- The King's Speech – Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, producers
- * Black Swan – Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, producers
- * The Fighter – David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, producers
- * Inception – Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, producers
- * The Kids Are All Right – Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, producers
- * 127 Hours – Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, producers
- * The Social Network – Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, producers
- * Toy Story 3 – Darla K. Anderson, producer
- * True Grit – Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, producers
- * Winter's Bone – Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, producers
| Tom Hooper – The King's Speech* Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan* David O. Russell – The Fighter* David Fincher – The Social Network* Joel Coen and Ethan Coen – True Grit |
| Colin Firth – The King's Speech as King George VI* Javier Bardem – Biutiful as Uxbal* Jeff Bridges – True Grit as Deputy U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn* Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network as Mark Zuckerberg* James Franco – 127 Hours as Aron Ralston | Natalie Portman – Black Swan as Nina Sayers* Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right as Dr. Nicole "Nic" Allgood* Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole as Becca Corbett* Jennifer Lawrence – Winter's Bone as Ree Dolly* Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine as Cynthia "Cindy" Heller |
| Christian Bale – The Fighter as Dicky Eklund* John Hawkes – Winter's Bone as Teardrop Dolly* Jeremy Renner – The Town as James "Jem" Coughlin* Mark Ruffalo – The Kids Are All Right as Paul Hatfield* Geoffrey Rush – The King's Speech as Lionel Logue | Melissa Leo – The Fighter as Alice Eklund-Ward* Amy Adams – The Fighter as Charlene Fleming* Helena Bonham Carter – The King's Speech as Queen Elizabeth* Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit as Mattalyn "Mattie" Ross* Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom as Janine "Smurf" Cody |
| The King's Speech – David Seidler* Another Year – Mike Leigh* The Fighter – Screenplay by Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson* Inception – Christopher Nolan* The Kids Are All Right – Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg | The Social Network – Aaron Sorkin; based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich* 127 Hours – Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy; based on the book Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston* Toy Story 3 – Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich; based on the previous films Toy Story and Toy Story 2* True Grit – Joel Coen and Ethan Coen; based on the novel by Charles Portis* Winter's Bone – Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini; based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell |
| Toy Story 3 – Directed by Lee Unkrich* How to Train Your Dragon – Directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois* The Illusionist – Directed by Sylvain Chomet | In a Better World in Danish – Susanne Bier* Biutiful in Spanish – Alejandro González Iñárritu* Dogtooth in Greek – Yorgos Lanthimos* Incendies in French – Denis Villeneuve* Outside the Law in Arabic – Rachid Bouchareb |
| Inside Job – Charles H. Ferguson and Audrey Marrs* Exit Through the Gift Shop – Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz* Gasland – Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic* Restrepo – Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger* Waste Land – Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley | Strangers No More – Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon* Killing in the Name – Jed Rothstein* Poster Girl – Sara Nesson and Mitchell W. Block* Sun Come Up – Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger* The Warriors of Qiugang – Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon |
| God of Love – Luke Matheny* The Confession – Tanel Toom* The Crush – Michael Creagh* Na Wewe – Ivan Goldschmidt* Wish 143 – Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite | The Lost Thing – Andrew Ruhemann and Shaun Tan* Day & Night – Teddy Newton* The Gruffalo – Max Lang and Jakob Schuh* Let's Pollute – Geefwee Boedoe* Madagascar, a Journey Diary – Bastien Dubois |
| The Social Network – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross* 127 Hours – A. R. Rahman* How to Train Your Dragon – John Powell* Inception – Hans Zimmer* The King's Speech – Alexandre Desplat | "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3 – Music and Lyrics by Randy Newman* "Coming Home" from Country Strong – Music and Lyrics by Tom Douglas, Hillary Lindsey and Troy Verges* "If I Rise" from 127 Hours – Music by A. R. Rahman; Lyrics by Rollo Armstrong and Dido* "I See the Light" from Tangled – Music by Alan Menken; Lyrics by Glenn Slater |
| Inception – Richard King* Toy Story 3 – Tom Myers and Michael Silvers* Tron: Legacy – Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague* True Grit – Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey* Unstoppable – Mark P. Stoeckinger | Inception – Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick* The King's Speech – Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley* Salt – Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin* The Social Network – Ren Klyce, Michael Semanick, David Parker and Mark Weingarten* True Grit – Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter Kurland |
| Alice in Wonderland – Art Direction: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara* Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 – Art Direction: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan* Inception – Art Direction: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat* The King's Speech – Art Direction: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr* True Grit – Art Direction: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh | Inception – Wally Pfister* Black Swan – Matthew Libatique* The King's Speech – Danny Cohen* The Social Network – Jeff Cronenweth* True Grit – Roger Deakins |
| The Wolfman – Rick Baker and Dave Elsey* Barney's Version – Adrien Morot* The Way Back – Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng | Alice in Wonderland – Colleen Atwood* I Am Love – Antonella Cannarozzi* The King's Speech – Jenny Beavan* The Tempest – Sandy Powell* True Grit – Mary Zophres |
| The Social Network – Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter* 127 Hours – Jon Harris* Black Swan – Andrew Weisblum* The Fighter – Pamela Martin* The King's Speech – Tariq Anwar | Inception – Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb* Alice in Wonderland – Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips* Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 – Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi* Hereafter – Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojansky and Joe Farrell* Iron Man 2 – Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Dan Sudick |