Here is a look at some of the main contenders.
Carey Mulligan
Carey Mulligan (Ian West/PA)
Nominated for the best actress prize for her role as a traumatised woman seeking revenge in Promising Young Woman, Mulligan, 35, is no stranger to the Oscars.
She was nominated for her break-out role in Lone Scherfig’s film An Education in 2010, when she was also in the running for the Bafta rising star award.
She made her stage debut in 2004 in the play Forty Winks at the Royal Court Theatre in London and has since starred in films including Never Let Me Go, The Great Gatsby, Drive, Shame and Suffragette.