Nominees announced for 2002 ALMAS

LOS ANGELES, April 17 (UPI) -- The National Council of La Raza has announced the nominations for the 2002 American Latino Media Arts (ALMA) Awards, honoring outstanding achievement by Latinos in film, television and music.

"Tortilla Soup" led in the movie categories with seven nominations, and the Showtime series "Resurrection Blvd." led in TV categories with eight.

"Tortilla Soup" -- the story of a retired Mexican-American chef in Los Angeles who has lost his sense of taste, but not his love for cooking -- was nominated for best picture. It also picked up nominations for best actor (Hector Elizondo), actress (Jacqueline Obradors), supporting actor (Paul Rodriguez), supporting actress (Elizabeth Peña), director (María Ripoll) and screenplay (Ramon Menendez, Tom Musca, Vera Blasi).

Best picture nominees "Spy Kids" and "Piñero" had five nominations each. The other best picture nominees are "Bread and Roses" (four nominations), "Crazy/Beautiful" (three) and "King of the Jungle" (three).

The other nominees for best actor in a motion picture are Antonio Banderas ("Spy Kids), Benjamin Bratt ("Piñero"), Jay Hernandez ("Crazy/Beautiful") and John Leguizamo ("King of the Jungle"). The nominees for best actress in a motion picture are Penélope Cruz ("Vanilla Sky"), Laura Elena Harring ("Mulholland Drive"), Jennifer Lopez ("Angel Eyes") and Pilar Padilla ("Bread and Roses").

In addition to best actress, Lopez was also nominated for three other ALMA awards -- best performance in a music, variety or comedy special ("Jennifer Lopez In Concert: Let's Get Loud"), best album ("J-Lo") and best female musical performer.

"Resurrection Blvd." -- a family drama combining soap opera elements with primetime production values -- was nominated for best TV series and two of its leads, Michael DeLorenzo and Tony Plana, were nominated for best actor. It was also nominated for supporting actor (Luis Avalos) and director (Norberto Barba), and three of its episodes were nominated for best script.

The other nominees for outstanding TV series are "Oz" (HBO), "Six Feet Under" (HBO) and "Strong Medicine" (Lifetime).

Eddie Cibrian of "Third Watch" (NBC), Esai Morales of "NYPD Blue" (ABC), Freddy Rodriguez of "Six Feet Under," Charlie Sheen of "Spin City" (ABC), Martin Sheen of "The West Wing" (NBC) and Wilmer Valderrama of "That '70s Show" (Fox) were also nominated for best actor in a TV series.

The nominees for best actress in a TV series are Jessica Alba of "Dark Angel" (FOX), Rosa Blasi of "Strong Medicine", Rita Moreno of "Oz," Judy Reyes of "Scrubs" (NBC), Jamie-Lynn Sigler of "The Sopranos" (HBO), Christina Vidal of "Taina" (Nickelodeon), Lisa Vidal of "The Division" (Lifetime) and Lauren Velez of "Oz."

"In the Time of the Butterflies" (Showtime), "The Princess and the Marine" (NBC) and "The Way She Moves" (VH1) were nominated for best made for television movie or mini-series.

In addition to Lopez, the nominees for outstanding performance in a music, variety or comedy special are Christina Aguilera for "The 43rd Grammy Awards" (CBS); Marc Anthony for "Christmas at Rockefeller Center" (NBC); Mariah Carey for "A Tribute to Heroes" (all networks); Los Lobos for "T'was the Night" (HBO) and Ricky Martin for "2001 Blockbuster Awards" (Fox).

Marc Anthony, Enrique Iglesias, Fat Joe and Ricky Martin were nominated for male performer of the year. In addition to Lopez, Aguilera, Shakira and Jaci Velasquez were nominated for female performer of the year.

The 2002 ALMA Awards will be presented at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on May, in ceremonies to be telecast by ABC.