Oscar By The Numbers

By Benjamin Nugent

1,315 Number of the 5,739 Academy voters who are actors (23%), the category with the largest number of votes

364 Number of Academy voters who are directors--fewer than the number of voters who work in sound

368 Number of Academy voters who are in public relations--many of whom are likely to be involved in Oscar campaigns

5 Number of Best Picture-nominated films sent to U.S. troops in Afghanistan to cheer them up

4 Number of those that involve untimely death (murder in Gosford Park, above, and In the Bedroom, sword fights in Lord of the Rings and disease in Moulin Rouge)

35 Percentage of In the Bedroom in which Sissy Spacek is onscreen. Her Oscar nomination is in the Best Actress category

35 Percentage of A Beautiful Mind Jennifer Connelly is onscreen. She's up for Best Supporting Actress

1 Number of animated features ever nominated for Best Picture (Beauty and the Beast in 1991). This year they get their own award: Best Animated Feature

2 Number of non-Disney films among the three Animated Feature nominees (Shrek and Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius)

4 Number of recent actors turned part-time directors who won Best Director: Robert Redford (Ordinary People), Warren Beatty (Reds), Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves) and Mel Gibson (Braveheart)

3 Number of those actors' directorial efforts that also snagged Best Picture

0 Number of Oscars won by this year's Best Director nominees, Robert Altman, Ridley Scott, Peter Jackson, Ron Howard and David Lynch. Altman alone has directed more than 50 films