Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor

The Best Actor Award (French: Prix d'interprétation masculine) is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival since 1946. It is given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance and chosen by the jury from the films in official competition slate at the festival.

Best Actor Award
Prix d'interprétation masculine (French)
2024 recipient: Jesse Plemons
Awarded for	Best Performance by an Actor
Presented by	Cannes Film Festival
First award	1946
Currently held by	Jesse Plemons Kinds of Kindness (2024)
Website	www.festival-cannes.com/en/

At the 1st Cannes Film Festival held in 1946, Ray Milland was the first winner of this award for his performance in The Lost Weekend, and Jesse Plemons is the most recent winner in this category for his role in Kinds of Kindness at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in 2024.

History

The award was first presented in 1946. The prize was not awarded on five occasions (1947, 1953–54, 1956, and 1960). The festival was not held at all in 1948, 1950, and 2020. In 1968, no awards were given as the festival was called off mid-way due to the May 1968 events in France. The award can be for lead or supporting roles, with the exception of the period from 1979 to 1981, and in 1991, when the festival used to award a separate "Best Supporting Actor" prize. The jury also, on occasion, cites actors with a special citation that is separate from the main award.

On four occasions, the jury has awarded multiple men (more than 2) the prize for one film. The four films were: A Big Family (1955), Compulsion (1959), Long Day's Journey into Night (1962), and Days of Glory (2006).

Dean Stockwell, Jack Lemmon, and Marcello Mastroianni have won the most awards in this category, each winning twice.

Winners

Ray Milland won for The Lost Weekend (1946)

Edward G. Robinson won for House of Strangers (1947)

John Kitzmiller was the first Black winner, for Valley of Peace (1957)

Dean Stockwell won twice for Compulsion (1959), and Long Day's Journey into Night (1962)

Marcello Mastroianni won twice for The Pizza Triangle (1970) and Dark Eyes (1987)

Jack Lemmon won for The China Syndrome (1979) and Missing (1982)

Jack Nicholson won for The Last Detail (1974)

Samuel L. Jackson won for Jungle Fever (1991)

Tony Leung won for In the Mood for Love (2000)

Christoph Waltz won for Inglorious Basterds (2009)

Javier Bardem won for Biutiful (2010)

Joaquin Phoenix won for You Were Never Really Here (2017)

Antonio Banderas won for Pain and Glory (2019)

Yakusho Koji won for Perfect Days (2023)

Table key

‡	Indicates the Best Supporting Actor winner

1940s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	English Title	Ref.
1946	/ Ray Milland	Don Birnam	The Lost Weekend	[1]
1949	Edward G. Robinson	Gino Monetti	House of Strangers	[2]

1950s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	English Title	Ref.
1951	Michael Redgrave	Andrew Crocker-Harris	The Browning Version	[3]
1952	Marlon Brando	Emiliano Zapata	Viva Zapata!	[4]
1955 [A][B]	Spencer Tracy	John J. Macreedy	Bad Day at Black Rock	[5]
	Sergei Lukyanov	Matvei Zhurbin	A Big Family
	Boris Andreyev	Ilya Matveyevich Zhurbin
	Aleksey Batalov	Aleksei Zhurbin
	Sergei Kurilov	Viktor Zhurbin
	Vadim Medvedev	Anton Zhurbin
	Boris Bityukov	Kostya Zhurbin
	Nikolai Gritsenko	Club Manager
	Pavel Kadochnikov	Skobolev
	Boris Kokovkin	Shipyard Director
	Nikolay Sergeev	Basmanov
1957	John Kitzmiller	Sgt. Jim	Valley of Peace	[6]
1958	Paul Newman	Ben Quick	The Long, Hot Summer	[7][8]
1959	Bradford Dillman	Artie Strauss	Compulsion	[9]
	Dean Stockwell	Judd Steiner
	Orson Welles	Jonathan Wilk

