England's Colin Firth is nominated for an Oscar for his lead role in brilliant movie 'A Single Man'

Colin Firth

My wish has come true. The Academy Award nominations were announced this morning and Colin Firth, hailing from Hampshire, England, was named for his leading role as gay college professor George Falconer in A Single Man. The film also stars British Matthew Goode (also currently starring in Leap Year with Amy Adams), Nicholas Hoult (Tony of the UK TV show Skins) and Julianne Moore. Firth, who married his wife Livia Giuggioli in 1997, has played a number of gay characters in his long acting career.

Colin Andrew Firth (born September 10, 1960) is an English film, television, and stage actor. Firth first gained wide public attention, especially in the U.K., for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaption of Pride and Prejudice. He subsequently achieved film stardom with the international box-office success of Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), where he co-starred with Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant. He also starred with Hugh Grant in the adorable box office hit, Love, Actually.

The 49-year-old, who lived in Winchester, England and attended Barton Peveril is up against Morgan Freeman (Invictus), Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), George Clooney (Up In The Air) and Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker). If it’s like the Golden Globes, Jeff Bridges will probably win for Crazy Heart, but he shouldn’t. All the actors nominated in this category are brilliant, but Colin Firth displayed more grief and despair in one look in this movie than all the other actors combined.

A Single Man is the story of British lecturer George Falconer, who is living in Los Angeles in 1960's America. The main focus of the movie is that George has to come to terms with the loss of his gay partner, Jim (Matthew Goode). When asked what drew him to this role on the Ellen DeGeneres show, Firth good naturedly and humbly said, “Ego. Tom Ford told me that he wrote this role specifically for me.”

Adapted from Christopher Isherwood's novel of the same name, A Single Man is Tom Ford’s, the 48-year-old Austin native's directorial debut. Ford, the American fashion designer turned Gucci poster-boy singlehandedly brought Gucci out of near bankruptcy, skyrocketing it to a $4.3 billion value in 1999.

Adam Shankman

The 82^nd Academy Awards will air on March 7, 2010 on ABC at 8:00 p.m. It is going to be co-produced by Adam Shankman (the director and choreographer of the musical Hairspray and a panel judge of Fox's So You Think You Can Dance). The show's hosting duties will be shared by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. A few more 2010 Oscar nominees include:

Actor in a Leading Role

Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart
George Clooney in Up in the Air
Colin Firth in A Single Man
Morgan Freeman in Invictus
Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker

Actor in a Supporting Role

Matt Damon in Invictus
Woody Harrelson in The Messenger
Christopher Plummer in The Last Station
Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds

Actress in a Leading Role

Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side
Helen Mirren in The Last Station
Carey Mulligan in An Education
Gabourey Sidibe in Precious, based on the novel, Push by Sapphire
Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia

Actress in a Supporting Role

Penélope Cruz in Nine
Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air
Mo’Nique in Precious, based on the novel, Push by Sapphire

Directing

Avatar - James Cameron
The Hurt Locker - Kathryn Bigelow
Inglourious Basterds - Quentin Tarantino
Precious based on the novel Push by Sapphire - Lee Daniels
Up in the Air - Jason Reitman

Best Picture

Avatar- James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
The Blind Side - Nominees to be determined
District 9 - Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
An Education - Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
The Hurt Locker - Nominees to be determined
Inglourious Basterds - Lawrence Bender, Producer
Precious: based on the novel Push by Sapphire - Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
A Serious Man - Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
Up - Jonas Rivera, Producer
Up in the Air - Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers