Updated 10:25 a.m. ET: LOS ANGELES -- The actors of drama "Lincoln," musical "Les Miserables" and comedy "Silver Linings Playbook" led nominations for the Screen Actors Guild film awards on Wednesday, winning four nominations apiece, including best ensemble cast.

Joining them among nominees for best movie cast -- the organization's top prize -- were the actors of Iranian hostage drama "Argo" and British comedy "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel."

Thriller "Zero Dark Thirty" about the U.S. hunt for Osama bin Laden was left out of the best ensemble cast picks but Jessica Chastain was nominated best actress for her performance as a CIA agent.

The awards from the Screen Actors Guild, or SAG, are among the most-watched honors during Hollywood film awards season leading up to the Academy Awards because actors make up one of the largest voting groups for the Oscars.

As a result, SAG nominees usually figure prominently on many ballots by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Oscars in February.

The SAG awards will be given out in Los Angeles on Jan. 27 in a live telecast on the TBS and TNT networks.

"Lincoln," director Steven Spielberg's movie about U.S. President Abraham Lincoln's battle to outlaw slavery, brought nominations on Wednesday for lead actor Daniel Day-Lewis and supporting actors Sally Field as his wife, and Tommy Lee Jones.

Hugh Jackman was nominated for best actor while Anne Hathaway was chosen for her supporting role in the movie adaptation of hit stage musical "Les Miserables."

Other actors nominated on Wednesday included the stars of quirky comedy "Silver Linings Playbook" -- Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert DeNiro -- and John Hawkes and Helen Hunt for the independent movie "The Sessions" about a disabled man and his sex therapist.

One of the biggest surprises was "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," the story of a group of elderly Britons who retire to a ramshackle Indian hotel. The film, which stars Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson and Bill Nighy, had two nominations - best ensemble and best supporting actress for Maggie Smith.

Smith also was nominated in SAG's television category for her role as a sarcastic aristocrat in period drama "Downton Abbey." The show also was among the picks for ensemble acting in the TV category.

Other TV drama nominations went to the casts of "Boardwalk Empire," "Homeland," "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad."

In TV comedy, old favorites "30 Rock," "Glee," "The Big Bang Theory," "Modern Family," "Nurse Jackie" and "The Office" were nominated.

Following are nominees in key film and television categories:

FILM

Best Ensemble Cast
"Argo"
"The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"
"Les Miserables"
"Lincoln"
"Silver Linings Playbook"

Best Actor
Bradley Cooper, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"
John Hawkes, "The Sessions"
Hugh Jackman, "Les Miserables"
Denzel Washington, "Flight"

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"
Marion Cotillard, "Rust and Bone"
Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Helen Mirren, "Hitchcock"
Naomi Watts, "The Impossible"

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, "Argo"
Javier Bardem, "Skyfall"
Robert De Niro, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Philip Seymour Hoffman, "The Master"
Tommy Lee Jones, "The Master"

Best Supporting Actress
Sally Field, "Lincoln"
Anne Hathaway, "Les Miserables"
Helen Hunt, "The Sessions"
Nicole Kidman, "The Paperboy"
Maggie Smith, "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"

TELEVISION

Best Ensemble Cast, Drama
"Boardwalk Empire"
"Breaking Bad"
"Downton Abbey"
"Homeland"
"Mad Men"

Best Actor, Drama
Steve Buscemi, "Boardwalk Empire"
Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"
Jeff Daniels, "The Newsroom"
Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
Damian Lewis, "Homeland"

Best Actress, Drama
Claire Danes, "Homeland"
Michelle Dockery, "Downton Abbey"
Jessica Lange, "American Horror Story: Asylum"
Julianna Margulies, "The Good Wife"
Maggie Smith, "Downton Abbey"

Best Ensemble Cast, Comedy
"30 Rock"
"The Big Bang Theory"
"Glee"
"Modern Family"
"Nurse Jackie"
"The Office"

Best Actor, Comedy
Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"
Ty Burrell, "Modern Family"
Louis C.K., "Louie"
Jim Parsons, "The Big Bang Theory"
Eric Stonestreet, "Modern Family"

Best Actress, Comedy
Edie Falco, "Nurse Jackie"
Tina Fey, "30 Rock"
Amy Poehler, "Parks and Recreation"
Sofia Vergara, "Modern Family"
Betty White, "Hot in Cleveland"

Best Actor, Television Movie/Miniseries
Kevin Costner, "Hatfields & McCoys"
Woody Harrelson, "Game Change"
Ed Harris, "Game Change"
Clive Owen, "Hemingway & Gellhorn"
Bill Paxton, "Hatfields & McCoys"

Best Actress, Television Movie/Miniseries
Nicole Kidman, "Hemingway & Gellhorn"
Julianne Moore, "Game Change"
Charlotte Rampling, "Restless"
Sigourney Weaver, "Political Animals"
Alfre Woodard, "Steel Magnolias"

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Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

The Screen Actors Guild on Sunday picked the actors in drama "The Help" as the top ensemble cast of 2011 and gave it two other awards for best lead actress and supporting actress, in a surprise over heavily favored silent movie romance "The Artist."

"The Help" earned three awards overall and "The Artist" only one for French actor Jean Dujardin as best actor in a drama for his role as a fading actor at the end of the talkies.

Dujardin seemed genuinely surprised as he held his statue, thanking the audience of A-list actors including Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Meryl Streep and Michelle Williams.

He noted that as a kid he was always a dreamer and that his teachers called him "Jean of the moon."

"I was always dreaming," he said. "I realize now that I never stopped dreaming. Thank you very much. Thank you for this dream."

Viola Davis was named best actress in a movie for civil rights-era drama "The Help," and she too talked of dreaming big as a kid and encouraged others to do so.

"Dream big and dream fierce," she said.

Others winning SAG film honors included Christopher Plummer with the first film honor for supporting actor. Plummer, 82, who plays an elderly man who reveals his homosexuality, much to the chagrin of his family, thanked his fellow actors from the stage, calling them a wacky but wonderful bunch of artists.

"I just can't tell you what fun I've had being a member of the world's second oldest profession," Plummer joked on stage. "When they honor you, it's like being lit by the holy grail. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Octavia Spencer won supporting actress in a movie with her role as a poor maid "The Help." It proved to be a surprise over Berenice Bejo of silent film romance, "The Artist."

SAG's film awards are closely watched for their impact on Oscars because actors make up the biggest voting group at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences which picks winners. The Academy Awards take place in Los Angeles on February 26.

But unlike academy voters focused on film, SAG members also pick winners in TV awards, and in that arena, "Boardwalk Empire" was named best drama series for the second straight year and "Modern Family was picked top comedy, also for the second year.

Alec Baldwin was named best actor in a TV comedy for the sixth year for his role as a TV executive on "30 Rock," and Betty White, who turned 90-year-old earlier this month, took the comedy actress trophy for a second time in "Hot in Cleveland."

An obviously surprised White acknowledged her co-stars Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick.

The win "belongs with four of us," she said, then looked at her statuette with a gleam in her eye and a joke on her mind. "I'm dealing them right-in with this. I'm not going to let them keep this, but I will let them see it."

In other TV awards, Kate Winslet was named best actress in a small-screen movie or miniseries for "Mildred Pierce," and Paul Giamatti won the trophy for actor in a movie or mini-series with "Too Big to Fail."

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.