2011 Oscar winners & nominees

What's next for Oscar winners & nominees

They might have been at the most prestigious event in Hollywood on Academy Award night (watch highlights), but this year's winners and nominees won't necessarily be in Oscar mode when they next pop up on the big screen.

Many will star in new commercial films after netting their gold statuettes. We take a look at what's next for 2010.

Natalie Portman

The hardworking actress has a slew of projects coming out this year, including an appearance this April in an epic stoner comedy.opposite an Oscar co-host. The mother-to-be will also play a dowdy bespectacled grocery store clerk in an independent drama

Colin Firth

After years of romantic comedy roles, like this unforgettable one, Best Actor winner Colin Firth is skewing a little bit more commercial than the film that landed him his statuette. The English actor will next be seen in an espionage drama, an adaptation of a British spy novel in which he plays an intelligence officer suspected of being a Russian mole.

Melissa Leo

 Melissa Leo, whose role as a gritty, greedy mother earned her acting's top award and whose blurted-out profanity provided the most colorful moment of the Oscars, will make several more niche appearances on the big screen.

Christian Bale

 Christian Bale, who was honored for his portrayal of a real-life twitchy small-time boxer, has been in China shooting a part as a heroic priest in an Asian period piece. But blockbusters aren't too far from the actor's mind; Bale will reprise his infamous superhero role as the Caped Crusader

Michelle Williams

Oscar and Golden Globe nominee Michelle Williams has come a long way from "Dawson's Creek The platinum blond star is wrapping production on a British film in which she will immortalize another famous blond bombshell. She will also star in a bittersweet romance opposite a funnyman. 

Javier Bardem

Javier Bardem's haunting portrayal of a lawless yet devoted father is much more somber than his real life, in which he is married to a beautiful movie star.
 The handsome star has several movies in the works, including a rumored and long-awaited spy thriller, a heist caper and a tense suspense film based on a true story about people who escape to paradise before World War II. 

Amy Adams

Audiences saw another side of Amy Adams as a take-no-guff bartender in her Oscar-nominated role. But get ready for a childish good time in her newest family comedy about puppet characters. The three-time Academy Award nominee will also star in a portrait of the beat generation based on a famous book.

Jesse Eisenberg
If the Queens native had won, Jesse Eisenberg would have been the youngest Best Actor Oscar winner of all time (who is the youngest?). Next up for him will be an animated film about a domesticated macaw and an adventure comedy about fledgling kidnappers.

Jeremy Renner
The townie tough-guy will don spandex and a bow and arrow in an upcoming action-adventure film that brings together a team of superheroes. He's taking some physical abuse shooting a long-awaited installment of an action franchise.

Nicole Kidman

Next up for Kidman, who earned her nomination for playing a grieving mother, is a psychological thriller about a married couple held for ransom. The Academy Award winner is filming an HBO love story about a celebrated author.

Jeff Bridges

 Fresh off a Best Actor Oscar win last year, The Dude will remove his eye patch to narrate an animated biopic about a legendary filmmaker.

Hailee Steinfeld

After a series of TV roles, breakout star 15-year-old Hailee Steinfeld stunned audiences as a determined revenge-seeking daughter in the Old West. Next up will be a book-to-film project about a 16-year-old whose memory is erased every night.

Geoffrey Rush

Australian acting legend and Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush impressed as a speech therapist, and this year he'll reprise his role as a swarthy sea pirate in a Disney blockbuster franchise

Helena Bonham Carter

Helena Bonham Carter was all prim and proper in her nominated role as the queen of England, but she will be back in theaters this spring one final time as an evil witch (watch the trailer). Rumor has it she will also star in a horror tale about a vampire.

Annette Bening
Veteran actress Annette Bening had audiences fooled as an overbearing wife for her nominated role, and up next for the four-time Academy Award nominee is a 2012 film about the origin of a famous story.

Jennifer Lawrence

Newcomer Jennifer Lawrence was practically unknown before playing an Ozark teen searching for her meth-cooking father. She can be seen as a sexy shape-shifter in her next film about a group of humans with super abilities . Also, catch the 20-year-old rising star in a 2012.

John

s nominated for his role as dangerous Uncle Teardrop, he was a gunslinger on an HBO drama series. Next up this year he appears in a science-fiction thriller about a deadly disease starring some big Hollywood names.

Mark Ruffalo
The ever scruffy and lovable Mark Ruffalo is not an estranged father in real life. He will play the emotional alter ego of a physicist in a superhero film and a part in a movie about a tragic accident.

Jacki Weaver
The 63-year-old Australian star can also be seen in a 2010 film about a hitchhiking woman who finds love and adventure .Her moviemaking days are not over yet: The actress is planning a big move.