BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role

Best Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to recognise an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.

BAFTA Award for Best Actor
The 2024 recipient: Adrien Brody
Awarded for	Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Location	United Kingdom
Presented by	British Academy of Film and Television Arts
Currently held by	Adrien Brody for The Brutalist (2024)
Website	http://www.bafta.org/

Superlatives

Superlative	Best Actor		Best Supporting Actor		Overall (including Most Promising Newcomer)
Actor with most awards	Peter Finch	5	Denholm Elliott	3	Peter Finch	5
Actor with most British Actor Awards (until 1967)	Peter Finch	3	—	—	Peter Finch	3
Actor with most Foreign Actor Awards (until 1967)	Marlon Brando	3	—	—	Marlon Brando	3
Actor with most nominations	Daniel Day-Lewis Dustin Hoffman	7	Denholm Elliott	7	Michael Caine Dustin Hoffman Laurence Olivier	8
Actor with most British Actor Award nominations (until 1967)	Laurence Olivier	6	—	—	Laurence Olivier	6
Actor with most Foreign Actor Award nominations (until 1967)	Sidney Poitier	6	—	—	Sidney Poitier	6

Winners and nominees

Ralph Richardson was the first recipient of this award winning for The Sound Barrier (1952)

From 1952 to 1967, there were two Best Actor awards: one for a British actor and another for a foreign actor. In 1968, the two prizes of British and Foreign actor were combined to create a single Best Actor award. Its current title, for Best Actor in a Leading Role, has been used since 1995.

  indicates the winner

Marlon Brando won three times for Viva Zapata! (1952), Julius Caesar (1953), and On the Waterfront (1954)

John Gielgud won for Julius Caesar (1953)

Laurence Olivier won for Richard III (1955)

Ernest Borgnine won for Marty (1955)

Peter Finch won five times in 1956, 1960, 1961, 1971, and 1976

Alec Guinness won for The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Henry Fonda won for 12 Angry Men (1957)

Sidney Poitier became the first black actor to win for The Defiant Ones (1958)^[1][2]

Peter Sellers won for I'm All Right Jack (1958)

Jack Lemmon won thrice for Some Like It Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960) and The China Syndrome (1979)

Paul Newman won for The Hustler (1961)

Peter O'Toole won for No Love for Johnnie (1961)

Burt Lancaster won twice for Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) and Atlantic City (1981)

Marcello Mastroianni won twice in Divorce Italian Style (1963), and Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1964)

Richard Burton won for The Spy Who Came in from the Cold / Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

Richard Attenborough won for Guns at Batasi / Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1968)

Lee Marvin won for The Killers / Cat Ballou (1965)

Paul Scofield won for A Man for All Seasons (1966)

Rod Steiger won twice for The Pawnbroker (1966) and In the Heat of the Night (1967)

Spencer Tracy won for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? (1968)

Dustin Hoffman won twice for Midnight Cowboy / John and Mary (1969), and Tootsie (1983)

Robert Redford won for three films in 1970

Gene Hackman won for The French Connection and The Poseidon Adventure (1972)

Walter Matthau won for Charley Varrick / Pete 'n' Tillie (1973)

Jack Nicholson won twice for The Last Detail / Chinatown (1974), and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Al Pacino won for The Godfather Part II / Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

John Hurt won for The Elephant Man (1980)

Ben Kingsley won for Gandhi (1982)

Michael Caine won for Educating Rita (1983)

Sean Connery won for The Name of the Rose (1987)

John Cleese won for A Fish Called Wanda (1988)

Daniel Day-Lewis won four times for My Left Foot (1989), Gangs of New York (2002), There Will Be Blood (2007) and Lincoln (2012)

Anthony Hopkins won thrice for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), The Remains of the Day (1993) and The Father (2020) ^[3]

Robert Downey Jr. won for Chaplin (1992)

Hugh Grant won for Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

Geoffrey Rush won for Shine (1996)

Robert Carlyle won for The Full Monty (1997)

Roberto Benigni won for Life Is Beautiful (1998)

Kevin Spacey won for American Beauty (1999)

Jamie Bell won for Billy Elliot (2000)

Russell Crowe won for A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Bill Murray won for Lost in Translation (2003)

Jamie Foxx won for Ray (2004)

Philip Seymour Hoffman won for Capote (2005)

Forest Whitaker won for The Last King of Scotland (2006)

Colin Firth won twice for A Single Man (2009) and The King's Speech (2010)

Jean Dujardin won for The Artist (2011)

Chiwetel Ejiofor won for 12 Years a Slave (2013)

Eddie Redmayne won for The Theory of Everything (2014)

Leonardo DiCaprio won for The Revenant (2015)

Casey Affleck won for Manchester by the Sea (2016)

Gary Oldman won for Darkest Hour (2017)

Rami Malek won for Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Joaquin Phoenix won for Joker (2019)

Austin Butler won for Elvis (2022)

Cillian Murphy won for Oppenheimer (2023)

Adrien Brody won for The Brutalist (2024)

