LOS ANGELES - COMEDIAN Steve Martin and actor Alec Baldwin have been picked to co-host the upcoming 82nd Academy Awards, Oscar organisers said on Tuesday.

Martin has hosted the world's top film honours, given out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, twice before, but it's a first Baldwin, a nominee in 2003 for best supporting actor in The Cooler.

The upcoming Oscar ceremony, where annually the best performances and films are chosen by some 6,000 members of the Academy, will be held on March 7, 2010, in Los Angeles. -- REUTERS