Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama is a Golden Globe Award that was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951. Previously, there was a single award for "Best Actor in a Motion Picture" but the splitting allowed for recognition of it and the Best Actor – Musical or Comedy.

Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
The 2024 recipient: Adrien Brody
Awarded for	Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Drama
Location	United States
Presented by	Hollywood Foreign Press Association
Currently held by	Adrien Brody for The Brutalist (2024)
Website	goldenglobes.com

The formal title has varied since its inception. In 2005, it was officially called: "Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama". As of 2013^[update], the wording is "Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama".

Winners and nominees

Paul Lukas was the first recipient of this award for Watch on the Rhine (1943)

Gregory Peck won twice for The Yearling (1946) and To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Laurence Olivier won for Hamlet (1948)

Gary Cooper won for High Noon (1952)

Marlon Brando won for On the Waterfront (1954) and The Godfather (1972)

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

David Niven won for Separate Tables (1958)

Burt Lancaster won for Elmer Gantry (1960)

Sidney Poitier won for Lillies of the Field (1963)

Peter O'Toole won twice for Becket (1964), and The Lion in Winter (1968)

Omar Sharif won for Doctor Zhivago (1965)

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

George C. Scott won for Patton (1970)

Gene Hackman won for The French Connection (1971)

Al Pacino won twice for Serpico (1972) and Scent of a Woman (1992)

Jack Nicholson won thrice for Chinatown (1974), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), and About Schmidt (2002)

Jon Voight won twice Coming Home (1978) and Runaway Train (1985)

Dustin Hoffman won twice for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Rain Man (1988)

Robert De Niro won for Raging Bull (1980)

Ben Kingsley won for Gandhi (1982)

Robert Duvall won for Tender Mercies (1983)

F. Murray Abraham won for Amadeus (1984)

Michael Douglas won for Wall Street (1987)

Tom Cruise won for Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

Jeremy Irons won for Reversal of Fortune (1990)

Tom Hanks won thrice Philadelphia (1993), Forrest Gump (1994), and Cast Away (2000)

Nicolas Cage won for Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

Geoffrey Rush won for Shine (1996)

Jim Carrey won for The Truman Show (1998)

Denzel Washington won for The Hurricane (1999)

Russell Crowe won for A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Sean Penn won twice for Mystic River (2003) and Milk (2008)

Leonardo DiCaprio won twice for The Aviator (2004) and The Revenant (2015)

Philip Seymour Hoffman won for Capote (2005)

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

Daniel Day-Lewis won twice for There Will Be Blood and Lincoln (2012)

Colin Firth won for The King's Speech (2010)

George Clooney won for The Descendants (2011)

Matthew McConaughey won for Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

Gary Oldman won for Darkest Hour (2017)

Rami Malek won for Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Joaquin Phoenix won for Joker (2019)

Chadwick Boseman won for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)

Austin Butler won for Elvis (2022)

Cillian Murphy won for Oppenheimer (2023)

1940s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	Film	Ref.
1943	Paul Lukas	Kurt Muller	Watch on the Rhine	[1]
1944	Alexander Knox	Woodrow Wilson	Wilson	[2]
1945	Ray Milland	Don Birnam	The Lost Weekend	[3]
1946	Gregory Peck	Penny Baxter	The Yearling	[4]
1947	Ronald Colman	Anthony John	A Double Life	[5]
1948	Laurence Olivier	Hamlet, Prince of Denmark	Hamlet	[6]
1949	Broderick Crawford	Willie Stark	All the King's Men	[7]
	Richard Todd	Cpl. Lachlan "Lachie" MacLachlan	The Hasty Heart

1950s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	Film	Ref.
1950	José Ferrer	Cyrano de Bergerac	Cyrano de Bergerac	[8]
	Louis Calhern	Oliver Wendell Holmes	The Magnificent Yankee
	James Stewart	Elwood P. Dowd	Harvey
1951	Fredric March	Willy Loman	Death of a Salesman	[9]
	Kirk Douglas	Det. James McLeod	Detective Story
	Arthur Kennedy	Larry Nevins	Bright Victory
1952	Gary Cooper	Marshal Will Kane	High Noon	[10]
	Ray Milland	Allan Fields	The Thief
	Charles Boyer	Jacques Bonnard	The Happy Time
1953	Spencer Tracy	Clinton Jones	The Actress	[11]
1954	Marlon Brando	Terry Malloy	On the Waterfront	[12]
1955	Ernest Borgnine	Marty Piletti	Marty	[13]
1956	Kirk Douglas	Vincent van Gogh	Lust for Life	[14]
	Karl Malden	Archie Lee Meighan	Baby Doll
	Gary Cooper	Jess Birdwell	Friendly Persuasion
	Burt Lancaster	Bill Starbuck	The Rainmaker
	Charlton Heston	Moses	The Ten Commandments
1957	Alec Guinness	Colonel Nicholson	The Bridge on the River Kwai	[15]
	Marlon Brando	Maj. Lloyd "Ace" Gruver	Sayonara
1958	David Niven	Major Pollock	Separate Tables	[16]
	Tony Curtis	John "Joker" Jackson	The Defiant Ones
	Robert Donat	The Mandarin of Yang Cheng	The Inn of the Sixth Happiness
	Sidney Poitier	Noah Cullen	The Defiant Ones
	Spencer Tracy	Santiago (The Old Man)	The Old Man and the Sea
1959	Anthony Franciosa	Sam Lawson	Career	[17]
	Richard Burton	Jimmy Porter	Look Back in Anger
	Charlton Heston	Judah Ben-Hur	Ben-Hur
	Fredric March	Jerry Kingsley	Middle of the Night
	Joseph Schildkraut	Otto Frank	The Diary of Anne Frank

1960s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	Film	Ref.
1960	Burt Lancaster	Elmer Gantry	Elmer Gantry	[18]
	Trevor Howard	Walter Morel	Sons and Lovers
	Laurence Olivier	Crassus	Spartacus
	Dean Stockwell	Paul Morel	Sons and Lovers
	Spencer Tracy	Henry Drummond	Inherit the Wind
1961	Maximilian Schell	Hans Rolfe	Judgment at Nuremberg	[19]
	Warren Beatty	Bud Stamper	Splendor in the Grass
	Maurice Chevalier	Pannisse	Fanny
	Paul Newman	Fast Eddie Felson	The Hustler
	Sidney Poitier	Walter Lee Younger	A Raisin in the Sun
1962	Gregory Peck	Atticus Finch	To Kill a Mockingbird	[20]
	Laurence Harvey	Wilhelm Grimm/The Cobbler	The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm
	Burt Lancaster	Robert Franklin Stroud	Birdman of Alcatraz
	Jack Lemmon	Joe Clay	Days of Wine and Roses
	James Mason	Humbert Humbert	Lolita
	Paul Newman	Chance Wayne	Sweet Bird of Youth
	Peter O'Toole	T. E. Lawrence	Lawrence of Arabia
	Anthony Quinn	Auda ibu Tayi
1963	Sidney Poitier	Homer Smith	Lilies of the Field	[21]
	Marlon Brando	Harrison Carter MacWhite	The Ugly American
	Stathis Giallelis	Stavros Topouzoglou	America America
	Rex Harrison	Julius Caesar	Cleopatra
	Steve McQueen	Rocky Papasano	Love with the Proper Stranger
	Paul Newman	Hud Bannon	Hud
	Gregory Peck	Captain Josiah Newman	Captain Newman, M.D.
	Tom Tryon	Stephen Fermoyle	The Cardinal
1964	Peter O'Toole	King Henry II	Becket	[22]
	Richard Burton	Thomas Becket	Becket
	Anthony Franciosa	Juan Luis Rodriguez	Rio Conchos
	Fredric March	President Lyman	Seven Days in May
	Anthony Quinn	Alexis Zorba	Zorba the Greek
1965	Omar Sharif	Yuri Zhivago	Doctor Zhivago	[23]
	Rex Harrison	Pope Julius II	The Agony and the Ecstasy
	Sidney Poitier	Gordon Ralfe	A Patch of Blue
	Rod Steiger	Sol Nazerman	The Pawnbroker
	Oskar Werner	Willie Schumann	Ship of Fools
1966	Paul Scofield	Sir Thomas More	A Man for All Seasons	[24]
	Richard Burton	George	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
	Michael Caine	Alfie	Alfie
	Steve McQueen	Machinist's Mate 1st Class Jake Holman	The Sand Pebbles
	Max von Sydow	Reverend Abner Hale	Hawaii
1967	Rod Steiger	Police Chief Bill Gillespie	In the Heat of the Night	[25]
	Alan Bates	Gabriel Oak	Far from the Madding Crowd
	Warren Beatty	Clyde Barrow	Bonnie and Clyde
	Paul Newman	Lucas "Luke" Jackson	Cool Hand Luke
	Sidney Poitier	Detective Virgil Tibbs	In the Heat of the Night
	Spencer Tracy	Matt Drayton	Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
1968	Peter O'Toole	King Henry II	The Lion in Winter	[26]
	Alan Arkin	John Singer	The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
	Alan Bates	Yakov Bok	The Fixer
	Tony Curtis	Albert DeSalvo	The Boston Strangler
	Cliff Robertson	Charlie Gordon	Charly
1969	John Wayne	Rooster Cogburn	True Grit	[27]
	Alan Arkin	Abraham "Popi" Rodriguez	Popi
	Richard Burton	King Henry VIII	Anne of the Thousand Days
	Dustin Hoffman	Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo	Midnight Cowboy
	Jon Voight	Joe Buck

1970s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	Film	Ref.
1970	George C. Scott	George S. Patton	Patton	[28]
	Melvyn Douglas	Tom Garrison	I Never Sang for My Father
	James Earl Jones	Jack Jefferson	The Great White Hope
	Jack Nicholson	Robert Eroica Dupea	Five Easy Pieces
	Ryan O'Neal	Oliver Barret IV	Love Story
1971	Gene Hackman	Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle	The French Connection	[29]
	Peter Finch	Daniel Hirsh	Sunday Bloody Sunday
	Malcolm McDowell	Alex DeLarge	A Clockwork Orange
	Jack Nicholson	Jonathan Fuerst	Carnal Knowledge
	George C. Scott	Dr. Herbert Bock	The Hospital
1972	Marlon Brando	Vito Corleone	The Godfather	[30]
	Michael Caine	Milo Tindle	Sleuth
	Laurence Olivier	Andrew Wyke
	Al Pacino	Michael Corleone	The Godfather
	Jon Voight	Ed	Deliverance
1973	Al Pacino	Frank Serpico	Serpico	[31]
	Robert Blake	John Wintergreen	Electra Glide in Blue
	Jack Lemmon	Harry Stoner	Save the Tiger
	Steve McQueen	Henri "Papillon" Charrière	Papillon
	Jack Nicholson	Signalman 1st Class Billy L. "Badass" Buddusky	The Last Detail
1974	Jack Nicholson	J. J. "Jake" Gittes	Chinatown	[32]
	James Caan	Axel Freed	The Gambler
	Gene Hackman	Harry Caul	The Conversation
	Dustin Hoffman	Lenny Bruce	Lenny
	Al Pacino	Michael Corleone	The Godfather Part II
1975	Jack Nicholson	Randle Patrick "Mac" McMurphy	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	[33]
	Gene Hackman	Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle	French Connection II
	Al Pacino	Sonny Wortzik	Dog Day Afternoon
	Maximilian Schell	Arthur Goldman	The Man in the Glass Booth
	James Whitmore	Harry S. Truman	Give 'em Hell, Harry!
1976	Peter Finch (posthumous)	Howard Beale	Network	[34]
	David Carradine	Woody Guthrie	Bound for Glory
	Robert De Niro	Travis Bickle	Taxi Driver
	Dustin Hoffman	"Babe" Levy	Marathon Man
	Sylvester Stallone	Rocky Balboa	Rocky
1977	Richard Burton	Dr. Martin Dysart	Equus	[35]
	Marcello Mastroianni	Gabriele	A Special Day
	Al Pacino	Bobby Deerfield	Bobby Deerfield
	Gregory Peck	Douglas MacArthur	MacArthur
	Henry Winkler	Jack Dunne	Heroes
1978	Jon Voight	Luke Martin	Coming Home	[36]
	Brad Davis	Billy Hayes	Midnight Express
	Robert De Niro	Michael Vronsky	The Deer Hunter
	Anthony Hopkins	Corky Withers / "Fats"	Magic
	Gregory Peck	Dr. Josef Mengele	The Boys from Brazil
1979	Dustin Hoffman	Ted Kramer	Kramer vs. Kramer	[37]
	Jack Lemmon	Jack Godell	The China Syndrome
	Al Pacino	Arthur Kirkland	...And Justice for All
	Jon Voight	Billy Flynn	The Champ
	James Woods	Gregory Powell	The Onion Field

1980s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	Film	Ref.
1980	Robert De Niro	Jake LaMotta	Raging Bull	[38]
	John Hurt	John Merrick	The Elephant Man
	Jack Lemmon	Scottie Templeton	Tribute
	Peter O'Toole	Eli Cross	The Stunt Man
	Donald Sutherland	Calvin Jarrett	Ordinary People
1981	Henry Fonda	Norman Thayer	On Golden Pond	[39]
	Warren Beatty	John Reed	Reds
	Timothy Hutton	Brian Moreland	Taps
	Burt Lancaster	Lou Pascal	Atlantic City
	Treat Williams	Daniel Ciello	Prince of the City
1982	Ben Kingsley	Mahatma Gandhi	Gandhi	[40]
	Albert Finney	George Dunlap	Shoot the Moon
	Richard Gere	Zack Mayo	An Officer and a Gentleman
	Jack Lemmon	Ed Horman	Missing
	Paul Newman	Frank Galvin	The Verdict
1983	Tom Courtenay	Norman	The Dresser	[41]
	Robert Duvall	Mac Sledge	Tender Mercies
	Tom Conti	Gowan McGland	Reuben, Reuben
	Richard Farnsworth	Bill Miner	The Grey Fox
	Albert Finney	Sir	The Dresser
	Al Pacino	Tony Montana	Scarface
	Eric Roberts	Paul Snider	Star 80
1984	F. Murray Abraham	Antonio Salieri	Amadeus	[42]
	Jeff Bridges	Starman ("Scott Hayden")	Starman
	Albert Finney	Geoffrey Firmin	Under the Volcano
	Tom Hulce	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	Amadeus
	Sam Waterston	Sydney Schanberg	The Killing Fields
1985	Jon Voight	Oscar Manheim	Runaway Train	[43]
	Harrison Ford	John Book	Witness
	Gene Hackman	Harry MacKenzie	Twice in a Lifetime
	William Hurt	Luis Molina	Kiss of the Spider Woman
	Raul Julia	Valentin Arregui
1986	Bob Hoskins	George	Mona Lisa	[44]
	Harrison Ford	Allie Fox	The Mosquito Coast
	Dexter Gordon	Dale Turner	Round Midnight
	William Hurt	James Leeds	Children of a Lesser God
	Jeremy Irons	Father Gabriel	The Mission
	Paul Newman	Fast Eddie Felson	The Color of Money
1987	Michael Douglas	Gordon Gekko	Wall Street	[45]
	John Lone	Puyi	The Last Emperor
	Jack Nicholson	Francis Phelan	Ironweed
	Nick Nolte	Lee Umstetter	Weeds
	Denzel Washington	Steve Biko	Cry Freedom
1988	Dustin Hoffman	Raymond Babbitt	Rain Man	[46]
	Gene Hackman	Rupert Anderson	Mississippi Burning
	Tom Hulce	Dominick Luciano	Dominick and Eugene
	Edward James Olmos	Jaime Escalante	Stand and Deliver
	Forest Whitaker	Charlie Parker	Bird
1989	Tom Cruise	Ron Kovic	Born on the Fourth of July	[47]
	Daniel Day-Lewis	Christy Brown	My Left Foot
	Jack Lemmon	Jake Tremont	Dad
	Al Pacino	Frank Keller	Sea of Love
	Robin Williams	John Keating	Dead Poets Society

