'12 Years A Slave' leads 20th SAG awards nominations

Steve McQueen's "12 Years A Slave", based on the real-life story of Solomon Northup, leads the nomination pack of the 20th Screen Actor Guild awards in the film category with four nods.

The nominations were announced here Wednesday,

"August: Osage County", "The Butler" and "Dallas Buyers Club" each received three nominations for the awards.

"12 Years A Slave" has been nominated in categories like cast in a motion picture, male actor lead (Chiwetel Ejiofor), male actor supporting (Michael Fassbender) and female actor supporting (Lupita Nyong'o).

In the cast in a motion picture category, "12 Years A Slave" competes with "American Hustle", "August: Osage County", "Dallas Buyers Club" and "The Butler".

Apart from Ejiofor, those competing for the male actor lead are Bruce Dern ("Nebraska"), Tom Hanks ("Captain Phillips"), Matthew McConaughey ("Dallas Buyers Club"), and Forest Whitaker ("The Butler").

Among the nominations for the male actor supporting are Barkhad Abdi ("Captain Phillips"), Daniel Brühl (Rush"), Michael Fassbender ("12 Years a Slave"), James Gandolfini ("Enough Said") and Jared Leto ("Dallas Buyers Club").

The ones vying for the best actress lead trophy are Cate Blanchett ("Blue Jasmine"), Sandra Bullock ("Gravity"), Judi Dench ("Philomena"), Meryl Streep ("August: Osage County"), and Emma Thompson ("Saving Mr. Banks").

Jennifer Lawrence ("American Hustle"), Lupita Nyong'o ("12 Years a Slave"), Julia Roberts ("August: Osage County"), June Squibb ("Nebraska"), Oprah Winfrey ("The Butler") are in the waiting for the best actress supporting award.

The nominations for television talent were announced as well.

The awards ceremony will be held Jan 18, 2014.