1960s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	English Title	Ref.
1961	Anthony Perkins	Philip Van Der Besh	Goodbye Again	[10]
1962 [C]	Murray Melvin	Geoffrey Inghman	A Taste of Honey	[11] [12]
	Ralph Richardson	James Tyrone Sr.	Long Day's Journey into Night
	Jason Robards	James Tyrone Jr.
	Dean Stockwell	Edmund Tyrone
1963	Richard Harris	Frank Machin	This Sporting Life	[13]
1964	Antal Páger	Vajkay Ákos	Drama of the Lark	[14]
	Saro Urzì	Don Vincenzo Ascalone	Seduced and Abandoned
1965	Terence Stamp	Freddie Clegg	The Collector	[15]
1966	Per Oscarsson	Pontus	Hunger	[16]
1967	Oded Kotler	Eli	Three Days and a Child	[17]
1969	Jean-Louis Trintignant	The Examining Magistrate	Z	[18]

1970s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	English Title	Ref.
1970	Marcello Mastroianni	Oreste Nardi	The Pizza Triangle	[19]
1971	Riccardo Cucciolla	Nicola Sacco	Sacco & Vanzetti	[20]
1972	Jean Yanne	Jean	We Won't Grow Old Together	[21]
1973	Giancarlo Giannini	Antonio Soffiantini	Love and Anarchy	[22]
1974	Jack Nicholson	Billy L. Buddusky	The Last Detail	[23]
1975	Vittorio Gassman	Fausto Consolo	Scent of a Woman	[24]
1976	José Luis Gómez	Pascual Duarte	Pascual Duarte	[25]
1977	Fernando Rey	Luis	Elisa, vida mía	[26]
1978	Jon Voight	Luke Martin	Coming Home	[27]
1979	Jack Lemmon	Jack Godell	The China Syndrome	[28] [29]
	Stefano Madia ‡	Marco Millozza	Dear Father

1980s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	English Title	Ref.
1980	Michel Piccoli	Mauro Ponticelli	A Leap in the Dark	[30] [31]
	Jack Thompson ‡	Major J.F. Thomas	Breaker Morant
1981	Ugo Tognazzi	Primo Spaggiari	Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man	[32] [33]
	Ian Holm ‡	Sam Mussabini	Chariots of Fire
1982	Jack Lemmon	Edmund Horman	Missing	[34]
1983	Gian Maria Volonté	Bernard Fontana	The Death of Mario Ricci	[35]
1984	Alfredo Landa	Paco el Bajo	The Holy Innocents	[36]
	Francisco Rabal	Azarías
1985	William Hurt	Luis Molina	Kiss of the Spider Woman	[37]
1986	Michel Blanc	Antoine	Tenue de soirée	[38]
	Bob Hoskins	George	Mona Lisa
1987	Marcello Mastroianni	Romano	Dark Eyes	[39]
1988	Forest Whitaker	Charlie "Bird" Parker	Bird	[40]
1989	James Spader	Graham Dalton	Sex, Lies, and Videotape	[41]

1990s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	English Title	Ref.
1990	Gérard Depardieu	Cyrano de Bergerac	Cyrano de Bergerac	[42]
1991	John Turturro	Barton Fink	Barton Fink	[43]
	Samuel L. Jackson ‡	Gator Purify	Jungle Fever
1992	Tim Robbins	Griffin Mill	The Player	[44]
1993	David Thewlis	Johnny	Naked	[45]
1994	Ge You	Xu Fugui	To Live	[46]
1995	Jonathan Pryce	Lytton Strachey	Carrington	[47]
1996	Daniel Auteuil	Harry	The Eighth Day	[48]
	Pascal Duquenne	Georges
1997	Sean Penn	Eddie Quinn	She's So Lovely	[49]
1998	Peter Mullan	Joe Kavanagh	My Name Is Joe	[50]
1999	Emmanuel Schotté	Pharaon de Winter	Humanité	[51]

