Veterans and newcomers compete for this year’s Oscars

The 87th Academy Awards ceremony will be held on Feb 22, and the long list of candidates includes nominees ranging from the actress with the highest number of nominations in film history, Meryl Streep (nominated 19 times), to firsttimers like Michael Keaton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne.

If Streep were to win this year in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role in “Into the Woods,” she would join Katharine Hepburn in the elite club of thespians with four statuettes.

To be fair, Hepburn received all her Academy Awards as leading actress, while Streep is credited with two Oscars in the Best Actress in a Leading Role category and one award for best supporting actress.

This year there are also no less than nine performers who have received their first Oscar nominations in their careers.

Four of the five actors competing for the Best Actor in a Leading Role were nominated this year for the first time: Michael Keaton, for his performance in “Birdman”; Steve Carell for “Foxtcacher”; Benedict Cumberbatch for “The Imitation Game” and Eddie Redmayne for “The Theory of Everything”.

Only Bradley Cooper (“American Sniper”) sees his third consecutive nomination this year.

Two leading actresses Felicity Jones for “The Theory of Everything” and Rosamund Pike for “Gone Girl” also found their way to their first Oscar nominations, as well as three women in supporting roles: Patricia Arquette for “Boyhood”; Emma Stone for “Birdman” and J.K. Simmons for “Whiplash.”

Another interesting fact is that French actress Marion Cotillard gets her second nomination for a role in a nonEnglish language movie.

She won the award in 2008 for her portrayal of French singer Edith Piaf in “La Vie en Rose,” and now she will attempt to reprise her win with “Deux jours, une nuit,” directed by the Dardenne brothers.

If she finally takes home this year’s award, she would become the first actress ever to win two awards for movies in a language other than English.

Beyond the main categories, and considering only the total number of nominations, cinematographer Roger Deakins (who was nominated for “Unbroken” this season) obtained his 12th Oscar nomination, although he has yet to win one.

Both Richard Linklater for “Boyhood” and Wes Anderson for “The Grand Budapest Hotel” were nominated to their first Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Film, since their previous nominations had been for best screenplays.

This year is also the first in which there are eight nominated films in the most important category, Best Picture.

Since the 2010 rules change increased the number of nominated films in this category from 5 to a maximum of 10, it peaked in the first two years after the decision, while in the following three the category was reduced to nine nominations, finally shrinking to only eight nominees competing for the night’s big prize.

In the musical section, French composer Alexandre Desplat (who can boast six previous nominations but no wins) will have a double shot at the award this year, as he is nominated for scoring both “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and “The Imitation Game.”

In the Best Foreign Language Film category, Mauritania and Estonia are included for the first time, thanks to the films “Timbuktu” and “Tangerines,” respectively, while “Wild Stories” obtained the seventh nomination for an Argentinian movie.

If Damian Szifron’s film manages to snatch the Oscar, it would be the third win for Argentina.