1950s

Year	Actor	Films	Role (s)	Ref.
1952 (6th)	Best British Actor
	Ralph Richardson	The Sound Barrier	John Ridgefield
	Jack Hawkins	Mandy	Dick Searle
	James Hayter	The Pickwick Papers	Samuel Pickwick
	Laurence Olivier	Carrie	George Hurstwood
	Nigel Patrick	The Sound Barrier	Tony Garthwaite
	Alastair Sim	Folly to Be Wise	Captain William Paris
	Best Foreign Actor
	Marlon Brando	Viva Zapata!	Emiliano Zapata
	Humphrey Bogart	The African Queen	Charlie Allnut
	Pierre Fresnay	God Needs Men	Thomas Gourvennec
	Francesco Golisano	Miracle in Milan	Totò
	Fredric March	Death of a Salesman	Willy Loman
1953 (7th)	Best British Actor
	John Gielgud	Julius Caesar	Cassius
	Jack Hawkins	The Cruel Sea	George Ericson
	Trevor Howard	The Heart of the Matter	Harry Scobie
	Duncan Macrae	The Kidnappers	Jim MacKenzie
	Kenneth More	Genevieve	Ambrose Claverhouse
	Best Foreign Actor
	Marlon Brando	Julius Caesar	Mark Antony
	Eddie Albert	Roman Holiday	Irving Radovich
	Van Heflin	Shane	Joe Starrett
	Claude Laydu	Diary of a Country Priest	Priest of Ambricourt
	Marcel Mouloudji	We Are All Murderers	René Le Guen
	Gregory Peck	Roman Holiday	Joe Bradley
	Spencer Tracy	The Actress	Clinton Jones
1954 (8th)	Best British Actor
	Kenneth More	Doctor in the House	Richard Grimsdyke
	Maurice Denham	The Purple Plain	Blore
	Robert Donat	Lease of Life	Rev. William Thorne
	John Mills	Hobson's Choice	Will Mossop
	David Niven	Carrington V.C.	Charles "Copper" Carrington
	Donald Wolfit	Svengali	Svengali
	Best Foreign Actor
	Marlon Brando	On the Waterfront	Terry Malloy
	Neville Brand	Riot in Cell Block 11	James V. Dunn
	José Ferrer	The Caine Mutiny	Barney Greenwald
	Fredric March	Executive Suite	Loren Phineas Shaw
	James Stewart	The Glenn Miller Story	Glenn Miller
1955 (9th)	Best British Actor
	Laurence Olivier	Richard III	Richard, Duke of Gloucester
	Alfie Bass	The Bespoke Overcoat	Fender
	Alec Guinness	The Prisoner	The Cardinal
	Jack Hawkins		The Interrogator
	Kenneth More	The Deep Blue Sea	Freddie Page
	Michael Redgrave	The Night My Number Came Up	Air Mshl. Hardie
	Best Foreign Actor
	Ernest Borgnine	Marty	Marty Piletti
	James Dean (posthumous)	East of Eden	Cal Trask
	Jack Lemmon	Mister Roberts	Frank Thurlowe Pulver
	Toshiro Mifune	Seven Samurai	Kikuchiyo
	Takashi Shimura		Kambei Shimada
	Frank Sinatra	Not as a Stranger	Alfred Boone
1956 (10th)	Best British Actor
	Peter Finch	A Town Like Alice	Joe Harman
	Jack Hawkins	The Long Arm	Tom Halliday
	Kenneth More	Reach for the Sky	Douglas Bader
	Best Foreign Actor
	François Périer	Gervaise	Henri Coupeau
	Gunnar Björnstrand	Smiles of a Summer Night	Fredik Egerman
	James Dean (posthumous)	Rebel Without a Cause	Jim Stark
	Pierre Fresnay	The Unfrocked One	Maurice Morand
	William Holden	Picnic	Hal Carter
	Karl Malden	Baby Doll	Archie Lee Meighan
	Frank Sinatra	The Man with the Golden Arm	Frankie Machine
	Spencer Tracy	The Mountain	Zachary Teller
1957 (11th)	Best British Actor
	Alec Guinness	The Bridge on the River Kwai	Cmdr. Nicholson
	Peter Finch	Windom's Way	Alec Windom
	Trevor Howard	Manuela	James Prothero
	Laurence Olivier	The Prince and the Showgirl	Charles, Prince Regent of Carpathia
	Michael Redgrave	Time Without Pity	David Graham
	Best Foreign Actor
	Henry Fonda	12 Angry Men	Juror 8
	Richard Basehart	Time Limit	Maj. Harry Cargill
	Pierre Brasseur	The Gates of Paris[4]	Juju
	Tony Curtis	Sweet Smell of Success	Sidney Falco
	Jean Gabin	La Traversé de Paris	Grandgil
	Robert Mitchum	Heaven Knows, Mr Allison	Cpl. Allison
	Sidney Poitier	Edge of the City	Tommy Tyler
	Ed Wynn	The Great Man	Paul Beaseley
1958 (12th)	Best British Actor
	Trevor Howard	The Key	Chris Ford
	Michael Craig	Sea of Sand	Captain Tim Cotton
	Laurence Harvey	Room at the Top	Joe Lampton
	I. S. Johar	Harry Black	Bapu
	Anthony Quayle	Ice Cold in Alex	Captain van der Poel / Haupt. Otto Lutz
	Terry-Thomas	Tom Thumb	Ivan
	Donald Wolfit	Room at the Top	Mr. Brown
	Best Foreign Actor
	Sidney Poitier	The Defiant Ones	Noah Cullen
	Marlon Brando	The Young Lions	Christian Diestl
	Tony Curtis	The Defiant Ones	John "Joker" Jackson
	Glenn Ford	The Sheepman	Jason Sweet
	Curd Jürgens	The Enemy Below	Kapt. von Stolberg
		The Inn of the Sixth Happiness	Captain Lin Nan
	Charles Laughton	Witness for the Prosecution	Sir Wilfrid Robarts
	Paul Newman	Cat on a Hot Tin Roof	Brick Pollitt
	Victor Sjöström	Wild Strawberries	Prof. Isak Borg
	Spencer Tracy	The Last Hurrah	Frank Skeffington
1959 (13th)	Best British Actor
	Peter Sellers	I'm All Right Jack	Fred Kite
	Stanley Baker	Yesterday's Enemy	Captain Langford
	Richard Burton	Look Back in Anger	Jimmy Porter
	Peter Finch	The Nun's Story	Dr. Fortunati
	Laurence Harvey	Expresso Bongo	Johnny Jackson
	Gordon Jackson	Yesterday's Enemy	Sgt. MacKenzie
	Laurence Olivier	The Devil's Disciple	John Burgoyne
	Best Foreign Actor
	Jack Lemmon	Some Like It Hot	Jerry / "Daphne"
	Zbigniew Cybulski	Ashes and Diamonds	Maciek Chelmicki
	Jean Desailly	Maigret Sets a Trap	Marcel Maurin
	Jean Gabin		Jules Maigret
	Takashi Shimura	Living	Kanji Watanabe
	James Stewart	Anatomy of a Murder	Paul Biegler

