New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor

The New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor is one of the awards given by the New York Film Critics Circle to honor the finest achievements in film-making.

New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
Current recipient: Adrien Brody
Awarded for	Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Country	United States
Presented by	New York Film Critics Circle
First award	Charles Laughton Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
Currently held by	Adrien Brody The Brutalist (2024)
Website	nyfcc.com

Winners

1930s

Year	Winner	Film	Role
1935	Charles Laughton	Mutiny on the Bounty	Captain William Bligh
		Ruggles of Red Gap	Marmaduke Ruggles
1936	Walter Huston	Dodsworth	Sam Dodsworth
1937	Paul Muni	The Life of Emile Zola	Émile Zola
1938	James Cagney	Angels with Dirty Faces	Rocky Sullivan
1939	James Stewart	Mr. Smith Goes to Washington	Jefferson "Jeff" Smith

1940s

Year	Winner	Film	Role
1940	Charlie Chaplin	The Great Dictator	Hynkel – Dictator of Tomania / Jewish Barber
1941	Gary Cooper	Sergeant York	Alvin York
1942	James Cagney	Yankee Doodle Dandy	George M. Cohan
1943	Paul Lukas	Watch on the Rhine	Kurt Muller
1944	Barry Fitzgerald	Going My Way	Father Fitzgibbon
1945	Ray Milland	The Lost Weekend	Don Birnam
1946	Laurence Olivier	Henry V	King Henry V of England
1947	William Powell	Life with Father	Clarence Day, Sr.
		The Senator Was Indiscreet	Senator Melvin G. Ashton
1948	Laurence Olivier	Hamlet	Hamlet
1949	Broderick Crawford	All the King's Men	Willie Stark

1950s

Year	Winner	Film	Role
1950	Gregory Peck	Twelve O'Clock High	Frank Savage
1951	Arthur Kennedy	Bright Victory	Larry Nevins
1952	Ralph Richardson	The Sound Barrier	John Ridgefield
1953	Burt Lancaster	From Here to Eternity	First Sergeant Milton Warden
1954	Marlon Brando	On the Waterfront	Terry Malloy
1955	Ernest Borgnine	Marty	Marty Piletti
1956	Kirk Douglas	Lust for Life	Vincent van Gogh
1957	Alec Guinness	The Bridge on the River Kwai	Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson
1958	David Niven	Separate Tables	Angus Pollock
1959	James Stewart	Anatomy of a Murder	Paul Biegler

1960s

Year	Winner	Film	Role
1960	Burt Lancaster	Elmer Gantry	Elmer Gantry
1961	Maximilian Schell	Judgment at Nuremberg	Hans Rolfe
1962	No award given (newspaper strike)
1963	Albert Finney	Tom Jones	Tom Jones
1964	Rex Harrison	My Fair Lady	Henry Higgins
1965	Oskar Werner	Ship of Fools	Willie Schumann
1966	Paul Scofield	A Man for All Seasons	Sir Thomas More
1967	Rod Steiger	In the Heat of the Night	Police Chief Bill Gillespie
1968	Alan Arkin	The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter	John Singer
1969	Jon Voight	Midnight Cowboy	Joe Buck

1970s

Year	Winner	Film	Role
1970	George C. Scott	Patton	George S. Patton, Jr.
1971	Gene Hackman	The French Connection	Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle
1972	Laurence Olivier	Sleuth	Andrew Wyke
1973	Marlon Brando	Last Tango in Paris (Ultimo tango a Parigi)	Paul
1974	Jack Nicholson	Chinatown	J. J. "Jake" Gittes
		The Last Detail	Signalman 1st Class Billy "Badass" Buddusky
1975	Jack Nicholson	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	Randle McMurphy
1976	Robert De Niro	Taxi Driver	Travis Bickle
1977	John Gielgud	Providence	Clive Langham
1978	Jon Voight	Coming Home	Luke Martin
1979	Dustin Hoffman	Kramer vs. Kramer	Ted Kramer

1980s

Year	Winner	Film	Role
1980	Robert De Niro	Raging Bull	Jake LaMotta
1981	Burt Lancaster	Atlantic City	Lou Pascal
1982	Ben Kingsley	Gandhi	Mahatma Gandhi
1983	Robert Duvall	Tender Mercies	Mac Sledge
1984	Steve Martin	All of Me	Roger Cobb
1985	Jack Nicholson	Prizzi's Honor	Charley Partanna
1986	Bob Hoskins	Mona Lisa	George Mortwell
1987	Jack Nicholson	Ironweed	Francis Phelan
1988	Jeremy Irons	Dead Ringers	Beverly Mantle / Elliot Mantle
1989	Daniel Day-Lewis	My Left Foot	Christy Brown

1990s

Year	Winner	Film	Role
1990	Robert De Niro	Awakenings	Leonard Lowe
		Goodfellas	James "Jimmy the Gent" Conway
1991	Anthony Hopkins	The Silence of the Lambs	Dr. Hannibal Lecter
1992	Denzel Washington	Malcolm X	Malcolm X
1993	David Thewlis	Naked	Johnny
1994	Paul Newman	Nobody's Fool	Donald "Sully" Sullivan
1995	Nicolas Cage	Leaving Las Vegas	Ben Sanderson
1996	Geoffrey Rush	Shine	David Helfgott
1997	Peter Fonda	Ulee's Gold	Ulysses "Ulee" Jackson
1998	Nick Nolte	Affliction	Wade Whitehouse
1999	Richard Farnsworth	The Straight Story	Alvin Straight

2000s

Year	Winner	Film	Role
2000	Tom Hanks	Cast Away	Chuck Noland
2001	Tom Wilkinson	In the Bedroom	Matt Fowler
2002	Daniel Day-Lewis	Gangs of New York	William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting
2003	Bill Murray	Lost in Translation	Bob Harris
2004	Paul Giamatti	Sideways	Miles Raymond
2005	Heath Ledger	Brokeback Mountain	Ennis Del Mar
2006	Forest Whitaker	The Last King of Scotland	Idi Amin
2007	Daniel Day-Lewis	There Will Be Blood	Daniel Plainview
2008	Sean Penn	Milk	Harvey Milk
2009	George Clooney	Up in the Air	Ryan Bingham

2010s

Year	Winner	Film	Role
2010	Colin Firth	The King's Speech	King George VI
2011	Brad Pitt	Moneyball	Billy Beane
		The Tree of Life	Mr. O'Brien
2012	Daniel Day-Lewis	Lincoln	Abraham Lincoln
2013	Robert Redford	All Is Lost	Our Man
2014	Timothy Spall	Mr. Turner	J. M. W. Turner
2015	Michael Keaton	Spotlight	Walter "Robby" Robinson
2016	Casey Affleck	Manchester by the Sea	Lee Chandler
2017	Timothée Chalamet	Call Me by Your Name	Elio Perlman[1]
2018	Ethan Hawke	First Reformed	Reverend Ernst Toller[2]
2019	Antonio Banderas	Pain and Glory	Salvador Mallo[3]

2020s

Year	Winner	Film	Role
2020	Delroy Lindo	Da 5 Bloods	Paul[4]
2021	Benedict Cumberbatch	The Power of the Dog	Phil Burbank[5]
2022	Colin Farrell	After Yang	Jake
		The Banshees of Inisherin	Pádraic Súilleabháin
2023	Franz Rogowski	Passages	Tomas[6]
2024	Adrien Brody	The Brutalist	László Tóth

Multiple awards

4 wins

• Daniel Day-Lewis (1989, 2002, 2007, 2012)
• Jack Nicholson (1974, 1975, 1985, 1987)

3 wins

• Robert De Niro (1976, 1980, 1990)
• Burt Lancaster (1953, 1960, 1981)
• Laurence Olivier (1946, 1948, 1972)

2 wins

• Marlon Brando (1954, 1973)
• James Cagney (1938, 1942)
• James Stewart (1939, 1959)
• Jon Voight (1969, 1978)

See also

• National Board of Review Award for Best Actor
• National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor