The Artist leads the nominations for the 69th Golden Globes

The contenders for the 69th annual Golden Globe Awards have been announced earlier today by the Hollywood Foreign Press, with Michel Hazanavicius' silent drama The Artist leading the nominations with nods in six categories including Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, Best Dirtector, Best Screenplay and Best Actor (Jean Dujardin). In terms of the Globes' top honours, The Artist was joined in the Best Musical or Comedy category by 50/50, Bridesmaids, Midnight in Paris and My Week with Marilyn, while the Best Drama field saw nominations for The Descendants, The Help, Hugo, The Ides of March, Moneyball and War Horse.

The Golden Globes typically have a strong bearing on the nominees for the Academy Awards and George Clooney will certainly be hoping that's the case with nominations for Best Director and Best Screenplay (The Ides of March) in addition to Best Actor - Drama (The Descendants). Clooney will contest the directing honour with Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris), Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist), Alexander Payne (The Descendants) and Martin Scorsese (Hugo), while on the acting front he finds himself up against The Ides of March co-star Ryan Gosling, who is also nominated in the Comedy or Musical category for Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Take a look at all of the Golden Globe nominations here...

Best Motion Picture - Drama
The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
The Ides of March
Moneyball
War Horse

Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical
50/50
The Artist
Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris
My Week with Marilyn

Best Director
Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris)
George Clooney (The Ides of March)
Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Alexander Payne (The Descendants)
Martin Scorsese (Hugo)

Best Actor - Drama
George Clooney (The Descendants)
Leonardo DiCaprio (J. Edgar)
Michael Fassbender (Shame)
Ryan Gosling (The Ides of March)
Brad Pitt (Moneyball)

Best Actress - Drama
Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs)
Viola Davis (The Help)
Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)
Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin)

Best Actor - Comedy or Musical
Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
Brendan Gleeson (The Guard)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (50/50)
Ryan Gosling (Crazy, Stupid, Love)
Owen Wilson (Midnight in Paris)

Best Actress - Comedy or Musical
Jodie Foster (Carnage)
Charlize Theron (Young Adult)
Kristin Wiig (Bridesmaids)
Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)
Kate Winslet (Carnage)

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn)
Albert Brooks (Drive)
Jonah Hill (Moneyball)
Viggo Mortensen (A Dangerous Method)
Christopher Plummer (Beginners)

Best Supporting Actress
Bérénice Bejo (The Artist)
Jessica Chastain (The Help)
Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs)
Octavia Spencer (The Help)
Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)

Best Screenplay
Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (The Descendants)
George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon (The Ides of March)
Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris)
Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian (Moneyball)

Best Foreign Language Film
The Flowers of War
In the Land of Blood and Honey
The Kid with a Bike
A Separation
The Skin I Live In

Best Animated Feature
The Adventures of Tintin
Arthur Christmas
Cars 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

Best Original Score
Ludovic Bource (The Artist)
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
Howard Shore (Hugo)
John Williams (War Horse)
Abel Korzeniowski (W.E.)

Best Original Song
“Lay Your Head Down” (Albert Nobbs)
“Hello Hello” (Gnomeo and Juliet)
“The Living Proof” (The Help)
“The Keeper” (Machine Gun Preacher)
“Masterpiece” (W.E.)

Best Drama TV Series
American Horror Story
Boardwalk Empire
Boss
Game of Thrones
Homeland

Best Actor - TV Drama Series
Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire)
Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)
Kelsey Grammer (Boss)
Jeremy Irons (The Borgias)
Damian Lewis (Homeland)

Best Actress - TV Drama Series
Claire Danes (Homeland)
Mireille Enos (The Killing)
Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife)
Madeleine Stowe (Revenge)
Callie Thorne (Necessary Roughness)

Best Comedy TV Series
Enlightened
Episodes
Glee
Modern Family
New Girl

Best Actor - TV Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)
David Duchovny (Californication)
Johnny Galecki (The Big Bang Theory)
Thomas Jane (Hung)
Matt LeBlanc (Episodes)

Best Actress - TV Comedy Series
Laura Dern (Enlightened)
Tina Fey (30 Rock)
Laura Linney (The C Word)
Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation)
Zooey Deschanel (The New Girl)

Best Television Series – Miniseries/Movie
Cinema Verite
Downton Abbey
The Hour
Mildred Pierce
Too Big to Fail

Best Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey)
Idris Elba (Luther)
William Hurt (Too Big to Fail)
Bill Nighy (Page Eight)
Dominic West (The Hour)

Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones)
Paul Giamatti (Too Big to Fail)
Guy Pearce (Mildred Pierce)
Tim Robbins (Cineme Verite)
Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family)

Best Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Romola Garai (The Hour)
Diane Lane (Cinema Verite)
Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey)
Emily Watson (Appropriate Adult)
Kate Winslet (Mildred Pierce)

Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-series or TV Movie
Jessica Lange (American Horror Story)
Kelly Macdonald (Boardwalk Empire)
Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey)
Sofia Vergara (Modern Family)
Evan Rachel Wood (Mildred Pierce)

The winners of the 69th Golden Globe Awards will be announced on January 15th, 2012, when Ricky Gervais hosts the ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.