Awards Season Kicks Off With Gay Favorites Among SAG Nominees

Javier Bardem, Jim Parsons, Jessica Lange

Awards season got started today with nominations for the Screen Actors Guild awards, which include a nod for out actor Jim Parsons, the intriguing performance of a Bond villain, and a mixed bag for Ryan Murphy's shows.

Javier Bardem is nominated for his portrayal of a sexually charged Bond villain, Silva, who in Skyfall set off now debunked speculation that 007 himself might be bisexual.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which includes a gay character, was among the surprises on the annual list. Maggie Smith was nominated for a supporting role as Muriel Donnelly, and the cast as a whole is nominated for "Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture." Also getting nods were the casts of Argo, Silver Linings Playbook, Les Miserables and Lincoln.

Lincoln comes from out screenwriter Tony Kushner and the film's big-name actors — Tommy Lee Jones, Sally Field, and Daniel Day-Lewis — come away with a series of individual nominations.

The highly anticipated Les Miserables got acting nominations for Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean and Anne Hathaway as Fantine.  And the cast got yet another collective nomination for best "stunt ensemble," which included nods for The Amazing Spider-Man, The Bourne Legacy, The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall, from out screenwriter John Logan.

On television, the "stunt ensemble" nominations went to Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, and Sons of Anarchy, which includes a gay cop played by actor Rockmond Dunbar.

Sigourney Weaver is nominated for best performance in Political Animals as a Hillary Clinton-like character whose troubled family includes a gay son with a drug problem.

Downton Abbey's gay butler, played by Rob James-Collier, is nominated as part of the cast. Also nominated on television for a drama ensemble are Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, Homeland and Mad Men. Ryan Murphy's American Horror Story: Aslyum brought yet another acting nomination for Jessica Lange, who portrays a tough-as-nails nun who runs the place. But the show didn't get an ensemble nod. Clea DuVall plays a lesbian in this season's American Horror Story but gets a nomination as part of the cast's effort in Argo, where she played a foreign service member who tries to escape Iran during the hostage crisis.

Murphy's cast of Glee gets a nomination for its collective performance in the comedy category, which means Chris Colfer and Jane Lynch made the awards cut. Out actor Jim Parsons is nominated individually for Big Bang Theory. And the show also gets an ensemble nod, along with 30 Rock, Modern Family, Nurse Jackie, and The Office. Modern Family in particular raked in nominations for Ty Burrell, Sophia Vergara and Eric Stonestreet, who plays one of the show's lovable gay dads.

Check out the complete list from the Screen Actors Guild.