NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture

This article lists the winners and nominees for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture.

NAACP Image Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture
The 2025 recipient: Martin Lawrence
Awarded for	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture
Location	Pasadena, California
Presented by	NAACP
First award	Raymond St. Jacques for Change of Mind (1969)
Currently held by	Martin Lawrence for Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024)

Winners and nominees

For each year in the tables below, the winner is listed first and highlighted in bold.

1960s

Year	Actor	Film	Ref
1969	Raymond St. Jacques	Change of Mind

1970s

Year	Actor	Film	Ref
1970	Jim Brown	El Condor
1971	Donald Sutherland	Klute	[1]
	Bill Cosby	Man and Boy
	Louis Gossett Jr.	Skin Game
	Moses Gunn	Shaft
	Tom Laughlin	Billy Jack
	Sidney Poitier	The Organization
	Richard Roundtree	Shaft
	Woody Strode	Black Jesus
1972	Billy Dee Williams	Lady Sings the Blues
1973	No award was given	—
1974	Bernie Casey	Maurie	[2]
	Carl Anderson	Jesus Christ Superstar
	Lawrence Cook	The Spook Who Sat by the Door
	Sidney Poitier	A Warm December
	Bo Svenson	Maurie
1975	James Earl Jones	Claudine	[3]
	Bill Cosby	Uptown Saturday Night
	Leonard Jackson	Five on the Black Hand Side
	Roger Robinson	Newman's Law
	Jon Voight	Conrack
1976	Bill Cosby	Let's Do It Again
1977	Billy Dee Williams	The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings
1978	Paul Winfield	A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich
1979	Michael Jackson	The Wiz	[4]

1980s

Year	Actor	Film	Ref
1980	LeVar Burton	The Hunter
1981	Richard Pryor	Bustin' Loose
1982	Louis Gossett Jr.	An Officer and a Gentleman
1983	Eddie Murphy	Trading Places
1984	Prince	Purple Rain
1985	Adolph Caesar	A Soldier's Story
1986	Gregory Hines	Running Scared
1987	Danny Glover	Lethal Weapon	[5]
	Robert Guillaume	Wanted: Dead or Alive
	Dexter Gordon	'Round Midnight
	Robert Townsend	Hollywood Shuffle
	Eddie Murphy	Beverly Hills Cop II
1988	Denzel Washington	Cry Freedom	[6][7]
	Gregory Hines	Off Limits
	Eddie Murphy	Coming to America
	Sidney Poitier	Shoot to Kill
	Carl Weathers	Action Jackson
1989	Morgan Freeman	Lean on Me	[8][9]
	Spike Lee	Do the Right Thing
	Denzel Washington	The Mighty Quinn
	Gregory Hines	Tap
	Danny Glover	Lethal Weapon 2

1990s

Year	Actor	Film	Ref
1990	Morgan Freeman	Driving Miss Daisy
1991	N/A	N/A
1992	Wesley Snipes	New Jack City	[10]
	Cuba Gooding, Jr.	Boyz n the Hood
	Ice Cube	Boyz n the Hood
	Laurence Fishburne	Boyz n the Hood
	Danny Glover	To Sleep with Anger
1993	Denzel Washington	Mississippi Masala
	Eddie Murphy	Boomerang
	Laurence Fishburne	Deep Cover
	Wesley Snipes	White Men Can't Jump
	Danny Glover	Grand Canyon
1994	Denzel Washington	Malcolm X	[11]
	Laurence Fishburne	What's Love Got to Do with It
	Danny Glover	Bopha!
	Sidney Poitier	Sneakers
	Tupac Shakur	Poetic Justice
1995	No award was given	—
1996	Denzel Washington	Crimson Tide	[12]
	Laurence Fishburne	Othello
	Morgan Freeman	Se7en
	Gregory Hines	Waiting to Exhale
	James Earl Jones	Cry, the Beloved Country
1997	Denzel Washington	Courage Under Fire	[13]
	Ossie Davis	Get on the Bus
	Cuba Gooding, Jr.	Jerry Maguire
	Samuel L. Jackson	The Long Kiss Goodnight
	Eddie Murphy	The Nutty Professor
1998	Djimon Hounsou	Amistad
	Laurence Fishburne	Hoodlum
	Samuel L. Jackson	Eve's Bayou
	Ving Rhames	Rosewood
	Larenz Tate	Love Jones
1999	Danny Glover	Beloved	[14]
	Samuel L. Jackson	The Negotiator
	Will Smith	Enemy of the State
	Chris Tucker	Rush Hour
	Denzel Washington	He Got Game

2000s

Year	Actor	Film	Ref
2000	Denzel Washington	The Hurricane
	Morris Chestnut	The Best Man
	Taye Diggs	The Best Man
	Michael Clarke Duncan	The Green Mile
	Laurence Fishburne	The Matrix
2001	Denzel Washington	Remember the Titans
	Omar Epps	Love & Basketball
	Cuba Gooding Jr.	Men of Honor
	Samuel L. Jackson	Shaft
	Will Smith	The Legend of Bagger Vance
2002	Denzel Washington	Training Day
	Morgan Freeman	Along Came a Spider
	Will Smith	Ali
	Chris Tucker	Rush Hour 2
	Tyrese	Baby Boy
2003	Denzel Washington	John Q
	Taye Diggs	Brown Sugar
	Morgan Freeman	High Crimes
	Ice Cube	Barbershop
	Samuel L. Jackson	Changing Lanes
2004	Cuba Gooding Jr.	Radio	[15]
	Laurence Fishburne	The Matrix Revolutions
	Samuel L. Jackson	S.W.A.T.
	Will Smith	Bad Boys II
	Denzel Washington	Out of Time
2005	Jamie Foxx	Ray
	Don Cheadle	Hotel Rwanda
	Will Smith	I, Robot
	Mario Van Peebles	Baadasssss!
	Denzel Washington	Man on Fire
2006	Samuel L. Jackson	Coach Carter
	Laurence Fishburne	Assault on Precinct 13
	Terrence Howard	Hustle & Flow
	Shemar Moore	Diary of a Mad Black Woman
	Will Smith	Hitch
2007	Forest Whitaker	The Last King of Scotland
	Laurence Fishburne	Akeelah and the Bee
	Jamie Foxx	Dreamgirls
	Will Smith	The Pursuit of Happyness
	Denzel Washington	Inside Man
2008	Denzel Washington	The Great Debaters
	Don Cheadle	Talk to Me
	Terrence Howard	Pride
	Columbus Short	Stomp the Yard
	Will Smith	I Am Legend
2009	Will Smith	Seven Pounds
	Rob Brown	The Express: The Ernie Davis Story
	Don Cheadle	Traitor
	Derek Luke	Miracle at St. Anna
	Jeffrey Wright	Cadillac Records

