Best Actress

Susan Sarandon

“Dead Man Walking”

Sarandon, 49, receives her fourth Oscar nomination in the past five years as a nun who becomes a spiritual advisor to a convicted murderer. She was nominated for 1991’s “Thelma & Louise,” 1992’s “Lorenzo’s Oil” and 1994’s “The Client.” Her first nomination was for 1981’s “Atlantic City.”

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Elisabeth Shue

“Leaving Las Vegas”

Best known as the girl-next-door in “The Karate Kid” and “Adventures in Babysitting,” Shue receives her first Oscar nomination as a disillusioned prostitute in love with an alcoholic. Shue, 32, a Golden Globe nominee, was named best actress by the Los Angeles and National Society of Film Critics.

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Sharon Stone

“Casino”

For her role as a chip-hustling vamp who marries a mobster, Stone, 37, wins her first Academy Award nomination. The late-blooming actress, who made her film debut in 1980’s “Stardust Memories” and became a star with 1992’s “Basic Instinct,” received this year’s Golden Globe Award for best actress.

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Meryl Streep

“Bridges of Madison County”

The queen of accents receives her 10th nomination for her role as an Italian-born Iowa housewife who has an affair in the adaptation of Robert James Waller’s fiction phenomenon. Streep, 46, won for best supporting actress for 1979’s “Kramer vs. Kramer” and for best actress for 1982’s “Sophie’s Choice.”

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Emma Thompson

“Sense and Sensibility”

Oscar’s best actress winner in 1992 for “Howards End” nets her third best actress nomination and another nomination for her screenplay adaptation of the Jane Austen classic. Thompson, 36, was nominated twice in 1994--best actress for “Remains of the Day” and supporting actress for “In the Name of the Father.”