2020 Oscars: Meet the best actor nominees

Joaquin Phoenix, Adam Driver, Christain Bale, Antonio Banderas and Leonardo DiCaprio will fight it out in the Best Actor category at the Oscars 2020. 

Antonio Banderas has earned laurels for his portrayal as Pedro Almodovar in 'Pain and Glory' this past year. Banderas even fetched best actor award in  the Cannes competition section and has won awards at the European Film Awards, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association for this role. In 'Pain and Glory', Banderas plays Almodovar, who has been his mentor of sorts and given him some of the most popular films of his career including Labyrinth of Passion ' 1982 and, most famously, 'Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!' in 1989. In a way, life has come a full cirlce for Banderas with 'Pain and Glory'. Critics feel his stellar perfromance may just earn him his first Oscar. 

Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the well- known faces of Hollywood. Known for his portraying unconventional characters particularly in biopics and period dramas- Leo has been nominated at the Oscars five times before and has won it once. In Qunetin Tarantino's 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' Leonardo DiCaprio plays Rick Dalton, an actor whose career is slowly fading and who takes up a house next to Sharin Tate's house. Leo's comical act in gave a fresh take to a very long narrative. 

The world weeped silently along with Adam Driver in 'Marriage Story' as his character Charlie underwent diviorce and separation from his wife and child. Driver's sensitive portrayal of a man grappling to come to terms with divorce won hearts all over and the actor an Oscar nod in the best actor category. Adam got his first entry to the Oscars in 2019 for his supporting role in in 'BlacKkKlansman'.  This is the actor's second entry to the Oscars and his first in the best actor category. The actor got his breakthrough in 2012 in a comedy-drama series 'Girls' and had received nominations at Primetime Emmy Award three years in a row. 

He gained wider recognition for playing Ben Solo, Kylo Ren in the 'Star Wars' films 'The Force Awakens' 2015, 'The Last Jedi' 2017, and 'The Rise of Skywalker' 2019

Udoubtedly the front runner in this category this year, Joaquin Phoenix has delivered his career's best in Todd Philps'film 'Joker'.His portrayal of DC comics'most troubled chcracter left everyone awestruck and won Phoenix a new fan base.  He has already taken home best actor trophies from Golden Globes and Critics' Choice Awards this month and is expected to win the Oscar next month as well. Phoenix has been nominated three times at the Oscars earlier- for 'The Master', 'Walk the Line', and the 'Gladiator'.

Jonathan Pryce began his career in the early 1970s. Over the decades, he has given award-winning performance in various films. The actor has played memorable characters in films like 'Royal Court Theatre's', 'Hamlet', and High Sparrow in 'Game of Thrones'. This is the first time when the actor has been nominated at the Oscars.