Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead

The Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead was an award presented annually at the Independent Spirit Awards to honor an actor who has delivered an outstanding lead performance in an independent film. It was first presented in 1985, with M. Emmet Walsh being the first recipient of the award for his role as Investigator Loren Visser in Blood Simple. It was last presented in 2022 with Simon Rex being the final recipient of the award for his role in Red Rocket.

Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
Presented by	Independent Spirit Awards
First award	M. Emmet Walsh Blood Simple (1986)
Final award	Simon Rex Red Rocket (2021)
Website	spiritawards.com

Jeff Bridges and Philip Seymour Hoffman are the only actors who have received this award more than once, with two wins each.

In 2022, it was announced that the four acting categories would be retired and replaced with two gender neutral categories, with both Best Male Lead and Best Female Lead merging into the Best Lead Performance category.^[1]

Winners and nominees

M. Emmet Walsh won for Blood Simple.

James Woods won for Salvador.

Dennis Quaid won for The Big Easy.

Edward James Olmos won for Stand and Deliver.

Matt Dillon won for Drugstore Cowboy.

Danny Glover won for To Sleep with Anger.

River Phoenix won for My Own Private Idaho.

Jeff Bridges has won the award for American Heart (1993) and Crazy Heart (2009).

Samuel L. Jackson won for Pulp Fiction.

Ian McKellen won for God and Monsters.

Javier Bardem won for Before Night Falls.

Bill Murray won for Lost in Translation.

Philip Seymour Hoffman has won for Capote (2005) and The Savages (2007).

Ryan Gosling won for Half Nelson (2006).

Mickey Rourke won for The Wrestler.

John Hawkes won for The Sessions.

Michael Keaton won for Birdman.

Abraham Attah won for Beasts of No Nation.

Timothée Chalamet won for Call Me by Your Name.

Ethan Hawke won for First Reformed.

Adam Sandler won for Uncut Gems.

Riz Ahmed won for Sound of Metal.

Simon Rex was the final recipient for Red Rocket.

1980s

Year	Winner and nominees	Film	Role
1985	M. Emmet Walsh	Blood Simple[2]	Investigator Loren Visser
	Rubén Blades	Crossover Dreams	Rudy Veloz
	Tom Bower	Wildrose	Rick Ogaard
	Treat Williams	Smooth Talk	Arnold Friend
1986	James Woods	Salvador	Richard Boyle
	Roberto Benigni	Down by Law	Roberto
	Willem Dafoe	Platoon	Sgt. Elias
	Dennis Hopper	Blue Velvet	Frank Booth
	Victor Love	Native Son	Bigger Thomas
1987	Dennis Quaid	The Big Easy	Det. Remy McSwain
	Spalding Gray	Swimming to Cambodia	Himself
	Terry O'Quinn	The Stepfather	Jerry Blake
	Mickey Rourke	Barfly	Henry Chinaski
	James Woods	Best Seller	Cleve
1988	Edward James Olmos	Stand and Deliver	Jaime Escalante
	Eric Bogosian	Talk Radio	Barry Champlain
	Harvey Fierstein	Torch Song Trilogy	Arnold Beckoff
	Chris Mulkey	Patti Rocks	Billy Regis
	James Woods	The Boost	Lenny Brown
1989	Matt Dillon	Drugstore Cowboy	Bob Hughes
	Nicolas Cage	Vampire's Kiss	Peter Loew
	Charles Lane	Sidewalk Stories	Artist
	Randy Quaid	Parents	Nick Laemle
	James Spader	Sex, Lies, and Videotape	Graham Dalton

