Three British stars will go head-to-head for this year's Best Actress Oscar, it was revealed today.

Dame Helen Mirren was nominated in the role of leading actress for her performance in The Queen along with Kate Winslet, who was listed for her role as a frustrated mother in Little Children, while Dame Judi Dench also made the shortlist for playing an embittered schoolmistress in Notes On a Scandal.

The British female trio face competition in that category from Penelope Cruz, for Volver, and Meryl Streep, who receives an Oscar nomination for the 14th time. The awards will be handed out next month.

Elsewhere, Britain's Peter O'Toole picked up his eighth Oscar nomination - and his first in 24 years - at the age 74 for his performance as an ageing actor who falls for a young woman in Venus.

Overall, the musical Dreamgirls led US contenders with eight nominations, but surprisingly was shut out in the best picture category for which it had been considered a potential front-runner. Babel was close behind with seven nominations, including best picture.

Other notable nominees were Forest Whitaker for best actor as the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland - and Eddie Murphy and the former American Idol finalist Jennifer Hudson as soulful singers in Dreamgirls.

The Queen is a contender for best film alongside Babel, The Departed, Letters From Iwo Jima and Little Miss Sunshine.

There were two British nominees for best director - Stephen Frears for The Queen and Paul Greengrass for United 93, his harrowing depiction of the last hours aboard a doomed 9/11 flight.

Sacha Baron Cohen, the creator of cult comedy Borat, is nominated for best adapted screenplay.

Speaking after the nomination, Dame Judi said that she was delighted to be shortlisted alongside Dame Helen and Ms Winslet.

"I'm very pleased. I'm in frighteningly good company. It's very nice of the Queen to allow me in for a minute," she joked.

The 72-year-old actress plays Barbara Covett, a lonely schoolteacher who reveals her malevolent side when she discovers a colleague is having an affair with a 15-year-old pupil.

"It was one of the harder parts I have played. At the end of the day I was quite glad to get back to the person I am. I had the power to do it because of Richard Eyre. He steered me through the rougher waters of it," she added.

Of her nomination for The Queen, Dame Helen said: "I would like to thank the Academy. It is a great honour to be nominated. I am so proud to be a part of this incredible film-making team and the recipient of this nomination."

"It is one of the hardest roles to play - not just a living person but one who is part of our everyday lives in Britain. Whilst her presence is with us from her image on the letters that come through our door and on the money we spend, we know so little of the woman behind the image.

"I hope that my performance has conveyed a sense of Elizabeth the woman as well as the Queen."

The Oscars will be presented at the 79th Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on February 25.

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