Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, producers Frost/Nixon – Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, producers Milk – Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, producers The Reader – Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Donna Gigliotti and Redmond Morris, producers | valign="top" width="50%" | Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon Gus Van Sant – Milk Stephen Daldry – The Reader |- | valign="top" | Sean Penn – Milk as Harvey Milk Richard Jenkins – The Visitor as Walter Vale Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon as Richard Nixon Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as Benjamin Button Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler as Randy "The Ram" Robinson | valign="top" | Kate Winslet – The Reader as Hanna Schmitz Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married as Kym Buchman Angelina Jolie – Changeling as Christine Collins Melissa Leo – Frozen River as Ray Eddy Meryl Streep – Doubt as Sister Aloysius Beauvier |- | valign="top" | Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight as The Joker (posthumous award) Josh Brolin – Milk as Dan White Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder as Kirk Lazarus Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt as Father Brendan Flynn Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road as John Givings Jr. | valign="top" | Penélope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona as María Elena Amy Adams – Doubt as Sister James Viola Davis – Doubt as Mrs. Miller Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as Queenie Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler as Cassidy/Pam |- | valign="top" | Milk – Dustin Lance Black Frozen River – Courtney Hunt Happy-Go-Lucky – Mike Leigh In Bruges – Martin McDonagh WALL-E – Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter | valign="top" | Slumdog Millionaire – Simon Beaufoy; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Eric Roth and Robin Swicord; Doubt – John Patrick Shanley; Frost/Nixon – Peter Morgan; The Reader – David Hare; |- | valign="top" | WALL-E – Andrew Stanton Bolt – Chris Williams and Byron Howard Kung Fu Panda – Mark Osborne and John Stevenson | valign="top" | Departures (Japan) in Japanese – Yōjirō Takita The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany) in German – Uli Edel The Class (France) in French – Laurent Cantet Revanche (Austria) in German – Götz Spielmann Waltz with Bashir (Israel) in Hebrew – Ari Folman |- | valign="top" | Man on Wire – James Marsh and