As Hollywood prepares for its annual awards night tomorrow, Steve Pratt finds that the British have been taking Oscar home since the ceremony began over 70 years ago.

British actress Sophie Okonedo was sitting with her mother on a bench in a London art gallery when her mobile phone rang and the caller informed her that she'd been nominated for an Oscar.

It was a complete surprise as she hadn't figured in any of the pre-Academy Awards prize giving, so finding her name on the shortlist came out of the blue. "I'm still in a deep state of shock," she says weeks later.

"My mum was screaming her head off and got told off by a security guard. She told him, 'I don't give a damn because my daughter has been nominated for an Oscar'. As we left the museum, the other people gave us a round of applause."

Whether Okonedo, nominated for her role in the real life drama Hotel Rwanda, will be hearing more applause on Sunday as she steps on stage at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles to receive an Oscar remains to be seen. The best supporting actress category is always a difficult one to second guess the Academy's 5,000 or so voters.

Winner or not, Okonedo can take pride in adding her name to the ever-growing list of Brits who've been nominated for Hollywood's highest honour. Writer Colin Welland got it wrong when he held his gold-plated Oscar aloft at the 1981 ceremony and warned: "The British are coming". They were already there and had been since the birth of the movies.

His comment was made in the heat of the moment of winning the best original screenplay award for Chariots Of Fire in the year that the British film about two runners at the 1924 Olympics become the surprise winner of the best picture Oscar.

The British invasion of Tinseltown and our snatching of film awards was well under way by then. By the third ceremony for 1929/30, London-born George Arliss was collecting the best actor gong for his portrayal of the British prime minister in Disraeli. Only a few years passed before the first English picture to play successfully in the US, The Private Life Of Henry VIII, was helping Scarborough-born Charles Laughton to take best actor.

At the same 1932/33 Oscars, the best picture went to Noel Coward's Cavalcade, the epic story of an English family living through the period from 1899 to the First World War. Despite the setting and a mainly British cast, the film was actually a Hollywood production.

By the end of the 1930s, as George Bernard Shaw won best screenplay for Pygmalion and Vivien Leigh's Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With The Wind earned her best actress, the British contingent were firmly entrenched in the prize guy line-up.

The pattern was set. Every year there are a handful of Brits among the acting contenders and, once in a while, one wins. Occasionally, that endangered species, a British film, figures too.

For the actors, being a respected theatre actress or a Dame helps. Playing old, ugly or deformed is another asset. Even putting on a British accent can give an American an advantage - Gwyneth Paltrow won for Shakespeare In Love and Annette Bening is up this year for playing a British actress in Being Julia.

For some, a win marks the start of a Hollywood movie career. Judi Dench was a latecomer to films, didn't win for Mrs Brown and then carried off Oscar for a brief turn as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare In Love. Now she's in constant demand for the big screen. Another Dame, Maggie Smith, found herself in the same happy position after winning with The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie.

Winning for a comedy is rare and for a woman almost unheard of. Glenda Jackson did it, taking home an Oscar for the romantic comedy A Touch Of Class, just a couple of years after winning for Women In Love.

Elizabeth Taylor, Ben Kingsley, Julie Christie, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Paul Scofield and Jeremy Irons are among those Brits who've won Oscars and continued a happy working relationship with Hollywood. Very few go and sit by a swimming pool, waiting for work. Most use the Oscar as a sort of calling card to enable them to pick and choose projects.

At the 77th Academy Awards ceremony tomorrow, British hopes rest mainly with Mike Leigh and his much-feted drama Vera Drake. The story of a 1950s housewife who performs illegal abortions and sees a nice cup of tea as a solution to everything isn't typical Hollywood fare, but the Americans have taken to this low key drama that's already netted countless awards.

Leigh isn't the cheeriest of chaps and, if by some fluke, he does win best director, the Oscar organisers should prepare themselves for a speech that is far removed from the usual tears and thank you address.

His leading lady, Imelda Staunton, has been much praised for her portrayal of the cleaning lady Vera (although am I the only one who is reminded of Mrs Overall from Acorn Antiques?).

Entertainment Weekly magazine, in its Oscar rundown, admits that US readers probably won't have heard of Staunton before, calling her "just another of those highly respected, vaguely recognisable British actresses the Academy seems to dig (see: Judi Dench, Brenda Blethyn, Julie Walters...)".

The other British hope in the best actress category is Kate Winslet, who's fast becoming our answer to Meryl Streep. She only has to make a movie to be nominated. She's not yet 30 and has four nominations to her credit, the latest for her mad and manic Clementine in the endlessly-quirky Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. At the Baftas, she was nominated for Finding Neverland too.

Clive Owen faces stiff competition in the best supporting actor category, although his convincing turn as one of a quartet involved in sexual betrayal in Closer has made people forget his woeful King Arthur of last summer. He's already collected enough awards, including one from the Baftas, to ensure his first Oscar. If not, he can always console himself with rumours that he's going to be the next James Bond.

And so we return to Sophie Okonedo - shocked to be nominated and, if we're being honest, the least likely of the five nominees to go home with Oscar. At least she intends to enjoy herself. "I will be very happy to wear something that's nice and comfy, that my feet don't hurt and my tits don't fall out."

And the winner is...

Tradition requires that an attempt is made to predict the winners. But there's often a big difference between who will win and who should win. The best man - or woman - doesn't always go home the winner.

BEST PICTURE

Who should win: Sideways. A small but perfectly formed comedy-drama about two friends on a road trip around the Californian vineyards.

Who will win: The Aviator. Scorsese's epic about aviation and movie-making pioneer Howard Hughes.

BEST DIRECTOR

Who should win: Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby. He won't take best actor so this would ample compensation.

Who will win: Martin Scorsese, The Aviator. The sentimental vote will sway in his favour as he's never won before.

BEST ACTOR

Who should win: Jamie Foxx, Ray. There's tough competition from Depp and DiCaprio but Foxx doesn't play Ray Charles, he is Ray Charles.

Who will win: Jamie Foxx.

BEST ACTRESS

Who should win: Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby. She learnt to box and ends up paralysed, no actress could do more.

Who will win: Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Who should win: Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby. Effortless command of the screen as Eastwood's boxing buddy.

Who will win: Clive Owen, Closer. The Americans have forgiven him for his King Arthur and like a Brit talking dirty.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Who should win: Natalie Portman, Closer. Coming-of-age role for the former child star. And she makes a great pole dancer.

Who will win: Cate Blanchett, The Aviator. She does a very good impersonation of Katherine Hepburn, one of Oscar's most-nominated ladies.

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Who should win: The Incredibles, the latest and best from Pixar about a bunch of retired superheroes.

Who will win: Shrek 2 would in any other year but not against The Incredibles.