1990s

Year	Winner and nominees	Film	Role
1990	Danny Glover	To Sleep with Anger	Harry
	Martin Priest	The Plot Against Harry	Harry Plotnick
	Christopher Reid	House Party	Kid
	Michael Rooker	Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer	Henry
	Christian Slater	Pump Up the Volume	Mark Hunter
1991	River Phoenix	My Own Private Idaho	Mike "Mikey" Waters
	Doug E. Doug	Hangin' with the Homeboys	Willie
	Robert Duvall	Rambling Rose	Daddy Hillyer
	Gary Oldman	Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead	Rosencrantz
	William Russ	Pastime	Roy Dean Bream
1992	Harvey Keitel	Bad Lieutenant	The Lieutenant
	Craig Chester	Swoon	Nathan Leopold, Jr.
	Laurence Fishburne	Deep Cover	Russell Stevens / John Hull
	Peter Greene	Laws of Gravity	Jimmy
	Michael Rapaport	Zebrahead	Zack
1993	Jeff Bridges	American Heart	Jack Kelson
	Vincent D'Onofrio	Household Saints	Joseph Santangelo
	Mitchell Lichtenstein	The Wedding Banquet	Simon
	Matthew Modine	Equinox	Henry Petosa / Freddy Ace
	Tyrin Turner	Menace II Society	Caine
1994	Samuel L. Jackson	Pulp Fiction	Jules Winnfield
	Sihung Lung	Eat Drink Man Woman	Chu
	William H. Macy	Oleanna	John
	Campbell Scott	Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle	Robert Benchley
	Jon Seda	I Like It Like That	Chino Linares
1995	Sean Penn	Dead Man Walking	Matthew Poncelet
	Nicolas Cage	Leaving Las Vegas	Ben Sanderson
	Tim Roth	Little Odessa	Joshua Shapira
	Jimmy Smits	My Family	Jimmy Sánchez
	Kevin Spacey	Swimming with Sharks	Buddy Ackerman
1996	William H. Macy	Fargo	Jerry Lundegaard
	Chris Cooper	Lone Star	Sheriff Sam Deeds
	Chris Penn	The Funeral	Chez
	Tony Shalhoub	Big Night	Primo
	Stanley Tucci		Secondo
1997	Robert Duvall	The Apostle	Euliss "Sonny" Dewey / The Apostle E.F.
	Peter Fonda	Ulee's Gold	Ulysses "Ulee" Jackson
	Christopher Guest	Waiting for Guffman	Corky St. Clair
	Philip Baker Hall	Hard Eight	Sydney Brown
	John Turturro	Box of Moon Light	Al Fountain
1998	Ian McKellen	Gods and Monsters	James Whale
	Dylan Baker	Happiness	Bill Maplewood
	Nick Nolte	Affliction	Wade Whitehouse
	Sean Penn	Hurlyburly	Eddie
	Courtney B. Vance	Blind Faith	John Williams
1999	Richard Farnsworth	The Straight Story	Alvin Straight
	John Cusack	Being John Malkovich	Craig Schwartz
	Terence Stamp	The Limey	Wilson
	David Strathairn	Limbo	Joe "Jumpin" Gastineau
	Noble Willingham	The Corndog Man	Ace Barker

2000s

Year	Winner and nominees	Film	Role
2000 [3]	Javier Bardem	Before Night Falls	Reinaldo Arenas
	Adrien Brody	Restaurant	Chris Calloway
	Billy Crudup	Jesus' Son	FH
	Hill Harper	The Visit	Alex Waters
	Mark Ruffalo	You Can Count on Me	Terry Prescott
2001 [4]	Tom Wilkinson	In the Bedroom	Matt Fowler
	Brian Cox	L.I.E.	Big John Harrigan
	Ryan Gosling	The Believer	Danny Balint
	Jake Gyllenhaal	Donnie Darko	Donnie Darko
	John Cameron Mitchell	Hedwig and the Angry Inch	Hansel Schmidt / Hedwig Robinson
2002 [5]	Derek Luke	Antwone Fisher	Antwone "Fish" Fisher
	Graham Greene	Skins	Mogie Yellow Lodge
	Danny Huston	Ivans Xtc	Ivan Beckman
	Jeremy Renner	Dahmer	Jeffrey Dahmer
	Campbell Scott	Roger Dodger	Roger Swanson
2003 [6]	Bill Murray	Lost in Translation	Bob Harris
	Peter Dinklage	The Station Agent	Finbar McBride
	Paul Giamatti	American Splendor	Harvey Pekar
	Ben Kingsley	House of Sand and Fog	Massoud Amir Behrani
	Lee Pace	Soldier's Girl	Calpernia Addams / Scottie
2004 [7]	Paul Giamatti	Sideways	Miles Raymond
	Kevin Bacon	The Woodsman	Walter
	Jeff Bridges	The Door in the Floor	Ted Cole
	Jamie Foxx	Redemption	Stan Tookie Williams
	Liam Neeson	Kinsey	Alfred Kinsey
2005 [8]	Philip Seymour Hoffman	Capote	Truman Capote
	Jeff Daniels	The Squid and the Whale	Bernard Berkman
	Terrence Howard	Hustle & Flow	DJay
	Heath Ledger	Brokeback Mountain	Ennis Del Mar
	David Strathairn	Good Night, and Good Luck.	Edward R. Murrow
2006 [9]	Ryan Gosling	Half Nelson	Dan Dunne
	Aaron Eckhart	Thank You for Smoking	Nick Naylor
	Edward Norton	The Painted Veil	Walter Fane
	Ahmad Razvi	Man Push Cart	Ahmad
	Forest Whitaker	American Gun	Carter
2007 [10]	Philip Seymour Hoffman	The Savages	Jon Savage
	Pedro Castaneda	August Evening	Jaime
	Don Cheadle	Talk to Me	Petey Greene
	Frank Langella	Starting Out in the Evening	Leonard Schiller
	Tony Leung	Lust, Caution	Mr. Yee
2008 [11]	Mickey Rourke	The Wrestler	Randy "The Ram" Robinson
	Javier Bardem	Vicky Cristina Barcelona	Juan Antonio Gonzalo
	Richard Jenkins	The Visitor	Walter Vale
	Sean Penn	Milk	Harvey Milk
	Jeremy Renner	The Hurt Locker	Staff Sgt. First Class William James
2009 [12]	Jeff Bridges	Crazy Heart	Otis "Bad" Blake
	Colin Firth	A Single Man	George Falconer
	Joseph Gordon-Levitt	(500) Days of Summer	Tom Hansen
	Souleymane Sy Savane	Goodbye Solo	Solo
	Adam Scott	The Vicious Kind	Caleb Sinclaire