1990s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	Film	Ref.
1990	Jeremy Irons	Claus von Bülow	Reversal of Fortune	[48]
	Kevin Costner	Lt. John J. Dunbar / Dances with Wolves	Dances with Wolves
	Richard Harris	Bull McCabe	The Field
	Al Pacino	Michael Corleone	The Godfather Part III
	Robin Williams	Dr. Malcolm Sayer	Awakenings
1991	Nick Nolte	Tom Wingo	The Prince of Tides	[49]
	Warren Beatty	Bugsy Siegel	Bugsy
	Kevin Costner	Jim Garrison	JFK
	Robert De Niro	Max Cady	Cape Fear
	Anthony Hopkins	Dr. Hannibal Lecter	The Silence of the Lambs
1992	Al Pacino	Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade	Scent of a Woman	[50]
	Tom Cruise	Lt. Daniel Kaffee, USN, JAG Corps	A Few Good Men
	Robert Downey Jr.	Charlie Chaplin	Chaplin
	Jack Nicholson	Jimmy Hoffa	Hoffa
	Denzel Washington	Malcolm X	Malcolm X
1993	Tom Hanks	Andrew Beckett	Philadelphia	[51]
	Daniel Day-Lewis	Gerry Conlon	In the Name of the Father
	Harrison Ford	Dr. Richard Kimble	The Fugitive
	Anthony Hopkins	James Stevens	The Remains of the Day
	Liam Neeson	Oskar Schindler	Schindler's List
1994	Tom Hanks	Forrest Gump	Forrest Gump	[52]
	Morgan Freeman	Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding	The Shawshank Redemption
	Paul Newman	Donald "Sully" Sullivan	Nobody's Fool
	Brad Pitt	Tristan Ludlow	Legends of the Fall
	John Travolta	Vincent Vega	Pulp Fiction
1995	Nicolas Cage	Ben Sanderson	Leaving Las Vegas	[53]
	Richard Dreyfuss	Glenn Holland	Mr. Holland's Opus
	Anthony Hopkins	Richard Nixon	Nixon
	Ian McKellen	King Richard III	Richard III
	Sean Penn	Matthew Poncelet	Dead Man Walking
1996	Geoffrey Rush	David Helfgott	Shine	[54]
	Ralph Fiennes	László de Almásy	The English Patient
	Mel Gibson	Tom Mullen	Ransom
	Woody Harrelson	Larry Flynt	The People vs. Larry Flynt
	Liam Neeson	Michael Collins	Michael Collins
1997	Peter Fonda	Ulee Jackson	Ulee's Gold	[55]
	Matt Damon	Will Hunting	Good Will Hunting
	Daniel Day-Lewis	Danny Flynn	The Boxer
	Leonardo DiCaprio	Jack Dawson	Titanic
	Djimon Hounsou	Joseph Cinqué	Amistad
1998	Jim Carrey	Truman Burbank	The Truman Show	[56]
	Stephen Fry	Oscar Wilde	Wilde
	Tom Hanks	Captain John H. Miller	Saving Private Ryan
	Ian McKellen	James Whale	Gods and Monsters
	Nick Nolte	Wade Whitehouse	Affliction
1999	Denzel Washington	Rubin "Hurricane" Carter	The Hurricane	[57]
	Russell Crowe	Jeffrey Wigand	The Insider
	Matt Damon	Tom Ripley	The Talented Mr. Ripley
	Richard Farnsworth	Alvin Straight	The Straight Story
	Kevin Spacey	Lester Burnham	American Beauty

2000s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	Film	Ref.
2000[58]	Tom Hanks	Chuck Noland	Cast Away	[59]
	Javier Bardem	Reinaldo Arenas	Before Night Falls
	Russell Crowe	Maximus Decimus Meridius	Gladiator
	Michael Douglas	Grady Tripp	Wonder Boys
	Geoffrey Rush	Marquis de Sade	Quills
2001	Russell Crowe	John Nash	A Beautiful Mind	[60]
	Will Smith	Muhammad Ali	Ali
	Kevin Spacey	Quoyle	The Shipping News
	Billy Bob Thornton	Ed Crane	The Man Who Wasn't There
	Denzel Washington	Detective Alonzo Harris	Training Day
2002	Jack Nicholson	Warren R. Schmidt	About Schmidt	[61]
	Adrien Brody	Władysław Szpilman	The Pianist
	Michael Caine	Thomas Fowler	The Quiet American
	Daniel Day-Lewis	William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting	Gangs of New York
	Leonardo DiCaprio	Frank Abagnale, Jr.	Catch Me If You Can
2003	Sean Penn	Jimmy Markum	Mystic River	[62]
	Russell Crowe	Captain Jack Aubrey	Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
	Tom Cruise	Captain Nathan Algren	The Last Samurai
	Ben Kingsley	Massoud Behrani	House of Sand and Fog
	Jude Law	W. P. Inman	Cold Mountain
2004	Leonardo DiCaprio	Howard Hughes	The Aviator	[63]
	Javier Bardem	Ramón Sampedro	The Sea Inside
	Don Cheadle	Paul Rusesabagina	Hotel Rwanda
	Johnny Depp	J. M. Barrie	Finding Neverland
	Liam Neeson	Alfred Kinsey	Kinsey
2005	Philip Seymour Hoffman	Truman Capote	Capote	[64]
	Russell Crowe	James J. Braddock	Cinderella Man
	Terrence Howard	DJay	Hustle & Flow
	Heath Ledger	Ennis Del Mar	Brokeback Mountain
	David Strathairn	Edward R. Murrow	Good Night, and Good Luck
2006	Forest Whitaker	Idi Amin	The Last King of Scotland
	Leonardo DiCaprio	Danny Archer	Blood Diamond
		William "Billy" Costigan, Jr.	The Departed
	Peter O'Toole	Maurice Russell	Venus
	Will Smith	Chris Gardner	The Pursuit of Happyness
2007	Daniel Day-Lewis	Daniel Plainview	There Will Be Blood	[65]
	George Clooney	Michael Clayton	Michael Clayton
	James McAvoy	Robbie Turner	Atonement
	Viggo Mortensen	Nikolai Luzhin	Eastern Promises
	Denzel Washington	Frank Lucas	American Gangster
2008	Mickey Rourke	Randy "The Ram" Robinson	The Wrestler	[66]
	Leonardo DiCaprio	Frank Wheeler	Revolutionary Road
	Frank Langella	Richard Nixon	Frost/Nixon
	Sean Penn	Harvey Milk	Milk
	Brad Pitt	Benjamin Button	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2009	Jeff Bridges	Otis "Bad" Blake	Crazy Heart	[67]
	George Clooney	Ryan Bingham	Up in the Air
	Colin Firth	George Falconer	A Single Man
	Morgan Freeman	Nelson Mandela	Invictus
	Tobey Maguire	Captain Sam Cahill	Brothers