1960s

Year	Actor	Film	Role (s)	Ref.
1960 (14th)	Best British Actor
	Peter Finch	The Trials of Oscar Wilde	Oscar Wilde
	Richard Attenborough	The Angry Silence	Tom Curtis
	Albert Finney	Saturday Night and Sunday Morning	Arthur Seaton
	John Fraser	The Trials of Oscar Wilde	Lord Alfred Douglas
	Alec Guinness	Tunes of Glory	Maj. Jock Sinclair
	John Mills		Lt. Col. Basil Barrow
	Laurence Olivier	The Entertainer	Archie Rice
	Best Foreign Actor
	Jack Lemmon	The Apartment	C. C. Baxter
	George Hamilton	Crime and Punishment U.S.A.	Robert Cole
	Burt Lancaster	Elmer Gantry	Elmer Gantry
	Fredric March	Inherit the Wind	Matthew Harrison Brady
	Yves Montand	Let's Make Love	Jean-Marc Clement / Alexander Dumas
	Spencer Tracy	Inherit the Wind	Henry Drummond
1961 (15th)	Best British Actor
	Peter Finch	No Love for Johnnie	Johnnie Byrne
	Dirk Bogarde	Victim	Melville Farr
	Best Foreign Actor
	Paul Newman	The Hustler	"Fast Eddie" Felson
	Montgomery Clift	Judgment at Nuremberg	Rudolph Petersen
	Vladimir Ivashov	Ballad of a Soldier	Pvt. Alyosha Skvortsov
	Philippe Leroy	The Night Watch	Manu Borelli
	Sidney Poitier	A Raisin in the Sun	Walter Lee Younger
	Maximilian Schell	Judgment at Nuremberg	Hans Rolfe
	Alberto Sordi	The Best of Enemies	Captain Blasi
1962 (16th)	Best British Actor
	Peter O'Toole	Lawrence of Arabia	T. E. Lawrence
	Richard Attenborough	The Dock Brief	Herbert Fowle
	Alan Bates	A Kind of Loving	Victor 'Vic' Brown
	James Mason	Lolita	Humbert Humbert
	Laurence Olivier	Term of Trial	Graham Weir
	Peter Sellers	Only Two Can Play	John Lewis
	Best Foreign Actor
	Burt Lancaster	Birdman of Alcatraz	Robert Stroud
	Jean-Paul Belmondo	Léon Morin, Priest	Léon Morin
	Kirk Douglas	Lonely are the Brave	John W. "Jack" Burns
	George Hamilton	Light in the Piazza	Fabrizio Naccarelli
	Charles Laughton	Advise and Consent	Sen. Seabright "Seeb" Cooley
	Anthony Quinn	Lawrence of Arabia	Auda ibu Tayi
	Robert Ryan	Billy Budd	John Claggart
	Georges Wilson	The Long Absence	The Tramp
1963 (17th)	Best British Actor
	Dirk Bogarde	The Servant	Hugo Barrett
	Tom Courtenay	Billy Liar	William Terrence 'Billy' Fisher
	Albert Finney	Tom Jones	Tom Jones
	Hugh Griffith		Squire Western
	Richard Harris	This Sporting Life	Frank Machin
	Best Foreign Actor
	Marcello Mastroianni	Divorce Italian Style	Ferdinando Cefalù
	Franco Citti	Accattone	Vittorio "Accattone" Cataldi
	Howard Da Silva	David and Lisa	Dr. Swinford
	Jack Lemmon	Days of Wine and Roses	Joe Clay
	Paul Newman	Hud	Hud Bannon
	Gregory Peck	To Kill a Mockingbird	Atticus Finch
1964 (18th)	Best British Actor
	Richard Attenborough [A]	Guns at Batasi / Seance on a Wet Afternoon	RSM Lauderdale / Billy Savage
	Tom Courtenay	King & Country	Pvt. Arthur Hamp
