Golden Globe Winner Predictions: Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

The competition: Chiwetel Ejiofor’s enslaved free man (12 Years a Slave), Idris Elba’s Nelson Mandela (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom), Tom Hanks’ courageous captain (Captain Phillips), Matthew McConaughey’s AIDS-stricken drug dealer, and Robert Redford’s lone seaman (All is Lost).

For your information: Hanks is the juggernaut in this category, with four previous wins, three in this category. Redford has collected a handful of prizes – the Cecil B. DeMille Award, Best Director, World Film Favorite – Male, and Most Promising Newcomer – Male – but this is actually his first nomination in this category. Ejiofor has three previous nominations plus a TV miniseries bid this year, where he’s also nominated with Elba, who is vying for “Luther,” for which he won a Globe in 2012 when he was last nominated. The newcomer to the race is McConaughey, earning his first-ever Globe nomination. Ejiofor and Hanks are the only ones with their films nominated for Best Motion Picture – Drama.

Who should win? Hanks or Ejiofor (though I haven’t seen Elba)

Who will win? It could be Redford, but I feel like his personality and the support for his film will propel Hanks to the win.