Bruce Dern has emerged as one of the top contenders for the Best Actor award at the Oscars.

Dern recently won the Best Actor award for his role in Alexander Payne's "Nebraska" at the Cannes Film Festival. In recent years, previous honorees have also won Oscars and have also been nominated. In 2009 Christoph Waltz won for "Inglorious Basterds" while in 2011 Jean Dujardin won for "The Artist." Both actors went on to win the Academy Award. In 2010 Javier Bardem won the accolade at Cannes and was later nominated for the Oscar. Dern's case is also supported by the fact that Payne has led five actors to Oscar nominations for his past three films. The movie will also be released in the midst of awards season and could potentially gain traction.

Robert Redford also emerged as a heavy favorite for his role in "All is Lost." The new movie by J.C Chandor was a Cannes favorite with many pundits believing that Redford should have won a prize for his work.

Matthew McConaughey could also be a potential nominee this year. Focus Features recently acquired the highly anticipated "Dallas Buyers Cowboys" starring the thespian; McConaughey's weight loss for the role has been well-documented. The company already announced that it would release the film in December, an indication that Focus Features plans to provide the movie with a solid Oscar campaign. McConaughey also starred in "Mud," which was released in April. The film has already scored a modest $12 million at the box office and is the best reviewed film of the year with a 99% percent on Rotten Tomatoes. However its early release may hurt McConaughey's chances.

McConaughey could also lose out on a nomination if the voters are split between his two performances as they were last year for his two supporting turns in "Magic Mike" and "Bernie."

Oscar Issacs recently gained momentum after Cannes. The film won the Grand Prix and critics raved about the actor's nostalgic and comedic turn. Issacs has never been nominated but if the film continues to gain strong word of mouth, he may surprise competition.

Michael B. Jordan also continued to gain buzz for his role in "Fruitvale Station." The film won the Sundance Film Festival and Best First Feature at Cannes. With the  Oscar-winning Weinstein Company as its distributor, "Fruitvale Station" could end up being the "Beasts of the Southern Wild" of this year; "Beasts" won the top prize at Sundance and eventually earned  Best Picture and Best Director nominations from the Academy Awards.

Other performances that could potentially get nominated next year include Leonardo DiCaprio for "Wolf Of Wall Street," Chiwetel Ejiofer for Steve McQueen's "Twelve Year's a Slave," Tom Hanks for "Saving Mr. Banks," Steve Carrell for "FoxCatcher," Forest Whitaker for "The Butler," Christian Bale for "American Hustle, and Benedict Cumberbatch for "The Fifth Estate". 

First Predictions

1.       Bruce Dern-Nebraska

2.       Leonardo Dicaprio-Wolf of Wall Street

3.       Robert Redford-all is Lost

4.       Oscar Issacs-Inside Llewyn Davis

5.       Chiwetel Ejiofer-Twelve Year's a Slave

Potential Nominees

6.       Tom Hanks-Captain Phillips

7.     Tom Hanks-Saving Mr. Banks

8.     Steve Carrell-FoxCatcher

9.     Forest Whitaker-The Butler

10.    Christian Bale-American Hustle

11.   Benedict Cumberbatch-The Fifth Estate