Babel leads Golden Globes with seven nods

The multinational ensemble drama Babel led Golden Globe contenders Thursday with seven nominations, including best dramatic picture and acting honors for Brad Pitt, Adriana Garaza, and Rinko Kikuchi. Mel Gibson's bloody epic Apocalypto and Clint Eastwood's World War II saga Letters From Iwo Jima were nominated for foreign-language Golden Globes, potentially boosting their prospects for the upcoming Academy Awards. Under Globe rules Apocalypto and Letters From Iwo Jima were eligible only in the foreign-language category, not the best picture category. Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg of The Departed, Cate Blanchett for Notes on a Scandal, and Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy of Dreamgirls were among supporting actor nominees. The musical penguin tale Happy Feet, the talking-autos comedy Cars, and the spooky children's flick Monster House were nominated for best animated film of 2006. Also nominated for best dramatic picture: the Robert Kennedy story Bobby, the mob tale The Departed, the suburban drama Little Children, and the royalty-in-crisis The Queen. Film and TV nominees for the 64th annual Globes were announced in a ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. (David Germain, AP) Following are the Golden Globe nominations in the motion picture categories:

Dramatic Picture

Babel The Departed The Queen Bobby Little Children

Musical or Comedy Picture

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Dreamgirls Little Miss Sunshine The Devil Wears Prada Thank You for Smoking

Foreign-language Picture

Apocalypto (Maya) Letters From Iwo Jima (Japan) Lives of Others (Germany) Pan's Labyrinth (Mexico) Volver (Spain)

Best Director

Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima Clint Eastwood, Flags Of Our Fathers Martin Scorcese, The Departed Stephen Frears, The Queen Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Babel

Best Dramatic Actor

Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed Peter O'Toole, Venus Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

Best Dramatic Actress

Penelope Cruz, Volver Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal Maggie Gyllenhaal, SherryBaby Helen Mirren, The Queen Kate Winslet, Little Children

Best Actor, Comedy or Musical

Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Aaron Eckhart, Thank You For Smoking Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kinky Boots Will Ferrell, Stranger Than Fiction

Best Actress, Comedy or Musical

Annette Bening, Running With Scissors Toni Collette, Little Miss Sunshine Beyonce Knowles, Dreamgirls Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada Renee Zellweger, Miss Potter

Supporting Dramatic Actor

Ben Affleck, Hollywoodland Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls Jack Nicholson, The Departed Brad Pitt, Babel Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

Supporting Dramatic Actress

Adriana Barraza, Babel Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Best Screenplay, Motion Picture

Guillermo Arriaga, Babel Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, Little Children Patrick Marber, Notes on a Scandal William Monahan, The Departed Peter Morgan, The Queen

Best Original Score, Motion Picture

Alexandre Desplat, The Painted Veil Clint Mansell, The Fountain Gustavo Santaolalla, Babel Carlo Siliotto, Nomad Hans Zimmer, The Da Vinci Code

Best Original Song, Motion Picture

"A Father's Way," The Pursuit of Happyness Music by Seal and Christopher Bruce Lyrics by Seal

"Listen," Dreamgirls Music and lyrics by Henry Krieger, Anne Preven, Scott Cutler, and Beyonce Knowles

"Never Gonna Break My Faith," Bobby Music and lyrics by Bryan Adams, Eliot Kennedy, and Andrea Remanda

"The Song of the Heart," Happy Feet Music and lyrics by Prince Rogers Nelson

"Try Not to Remember," Home of the Brave Music and lyrics by Sheryl Crow

Best Television Series, Drama

24 (Fox) Imagine Television and 20th Century Fox Television in association with Real Time Productions

Big Love (HBO) Anima Sola and Playtone Productions in association with HBO Entertainment Grey's Anatomy (ABC) Touchstone Television

Heroes (NBC) NBC Universal Television Studios in association with Tailwind Productions

Lost (ABC) Touchstone Television

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Drama

Patricia Arquette, Medium

Edie Falco, The Sopranos

Evangeline Lilly, Lost

Ellen Pompeo, Grey's Anatomy

Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama

Patrick Dempsey, Grey's Anatomy

Michael C. Hall, Dexter

Hugh Laurie, House

Bill Paxton, Big Love

Kiefer Sutherland, 24

Best Television Series, Comedy or Musical

Desperate Housewives (ABC), Touchstone Television

Entourage (HBO), Leverage and Closest to the Hole Productions in association with HBO Entertainment

The Office (NBC), Deedle Dee Productions with Reveille in association with NBC Universal Television Studio

Ugly Betty (ABC), Touchstone Television

Weeds (Showtime), Showtime in association with Lionsgate Television and Tilted Productions Inc.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical

Marcia Cross, Desperate Housewives

America Ferrera, Ugly Betty

Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine

Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical

Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock

Zach Braff, Scrubs

Steve Carrell, The Office

Jason Lee, My Name Is Earl

Tony Shalhoub, Monk