Eddie Redmayne tipped to beat Benedict Cumberbatch to Best Actor BAFTA on Sunday

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Published: 11:15, Sat, February 7, 2015



The 33-year-old is tipped to add the gong to his trophy cabinet at the star-studded awards on Sunday.

Eddie, who has been lauded by the critics for his portrayal of scientist Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of Everything, has already won a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe for the role.

If the London-born actor finds himself victorious at the BAFTAs it should make up for his last trip to the awards.

The star missed his big moment in 2013, when he was set to present the award for original screenplay, after he was suddenly taken ill backstage.

Eddie and Benedict with J. K. Simmons

That left Lincoln star Sally Field to come on stage alone and tell the audience: "He seems to be puking his guts out back there", before giving the award to Quentin Tarantino for his western Django Unchained.

The actor had to make do with a kind word from his Les Miserables co-star Anne Hathaway who confirmed his illness when she picked up her award for Best Supporting Actress, saying: "Eddie, feel better. I would be holding your hair back, but - food poisoning is just the worst."

Eddie faces tough competition in the Best Actor category, including fellow British star Benedict Cumberbatch for his role in The Imitation Game, as well as Michael Keaton for Birdman, Ralph Fiennes for The Grand Budapest Hotel and Jake Gyllenhaal for Nightcrawler.

His on-screen wife, Felicity Jones, could triumph as well after she was nominated for the best actress award against stars including Amy Adams and Reese Witherspoon.

The film is based on the memoirs of Hawking's ex-wife Jane which deals with their relationship, his scientific success and the onset of motor neurone disease which left him severely disabled.

Felicity also faces competition from Gone Girl star Rosamund Pike and Julianne Moore for her emotional portrayal of an Alzheimer's sufferer in Still Alice.

Other nominations include nods for Keira Knightley and Imelda Staunton for best supporting actress and Steve Carell and Ethan Hawke for best supporting actor.

The awards, seen as a dry run for the Oscars, will be handed out at London's Royal Opera House.

Among the other awards presented on the night is the Rising Star, which recognises the best new talent.

Unbroken actor Jack O'Connell is among those nominated along with Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who starred in last year's period drama Belle as a mixed-race aristocrat, and Margot Robbie, who first found fame playing Donna Freedman in TV soap Neighbours and has gone on to appear in The Wolf Of Wall Street.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.express.co.uk/news/showbiz/556740/Eddie-Redmayne-beat-Benedict-Cumberbatch-Best-Actor-BAFTA

SAG (TV): TV Movie/Mini Actress - Overview

Gold Derby

Kate Winslet finally has an interesting and unusual challenge as she continues her march of awards domination. Because the Screen Actors Guild combines lead and supporting performers together, she could be competing against her "Mildred Pierce co-stars Melissa Leo, Mare Winningham, and Evan Rachel Wood for Best TV Movie/Miniseries Actress. Of these ladies, Winslet and Leo have both won SAG Awards before.

All four actresses were nominated at the recent Emmy Awards, as were other possible SAG nominees Jean Marsh ("Upstairs Downstairs"), Taraji P. Henson ("Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story"), Diane Lane ("Cinema Verite"), and Elizabeth McGovern and Maggie Smith ("Downton Abbey"). Smith took home the Emmy in the supporting actress category, while Winslet was crowned in the lead race. Other than Smith, none of these ladies has ever won at SAG.

Other possible contenders are Gillian Anderson ("Moby Dick"), Patricia Clarkson ("Five"), Anna Friel ("Neverland"), Katie Holmes ("The Kennedys"), and Leo ("The Space Between"). Anderson and Leo are the only previous SAG winners of that group.

Anna Friel (Neverland) Friel plays Elizabeth Bonny, a fierce pirate captain who wants rule Neverland forever. This is the first time eligible at an awards show for this role. She has never had a SAG nod.	Diane Lane (Cinema Verite) Lane plays Patricia Loud, the mother of a family starring in the first American reality series. She was nominated at the Emmys for this role. She has one prior SAG individual nods with no wins.	Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey) McGovern plays Cora Crawley, the Countess of Grantham. She was nominated at the Emmys for this role. She has never had a SAG nod.	Evan Rachel Wood (Mildred Pierce) Wood plays Veda Pierce, Mildred's emotional and high-strung daughter who becomes a professional singer. She was nominated at the Emmys for this role. She has one prior SAG individual nod with no wins..	Gillian Anderson (Moby Dick) Anderson plays Elizabeth, the long-suffering wife of Captain Ahab who knows little about his plans. This is the first time eligible at an awards show for this role. She has two prior SAG individual wins in six nominations and three ensemble nods with no wins.	Jean Marsh (Upstairs, Downstairs) Marsh plays Rose Buck, a woman who returns to housekeeping after running a domestic servant agency. She was nominated at the Emmys for this role. She has never had a SAG nod.
Kate Winslet (Mildred Pierce) Winslet plays Mildred Pierce, a divorced single mother who opens her own restaurant during the Great Depression. She won the Emmy Award for this role. She has two prior SAG individual wins in seven nominations and three ensemble nods with no wins.	Katie Holmes (The Kennedys) Holmes plays Jackie Kennedy, the wife of President John F. Kennedy. She was not nominated at the Emmys for this role. She has never had a SAG nod.	Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey) Smith plays Violet Crawley, the sharp-tongued Dowager Countess of Grantham. She won the Emmy Award for this role. She has one prior SAG ensemble win on her only nomination.	Mare Winningham (Mildred Pierce) Winningham plays Ida Corwin, a co-worker with Mildred who becomes one of her restaurant managers. She was nominated at the Emmys for this role. She has two prior SAG individual nods with no wins.	Melissa Leo (Mildred Pierce) Leo plays Lucy Gessler, Mildred's best friend who becomes one of the restaurant managers. She was nominated at the Emmys for this role. She has one prior SAG individual win in two nominations and one ensemble nod with no wins.	Melissa Leo (The Space Between) Leo plays Montine McLeod, a flight attendant who befriends a Pakistani boy after the events of 9/11/01. This is the first time eligible at an awards show for this role. She has one prior SAG individual win in two nominations and one ensemble nod with no wins.
Patricia Clarkson (Five) Clarkson plays Mia, a woman who gives away all her possessions after finding out she has cancer. This is the first time eligible at an awards show for this role. She has two prior SAG individual nods and three ensemble nods with no wins.	Taraji P. Henson (Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story) Henson plays Tiffany Rubin, a woman desperately trying to retrieve her son who has been abducted by her ex-husband. She was nominated at the Emmy for this role. She has one prior SAG individual nod and four ensemble nods with no wins.