Film: Training Day
Previous wins for role: None
Previous Oscar wins/nominations: None
Character bio: Hawke plays wide-eyed, idealistic rookie cop Jake Hoyt, who has one day only to prove himself to his fiercely charismatic superior Detective Sergeant Alonzo Harris, (Denzel Washington). Over a 24 hour period, Jake gets pulled deeper and deeper into the ethical mire of Alonzo’s questionable logic as both men put their lives and careers on the line to serve their conflicting notions of justice.
Oscar odds: Although we have seen surprise, come-from-behind wins before (remember Marisa Tomei?), it’s doubtful this will be the case this year. While Hawke proved surprisingly worthy of a nomination in Training Day, his performance is not as strong as those by of his competitors, especially Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast and Jim Broadbent in Iris. Besides, Hawke’s good and young–he has plenty of time to rack up some truly Oscar-worthy performances for the Academy to reward. —Guylaine Cadorette
