The previous year witnessed some remarkable work from an entirely new group of performers who will be fighting it out for the biggest cinematic prizes in the world.

Andrew Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge

The British actor seems to have finally found his feet among the biggies in the industry after his performance in Mel Gibson’s latest directorial venture. He will be staking a claim for the Best Actor black lady.

Dev Patel – Lion

The actor had tasted Oscar glory with Slumdog Millionaire in the past, but it’s a first individual nomination for him this time. He will be fighting for the Best Supporting Actor award and has become only the third Indian origin actor to be nominated for the Academy Awards in doing so.

Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Barry Jenkins – Moonlight

The film that could steal the thunder from La La Land this year is definitely Moonlight. Out of the eight total categories that it has been nominated in, it has most notably scored big in the Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and the Best Director lists.

Lucas Hedges – Manchester By The Sea

It would be Casey Affleck’s brilliance that the movie would be remembered by, but Hedges, who played Patrick in the movie, also deserves a round of applause for earning a debut Oscar nomination at just 20 years of age.

Ruth Negga – Loving

The historical drama has earned a solitary nomination for the 2017 Oscars as the cast and  the crew of the movie will pin their hopes on this debut Oscar nominee for the Best Actress trophy.

Isabelle Huppert – Elle

The French rape crime movie has received mixed reactions. But what everyone will agree to is Huppert’s phenomenal portrayal of her character that has deservingly been nominated in the Best Actress category.

Justin Timberlake – Trolls

After being around for many many years, the pop star has also earned his first nomination with ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling!’ from Trolls for Best Original Song this year.