Law is a best-actor contender for "Henry V" and Hiddleston for another Shakespeare play, "Coriolanus." Dench is a best-actress nominee for her performance as the real-life inspiration for "Alice in Wonderland" in "Peter and Alice."
Dench is up against Anna Chancellor for "Private Lives," Lesley Manville for "Ghosts";and Hayley Atwell for "The Pride."
Law and Hiddleston are nominated alongside Henry Goodman for "The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui" and Rory Kinnear for "Othello."
The Olivier awards, Britain's equivalent of Broadway's Tonys, honor achievements in London theater, musicals, dance and opera.
New musical "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and Stephen Sondheim revival "Merrily We Roll Along" lead the nominations, announced Monday, with seven apiece. Musicals "Once," ''The Book of Mormon" and "The Scottsboro Boys" - all of which originated on Broadway - are nominated in six categories each.
Best new musical nominees are "The Book of Mormon"; "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"; "Once" and "The Scottsboro Boys."
The new-play category pits George Orwell adaptation "1984" against Lucy Kirkwood's geopolitics drama "Chimerica," Conor McPherson's Irish tale "The Night Alive"; and John Logan's "Peter and Alice."
Winners will be announced April 13 during a ceremony at London's Royal Opera House.
