2008 Film Year: Oscar Winners & Nominees
The AwardWentTo archive contains 111 Academy Award records for the 2008 film year, covering 50 films and including 24 wins.
Years follow the source film eligibility/dataset year, which may differ from the ceremony calendar year. Counts describe film-linked archive records, including historical and special-award context where supplied.
Best Picture result
- ★ Slumdog MillionaireChristian Colson, Producer
5 Best Picture award records for this film year. See the full result · Best Picture history
Acting category results
Leading winning films
Ranked by winning records in this film-year selection.
- Slumdog Millionaire
8 wins from 10 award records
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
3 wins from 13 award records
- Milk
2 wins from 8 award records
- The Dark Knight
2 wins from 8 award records
- WALL-E
1 win from 6 award records
- The Reader
1 win from 5 award records
Category winners
Select a category to explore its history, or jump to this year's full records.
- ★ Milk — Harvey Milk
- ★ The Dark Knight — Joker
- ★ The Reader — Hanna Schmitz
- ★ Vicky Cristina Barcelona — Maria Elena
- ★ WALL-E
- ★ Slumdog Millionaire — Jai Ho
- ★ Milk
Nominations and award records by category
Showing 111 of 111 archive records. Gold stars mark winning records.
Best Picture
- ★ Slumdog Millionaire IMDB — Christian Colson, Producer
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button IMDB — Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
- Frost/Nixon IMDB — Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers
- Milk IMDB — Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
- The Reader IMDB — Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Donna Gigliotti and Redmond Morris, Producers
Best Actor
- ★ Milk IMDB — Sean PennHarvey Milk
- The Visitor IMDB — Richard JenkinsWalter
- Frost/Nixon IMDB — Frank LangellaRichard Nixon
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button IMDB — Brad PittBenjamin Button
- The Wrestler IMDB — Mickey RourkeRandy
Best Supporting Actor
- ★ The Dark Knight IMDB — Heath LedgerJoker
- Milk IMDB — Josh BrolinDan White
- Tropic Thunder IMDB — Robert Downey Jr.Kirk Lazarus
- Doubt IMDB — Philip Seymour HoffmanFather Brendan Flynn
- Revolutionary Road IMDB — Michael ShannonJohn Givings
Best Actress
- ★ The Reader IMDB — Kate WinsletHanna Schmitz
- Rachel Getting Married IMDB — Anne HathawayKym
- Changeling IMDB — Angelina JolieChristine Collins
- Frozen River IMDB — Melissa LeoRay Eddy
- Doubt IMDB — Meryl StreepSister Aloysius Beauvier
Best Supporting Actress
- ★ Vicky Cristina Barcelona IMDB — Penélope CruzMaria Elena
- Doubt IMDB — Amy AdamsSister James
- Doubt IMDB — Viola DavisMrs. Miller
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button IMDB — Taraji P. HensonQueenie
- The Wrestler IMDB — Marisa TomeiCassidy
Animated Feature Film
- ★ WALL-E IMDB — Andrew Stanton
- Bolt IMDB — Chris Williams and Byron Howard
- Kung Fu Panda IMDB — John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
Art Direction
- ★ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button IMDB — Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt; Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
- Changeling IMDB — Art Direction: James J. Murakami; Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
- The Dark Knight IMDB — Art Direction: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Peter Lando
- The Duchess IMDB — Art Direction: Michael Carlin; Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway
- Revolutionary Road IMDB — Art Direction: Kristi Zea; Set Decoration: Debra Schutt
Cinematography
- ★ Slumdog Millionaire IMDB — Anthony Dod Mantle
- Changeling IMDB — Tom Stern
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button IMDB — Claudio Miranda
- The Dark Knight IMDB — Wally Pfister
- The Reader IMDB — Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
Costume Design
Best Director
Documentary Feature
- ★ Man on Wire IMDB — James Marsh and Simon Chinn
- The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) IMDB — Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
- Encounters at the End of the World IMDB — Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
- The Garden IMDB — Scott Hamilton Kennedy
- Trouble the Water IMDB — Tia Lessin and Carl Deal
Documentary Short Subject
- ★ Smile Pinki IMDB — Megan Mylan
- The Conscience of Nhem En IMDB — Steven Okazaki
- The Final Inch IMDB — Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant
- The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306 IMDB — Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde
Film Editing
- ★ Slumdog Millionaire IMDB — Chris Dickens
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button IMDB — Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
- The Dark Knight IMDB — Lee Smith
- Frost/Nixon IMDB — Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
- Milk IMDB — Elliot Graham
International Feature Film
- ★ Departures IMDB — Japan
- The Baader Meinhof Complex IMDB — Germany
- The Class IMDB — France
- Revanche IMDB — Austria
- Waltz with Bashir IMDB — Israel
Makeup and Hairstyling
- ★ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button IMDB — Greg Cannom
- The Dark Knight IMDB — John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O'Sullivan
- Hellboy II: The Golden Army IMDB — Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz
Original Score
Original Song
- ★ Slumdog Millionaire IMDB — Music by A.R. Rahman; Lyric by GulzarJai Ho
- WALL-E IMDB — Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman; Lyric by Peter GabrielDown To Earth
- Slumdog Millionaire IMDB — Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya ArulpragasamO Saya
Animated Short Film
- ★ La Maison en Petits Cubes IMDB — Kunio Kato
- Lavatory - Lovestory IMDB — Konstantin Bronzit
- Oktapodi IMDB — Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
- Presto IMDB — Doug Sweetland
- This Way Up IMDB — Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes
Live Action Short Film
- ★ Spielzeugland (Toyland) IMDB — Jochen Alexander Freydank
- Auf der Strecke (On the Line) IMDB — Reto Caffi
- Manon on the Asphalt IMDB — Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont
- New Boy IMDB — Steph Green and Tamara Anghie
- The Pig IMDB — Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh
Sound Editing
- ★ The Dark Knight IMDB — Richard King
- Iron Man IMDB — Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
- Slumdog Millionaire IMDB — Glenn Freemantle and Tom Sayers
- WALL-E IMDB — Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
- Wanted IMDB — Wylie Stateman
Sound Mixing
- ★ Slumdog Millionaire IMDB — Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button IMDB — David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
- The Dark Knight IMDB — Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
- WALL-E IMDB — Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
- Wanted IMDB — Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt
Visual Effects
- ★ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button IMDB — Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
- The Dark Knight IMDB — Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
- Iron Man IMDB — John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan
Adapted Screenplay
- ★ Slumdog Millionaire IMDB — Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button IMDB — Screenplay by Eric Roth; Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
- Doubt IMDB — Written by John Patrick Shanley
- Frost/Nixon IMDB — Screenplay by Peter Morgan
- The Reader IMDB — Screenplay by David Hare
Original Screenplay
- ★ Milk IMDB — Written by Dustin Lance Black
- Frozen River IMDB — Written by Courtney Hunt
- Happy-Go-Lucky IMDB — Written by Mike Leigh
- In Bruges IMDB — Written by Martin McDonagh
- WALL-E IMDB — Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon; Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter
Nominated films and other recorded entries
50 films represented in the 2008 archive selection.
- Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
- Australia
- Bolt
- Changeling
- Defiance
- Departures
- Doubt
- Encounters at the End of the World
- Frost/Nixon
- Frozen River
- Happy-Go-Lucky
- Hellboy II: The Golden Army
- In Bruges
- Iron Man
- Kung Fu Panda
- La Maison en Petits Cubes
- Lavatory - Lovestory
- Man on Wire
- Manon on the Asphalt
- Milk
- New Boy
- Oktapodi
- Presto
- Rachel Getting Married
- Revanche
- Revolutionary Road
- Slumdog Millionaire
- Smile Pinki
- Spielzeugland (Toyland)
- The Baader Meinhof Complex
- The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
- The Class
- The Conscience of Nhem En
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- The Dark Knight
- The Duchess
- The Final Inch
- The Garden
- The Pig
- The Reader
- The Visitor
- The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306
- The Wrestler
- This Way Up
- Tropic Thunder
- Trouble the Water
- Vicky Cristina Barcelona
- WALL-E
- Waltz with Bashir
- Wanted
About these award records
This independent archive groups film-linked award records by film, credited name, category and eligibility year. The film year can differ from the year the ceremony took place. Ceremony numbers are shown where supplied by the records.
Each distinct performance, song or award credit remains a separate record, even when it belongs to the same film. Shared credits stay together. A person's page covers the name shown, without combining aliases or shared credits into a complete career total.
Totals can include honorary, special and historical awards alongside competitive nominations. Awards without a linked film are outside these page totals. Source notes and uncertain records are retained; category comparisons omit groups with unresolved notes, ties or conflicting identities.
For the official record, search the Academy Awards Database (opens in a new tab). Award Went To is an independent exploration tool and is not affiliated with the Academy.