Benedict Cumberbatch and Eddie Redmayne go head-to-head for the best movie actor prize, for their respective roles as Alan Turing and Stephen Hawking.
Rosamund Pike and Felicity Jones also compete in the best actress category.
Both are newcomers to the ceremony, with Pike shortlisted for the thriller Gone Girl, and Jones for the Hawking biopic, The Theory of Everything.
But to win, they must defeat seven-time nominee Julianne Moore, who is hoping to win her first Globe, for Still Alice, in which she portrays a woman with early-onset Alzheimer's.
Moore is not the only star hoping to break a run of bad luck at the ceremony.
Emily Blunt, nominated as best actress (musical or comedy) for Into The Woods, has nothing to show for her three previous nominations.
The same is true of Patricia Arquette - who must be cursing her luck after her groundbreaking performance in Boyhood was nominated against Meryl Streep in the best supporting actress (musical or comedy) category.
Streep, who plays a wicked witch in Into The Woods, stands to win her eighth Globe (from 29 nominations) at the ceremony.
However, most observers agree that two films stand to share the majority of the awards: Boyhood, which was filmed by Richard Linklater over 12 years to capture the growing pains of a young American boy; and Birdman, the tale of a washed up movie star, shot by director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu in what appears to be a single continuous take.
Keira Knightley - best supporting actress (drama) for her role in The Imitation Game, the story of WW2 codebreaker Alan Turing.
Dame Helen Mirren - best actress (musical or comedy) for The Hundred-Foot Journey, about two rival restaurants
Ralph Fiennes - best actor (musical or comedy) for his turn as a cunning, suave concierge in The Grand Budapest Hotel
David Oyelowo - best actor (drama) who plays Martin Luther King in civil rights tale Selma,
Martin Freeman - best actor (TV miniseries) for his starring role in Fargo.
Ricky Gervais - best actor (TV comedy) for the controversial sitcom Derek
Dominic West and Ruth Wilson - best actor / actress (TV drama) for the series The Affair
The TV categories also see Downton Abbey challenge big-budget US shows like Game of Thrones and The Good Wife for the title of best TV drama.
But, to the shock of many observers, the critically-lauded advertising drama Mad Men failed to receive any nominations for its seventh, and final series.
Organised by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the Golden Globes recognise both film and television.
It is the first major show of an awards season that culminates in the Oscars next month.
The show is being hosted for the third consecutive year by comedians Amy Poehler (Parks and Rec) and Tina Fey (30 Rock).
