First Cow

• Runner-up: Minari
• Runner-up: Nomadland
• Runner-up: The Trial of the Chicago 7

Chloé Zhao – Nomadland

• Runner-up: Kelly Reichardt – First Cow
• Runner-up: Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7
  • Lee Isaac Chung – Minari
  • Florian Zeller – The Father

Anthony Hopkins – The Father as Anthony

• Runner-up: John Magaro – First Cow as Otis "Cookie" Figowitz
  • Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal as Ruben Stone
  • Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey's Black Bottom as Levee Green

Frances McDormand – Nomadland as Fern

• Runner-up: Viola Davis – Ma Rainey's Black Bottom as Ma Rainey
• Runner-up: Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman as Cassandra "Cassie" Thomas
  • Carrie Coon – The Nest as Allison O'Hara
  • Elisabeth Moss – Shirley as Shirley Jackson

Paul Raci – Sound of Metal as Joe

• Runner-up: Brian Dennehy – Driveways as Del
  • Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7 as Abbie Hoffman
  • Chadwick Boseman – Da 5 Bloods as "Stormin'" Norman Earl Holloway
  • Bill Murray – On the Rocks as Felix Keane

Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm as Tutar Sagdiyev

• Runner-up: Youn Yuh-jung – Minari as Soon-ja
  • Jane Adams – She Dies Tomorrow as Jane
  • Charlene Swankie – Nomadland as Swankie

Charlie Kaufman – I'm Thinking of Ending Things

• Runner-up: Chloé Zhao – Nomadland
• Runner-up: Ruben Santiago-Hudson – Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
  • Jonathan Raymond and Kelly Reichardt – First Cow
  • Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton – The Father

Lee Isaac Chung – Minari

• Runner-up: Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7
  • Pete Docter, Mike Jones, and Kemp Powers – Soul
  • Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
  • Jack Fincher – Mank

Soul

• Runner-up: Wolfwalkers
  • Over the Moon
  • Ride Your Wave
  • The Wolf House

You Don't Nomi

• Runner-up: Dick Johnson Is Dead
  • David Byrne's American Utopia
  • Gunda
  • Time

Los Fuertes

• Runner-up: Minari
  • Dry Wind
  • The Painted Bird
  • Those Who Remained

Mangrove

• Runner-up: The Trial of the Chicago 7
  • Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
  • Minari

Donald Graham Burt and Dan Webster – Mank

• Runner-up: Adam Marshall – Lovers Rock
  • Kirby Feagan – Shirley

Erik Messerschmidt – Mank

• Runner-up: Shabier Kirchner – Lovers Rock
  • Viktor Kossakovsky and Egil Håskjold Larsen – Gunda
  • Joshua James Richards – Nomadland
  • Hoyte van Hoytema – Tenet

Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Ross – Soul

• Runner-up: Ludwig Göransson – Tenet
  • Alexandre Desplat – The Midnight Sky
  • William Tyler – First Cow

Murray Barber – Possessor

• Runner-up: Andrew Jackson – Tenet
  • Matt Kasmir and Chris Lawrence – The Midnight Sky

Promising Young Woman

• Runner-up: The Father
  • The Forty-Year-Old Version
  • Relic
  • Some Kind of Heaven

Sidney Flanigan – Never Rarely Sometimes Always as Autumn Callahan

• Runner-up: Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm as Tutar Sagdiyev
  • Marin Ireland – The Dark and the Wicked as Louise Straker
  • Lucas Jaye – Driveways as Cody
  • Odessa Young – Shirley as Rose Nemser / Paula

Enzian Theater

• Amy Seimetz
• Keisha Rae Witherspoon