	Peter O'Toole	Becket	King Henry II
	Peter Sellers [A]	Dr. Strangelove / The Pink Panther	Gp Capt. Lionel Mandrake / President Merkin Muffley / Dr. Strangelove / Inspector Jacques Clouseau
	Best Foreign Actor
	Marcello Mastroianni	Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow	Carmine Sbaratti / Renzo / Augusto Rusconi
	Cary Grant	Charade	Peter Joshua
	Sterling Hayden	Dr. Strangelove	BG Jack D. Ripper
	Sidney Poitier	Lilies of the Field	Homer Smith
1965 (19th)	Best British Actor
	Dirk Bogarde	Darling	Robert Gold
	Harry Andrews	The Hill	RSM Wilson
	Michael Caine	The Ipcress File	Harry Palmer
	Rex Harrison	My Fair Lady	Prof. Henry Higgins
	Best Foreign Actor
	Lee Marvin [A]	Cat Ballou / The Killers	Kid Shelleen / Tim Strawn / Charlie Strom
	Jack Lemmon [A]	Good Neighbor Sam / How to Murder Your Wife	Sam Bissell / Stanley Ford
	Anthony Quinn	Zorba the Greek	Alexis Zorba
	Innokenty Smoktunovsky	Hamlet	Prince Hamlet
	Oskar Werner	Ship of Fools	Dr. Wilhelm "Willi" Schumann
1966 (20th)	Best British Actor
	Richard Burton [A]	The Spy Who Came in from the Cold / Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	Alec Leamas / George
	Michael Caine	Alfie	Alfred "Alfie" Elkins
	Ralph Richardson [A]	Doctor Zhivago / Khartoum / The Wrong Box	Alexander "Sasha" Gromeko / William Ewart Gladstone / Joseph Finsbury
	David Warner	Morgan – A Suitable Case for Treatment	Morgan Delt
	Best Foreign Actor
	Rod Steiger	The Pawnbroker	Sol Nazerman
	Jean-Paul Belmondo	Pierrot le Fou	Ferdinand Griffon / "Pierrot"
	Sidney Poitier	A Patch of Blue	Gordon Ralfe
	Oskar Werner	The Spy Who Came in from the Cold	Fiedler
1967 (21st)	Best British Actor
	Paul Scofield	A Man for All Seasons	Sir Thomas More
	Dirk Bogarde [A]	Accident / Our Mother's House	Stephen / Charlie Hook
	Richard Burton	The Taming of the Shrew	Petruchio
	James Mason	The Deadly Affair	Charles Dobbs
	Best Foreign Actor
	Rod Steiger	In the Heat of the Night	Police Chief Bill Gillespie
	Warren Beatty	Bonnie and Clyde	Clyde Barrow
	Sidney Poitier	In the Heat of the Night	Detective Virgil Tibbs
	Orson Welles	Chimes at Midnight	Sir John Falstaff
1968 (22nd)	Best Actor
	Spencer Tracy	Guess Who's Coming to Dinner	Matt Drayton
	Trevor Howard	The Charge of the Light Brigade	Lord Cardigan
	Ron Moody	Oliver!	Fagin
	Nicol Williamson	The Bofors Gun	O'Rourke
1969 (23rd)	Dustin Hoffman [A]	John and Mary / Midnight Cowboy	John / Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo
	Alan Bates	Women in Love	Rupert Birkin
	Walter Matthau [A]	Hello, Dolly! / The Secret Life of an American Wife	Horace Vandergelder / The Movie Star
	Nicol Williamson	Inadmissible Evidence	Bill Maitland

