Los Angeles, Dec 11 (IANS): “Birdman” and “Boyhood” are leading the nomination pack of the 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, with four citings each.

The SAG Awards nominations were announced Wednesday.

Benedict Cumberbatch has a nomination in both the TV and movie categories, including Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-series for his performance in “Sherlock” and Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for his turn in “The Imitation Game”, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

But the 38-year-old will face tough competition from other nominees including Steve Carell, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Keaton and Eddie Redmayne in the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role category.

Even in the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role category, there will be tough fight between Jennifer Aniston, Felicity Jones, Julianne Moore, Rosamund Pike and Reese Witherspoon.

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role nominees are Robert Duvall for “The Judge”, Ethan Hawke for “Boyhood”, Edward Norton for “Birdman”, Mark Ruffalo for “Foxcatcher” and J.K. Simmons for “Whiplash”.

Patricia Arquette, Keira Knightley, Emma Stone, Meryl Streep and Naomi Watts are nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role category.

In Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture category “Birdman”, “Boyhood”, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”, “The Imitation Game” and “The Theory of Everything” will be competing with each other.

"Fury", "Get On Up", "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies", "Unbroken" and "X-Men: Days of Future Past" are nominated for the Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture category.

In the television categories, Adrien Brody, Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Jenkins, Mark Ruffalo and Billy Bob Thornton have been nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-series.

In the Best Female Actress in a Television Movie or Miniseries category, the contenders are Ellen Burstyn, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Frances McDormand, Julia Roberts and Cicely Tyson.

Actors Steve Buscemi, Peter Dinklage, Woody Harrelson, Matthew McConaughey and Kevin Spacey have been nominated for the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series category.

Amongst the females in the category are Claire Danes, Viola Davis, Julianna Margulies, Tatiana Maslany, Maggie Smith and Robin Wright.

In comedy series, Best Male Actor nominees are Ty Burrell, Louis C.K, William H. Macy, Jim Parsons and Eric Stonestreet.

Actress Amy Poehler has been nominated in the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series category with Uzo Aduba, Julie Bowen, Edie Falco and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

In the Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series category, "Boardwalk Empire", "Downton Abbey", "Game of Thrones", "Homeland" and "House of Cards" have been nominated, while contenders in the Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series category include "The Big Bang Theory", "Brooklyn Nine-Nine", "Modern Family", "Orange is the New Black" and "Veep".

The winners will be announced at a televised ceremony Jan 25, 2015, when the Screen Actors Guild 51st Annual Life Achievement Award will be bestowed to Debbie Reynolds.