2010s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	Film	Ref.
2010	Colin Firth	King George VI	The King's Speech	[68]
	Jesse Eisenberg	Mark Zuckerberg	The Social Network
	James Franco	Aron Ralston	127 Hours
	Ryan Gosling	Dean Pereira	Blue Valentine
	Mark Wahlberg	Micky Ward	The Fighter
2011	George Clooney	Matt King	The Descendants	[69]
	Leonardo DiCaprio	J. Edgar Hoover	J. Edgar
	Michael Fassbender	Brandon Sullivan	Shame
	Ryan Gosling	Stephen Meyers	The Ides of March
	Brad Pitt	Billy Beane	Moneyball
2012	Daniel Day-Lewis	Abraham Lincoln	Lincoln	[70]
	Richard Gere	Robert Miller	Arbitrage
	John Hawkes	Mark O'Brien	The Sessions
	Joaquin Phoenix	Freddie Quell	The Master
	Denzel Washington	William "Whip" Whitaker, Sr.	Flight
2013	Matthew McConaughey	Ron Woodroof	Dallas Buyers Club	[71]
	Chiwetel Ejiofor	Solomon Northup	12 Years a Slave
	Idris Elba	Nelson Mandela	Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
	Tom Hanks	Captain Richard Phillips	Captain Phillips
	Robert Redford	Our Man	All Is Lost
2014	Eddie Redmayne	Stephen Hawking	The Theory of Everything	[72]
	Steve Carell	John Eleuthère du Pont	Foxcatcher
	Benedict Cumberbatch	Alan Turing	The Imitation Game
	Jake Gyllenhaal	Louis "Lou" Bloom	Nightcrawler
	David Oyelowo	Martin Luther King Jr.	Selma
2015	Leonardo DiCaprio	Hugh Glass	The Revenant	[73]
	Bryan Cranston	Dalton Trumbo	Trumbo
	Michael Fassbender	Steve Jobs	Steve Jobs
	Eddie Redmayne	Lili Elbe	The Danish Girl
	Will Smith	Dr. Bennet Omalu	Concussion
2016	Casey Affleck	Lee Chandler	Manchester by the Sea	[74]
	Joel Edgerton	Richard Loving	Loving
	Andrew Garfield	Desmond T. Doss	Hacksaw Ridge
	Viggo Mortensen	Ben Cash	Captain Fantastic
	Denzel Washington	Troy Maxson	Fences
2017	Gary Oldman	Winston Churchill	Darkest Hour	[75]
	Timothée Chalamet	Elio Perlman	Call Me by Your Name
	Daniel Day-Lewis	Reynolds Woodcock	Phantom Thread
	Tom Hanks	Ben Bradlee	The Post
	Denzel Washington	Roman J. Israel	Roman J. Israel, Esq.
2018	Rami Malek	Freddie Mercury	Bohemian Rhapsody	[76]
	Bradley Cooper	Jackson Maine	A Star Is Born
	Willem Dafoe	Vincent van Gogh	At Eternity's Gate
	Lucas Hedges	Jared Eamons	Boy Erased
	John David Washington	Ron Stallworth	BlacKkKlansman
2019	Joaquin Phoenix	Arthur Fleck / Joker	Joker	[77]
	Christian Bale	Ken Miles	Ford v. Ferrari
	Antonio Banderas	Salvador Mallo	Pain and Glory
	Adam Driver	Charlie Barber	Marriage Story
	Jonathan Pryce	Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio	The Two Popes

2020s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	Film	Ref.
2020	Chadwick Boseman (posthumous)	Levee Green	Ma Rainey's Black Bottom	[78]
	Riz Ahmed	Ruben Stone	Sound of Metal
	Anthony Hopkins	Anthony	The Father
	Gary Oldman	Herman J. Mankiewicz	Mank
	Tahar Rahim	Mohamedou Ould Salahi	The Mauritanian
2021	Will Smith	Richard Williams	King Richard	[79]
	Mahershala Ali	Cameron Turner	Swan Song
	Javier Bardem	Desi Arnaz	Being the Ricardos
	Benedict Cumberbatch	Phil Burbank	The Power of the Dog
	Denzel Washington	Lord Macbeth	The Tragedy of Macbeth
2022	Austin Butler	Elvis Presley	Elvis	[80]
	Brendan Fraser	Charlie	The Whale
	Hugh Jackman	Peter Miller	The Son
	Bill Nighy	Mr. Williams	Living
	Jeremy Pope	Ellis French	The Inspection
2023	Cillian Murphy	J. Robert Oppenheimer	Oppenheimer	[81]
	Bradley Cooper	Leonard Bernstein	Maestro
	Leonardo DiCaprio	Ernest Burkhart	Killers of the Flower Moon
	Colman Domingo	Bayard Rustin	Rustin
	Barry Keoghan	Oliver Quick	Saltburn
	Andrew Scott	Adam	All of Us Strangers
2024	Adrien Brody	László Tóth	The Brutalist	[82]
	Timothée Chalamet	Bob Dylan	A Complete Unknown
	Daniel Craig	William Lee	Queer
	Colman Domingo	John "Divine G" Whitfield	Sing Sing
	Ralph Fiennes	Thomas Cardinal Lawrence	Conclave
	Sebastian Stan	Donald Trump	The Apprentice

Multiple nominations

10 nominations Al Pacino 9 nominations Leonardo DiCaprio Denzel Washington 8 nominations Jack Nicholson 7 nominations Daniel Day-Lewis Paul Newman 6 nominations Tom Hanks Jack Lemmon 5 nominations Richard Burton Russell Crowe Gene Hackman Dustin Hoffman Anthony Hopkins Peter O'Toole Gregory Peck Sidney Poitier Jon Voight

4 nominations Warren Beatty Marlon Brando Robert De Niro Burt Lancaster Will Smith Spencer Tracy 3 nominations Javier Bardem Michael Caine George Clooney Tom Cruise Albert Finney Harrison Ford Fredric March Steve McQueen Liam Neeson Nick Nolte Laurence Olivier Sean Penn Brad Pitt George C. Scott

2 nominations Alan Arkin Alan Bates Jeff Bridges Adrien Brody Timothée Chalamet Bradley Cooper Gary Cooper Kevin Costner Benedict Cumberbatch Tony Curtis Matt Damon Colman Domingo Kirk Douglas Michael Douglas Richard Farnsworth Michael Fassbender Ralph Fiennes Peter Finch Colin Firth Henry Fonda Morgan Freeman Richard Gere Ryan Gosling Rex Harrison Charlton Heston Tom Hulce William Hurt Jeremy Irons Ben Kingsley Ian McKellen Ray Milland Viggo Mortensen Joaquin Phoenix Gary Oldman Anthony Quinn Eddie Redmayne Geoffrey Rush Maximilian Schell Kevin Spacey Rod Steiger Forest Whitaker Robin Williams

Multiple wins

3 wins Tom Hanks (2 consecutive) Jack Nicholson (2 consecutive)

2 wins Marlon Brando Daniel Day-Lewis Leonardo DiCaprio Dustin Hoffman Peter O'Toole Al Pacino Gregory Peck Jon Voight

See also

• Academy Award for Best Actor
• Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor
• Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
• BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
• 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