1970s

Year	Actor	Films	Role (s)	Ref.
1970 (24th)	Robert Redford [A]	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid / Downhill Racer / Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here	Sundance Kid / David Chappellet / Deputy Sheriff Christopher Cooper
	Elliott Gould [A]	Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice / MASH	Ted Henderson / Trapper John McIntyre
	Paul Newman	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid	Butch Cassidy
	George C. Scott	Patton	George S. Patton
1971 (25th)	Peter Finch	Sunday Bloody Sunday	Dr. Daniel Hirsh
	Dirk Bogarde	Death in Venice	Gustav von Aschenbach
	Albert Finney	Gumshoe	Eddie Ginley
	Dustin Hoffman	Little Big Man	Jack Crabb
1972 (26th)	Gene Hackman [A]	The French Connection / The Poseidon Adventure	Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle / Reverend Frank Scott
	Marlon Brando [A]	The Godfather / The Nightcomers	Vito Corleone / Peter Quint
	George C. Scott [A]	The Hospital / They Might Be Giants	Dr. Herbert "Herb" Bock / Justin Playfair
	Robert Shaw	Young Winston	Lord Randolph Churchill
1973 (27th)	Walter Matthau [A]	Charley Varrick / Pete 'n' Tillie	Charley Varrick / Pete
	Marlon Brando	Last Tango in Paris	Paul
	Laurence Olivier	Sleuth	Andrew Wyke
	Donald Sutherland [A]	Don't Look Now / Steelyard Blues	John Baxter / Jesse Veldini
1974 (28th)	Jack Nicholson [A]	Chinatown / The Last Detail	J.J. "Jake" Gittes / Signalman 1st Class Billy "Badass" Buddusky
	Albert Finney	Murder on the Orient Express	Hercule Poirot
	Gene Hackman	The Conversation	Harry Caul
	Al Pacino	Serpico	Frank Serpico
1975 (29th)	Al Pacino [A]	Dog Day Afternoon / The Godfather Part II	Sonny Wortzik / Michael Corleone
	Richard Dreyfuss	Jaws	Matt Hooper
	Gene Hackman [A]	French Connection II / Night Moves	Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle / Harry Moseby
	Dustin Hoffman	Lenny	Lenny Bruce
1976 (30th)	Jack Nicholson	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	R.P. McMurphy
	Robert De Niro	Taxi Driver	Travis Bickle
	Dustin Hoffman [A]	All the President's Men / Marathon Man	Carl Bernstein / Thomas "Babe" Levy
	Walter Matthau [A]	The Bad News Bears / The Sunshine Boys	Morris Buttermaker / Willy Clark
1977 (31st)	Peter Finch (posthumous)	Network	Howard Beale
	Woody Allen	Annie Hall	Alvy "Max" Singer
	William Holden	Network	Max Schumacher
	Sylvester Stallone	Rocky	Rocky Balboa
1978 (32nd)	Richard Dreyfuss	The Goodbye Girl	Elliot Garfield
	Anthony Hopkins	Magic	Corky Withers / Fats (voice)
	Brad Davis	Midnight Express	Billy Hayes
	Peter Ustinov	Death on the Nile	Hercule Poirot
1979 (33rd)	Jack Lemmon	The China Syndrome	Jack Godell
	Woody Allen	Manhattan	Isaac Davis
	Robert De Niro	The Deer Hunter	S/Sgt. Michael "Mike" Vronsky
	Martin Sheen	Apocalypse Now	Captain Benjamin L. Willard

1980s

Year	Actor	Films	Role (s)	Ref.
1980 (34th)	John Hurt	The Elephant Man	John Merrick
	Dustin Hoffman	Kramer vs. Kramer	Ted Kramer
	Roy Scheider	All That Jazz	Joe Gideon
	Peter Sellers	Being There	Chance the Gardener
1981 (35th)	Burt Lancaster	Atlantic City	Lou Pascal
	Robert De Niro	Raging Bull	Jake LaMotta
	Bob Hoskins	The Long Good Friday	Harold Shand
	Jeremy Irons	The French Lieutenant's Woman	Charles Henry Smithson / Mike
1982 (36th)	Ben Kingsley	Gandhi	Mahatma Gandhi
	Warren Beatty	Reds	John Reed
	Albert Finney	Shoot the Moon	George Dunlap
	Henry Fonda	On Golden Pond	Norman Thayer, Jr.
	Jack Lemmon	Missing	Ed Horman
1983 (37th)	Michael Caine (TIE) [B]	Educating Rita	Dr. Frank Bryant
	Dustin Hoffman (TIE) [B]	Tootsie	Michael Dorsey / Dorothy Michaels
	Michael Caine	The Honorary Consul	Charley Fortnum, Consul
	Robert De Niro	The King of Comedy	Rupert Pupkin
1984 (38th)	Haing S. Ngor	The Killing Fields	Dith Pran
	Tom Courtenay	The Dresser	Norman
	Albert Finney		Sir
	Sam Waterston	The Killing Fields	Sydney Schanberg
1985 (39th)	William Hurt	Kiss of the Spider Woman	Luis Molina
	F. Murray Abraham	Amadeus	Antonio Salieri
	Victor Banerjee	A Passage to India	Dr. Aziz Ahmed
	Harrison Ford	Witness	John Book
1986 (40th)	Bob Hoskins	Mona Lisa	George
	Woody Allen	Hannah and Her Sisters	Mickey Sachs
	Michael Caine		Elliot
	Paul Hogan	Crocodile Dundee	Michael "Crocodile" Dundee
1987 (41st)	Sean Connery	The Name of the Rose	William of Baskerville
	Gérard Depardieu	Jean de Florette	Jean Cadoret / "Jean de Florette"
	Yves Montand		César Soubeyran / Le Papet
	Gary Oldman	Prick Up Your Ears	Joe Orton
1988 (42nd)	John Cleese	A Fish Called Wanda	Archie Leach
	Michael Douglas	Fatal Attraction	Dan Gallagher
	Kevin Kline	A Fish Called Wanda	Otto West
	Robin Williams	Good Morning, Vietnam	Adrian Cronauer
1989 (43rd)	Daniel Day-Lewis	My Left Foot	Christy Brown
	Kenneth Branagh	Henry V	King Henry V
	Dustin Hoffman	Rain Man	Raymond Babbit
	Robin Williams	Dead Poets Society	John Keating

1990s

Year	Actor	Films	Role (s)	Ref.
1990 (44th)	Philippe Noiret	Cinema Paradiso	Alfredo
	Sean Connery	The Hunt for Red October	Captain Marko Ramius
	Tom Cruise	Born on the Fourth of July	Ron Kovic
	Robert De Niro	Goodfellas	Jimmy Conway
1991 (45th)	Anthony Hopkins	The Silence of the Lambs	Dr. Hannibal Lecter
	Kevin Costner	Dances with Wolves	Lt. John J. Dunbar / Dances with Wolves
	Gérard Depardieu	Cyrano de Bergerac	Cyrano de Bergerac
	Alan Rickman	Truly, Madly, Deeply	Jamie
1992 (46th)	Robert Downey Jr.	Chaplin	Charlie Chaplin
	Daniel Day-Lewis	The Last of the Mohicans	Nathaniel Poe
	Stephen Rea	The Crying Game	Fergus
	Tim Robbins	The Player	Griffin Mill
1993 (47th)	Anthony Hopkins	The Remains of the Day	James Stevens
	Daniel Day-Lewis	In the Name of the Father	Gerry Conlon
	Anthony Hopkins	Shadowlands	C. S. Lewis
	Liam Neeson	Schindler's List	Oskar Schindler
1994 (48th)	Hugh Grant	Four Weddings and a Funeral	Charles
	Tom Hanks	Forrest Gump	Forrest Gump
	Terence Stamp	The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert	Ralph / Bernadette Bassenger
	John Travolta	Pulp Fiction	Vincent Vega
1995 (49th)	Nigel Hawthorne	The Madness of King George	King George III
	Nicolas Cage	Leaving Las Vegas	Ben Sanderson
	Jonathan Pryce	Carrington	Lytton Strachey
	Massimo Troisi (posthumous)	Il Postino: The Postman	Mario Ruoppolo
1996 (50th)	Geoffrey Rush	Shine	David Helfgott
	Ralph Fiennes	The English Patient	Count Laszlo de Almásy
	Ian McKellen	Richard III	King Richard III
	Timothy Spall	Secrets & Lies	Maurice Purley
1997 (51st)	Robert Carlyle	The Full Monty	Gaz Schofield
	Billy Connolly	Mrs Brown	John Brown
	Kevin Spacey	L.A. Confidential	Jack Vincennes
	Ray Winstone	Nil by Mouth	Ray
1998 (52nd)	Roberto Benigni	Life Is Beautiful	Guido
	Michael Caine	Little Voice	Ray Say
	Joseph Fiennes	Shakespeare in Love	William Shakespeare
	Tom Hanks	Saving Private Ryan	Captain John H. Miller
1999 (53rd)	Kevin Spacey	American Beauty	Lester Burnham	[5]
	Jim Broadbent	Topsy-Turvy	W. S. Gilbert
	Russell Crowe	The Insider	Jeffrey Wigand
	Ralph Fiennes	The End of the Affair	Maurice Bendrax
	Om Puri	East is East	George Khan

2000s

Year	Actor	Films	Role (s)	Ref.
2000 (54th)	Jamie Bell	Billy Elliot	Billy Elliot	[6][7]
	Russell Crowe	Gladiator	Maximus Decimus Meridius
	Michael Douglas	Wonder Boys	Grady Tripp
	Tom Hanks	Cast Away	Chuck Noland
	Geoffrey Rush	Quills	Marquis de Sade
2001 (55th)	Russell Crowe	A Beautiful Mind	John Forbes Nash Jr.	[8]
	Jim Broadbent	Iris	John Bayley
	Ian McKellen	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring	Gandalf
	Kevin Spacey	The Shipping News	Quoyle
	Tom Wilkinson	In the Bedroom	Matt Fowler
2002 (56th)	Daniel Day-Lewis	Gangs of New York	William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting	[9]
	Adrien Brody	The Pianist	Władysław Szpilman
	Nicolas Cage	Adaptation	Charlie and Donald Kaufman
	Michael Caine	The Quiet American	Thomas Fowler
	Jack Nicholson	About Schmidt	Warren Schmidt
2003 (57th)	Bill Murray	Lost in Translation	Bob Harris	[10]
	Benicio del Toro	21 Grams	Jack Jordan
	Johnny Depp	Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl	Captain Jack Sparrow
	Jude Law	Cold Mountain	W. P. Inman
	Sean Penn	21 Grams	Paul Rivers
		Mystic River	Jimmy Markum
2004 (58th)	Jamie Foxx	Ray	Ray Charles	[11]
	Jim Carrey	Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind	Joel Barish
	Johnny Depp	Finding Neverland	J. M. Barrie
	Leonardo DiCaprio	The Aviator	Howard Hughes
	Gael García Bernal	The Motorcycle Diaries	Ernesto "Che" Guevara
2005 (59th)	Philip Seymour Hoffman	Capote	Truman Capote	[12]
	Ralph Fiennes	The Constant Gardener	Justin Quayle
	Heath Ledger	Brokeback Mountain	Ennis Del Mar
	Joaquin Phoenix	Walk the Line	Johnny Cash
	David Strathairn	Good Night, and Good Luck	Edward R. Murrow
2006 (60th)	Forest Whitaker	The Last King of Scotland	Idi Amin	[13]
	Daniel Craig	Casino Royale	James Bond
	Leonardo DiCaprio	The Departed	William "Billy" Costigan, Jr.
	Richard Griffiths	The History Boys	Hector
	Peter O'Toole	Venus	Maurice Russell
2007 (61st)	Daniel Day-Lewis	There Will Be Blood	Daniel Plainview	[14]
	George Clooney	Michael Clayton	Michael Clayton
	James McAvoy	Atonement	Robbie Turner
	Viggo Mortensen	Eastern Promises	Nikolai Luzhin
	Ulrich Mühe (posthumous)	The Lives of Others	Gerd Wiesler
2008 (62nd)	Mickey Rourke	The Wrestler	Randy "The Ram" Robinson	[15]
	Frank Langella	Frost/Nixon	Richard Nixon
	Dev Patel	Slumdog Millionaire	Jamal Malik
	Sean Penn	Milk	Harvey Milk
	Brad Pitt	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	Benjamin Button
2009 (63rd)	Colin Firth	A Single Man	George Falconer	[16]
	Jeff Bridges	Crazy Heart	Otis "Bad" Blake
	George Clooney	Up in the Air	Ryan Bingham
	Jeremy Renner	The Hurt Locker	SFC. William James
	Andy Serkis	Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll	Ian Dury

