Keira Knightley and Rachel Weisz up for Oliviers

Two British actresses better known for their roles in Hollywood films - Keira Knightley and Rachel Weisz - have been nominated for major London theatre awards. They have both been shortlisted for the upcoming Olivier Awards, more prestigious than the rival Evening Standard Drama Awards which have rather lost their glitter since the paper became a freesheet.

Knightley, who stars opposite Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, has been recognised for her West End debut in a modern-day adaptation of Moliere's The Misanthrope, in which she plays the glamorous Hollywood film star for whom the misanthrope - Damian Lewis - falls, despite his better instincts.

Reviews for The Misanthrope were mixed when it opened in December. Most critics gave Knightley the benefit of the doubt, though Charles Spencer of the Daily Telegraph found her "almost scarily skinny" and wanted her to be fed "a few Krispy Kreme doughnuts and a couple of McDonald's Quarterpounders with cheese".

Only Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail gave her a really lousy review, saying she had "all the charisma of a serviceable goldfish".

The Oliver Awards panel obviously thought otherwise and Knightley is up for best supporting actress against five others, including Hayley Atwell (A View From The Bridge) and Rachael Stirling (The Priory).

Rachel Weisz, star of such films as About a Boy and The Mummy, was named in the best actress category for her portrayal of heroine Blanche DuBois in the Donmar production of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire.

Weisz's reviews were almost all raves when the play opened last July. Spencer of the Telegraph, who has taken a special interest in judging Hollywood actresses' West End debuts ever since he described the 1998 appearance of a naked Nicole Kidman in The Blue Room as "theatrical Viagra", said of Weisz:

"She has had relatively little stage experience and surely, I reasoned, she was too young, and too beautiful, to play the now fading, hard-drinking and wildly promiscuous Southern belle on the edge of complete breakdown." Happily he was proved wrong: Weisz, said Spencer, rose to the challenge "magnificently".

(This was before Weisz was voted by Esquire readers in January the woman most men want to marry.)

Weisz's rivals for the best actress award include Gillian Anderson (A Doll's House), Imelda Staunton (Entertaining Mr Sloane), and Juliet Stevenson (Duet For One).

Knightley and Weisz's nominations point to the increasing dependence of West End theatres on Hollywood names to bring in the crowds. Knightley's name alone guaranteed record advance bookings at The Comedy Theatre.

Among other film stars shortlisted for Olivier acting awards - or 'Larrys' as they are known, after Laurence Olivier - are a trio up for best actor: Jude Law for his Hamlet, which played at the Donmar before he took it to New York for a sell-out season on Broadway, James Earl Jones in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and James McAvoy for Three Days Of Rain.

The winners will be announced in London on March 21. ·