Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
* Apollo 13 – Kevin Bacon, Tom Hanks, Ed Harris, Bill Paxton, Kathleen Quinlan, and Gary Sinise
Get Shorty – Danny DeVito, Dennis Farina, James Gandolfini, Gene Hackman, Delroy Lindo, David Paymer, Rene Russo, and John Travolta
How to Make an American Quilt – Maya Angelou, Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Samantha Mathis, Kate Nelligan, Winona Ryder, Jean Simmons, Lois Smith, and Alfre Woodard
Nixon – Joan Allen, Brian Bedford, Powers Boothe, Kevin Dunn, Fyvush Finkel, Annabeth Gish, Tony Goldwyn, Larry Hagman, Ed Harris, Edward Herrmann, Anthony Hopkins, Bob Hoskins, Madeline Kahn, E. G. Marshall, David Paymer, David Hyde Pierce, Paul Sorvino, Mary Steenburgen, J. T. Walsh, and James Woods
Sense and Sensibility – Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, and Kate Winslet

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
* Nicolas Cage – Leaving Las Vegas as Ben Sanderson
Anthony Hopkins – Nixon as Richard Nixon
James Earl Jones – Cry, the Beloved Country as Reverend Stephen Kumalo
Sean Penn – Dead Man Walking as Matthew Poncelet
Massimo Troisi – Il Postino: The Postman as Mario Ruoppolo

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
* Susan Sarandon – Dead Man Walking as Sister Helen Prejean
Joan Allen – Nixon as Pat Nixon
Elisabeth Shue – Leaving Las Vegas as Sera
Meryl Streep – The Bridges of Madison County as Francesca Johnson
Emma Thompson – Sense and Sensibility as Elinor Dashwood

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
* Ed Harris – Apollo 13 as Gene Kranz
Kevin Bacon – Murder in the First as Henri Young
Kenneth Branagh – Othello as Iago
Don Cheadle – Devil in a Blue Dress as Mouse Alexander
Kevin Spacey – The Usual Suspects as Roger “Verbal” Kint

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
* Kate Winslet – Sense and Sensibility as Marianne Dashwood
Stockard Channing – Smoke as Ruby McNutt
Anjelica Huston – The Crossing Guard as Mary
Mira Sorvino – Mighty Aphrodite as Linda Ash
Mare Winningham – Georgia as Georgia Flood