Oscar hype begins this week with the announcement of the nominations for the 69th annual Golden Globes and the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. Luise Rainer became the first actress to receive an Academy Award for her role in the 1936 biopic “The Great Ziegfeld”, playing stage performer Anna Held. Over half of the last ten Oscars for best actor or actress have been for performances in a biopic. The trend continues this year with the nominations for actors Michelle Williams, Meryl Streep, Viggo Mortensen, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio for their roles in “My Week With Marilyn”, “The Iron Lady”, “A Dangerous Method”, “Moneyball” and “J Edgar”.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher applauds the sentiments of one of her colleagues at the Conservative Party conference at Bournemouth in October 1986. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images); Actress Meryl Streep performs onstage at the Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Camps at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center on October 21, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images)

Former major league baseball player Billy Bean speaks at the Timeline for Variety's Gay Hollywood Panel held at the Silver Screen Theater in the Pacific Design Centre on March 26, 2004 in West Hollywood, California; Actor Brad Pitt arrives at premiere of Fox Searchlight Pictures' “The Tree of Life” at Bing Theatre at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on May 24, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

1935: Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) the neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis poses around 1935. (Photo by Hans Casparius/Hulton Archive/Getty Images); Actor Viggo Mortensen arrives at the Orange British Academy Film Awards at the Royal Opera House on February 10, 2008 in London, England. (Photo by Jorge Herrera/Getty Images)

1956: American film star Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jean Mortenson or Norma Jean Baker, 1926–1962) smiles on July 14, 1956. (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images); Actress Michelle Williams attends the “Blue Valentine” Photocall at the Palais des Festivals during the 63rd Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2010 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

1952: American Vice-Presidential candidate Richard Nixon (1913–1994) smiles during the New Hampshire Presidential Primary on July 11, 1952. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images); Actor Anthony Hopkins arrives at the 81st Annual Academy Awards held at Kodak Theatre on February 22, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

1930: Mahatma Gandhi (Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, 1869–1948), Indian nationalist and spiritual leader, leads the Salt March in protest against the government monopoly on salt production in 1930. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images); Actor Sir Ben Kingsley attends the 'Shutter Island' Photocall during day three of the 60th Berlin International Film Festival at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on February 13, 2010 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

1974: American boxer Muhammad Ali, formerly Cassius Clay, strikes an aggressive pose at a press conference on November 29, 1974. (Photo by Harry Dempster/Express/Getty Images); American actor Will Smith at the Royal Premiere of the film Ali in London on December 11, 2001. Smith starred as Muhammad Ali in the film. (Photo by Dave Hogan/Getty Images)

Duke of York (1895–1952), later King George VI, poses in 1924; Actor Colin Firth attends the 2010 New York Film Critics Circle Awards at Crimson on January 10, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

American contender for Middleweight title, Jake La Motta, gestures in training to meet Marcel Cerdan, the French middleweight champion at Detroit in 1949. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images); Actor Robert DeNiro attends the premiere of “Showtime” at the Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, Ca. Monday, March 11, 2002. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Abraham Lincoln, (1809–1865), the 16th President of the United States of America poses in circa 1863. (Photo by Alexander Gardner/Getty Images); Actor Daniel Day-Lewis arrives at the 80th Annual Academy Awards held at the Kodak Theatre on February 24, 2008 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)