, after Chloe Zhao for Nomadland last year and Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker in 2010.

The Power Of The Dog, her return to the big screen following a foray into television, is nominated for 12 prizes, including best picture, while stars Kirsten Dunst, her partner Jesse Plemons and co-star Kodi Smit-McPee are all recognised in supporting categories.

Colman, who won the best actress Oscar in 2019 for her turn in The Favourite, has landed her second nomination in that category for her role as a mother reflecting on her past in The Lost Daughter.

She picked up a supporting nod last year for her part in The Father.

She will compete for the best actress gong against Kristen Stewart for her performance as Diana, Princess of Wales in Spencer, Penelope Cruz for Parallel Mothers, Nicole Kidman for Being The Ricardos and apparent frontrunner Jessica Chastain for The Eyes Of Tammy Faye.

Dame Judi and Ciaran Hinds are nominated for their performances in Sir Kenneth’s autobiographical film Belfast.

The black-and-white film, inspired by the actor’s childhood in Northern Ireland, has also landed the best director and best original screenplay nominations, while the film is in the running for best picture, with a total of seven nods.

Hinds, who was born in Belfast, is nominated in the best supporting actor category alongside The Power Of The Dog’s Smit-McPhee and Plemons, Troy Kotsur for Coda, and JK Simmons for Being The Ricardos.

Kotsur, who has won almost every precursor award, has already made history as the first deaf actor to be nominated for an Oscar.

Dame Judi is nominated for the best supporting actress prize alongside Irish star Jessie Buckley for The Lost Daughter, Ariana DeBose for West Side Story, Aunjanue Ellis for King Richard, and Dunst for The Power Of The Dog.

The ceremony will return to the Dolby Theatre this year after a Covid-safe event in a Los Angeles railway station in 2021.

Beyonce and Billie Eilish will be part of the musical line-up following their nominations for best original song for work on King Richard and No Time To Die respectively.

Beyonce will perform her track Be Alive – reportedly from a tennis court in the California town of Compton where the Williams sisters used to train – while Eilish will perform No Time To Die, the title song from the latest instalment of the James Bond franchise.

Reba McEntire and Sebastian Yatra are also due to take to the stage to perform Diane Warren’s Somehow You Do from Four Good Days and Lin Manuel Miranda’s Dos Oruguitas from Encanto respectively.

Van Morrison, who is nominated for best song for Down To Joy from Belfast, was also invited to perform but is not able to attend the Oscars due to his tour schedule.

Sir Anthony Hopkins, Mila Kunis, John Travolta, Daniel Kaluuya, Wesley Snipes, Zoe Kravitz, Lady Gaga, Lily James, Uma Thurman and Rami Malek are among the stars due to present at the ceremony.

The Oscars will be hosted by Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 27.