2010s

Year	Actor	Films	Role (s)	Ref.
2010 (64th)	Colin Firth	The King's Speech	King George VI	[17]
	Javier Bardem	Biutiful	Uxbal
	Jeff Bridges	True Grit	Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn
	Jesse Eisenberg	The Social Network	Mark Zuckerberg
	James Franco	127 Hours	Aron Ralston
2011 (65th)	Jean Dujardin	The Artist	George Valentin	[18]
	George Clooney	The Descendants	Matthew "Matt" King
	Michael Fassbender	Shame	Brandon Sullivan
	Gary Oldman	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	George Smiley
	Brad Pitt	Moneyball	Billy Beane
2012 (66th)	Daniel Day-Lewis	Lincoln	Abraham Lincoln	[19]
	Ben Affleck	Argo	Tony Mendez
	Bradley Cooper	Silver Linings Playbook	Patrick "Pat" Solitano, Jr.
	Hugh Jackman	Les Misérables	Jean Valjean
	Joaquin Phoenix	The Master	Freddie Quell
2013 (67th)	Chiwetel Ejiofor	12 Years a Slave	Solomon Northup	[20]
	Christian Bale	American Hustle	Irving Rosenfeld
	Bruce Dern	Nebraska	Woody Grant
	Leonardo DiCaprio	The Wolf of Wall Street	Jordan Belfort
	Tom Hanks	Captain Phillips	Captain Richard Phillips
2014 (68th)	Eddie Redmayne	The Theory of Everything	Stephen Hawking	[21]
	Benedict Cumberbatch	The Imitation Game	Alan Turing
	Ralph Fiennes	The Grand Budapest Hotel	Monsieur Gustave H.
	Jake Gyllenhaal	Nightcrawler	Louis "Lou" Bloom
	Michael Keaton	Birdman	Riggan Thomson
2015 (69th)	Leonardo DiCaprio	The Revenant	Hugh Glass	[22]
	Bryan Cranston	Trumbo	Dalton Trumbo
	Matt Damon	The Martian	Mark Watney
	Michael Fassbender	Steve Jobs	Steve Jobs
	Eddie Redmayne	The Danish Girl	Lili Elbe / Einar Wegener
2016 (70th)	Casey Affleck	Manchester by the Sea	Lee Chandler	[23]
	Andrew Garfield	Hacksaw Ridge	Desmond T. Doss
	Ryan Gosling	La La Land	Sebastian Wilder
	Jake Gyllenhaal	Nocturnal Animals	Edward Sheffield / Tony Hastings
	Viggo Mortensen	Captain Fantastic	Ben Cash
2017 (71st)	Gary Oldman	Darkest Hour	Winston Churchill	[24]
	Jamie Bell	Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool	Peter Turner
	Timothée Chalamet	Call Me by Your Name	Elio Perlman
	Daniel Day-Lewis	Phantom Thread	Reynolds Woodcock
	Daniel Kaluuya	Get Out	Chris Washington
2018 (72nd)	Rami Malek	Bohemian Rhapsody	Freddie Mercury	[25]
	Christian Bale	Vice	Dick Cheney
	Steve Coogan	Stan & Ollie	Stan Laurel
	Bradley Cooper	A Star Is Born	Jackson Maine
	Viggo Mortensen	Green Book	Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga
2019 (73rd)	Joaquin Phoenix	Joker	Arthur Fleck / Joker	[26]
	Leonardo DiCaprio	Once Upon a Time in Hollywood	Rick Dalton
	Adam Driver	Marriage Story	Charlie Barber
	Taron Egerton	Rocketman	Elton John
	Jonathan Pryce	The Two Popes	Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio

2020s

Year	Actor	Films	Role (s)	Ref.
2020 (74th)	Anthony Hopkins	The Father	Anthony	[27]
	Riz Ahmed	Sound of Metal	Ruben Stone
	Chadwick Boseman (posthumous)	Ma Rainey's Black Bottom	Levee Green
	Adarsh Gourav	The White Tiger	Balram Halwai
	Mads Mikkelsen	Another Round	Martin
	Tahar Rahim	The Mauritanian	Mohamedou Ould Salahi
2021 (75th)	Will Smith	King Richard	Richard Williams	[28]
	Adeel Akhtar	Ali & Ava	Ali
	Mahershala Ali	Swan Song	Cameron Turner
	Benedict Cumberbatch	The Power of the Dog	Phil Burbank
	Leonardo DiCaprio	Don't Look Up	Dr. Randall Mindy
	Stephen Graham	Boiling Point	Andy Jones
2022 (76th)	Austin Butler	Elvis	Elvis Presley	[29]
	Colin Farrell	The Banshees of Inisherin	Pádraic Súilleabháin
	Brendan Fraser	The Whale	Charlie
	Daryl McCormack	Good Luck to You, Leo Grande	Leo Grande / Connor
	Paul Mescal	Aftersun	Calum Patterson
	Bill Nighy	Living	Mr. Williams
2023 (77th)	Cillian Murphy	Oppenheimer	J. Robert Oppenheimer	[30]
	Bradley Cooper	Maestro	Leonard Bernstein
	Colman Domingo	Rustin	Bayard Rustin
	Paul Giamatti	The Holdovers	Paul Hunham
	Barry Keoghan	Saltburn	Oliver Quick
	Teo Yoo	Past Lives	Hae Sung
2024 (78th)	Adrien Brody	The Brutalist	László Tóth	[31]
	Timothée Chalamet	A Complete Unknown	Bob Dylan
	Colman Domingo	Sing Sing	John "Divine G" Whitfield
	Ralph Fiennes	Conclave	Thomas Cardinal Lawrence
	Hugh Grant	Heretic	Mr. Reed
	Sebastian Stan	The Apprentice	Donald Trump

Multiple nominations

7 nominations Michael Caine Daniel Day-Lewis Peter Finch Dustin Hoffman Jack Lemmon Laurence Olivier 6 nominations Marlon Brando Leonardo DiCaprio Albert Finney Sidney Poitier 5 nominations Dirk Bogarde Robert De Niro Ralph Fiennes Anthony Hopkins Spencer Tracy 4 nominations Tom Hanks Jack Hawkins Trevor Howard Kenneth More Paul Newman Peter Sellers 3 nominations Woody Allen Richard Attenborough Richard Burton George Clooney Bradley Cooper Tom Courtenay Russell Crowe Alec Guinness Gene Hackman Burt Lancaster Fredric March Walter Matthau Viggo Mortensen Jack Nicholson Gary Oldman Sean Penn Joaquin Phoenix Kevin Spacey

2 nominations Christian Bale Alan Bates Warren Beatty Jamie Bell Jean-Paul Belmondo Jeff Bridges Jim Broadbent Adrien Brody Nicolas Cage Timothée Chalamet Sean Connery Benedict Cumberbatch Tony Curtis James Dean Gérard Depardieu Johnny Depp Colman Domingo Michael Douglas Richard Dreyfuss Michael Fassbender Colin Firth Henry Fonda Pierre Fresnay Jean Gabin John Gielgud Hugh Grant Jake Gyllenhaal George Hamilton Laurence Harvey William Holden Bob Hoskins Charles Laughton James Mason Marcello Mastroianni Ian McKellen John Mills Yves Montand Al Pacino Gregory Peck Brad Pitt Jonathan Pryce Anthony Quinn Michael Redgrave Eddie Redmayne Ralph Richardson Geoffrey Rush George C. Scott Martin Sheen Takashi Shimura Frank Sinatra Rod Steiger James Stewart Robin Williams Nicol Williamson Donald Wolfit

Multiple wins

5 wins Peter Finch (2 consecutive) 4 wins Daniel Day-Lewis 3 wins Marlon Brando (3 consecutive) Anthony Hopkins Jack Lemmon (2 consecutive)

2 wins Dirk Bogarde Colin Firth (consecutive) Dustin Hoffman Burt Lancaster Marcello Mastroianni (consecutive) Jack Nicholson Rod Steiger

See also

• Academy Award for Best Actor
• Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor
• Guldbagge Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
• Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Performance
• Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Notes

A^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21} : Rules from the 1960s to the 1970s allowed for a performer to receive a single citation which could honor their work in more than one film. Richard Attenborough, Peter Sellers, Lee Marvin, Jack Lemmon, Richard Burton, Dirk Bogarde, Dustin Hoffman, Walter Matthau, Elliott Gould, Gene Hackman, Marlon Brando, George C. Scott, Donald Sutherland, Jack Nicholson, and Al Pacino were all nominated for their roles in two different films in the same category, while Ralph Richardson and Robert Redford were both nominated for three films. Matthau received dual nominations three times, with Hackman and Hoffman both accomplishing this feat twice.

B^{1 2} : Michael Caine and Dustin Hoffman received the same number of votes, resulting in both actors receiving the award, according to Academy rules.