Golden Globe nominations 2013 announced

Actresses Jessica Alba, Megan Fox and Ed Helms helped announce the Golden Globe nominations in Beverly Hills on Thursday.

Claire Danes, Damian Lewis, Maggie Smith and Michelle Dockery are among the stars nominated for awards at next years' Golden Globe awards, The Daily Mail reports.

It will be a case of Homeland vs. Downton Abbey at the ceremony, which takes place on January 13th, with the quartet leading the way.

Homeland star Claire will be taking on Downton Abbey beauty Michelle in the Best Actress in a Television Drama Series, and the pair will have to battle it out against Connie Britton for Nashville, Glenn Close for Damages and Julianna Margulies for The Good Wife.

Downton actress Dame Maggie Smith also has strong competition in her category, Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for Television, against Hayden Panettiere for Nashville, Sofia Vergara for Modern Family, Archie Panjabi for The Good Wife and Sarah Paulson for Game Change.

Homeland heartthrob Damian Lewis is nominated in the Best Actor in a Television Drama Series, but is up against Mad Men's Jon Hamm, Bryan Cranston for Breaking Bad, Jeff Daniels for The Newroom and Steve Buscemi for Boardwalk Empire.

Mandy Patinkin was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for Television for his role as Saul in Homeland, but will have to battle against Eric Stonestreet for Modern Family, Danny Huston for Magic City, Ed Harris for Game Change and Max Greenfield for New Girl.
Downton and Homeland also received nominations in the Best Drama Series category, along with Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire and The Newsroom.

Girls star Lena Dunham led the way in the Best Actress in a Television Comedy Series category for her role in Girls, while New Girl's Zooey Deschanel, Veep's Julia Louis-Dreyfus and hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poelher also received nominations.
Hatfields and McCoys' star Kevin Costner will be taking on Hemingway and Gellhorn's Clive Owen for the Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for Television, along with Benedict Cumberbatch for Sherlock, Woody Harrelson for Game Change and Toby Jones for The Girl.

Meanwhile, Sienna Miller also received a nomination for her role as Tippi Hedren in The Girl for Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for Television, but will compete against Julianne Moore for Game Change, Jessica Lang for American Horror Story: Asylum, Nicole Kidman for Hemingway and Gellhorn and Sigourney Weaver for Political Animals.
Game Change, The Girl, Hatfields and McCoys, The Hour and Political Animals will all compete to take home the Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for Television group.

The nominations were announced from the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, by Megan Fox, Jessica Alba and The Office star Ed Helms.

The Globes feature two best-film categories, one for drama and one for musical or comedy. Last year's Oscar best-picture winner, The Artist, preceded that honor with a Globe win for best musical or comedy.

But in the seven years before that, only one winner in the Globe best-picture categories - 2008's Slumdog Millionaire - followed up with an Oscar best-picture win.

Along with 14 film prizes, the Globes hand out awards in 11 television categories.

Jodie Foster, a two-time Oscar and Globe winner for The Accused and The Silence of the Lambs, will receive the group's Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement at the January 13th ceremony.

The 70th annual Golden Globes ceremony, hosted by comediennes Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, will take place on January 13, and will be broadcasted live on NBC.

Fey and Poehler follow Ricky Gervais, who was host the last three years and rubbed some Hollywood egos the wrong way with sharp wisecracks about A-list stars and the foreign press association itself.