KEY POINTS:
LOS ANGELES - Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp, Hollywood's top-grossing leading man this year, led the field of People's Choice Award contenders announced yesterday as he snatched up three nominations.
Depp, the flamboyant buccaneer Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, was nominated
as favourite male movie star, along with Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, and clinched a separate bid as best male action star, competing in that category with Samuel L. Jackson and Jet Li.
Depp, 43, voted favourite male star last year, shared a third nomination with Pirates co-star Keira Knightley in the category for favourite on-screen match-up.
Dead Man's Chest ranks as the highest-grossing film of 2006, raking in nearly US$422 million domestically and more than US$1 billion worldwide in theatrical ticket sales.
The film was a sequel to 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which earned Depp his first Oscar nomination for his Jack Sparrow performance, one of the signature roles of his career.
Unlike the Oscars and other entertainment awards in which nominees and winners are chosen by industry peers, the People's Choice Awards are determined by the public. In previous years, polling for the awards was conducted by the Gallup Organisation.
This year and last, Web-based market research group Knowledge Networks recruited a sample of "pop culture-involved" men and women to nominate their favorites from pre-selected candidates in various categories.
The top three selections for each category became nominees, and the winners will be chosen by a majority of online votes cast at the website pcavote.com. The 33rd Annual People's Choice Awards will be presented on January 9 in a nationally televised ceremony.
Other multiple nominees this year include Halle Berry, who starred in the blockbuster, X-Men: The Last Stand, and picked up bids in two categories.
The Oscar winner faces off against Jennifer Aniston and last year's winner, Sandra Bullock, in the race for favourite female movie star. Berry's competitors in the race for favourite female action star are Kate Beckinsale and Uma Thurman.
Aniston also shared a nomination with Vince Vaughn, her off-screen paramour and co-star in The Break-Up, in the race for best on-screen match-up, while Vaughn picked up a second nomination as favourite leading man, competing with Matt Damon and Brad Pitt.
Damon and his The Departed co-stars Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio rounded out the roster of nominees in the favourite match-up category.
Country stars dominated the nominations for favourite male and female singers, with Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood, Trace Adkins, Kenny Chesney and Toby Keith among the contenders vying in those categories. Nominated for favourite musical group were Black Eyed Peas, Nickelback and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
- REUTERS