Japan Academy Film Prize for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

The Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is an award presented annually by the Japan Academy Prize Association.

Japan Academy Prize for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Awarded for	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Country	Japan
Presented by	Japan Academy Prize Association
First award	1978
Currently held by	Takao Osawa Kingdom 4: Return of the Great General (2024)
Website	japan-academy-prize.jp

At the 1st Japan Academy Prize ceremony held in 1978, Tetsuya Takeda was the first winner of this award for his role in The Yellow Handkerchief. Since its inception, the award has been given to 36 actors. Naoto Takenaka has received the most awards in this category with three awards. As of the 2025 ceremony, Takao Osawa is the most recent winner in this category for his role as Wang Qi in Kingdom 4: Return of the Great General.

Winners

Year	Actor	Role(s)	Film	Ref.
1977 (1st)	Tetsuya Takeda	Kinya Hanada	The Yellow Handkerchief	[1]
1978 (2nd)	Tsunehiko Watase	Sōkichi Takeshita	The Incident	[2]
1979 (3rd)	Bunta Sugawara	Inspector Yamashita	Taiyō o Nusunda Otoko	[3]
1980 (4th)	Tetsurō Tamba	General Kodama	The Battle of Port Arthur (ja)	[4]
1981 (5th)	Katsuo Nakamura	Tamawaki Toshiharu Oda Hikojiro Kimura	Kagero-za Love Letter (ja) Shikake-nin Baian Buriki no kunsho	[5]
1982 (6th)	Morio Kazama	Ginshiro	Fall Guy	[6]
1983 (7th)	Morio Kazama	Hidetsugu of Niō Miyagawa	The Geisha Theater of Life	[7]
1984 (8th)	Kaku Takashina	Deme Toku	Mahjong hōrōki	[8]
1985 (9th)	Kaoru Kobayashi	Tetsushi Kamiya Tsunejiro Hiraoka	Love Letter Sorekara	[9]
1986 (10th)	Hitoshi Ueki	Ichiro Harada Kunio Sugimoto	Congratulatory Speech Big Joys, Small Sorrows (ja)	[10]
1987 (11th)	Masahiko Tsugawa	Hanamura Noboru Mizoue	A Taxing Woman Night Train	[11]
1988 (12th)	Tsurutaro Kataoka	Hidekichi Harada Gorō Tatsuno	The Discarnates Yojo no Jidai	[12]
1989 (13th)	Eiji Bandō	Senkichi Mizuta	Buddies (ja)	[13]
1990 (14th)	Renji Ishibashi	Yukio Seki Gonbei Horo Akikawa	Kōen Dōri no Nekotachi (ja) Roningai Ready to Shoot	[14]
1991 (15th)	Masatoshi Nagase	Tetsuo Asano Yōsuke Takizawa	My Sons Mo no Shigoto	[15]
1992 (16th)	Naoto Takenaka	Tomio Akio Gay man in his 30s	Sumo Do, Sumo Don't Original Sin	[16]
1993 (17th)	Kunie Tanaka	Mr. Ino Oshō Mamoru Shohei	A Class to Remember (ja) Kozure Ōkami: Sono Chiisaki te ni Rainbow Bridge	[17]
1994 (18th)	Kiichi Nakai	Matashirō Irobe	47 Ronin	[18]
1995 (19th)	Naoto Takenaka	Tommy Tamejiro	East Meets West	[19]
1996 (20th)	Naoto Takenaka	Tomio Aoki	Shall We Dance?	[20]
1997 (21st)	Masahiko Nishimura	Tatsuhiko Ushijima	Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald	[21]
1998 (22nd)	Chosuke Ikariya	Senior Inspector Heihachiro Waku	Odoru daisosasen – The Movie	[22]
1999 (23rd)	Nenji Kobayashi	Senji Sugiura	Poppoya	[23]
2000 (24th)	Kōichi Satō	Hirotaka Utsuki	Whiteout	[24]
2001 (25th)	Tsutomu Yamazaki	Hideyoshi	Go	[25]
2002 (26th)	Min Tanaka	Zenemon Yogo	The Twilight Samurai	[26]
2003 (27th)	Kōichi Satō	Saitō Hajime	When the Last Sword Is Drawn	[27]
2004 (28th)	Joe Odagiri	Takeshi Park	Blood and Bones	[28]
2005 (29th)	Shinichi Tsutsumi	Norifumi Suzuki	Always Sanchōme no Yūhi	[29]
2006 (30th)	Takashi Sasano	Tokuhei	Love and Honor	[30]
2007 (31st)	Kaoru Kobayashi	Oton	Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad	[31]
2008 (32nd)	Tsutomu Yamazaki	Ikuei Sasaki	Departures	[32]
2009 (33rd)	Teruyuki Kagawa	Chōjirō Uji	Mt. Tsurugidake	[33]
2010 (34th)	Akira Emoto	Yoshio Ishibashi	Villain	[34]
2011 (35th)	Denden	Yukio Murata	Cold Fish	[35]
2012 (36th)	Hideji Ōtaki	Goro Ohura	Anata e	[36]
2013 (37th)	Lily Franky	Yūdai Saiki	Like Father, Like Son	[37]
2014 (38th)	Junichi Okada	Shōzaburō Dan'no	A Samurai Chronicle	[38]
2015 (39th)	Masahiro Motoki	Emperor Hirohito	The Emperor in August	[39]
2016 (40th)	Satoshi Tsumabuki	Yūma Fujita	Rage	[40]
2017 (41st)	Kōji Yakusho	Misumi	The Third Murder	[41]
2018 (42nd)	Tori Matsuzaka	Shūichi Hioka	The Blood of Wolves	[42]
2019 (43rd)	Ryo Yoshizawa	Ying Zheng / Piao	Kingdom	[43]
2020 (44th)	Ken Watanabe	Masao Yoshida	Fukushima 50
2021 (45th)	Ryohei Suzuki	Shigehiro Uebayashi	Last of the Wolves
2022 (46th)	Masataka Kubota	Daisuke Taniguchi	A Man
2023 (47th)	Hayato Isomura	Sato-kun	The Moon
2024 (48th)	Takao Osawa	Wang Qi	Kingdom 4: Return of the Great General

Multiple wins

The following individuals received two or more Best Supporting Actor awards:

Wins	Actor
3	Naoto Takenaka
2	Morio Kazama
	Kaoru Kobayashi
	Kōichi Satō
	Tsutomu Yamazaki