Cillian is nominated for an Oscar for best lead actor for his performance as J Robert Oppenheimer in Oppenheimer.
He is up against Bradley Cooper for Maestro, Colman Domingo for Rustin, Paul Giamatti for The Holdovers and Jeffrey Wright for American Fiction.
Speaking to Deadline after the nominations were announced, Cillian said: “I feel really privileged and I feel really lucky to be in a film that’s connected with people in a way that it has critically and commercially.
“To be in a film that people have seen three and four and five times and they come up to you and tell you that…”
Oppenheimer is leading this year’s Academy Awards with 13 nominations, closely followed by Poor Things with 11 and Killers of the Flower Moon with 10.
Oppenheimer is available to rent on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.
An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story.
