Melissa Leo hurt her Oscar bid?

London, (ANI): Melissa Leo, the favourite to bag this year's Oscar for best supporting actress, may have ruined her chances of winning after admitting that she 'pimped" herself for the award. The move by Leo, who paid for a series of adverts that ask the Academy to 'consider" her, has potentially paved the way for a Helena Bonham Carter victory, only days before the Awards ceremony, reports the Telegraph.

The adverts, taken out in trade magazines, feature the 50-year-old actress in a series of glamorous outfits and poses, with the caption 'Consider...". Leo, who has already won a series of awards for the role in 'The Fighter", including a Golden Globe, told Deadline Hollywood that she did the ads after not being able to land magazine covers, despite all the praise the film was getting.

“I took matters into my own hands. I had never heard of any actor taking out an ad as themselves and I wanted to give it a shot... All I ask of Hollywood is they consider Melissa Leo. If you want to hire me, give me a shout," she said.

She also admitted that she was 'pimping" herself. Although the move is not against Oscar rules, it is thought it could now hinder her chances of winning at the weekend. The Oscar rules state that 'mailings that extol the merits of a film, an achievement or an individual are not permitted" and that 'quotes from reviews are not permitted".