2010s

Year	Winner and nominees	Film	Role
2010 [13]	James Franco	127 Hours	Aron Ralston
	Ronald Bronstein	Daddy Longlegs	Lenny Sokol
	Aaron Eckhart	Rabbit Hole	Howie Corbett
	John C. Reilly	Cyrus	John Kilpatrick
	Ben Stiller	Greenberg	Roger Greenberg
2011 [14]	Jean Dujardin	The Artist	George Valentin
	Demián Bichir	A Better Life	Carlos Galindo
	Ryan Gosling	Drive	Driver
	Woody Harrelson	Rampart	Dave Brown
	Michael Shannon	Take Shelter	Curtis LaForche
2012 [15]	John Hawkes	The Sessions	Mark O'Brien
	Jack Black	Bernie	Bernie Tiede
	Bradley Cooper	Silver Linings Playbook	Patrick "Pat" Solitano, Jr.
	Thure Lindhardt	Keep the Lights On	Erik
	Matthew McConaughey	Killer Joe	Joe "Killer" Cooper
	Wendell Pierce	Four	Joe
2013 [16]	Matthew McConaughey	Dallas Buyers Club	Ron Woodroof
	Bruce Dern	Nebraska	Woody Grant
	Chiwetel Ejiofor	12 Years a Slave	Solomon Northup
	Oscar Isaac	Inside Llewyn Davis	Llewyn Davis
	Michael B. Jordan	Fruitvale Station	Oscar Grant III
	Robert Redford	All Is Lost	Our Man
2014 [17]	Michael Keaton	Birdman	Riggan Thomson
	André 3000	Jimi: All Is by My Side	Jimi Hendrix
	Jake Gyllenhaal	Nightcrawler	Louis "Lou" Bloom
	John Lithgow	Love Is Strange	Ben
	David Oyelowo	Selma	Martin Luther King Jr.
2015 [18]	Abraham Attah	Beasts of No Nation	Agu
	Christopher Abbott	James White	James White
	Ben Mendelsohn	Mississippi Grind	Gerry
	Jason Segel	The End of the Tour	David Foster Wallace
	Koudous Seihon	Mediterranea	Aviva
2016 [19]	Casey Affleck	Manchester by the Sea	Lee Chandler
	David Harewood	Free in Deed	Abe Wilkins
	Viggo Mortensen	Captain Fantastic	Ben Cash
	Jesse Plemons	Other People	David Mulcahey
	Tim Roth	Chronic	David Wilson
2017 [20]	Timothée Chalamet	Call Me by Your Name	Elio Perlman
	Harris Dickinson	Beach Rats	Frankie
	James Franco	The Disaster Artist	Tommy Wiseau
	Daniel Kaluuya	Get Out	Chris Washington
	Robert Pattinson	Good Time	Constantine "Connie" Nikas
2018 [21]	Ethan Hawke	First Reformed	Ernst Toller
	John Cho	Searching	David Kim
	Daveed Diggs	Blindspotting	Collin Hoskins
	Christian Malheiros	Sócrates	Sócrates
	Joaquin Phoenix	You Were Never Really Here	Joe
2019 [22]	Adam Sandler	Uncut Gems	Howard Ratner
	Chris Galust	Give Me Liberty	Vic
	Kelvin Harrison Jr.	Luce	Luce Edgar
	Robert Pattinson	The Lighthouse	Thomas Howard
	Matthias Schoenaerts	The Mustang	Roman Coleman

2020s

Year	Winner and nominees	Film	Role
2020 [23][24]	Riz Ahmed	Sound of Metal	Ruben Stone
	Chadwick Boseman (posthumous)	Ma Rainey's Black Bottom	Levee Green
	Adarsh Gourav	The White Tiger	Balram Halwai
	Rob Morgan	Bull	Abe
	Steven Yeun	Minari	Jacob Yi
2021 [25]	Simon Rex	Red Rocket	Mikey Saber
	Clifton Collins Jr.	Jockey	Jackson Silva
	Frankie Faison	The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain	Kenneth Chamberlain Sr.
	Michael Greyeyes	Wild Indian	Makwa ("Michael Peterson")
	Udo Kier	Swan Song	Pat Pitsenbarger

Multiple nominees

2 nominations Javier Bardem Nicolas Cage Robert Duvall Aaron Eckhart James Franco Paul Giamatti Jake Gyllenhaal Philip Seymour Hoffman William H. Macy Matthew McConaughey Robert Pattinson Jeremy Renner Tim Roth Mickey Rourke Campbell Scott David Strathairn

3 nominations Jeff Bridges Ryan Gosling Sean Penn James Woods

Multiple winners

2 wins

• Jeff Bridges
• Philip Seymour Hoffman

See also

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