2010s

Year	Actor	Film	Ref
2010	Morgan Freeman	Invictus
	Quinton Aaron	The Blind Side
	Idris Elba	Obsessed
	Jamie Foxx	Law Abiding Citizen
	Denzel Washington	The Taking of Pelham 123
2011	Denzel Washington	The Book of Eli
	Common	Just Wright
	Morgan Freeman	RED
	Anthony Mackie	Night Catches Us
	Jaden Smith	The Karate Kid
2012	Laz Alonso	Jumping the Broom
	Vin Diesel	Fast Five
	Laurence Fishburne	Contagion
	Oliver Litondo	The First Grader
	Eddie Murphy	Tower Heist
2013	Denzel Washington	Flight	[16]
	Jamie Foxx	Django Unchained
	Morgan Freeman	The Magic of Belle Isle
	Tyler Perry	Alex Cross
	Suraj Sharma	Life of Pi
2014	Forest Whitaker	Lee Daniels' The Butler	[17]
	Chadwick Boseman	42
	Chiwetel Ejiofor	12 Years a Slave
	Idris Elba	Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
	Michael B. Jordan	Fruitvale Station
2015	David Oyelowo	Selma	[18]
	Chadwick Boseman	Get On Up
	Idris Elba	No Good Deed
	Nate Parker	Beyond the Lights
	Denzel Washington	The Equalizer
2016	Michael B. Jordan	Creed	[19]
	Abraham Attah	Beasts of No Nation
	Michael Ealy	The Perfect Guy
	Chiwetel Ejiofor	Secret in Their Eyes
	Will Smith	Concussion
2017	Denzel Washington	Fences	[20]
	Don Cheadle	Miles Ahead
	Stephan James	Race
	Nate Parker	The Birth of a Nation
	Will Smith	Collateral Beauty
2018	Daniel Kaluuya	Get Out	[21]
	Chadwick Boseman	Marshall
	Idris Elba	The Mountain Between Us
	Algee Smith	Detroit
	Denzel Washington	Roman J. Israel, Esq.
2019	Chadwick Boseman	Black Panther
	Stephan James	If Beale Street Could Talk
	Michael B. Jordan	Creed II
	Denzel Washington	The Equalizer 2
	John David Washington	BlacKkKlansman

2020s

Year	Actor	Film	Ref
2020	Michael B. Jordan	Just Mercy	[22]
	Chadwick Boseman	21 Bridges
	Winston Duke	Us
	Daniel Kaluuya	Queen & Slim
	Eddie Murphy	Dolemite Is My Name
2021	Chadwick Boseman	Ma Rainey's Black Bottom	[23]
	Anthony Mackie	The Banker
	Delroy Lindo	Da 5 Bloods
	Forest Whitaker	Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
	Will Smith	Bad Boys for Life
2022	Will Smith	King Richard	[24]
	Denzel Washington	The Tragedy of Macbeth
	Jonathan Majors	The Harder They Fall
	Lakeith Stanfield	Judas and the Black Messiah
	Mahershala Ali	Swan Song
2023	Will Smith	Emancipation	[25]
	Joshua Boone	A Jazzman's Blues
	Sterling K. Brown	Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.
	Daniel Kaluuya	Nope
	Jonathan Majors	Devotion
2024	Colman Domingo	Rustin	[26]
	John Boyega	They Cloned Tyrone
	Jamie Foxx	The Burial
	Denzel Washington	The Equalizer 3
	Jeffrey Wright	American Fiction
2025	Martin Lawrence	Bad Boys: Ride or Die
	André Holland	Exhibiting Forgiveness
	Colman Domingo	Sing Sing
	John David Washington	The Piano Lesson
	Kingsley Ben-Adir	Bob Marley: One Love

Multiple wins and nominations

Wins

13 wins Denzel Washington 3 wins Morgan Freeman Will Smith

2 wins Chadwick Boseman Danny Glover Michael B. Jordan Forest Whitaker Billy Dee Williams

Nominations

23 nominations Denzel Washington 14 nominations Will Smith 10 nominations Laurence Fishburne 9 nominations Morgan Freeman 7 nominations Danny Glover Samuel L. Jackson Eddie Murphy 6 nominations Chadwick Boseman

4 nominations Don Cheadle Idris Elba Jamie Foxx Cuba Gooding, Jr. Gregory Hines Michael B. Jordan Sidney Poitier 3 nominations Bill Cosby Daniel Kaluuya Forest Whitaker Billy Dee Williams 2 nominations Ice Cube Taye Diggs Chiwetel Ejiofor Louis Gossett Jr. Terrence Howard Stephan James James Earl Jones Anthony Mackie Jonathan Majors Nate Parker Wesley Snipes Chris Tucker Colman Domingo John David Washington