Talented Australian actress, Abbie Cornish had her hopes of receiving an Oscar for her performance in Jane Campion’s Bright Star curtailed when she failed to pick up a best actress nomination at the SAG nomination ceremony in LA. This followed her snub at the Golden Globes nomination ceremony.

Nicole Kidman has had more luck, however, and is in the running for an award at the January 23 SAG ceremony inside Los Angeles’ Shrine Exposition Centre.

Kidman, along with the all-star cast in her musical Nine, including Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Judi Dench, Sophia Loren and Fergie, were nominated for best film ensemble. They will compete for the SAG Award against the ensembles of The Hurt Locker, An Education, Inglorious Basterds and Precious.

In almost a repeat of the Golden Globe nominations and the recent Emmy Awards, Australia’s Simon Baker and Toni Collette came up big in the SAG TV categories. Baker is nominated for his role in The Mentalist and Collette is nominated for her role in United States of Tara.

Former Home and Away star Ryan Kwanten is also in the hunt for a SAG ensemble prize with the cast of his vampire TV drama True Blood nominated against the cast of Mad Men, The Good Wife, Dexter and The Closer.

George Clooney (Up in the Air), Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), Morgan Freeman (Invictus), Colin Firth (A Single Man) and Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) were nominated for SAG’s lead male actor in a film category.

The actress nominees were: Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side); Helen Mirren (The Last Station); Carey Mulligan (An Education); Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) and Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia).

The Academy Awards nominations will be revealed February 2 and winners announced at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre on March 7.

Good luck to all those nominated Aussies!