2000s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	English Title	Ref.
2000	Tony Leung Chiu-wai	Chow Mo-wan	In the Mood for Love	[52]
2001	Benoît Magimel	Walter Klemmer	The Piano Teacher	[53]
2002	Olivier Gourmet	Olivier	The Son	[54]
2003	Muzaffer Özdemir	Mahmut	Uzak	[55]
	Mehmet Emin Toprak	Yusuf
2004	Yūya Yagira	Akira Fukushima	Nobody Knows	[56]
2005	Tommy Lee Jones	Pete Perkins	The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada	[57]
2006	/ Roschdy Zem	Messaoud Souni	Days of Glory	[58]
	Bernard Blancan	Sergent Roger Martinez
	/ Jamel Debbouze	Saïd Otmari
	/ Samy Naceri	Yassir
	/ Sami Bouajila	Abdelkader
2007	Konstantin Lavronenko	Alex	The Banishment	[59]
2008	Benicio del Toro	Ernesto "Che" Guevara	Che	[60]
2009	/ Christoph Waltz	Col. Hans Landa	Inglourious Basterds	[61]

2010s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	English Title	Ref.
2010	Javier Bardem	Uxbal	Biutiful	[62]
	Elio Germano	Claudio	La nostra vita
2011	Jean Dujardin	George Valentin	The Artist	[63]
2012	Mads Mikkelsen	Lucas	The Hunt	[64]
2013	Bruce Dern	Woody Grant	Nebraska	[65]
2014	Timothy Spall	J. M. W. Turner	Mr. Turner	[66]
2015	Vincent Lindon	Thierry Taugourdeau	The Measure of a Man	[67]
2016	Shahab Hosseini	Emad	The Salesman	[68]
2017	Joaquin Phoenix	Joe	You Were Never Really Here	[69]
2018	Marcello Fonte	Marcello	Dogman	[70]
2019	Antonio Banderas	Salvador Mallo	Pain and Glory	[71]

2020s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	English Title	Ref.
2021	Caleb Landry Jones	Martin Bryant	Nitram	[72]
2022	Song Kang-ho	Sang-hyeon	Broker	[73]
2023	Koji Yakusho	Hirayama	Perfect Days
2024	Jesse Plemons	Robert / Daniel / Andrew	Kinds of Kindness

Multiple winners

The following individuals have received multiple Best Actor awards:

Number of wins	Actors	Nationality	Films
2	Dean Stockwell	United States	Compulsion (1959), Long Day's Journey into Night (1962)
	Jack Lemmon		The China Syndrome (1979), Missing (1982)
	Marcello Mastroianni	Italy	The Pizza Triangle (1970), Dark Eyes (1987)

See also

The following individuals have also received Best Actor award(s) at Venice or Berlin Film Festival.

Winning year	Actors	Festival	Year	English title	Nationality
1958	Paul Newman	Berlin	1995	Nobody's Fool	United States
1969	Jean-Louis Trintignant	Berlin	1968	The Man Who Lies	France
1970 1987	Marcello Mastroianni	Venice	1989	What Time Is It?	Italy
			1993	1, 2, 3, Sun
1979 1982	Jack Lemmon	Berlin	1981	Tribute	United States
		Venice	1992	Glengarry Glen Ross
1980	Michel Piccoli	Berlin	1982	Strange Affair	France
1983	Gian Maria Volonté	Berlin	1987	The Moro Affair	Italy
1990	Gérard Depardieu	Venice	1985	Police	France
1991	Samuel L. Jackson ‡	Berlin	1998	Jackie Brown	United States
1997	Sean Penn	Berlin	1996	Dead Man Walking
		Venice	1998	Hurlyburly
			2003	21 Grams
2008	Benicio del Toro	Berlin	2001	Traffic	Puerto Rico
2010	Javier Bardem	Venice	2000	Before Night Falls	Spain
			2004	The Sea Inside
	Elio Germano	Berlin	2020	Hidden Away	Italy
2013	Bruce Dern	Berlin	1983	That Championship Season	United States
2015	Vincent Lindon	Venice	2024	The Quiet Son	France
2016	Shahab Hosseini	Berlin	2011	A Separation	Iran
2017	Joaquin Phoenix	Venice	2012	The Master	United States

Notes

A^ : This year the award was changed to Prix d'Interpretation (Acting Award), without gender differentiation.

B^ : The entire male and female cast of A Big Family (Больша́я семья́) was recipient of this award in a tie with Spencer Tracy for Bad Day at Black Rock.

C^ : This year award was given as Prix Le Premier Regard Un Certain Regard (Premiere Award - Un Certain Regard) to the lead male and female cast of Long Day's Journey into Night and A Taste of Honey (ex aequo).