Emmy nominations 2012: Nicole Kidman scores her first ever nod

Nicole as Martha Gelhorn in Hemingway and Gelhorn; Jon Hamm as Don Draper in Mad Men.

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Nicole Kidman and Judy Davis fly the flag for Australia in the 64th Primetime Emmy Award nominations announced overnight in Los Angeles.

In her first ever Emmy nomination, Nicole is up for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for her role as journalist Martha Gelhorn in Hemingway and Gelhorn.

The 44-year-old The Hours Oscar winner, currently with husband Keith Urban at their Nashville home, told the Los Angeles Times how she is celebrating the nomination.

"My husband's got the day off, so we will go and pick up our daughters from this little kind of preschool thing and then we'll go get popsicles," she said. "That sounds cheesy. But it's 90-something degrees [30-something degrees Celsius] out, so that will be our celebration."

Scoring her 11th Emmy nomination, three-time winner Judy is in the running for Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for her part in BBC spy film Page Eight.

Leading the nominations tally are 1960s advertising drama Mad Men and gothic thriller series American Horror Story, tying with 17 nods each.

Mad Men has won the Best Drama Series category four years in a row, but faces stiff competition from Downton Abbey, Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and Homeland.

Modern Family is the favourite to win Best Comedy Series for a third time, up against The Big Bang Theory, Girls, 30 Rock, Veep and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

For Best Drama Actor, the field includes Mad Men's Jon Hamm, Downton Abbey's Hugh Bonneville, Boardwalk Empire's Steve Buscemi, Dexter's Michael C. Hall, Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston, and Homeland's Damian Lewis.

For Best Drama Actress, it's a showdown between Homeland's Claire Danes, The Good Wife's Julianna Margulies, Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery, Damages' Glenn Close, Harry's Law's Kathy Bates, and Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss.