Academy Award for Best Actor

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit. It is presented each year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is to recognize an actor with an outstanding performance in a movie. Before 1976, this award was called the Academy Award of Merit for Performance by an Actor. Since the beginning the award has commonly been called the Oscar for Best Actor.

Academy Award for Best Actor
The 2022 recipient: Brendan Fraser
Awarded for	Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Country	United States
Presented by	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)
First awarded	1929 (for performance in movies released during the 1927/1928 movie season)
Most recent winner	Brendan Fraser The Whale (2022)
Most awards	Daniel Day-Lewis (3)
Most nominations	Laurence Olivier and Spencer Tracy (9)
Website	oscars.org

Actors are nominated for this award by Academy members who are actors and actresses themselves. The winner is selected by the Academy membership as a whole.

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed first in bold, followed by the other nominees.

1920s

Year	Actor	Movie	Role
1927/28 (1st)
	Emil Jannings	The Last Command	Grand Duke Sergius Alexander
	The Way of All Flesh	August Schilling
	Richard Barthelmess	The Noose	Nickie Elkins
The Patent Leather Kid		Patent Leather Kid
1928/29 (2nd)
	Warner Baxter	In Old Arizona	The Cisco Kid
	George Bancroft	Thunderbolt	Thunderbolt Jim Lang
	Chester Morris	Alibi	Chick Williams (No. 1065)
	Paul Muni	The Valiant	James Dyke
	Lewis Stone	The Patriot	Count Pahlen

1930s

Year	Actor	Movie	Role
1929/30 (3rd)
	George Arliss	Disraeli	Benjamin Disraeli
	George Arliss	The Green Goddess	The Raja of Rukh
	Wallace Beery	The Big House	'Machine Gun' Butch Schmidt
	Maurice Chevalier	The Big Pond	Pierre Mirande
	Maurice Chevalier	The Love Parade	Count Alfred Renard
	Ronald Colman	Bulldog Drummond	Capt. Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond
	Ronald Colman	Condemned	Michel
	Lawrence Tibbett	The Rogue Song	Yegor
1930/31 (4th)
	Lionel Barrymore	A Free Soul	Stephen Ashe
	Adolphe Menjou	The Front Page	Walter Burns
	Jackie Cooper	Skippy	Skippy Skinner
	Richard Dix	Cimarron	Yancey Cravat
	Fredric March	The Royal Family of Broadway	Tony Cavendish
1931/32 (5th)
	Wallace Beery (tie)	The Champ	Andy "Champ" Purcell
	Fredric March (tie)	Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde	Dr. Henry L. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde
Alfred Lunt	The Guardsman	The Actor
1932/33 (6th)
	Charles Laughton	The Private Life of Henry VIII	King Henry VIII of England
	Leslie Howard	Berkeley Square	Peter Standish
	Paul Muni	I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang	James Allen
1934 (7th)
	Clark Gable	It Happened One Night	Peter Warne
	Frank Morgan	The Affairs of Cellini	Alessandro - Duke of Florence
	William Powell	The Thin Man	Nick Charles
1935 (8th)
	Victor McLaglen	The Informer	Gypo Nolan
	Clark Gable	Mutiny on the Bounty	Fletcher Christian
	Charles Laughton	Mutiny on the Bounty	William Bligh
	Franchot Tone	Mutiny on the Bounty	Roger Byam
1936 (9th)
	Paul Muni	The Story of Louis Pasteur	Louis Pasteur
	Gary Cooper	Mr. Deeds Goes to Town	Longfellow Deeds
	Walter Huston	Dodsworth	Sam Dodsworth
	William Powell	My Man Godfrey	Godfrey Park
	Spencer Tracy	San Francisco	Father Tim Mullin
1937 (10th)
	Spencer Tracy	Captains Courageous	Manuel
	Charles Boyer	Conquest	Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte
	Fredric March	A Star Is Born	Norman Maine
	Robert Montgomery	Night Must Fall	Danny
	Paul Muni	The Life of Emile Zola	Émile Zola
1938 (11th)
	Spencer Tracy	Boys Town	Father Flanagan
	Charles Boyer	Algiers	Pepe le Moko
	James Cagney	Angels with Dirty Faces	Rocky Sullivan
	Robert Donat	The Citadel	Dr. Andrew Manson
	Leslie Howard	Pygmalion	Professor Henry Higgins
1939 (12th)
	Robert Donat	Goodbye, Mr. Chips	Charles Edward Chipping
	Clark Gable	Gone with the Wind	Rhett Butler
	Laurence Olivier	Wuthering Heights	Heathcliff
	Mickey Rooney	Babes in Arms	Mickey Moran
	James Stewart	Mr. Smith Goes to Washington	Jefferson Smith

1940s

Year	Actor	Movie	Role(s)
1940 (13th)
	James Stewart	The Philadelphia Story	Macaulay Connor
	Charlie Chaplin	The Great Dictator	Adenoid Hynkel (Dictator of Tomania) A Jewish Barber
	Henry Fonda	The Grapes of Wrath	Tom Joad
	Raymond Massey	Abe Lincoln in Illinois	Abraham Lincoln
	Laurence Olivier	Rebecca	'Maxim' de Winter
1941 (14th)
	Gary Cooper	Sergeant York	Alvin C. York
	Cary Grant	Penny Serenade	Roger Adams
	Walter Huston	The Devil and Daniel Webster	Mr. Scratch
	Robert Montgomery	Here Comes Mr. Jordan	Joe Pendleton
	Orson Welles	Citizen Kane	Charles Foster Kane
1942 (15th)
	James Cagney	Yankee Doodle Dandy	George M. Cohan
	Ronald Colman	Random Harvest	Charles Rainier
	Gary Cooper	The Pride of the Yankees	Lou Gehrig
	Walter Pidgeon	Mrs. Miniver	Clem Miniver
	Monty Woolley	The Pied Piper	Howard
1943 (16th)
	Paul Lukas	Watch on the Rhine	Kurt Muller
	Humphrey Bogart	Casablanca	Rick Blaine
	Gary Cooper	For Whom the Bell Tolls	Robert Jordan
	Walter Pidgeon	Madame Curie	Pierre Curie
	Mickey Rooney	The Human Comedy	Homer Macauley
1944 (17th)
	Bing Crosby	Going My Way	Father Chuck O'Malley
	Charles Boyer	Gaslight	Gregory Anton
	Barry Fitzgerald	Going My Way	Father Fitzgibbon
	Cary Grant	None but the Lonely Heart	Ernie Mott
	Alexander Knox	Wilson	Woodrow Wilson
1945 (18th)
	Ray Milland	The Lost Weekend	Don Birnam
	Bing Crosby	The Bells of St. Mary's	Father Chuck O'Malley
	Gene Kelly	Anchors Aweigh	Joseph Brady
	Gregory Peck	The Keys of the Kingdom	Father Francis
	Cornel Wilde	A Song to Remember	Frédéric Chopin
1946 (19th)
	Fredric March	The Best Years of Our Lives	Al Stephenson
	Laurence Olivier	Henry V	King Henry V of England
	Larry Parks	The Jolson Story	Al Jolson
	Gregory Peck	The Yearling	Ezra 'Penny' Baxter
	James Stewart	It's a Wonderful Life	George Bailey
1947 (20th)
	Ronald Colman	A Double Life	Anthony John
	John Garfield	Body and Soul	Charlie Davis
	Gregory Peck	Gentleman's Agreement	Philip Schuyler Green
	William Powell	Life with Father	Clarence Day, Sr.
	Michael Redgrave	Mourning Becomes Electra	Orin Mannon
1948 (21st)
	Laurence Olivier	Hamlet	Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
	Lew Ayres	Johnny Belinda	Dr. Robert Richardson
	Montgomery Clift	The Search	Ralph 'Steve' Stevenson
	Dan Dailey	When My Baby Smiles at Me	'Skid' Johnson
	Clifton Webb	Sitting Pretty	Lynn Belvedere
1949 (22nd)
	Broderick Crawford	All the King's Men	Willie Stark
	Kirk Douglas	Champion	Michael 'Midge' Kelly
	Gregory Peck	Twelve O'Clock High	General Savage
	Richard Todd	The Hasty Heart	Cpl. Lachlan 'Lachie' MacLachlan
	John Wayne	Sands of Iwo Jima	Sgt. John M. Stryker

1950s

Year	Actor	Movie	Role(s)
1950 (23rd)
	José Ferrer	Cyrano de Bergerac	Cyrano de Bergerac
	Louis Calhern	The Magnificent Yankee	Oliver Wendell Holmes
	William Holden	Sunset Boulevard	Joe Gillis
	James Stewart	Harvey	Elwood P. Dowd
	Spencer Tracy	Father of the Bride	Stanley T. Banks
1951 (24th)
	Humphrey Bogart	The African Queen	Charlie Allnut
	Marlon Brando	A Streetcar Named Desire	Stanley Kowalski
	Montgomery Clift	A Place in the Sun	George Eastman
	Arthur Kennedy	Bright Victory	Larry Nevins
	Fredric March	Death of a Salesman	Willy Loman
1952 (25th)
	Gary Cooper	High Noon	Marshal Will Kane
	Marlon Brando	Viva Zapata!	Emiliano Zapata
	Kirk Douglas	The Bad and the Beautiful	Jonathan Shields
	José Ferrer	Moulin Rouge	Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec The Comte de Toulouse-Lautrec
	Alec Guinness	The Lavender Hill Mob	Henry Holland
1953 (26th)
	William Holden	Stalag 17	Sgt. J.J. Sefton
	Marlon Brando	Julius Caesar	Mark Antony
	Richard Burton	The Robe	Marcellus Gallio
	Montgomery Clift	From Here to Eternity	Pvt. Robert E. Lee 'Prew' Prewitt
	Burt Lancaster	From Here to Eternity	1st Sgt. Milton Warden
1954 (27th)
	Marlon Brando	On the Waterfront	Terry Malloy
	Humphrey Bogart	The Caine Mutiny	Lt. Cmdr. Philip Francis Queeg
	Bing Crosby	The Country Girl	Frank Elgin
	James Mason	A Star Is Born	Norman Maine
	Dan O'Herlihy	Adventures of Robinson Crusoe	Robinson Crusoe
1955 (28th)
	Ernest Borgnine	Marty	Marty Piletti
	James Cagney	Love Me or Leave Me	Martin Snyder
	James Dean(posthumous nomination)	East of Eden	Cal Trask
	Frank Sinatra	The Man with the Golden Arm	Frankie Machine
	Spencer Tracy	Bad Day at Black Rock	John J. Macreedy
1956 (29th)
	Yul Brynner	The King and I	King Mongkut of Siam
	James Dean(posthumous nomination)	Giant	Jett Rink
	Kirk Douglas	Lust for Life	Vincent van Gogh
	Rock Hudson	Giant	Jordan "Bick" Benedict Jr.
	Laurence Olivier	Richard III	King Richard III of England
1957 (30th)
	Alec Guinness	The Bridge on the River Kwai	Colonel Nicholson
	Marlon Brando	Sayonara	Maj. Lloyd 'Ace' Gruver — USAF
	Anthony Franciosa	A Hatful of Rain	Polo Pope
	Charles Laughton	Witness for the Prosecution	Sir Wilfrid Robarts
	Anthony Quinn	Wild Is the Wind	Gino
1958 (31st)
	David Niven	Separate Tables	Major Angus Pollock
	Tony Curtis	The Defiant Ones	John 'Joker' Jackson
	Paul Newman	Cat on a Hot Tin Roof	Brick Pollitt
	Sidney Poitier	The Defiant Ones	Noah Cullen
	Spencer Tracy	The Old Man and the Sea	The Old Man
1959 (32nd)
	Charlton Heston	Ben-Hur	Judah Ben-Hur
	Laurence Harvey	Room at the Top	Joe Lampton
	Jack Lemmon	Some Like It Hot	Jerry
	Paul Muni	The Last Angry Man	Dr. Sam Abelman
	James Stewart	Anatomy of a Murder	Paul Biegler

1960s

Year	Actor	Movie	Role(s)
1960 (33rd)
	Burt Lancaster	Elmer Gantry	Elmer Gantry
	Trevor Howard	Sons and Lovers	Walter Morel
	Jack Lemmon	The Apartment	C. C. 'Bud' Baxter
	Laurence Olivier	The Entertainer	Archie Rice
	Spencer Tracy	Inherit the Wind	Henry Drummond
1961 (34th)
	Maximilian Schell	Judgment at Nuremberg	Hans Rolfe
	Charles Boyer	Fanny	Cesar
	Paul Newman	The Hustler	Eddie Felson
	Spencer Tracy	Judgment at Nuremberg	Chief Judge Dan Haywood
	Stuart Whitman	The Mark	Jim Fuller
1962 (35th)
	Gregory Peck	To Kill a Mockingbird	Atticus Finch
	Burt Lancaster	Birdman of Alcatraz	Robert Stroud
	Jack Lemmon	Days of Wine and Roses	Joe Clay
	Marcello Mastroianni	Divorce, Italian Style	Ferdinando Cefalù
	Peter O'Toole	Lawrence of Arabia	T. E. Lawrence
1963 (36th)
	Sidney Poitier	Lilies of the Field	Homer Smith
	Albert Finney	Tom Jones	Tom Jones
	Richard Harris	This Sporting Life	Frank Machin
	Rex Harrison	Cleopatra	Julius Caesar
	Paul Newman	Hud	Hud Bannon
1964 (37th)
	Rex Harrison	My Fair Lady	Professor Henry Higgins
	Richard Burton	Becket	Thomas Becket
	Peter O'Toole	Becket	King Henry II of England
	Anthony Quinn	Zorba the Greek	Alexis Zorba
	Peter Sellers	Dr. Strangelove	Group Captain Lionel Mandrake President Merkin Muffley Dr. Strangelove
1965 (38th)
	Lee Marvin	Cat Ballou	Kid Shelleen Tim Strawn
	Richard Burton	The Spy Who Came in from the Cold	Alec Leamas
	Laurence Olivier	Othello	Othello
	Rod Steiger	The Pawnbroker	Sol Nazerman
	Oskar Werner	Ship of Fools	Willie Schumann
1966 (39th)
	Paul Scofield	A Man for All Seasons	Sir Thomas More
	Alan Arkin	The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming	Lt. Rozanov
	Richard Burton	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?	George
	Michael Caine	Alfie	Alfie Elkins
	Steve McQueen	The Sand Pebbles	Jake Holman
1967 (40th)
	Rod Steiger	In the Heat of the Night	Police Chief Bill Gillespie
	Warren Beatty	Bonnie and Clyde	Clyde Barrow
	Dustin Hoffman	The Graduate	Benjamin Braddock
	Paul Newman	Cool Hand Luke	Luke Jackson
	Spencer Tracy(posthumous nomination)	Guess Who's Coming to Dinner	Matt Drayton
1968 (41st)
	Cliff Robertson	Charly	Charly Gordon
	Alan Arkin	The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter	John Singer
	Alan Bates	The Fixer	Yakov Bok
	Ron Moody	Oliver!	Fagin
	Peter O'Toole	The Lion in Winter	King Henry II of England
1969 (42nd)
	John Wayne	True Grit	Rooster Cogburn
	Richard Burton	Anne of the Thousand Days	King Henry VIII of England
	Dustin Hoffman	Midnight Cowboy	Enrico Salvatore 'Ratso' Rizzo
	Peter O'Toole	Goodbye, Mr. Chips	Arthur Chipping
	Jon Voight	Midnight Cowboy	Joe Buck

1970s

Year	Actor	Movie	Role
1970 (43rd)
	George C. Scott (declined)	Patton	Gen. George S. Patton Jr.
	Melvyn Douglas	I Never Sang for My Father	Tom Garrison
	James Earl Jones	The Great White Hope	Jack Jefferson
	Jack Nicholson	Five Easy Pieces	Robert Eroica Dupea
	Ryan O'Neal	Love Story	Oliver Barrett IV
1971 (44th)
	Gene Hackman	The French Connection	Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle
	Peter Finch	Sunday Bloody Sunday	Doctor Daniel Hirsh
	Walter Matthau	Kotch	Joseph P. Kotcher
	George C. Scott	The Hospital	Doctor Herbert Bock
	Chaim Topol	Fiddler on the Roof	Tevye
1972 (45th)
	Marlon Brando (declined)	The Godfather	Vito Corleone
	Michael Caine	Sleuth	Milo Tindle
	Laurence Olivier	Sleuth	Andrew Wyke
	Peter O'Toole	The Ruling Class	Jack Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney
	Paul Winfield	Sounder	Nathan Lee Morgan
1973 (46th)
	Jack Lemmon	Save the Tiger	Harry Stoner
	Marlon Brando	Last Tango in Paris	Paul
	Jack Nicholson	The Last Detail	Billy Buddusky
	Al Pacino	Serpico	Frank Serpico
	Robert Redford	The Sting	Johnny Hooker
1974 (47th)
	Art Carney	Harry and Tonto	Harry Coombes
	Albert Finney	Murder on the Orient Express	Hercule Poirot
	Dustin Hoffman	Lenny	Lenny Bruce
	Jack Nicholson	Chinatown	Jake 'J.J.' Gittes
	Al Pacino	The Godfather Part II	Michael Corleone
1975 (48th)
	Jack Nicholson	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	Randle Patrick McMurphy
	Walter Matthau	The Sunshine Boys	Willy Clark
	Al Pacino	Dog Day Afternoon	Sonny Wortzik
	Maximilian Schell	The Man in the Glass Booth	Arthur Goldman
	James Whitmore	Give 'em Hell, Harry!	Harry S. Truman
1976 (49th)
	Peter Finch (posthumous win)	Network	Howard Beale
	Robert De Niro	Taxi Driver	Travis Bickle
	Giancarlo Giannini	Seven Beauties	Pasqualino Frafuso
	William Holden	Network	Max Schumacher
	Sylvester Stallone	Rocky	Rocky Balboa
1977 (50th)
	Richard Dreyfuss	The Goodbye Girl	Elliot Garfield
	Woody Allen	Annie Hall	Alvy Singer
	Richard Burton	Equus	Martin Dysart
	Marcello Mastroianni	A Special Day	Gabriele
	John Travolta	Saturday Night Fever	Tony Manero
1978 (51st)
	Jon Voight	Coming Home	Luke Martin
	Warren Beatty	Heaven Can Wait	Joe Pendleton
	Gary Busey	The Buddy Holly Story	Buddy Holly
	Robert De Niro	The Deer Hunter	Michael Vronsky
	Laurence Olivier	The Boys from Brazil	Ezra Lieberman
1979 (52nd)
	Dustin Hoffman	Kramer vs. Kramer	Ted Kramer
	Jack Lemmon	The China Syndrome	Jack Godell
	Al Pacino	...And Justice for All	Arthur Kirkland
	Roy Scheider	All That Jazz	Joe Gideon
	Peter Sellers	Being There	Chance

1980s

Year	Actor	Movie	Role
1980 (53rd)
	Robert De Niro	Raging Bull	Jake LaMotta
	Robert Duvall	The Great Santini	Lieutenant Colonel Bull Meechum
	John Hurt	The Elephant Man	John Merrick
	Jack Lemmon	Tribute	Scottie Templeton
	Peter O'Toole	The Stunt Man	Eli Cross
1981 (54th)
	Henry Fonda	On Golden Pond	Norman Thayer
	Warren Beatty	Reds	John Reed
	Burt Lancaster	Atlantic City	Lou Pascal
	Dudley Moore	Arthur	Arthur Bach
	Paul Newman	Absence of Malice	Michael Colin Gallagher
1982 (55th)
	Ben Kingsley	Gandhi	Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
	Dustin Hoffman	Tootsie	Michael Dorsey / Dorothy Michaels
	Jack Lemmon	Missing	Ed Horman
	Paul Newman	The Verdict	Frank Galvin
	Peter O'Toole	My Favorite Year	Alan Swann
1983 (56th)
	Robert Duvall	Tender Mercies	Mac Sledge
	Michael Caine	Educating Rita	Dr. Frank Bryant
	Tom Conti	Reuben, Reuben	Gowan McGland
	Tom Courtenay	The Dresser	Norman
	Albert Finney	The Dresser	Sir
1984 (57th)
	F. Murray Abraham	Amadeus	Antonio Salieri
	Jeff Bridges	Starman	Starman
	Albert Finney	Under the Volcano	Geoffrey Firmin
	Tom Hulce	Amadeus	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
	Sam Waterston	The Killing Fields	Sydney Schanberg
1985 (58th)
	William Hurt	Kiss of the Spider Woman	Luis Molina
	Harrison Ford	Witness	Detective Captain John Book
	James Garner	Murphy's Romance	Murphy Jones
	Jack Nicholson	Prizzi's Honor	Charley Partanna
	Jon Voight	Runaway Train	Oscar 'Manny' Manheim
1986 (59th)
	Paul Newman	The Color of Money	Fast Eddie Felson
	Dexter Gordon	Round Midnight	Dale Turner
	Bob Hoskins	Mona Lisa	George
	William Hurt	Children of a Lesser God	James Leeds
	James Woods	Salvador	Richard Boyle
1987 (60th)
	Michael Douglas	Wall Street	Gordon Gekko
	William Hurt	Broadcast News	Tom Grunick
	Marcello Mastroianni	Dark Eyes	Romano
	Jack Nicholson	Ironweed	Francis Phelan
	Robin Williams	Good Morning, Vietnam	Adrian Cronauer
1988 (61st)
	Dustin Hoffman	Rain Man	Raymond Babbitt
	Gene Hackman	Mississippi Burning	Agent Rupert Anderson
	Tom Hanks	Big	Josh Baskin
	Edward James Olmos	Stand and Deliver	Jaime Escalante
	Max von Sydow	Pelle the Conqueror	Lassefar
1989 (62nd)
	Daniel Day-Lewis	My Left Foot	Christy Brown
	Kenneth Branagh	Henry V	King Henry V of England
	Tom Cruise	Born on the Fourth of July	Ron Kovic
	Morgan Freeman	Driving Miss Daisy	Hoke Colburn
	Robin Williams	Dead Poets Society	John Keating

1990s

Year	Actor	Movie	Role
1990 (63rd)
	Jeremy Irons	Reversal of Fortune	Claus von Bülow
	Kevin Costner	Dances with Wolves	Lieutenant John J. Dunbar
	Robert De Niro	Awakenings	Leonard Lowe
	Gérard Depardieu	Cyrano de Bergerac	Cyrano de Bergerac
	Richard Harris	The Field	'Bull' McCabe
1991 (64th)
	Anthony Hopkins	The Silence of the Lambs	Hannibal Lecter
	Warren Beatty	Bugsy	Bugsy Siegel
	Robert De Niro	Cape Fear	Max Cady
	Nick Nolte	The Prince of Tides	Tom Wingo
	Robin Williams	The Fisher King	Parry
1992 (65th)
	Al Pacino	Scent of a Woman	Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade
	Robert Downey, Jr.	Chaplin	Charlie Chaplin
	Clint Eastwood	Unforgiven	William Munny
	Stephen Rea	The Crying Game	Fergus
	Denzel Washington	Malcolm X	Malcolm X
1993 (66th)
	Tom Hanks	Philadelphia	Andrew Beckett
	Daniel Day-Lewis	In the Name of the Father	Gerry Conlon
	Laurence Fishburne	What's Love Got to Do with It	Ike Turner
	Anthony Hopkins	The Remains of the Day	James Stevens
	Liam Neeson	Schindler's List	Oskar Schindler
1994 (67th)
	Tom Hanks	Forrest Gump	Forrest Gump
	Morgan Freeman	The Shawshank Redemption	Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding
	Nigel Hawthorne	The Madness of King George	King George III of the United Kingdom
	Paul Newman	Nobody's Fool	Donald "Sully" Sullivan
	John Travolta	Pulp Fiction	Vincent Vega
1995 (68th)
	Nicolas Cage	Leaving Las Vegas	Ben Sanderson
	Richard Dreyfuss	Mr. Holland's Opus	Glenn Holland
	Anthony Hopkins	Nixon	Richard Nixon
	Sean Penn	Dead Man Walking	Matthew Poncelet
	Massimo Troisi (posthumous nomination)	Il Postino	Mario Ruoppolo
1996 (69th)
	Geoffrey Rush	Shine	David Helfgott
	Tom Cruise	Jerry Maguire	Jerry Maguire
	Ralph Fiennes	The English Patient	Count Laszlo de Almásy
	Woody Harrelson	The People vs. Larry Flynt	Larry Flynt
	Billy Bob Thornton	Sling Blade	Karl Childers
1997 (70th)
	Jack Nicholson	As Good as It Gets	Melvin Udall
	Matt Damon	Good Will Hunting	Will Hunting
	Robert Duvall	The Apostle	Euliss 'Sonny' Dewey — The Apostle E.F.
	Peter Fonda	Ulee's Gold	Ulee Jackson
	Dustin Hoffman	Wag the Dog	Stanley Motss
1998 (71st)
	Roberto Benigni	Life Is Beautiful	Guido Orefice
	Tom Hanks	Saving Private Ryan	Captain John Miller
	Ian McKellen	Gods and Monsters	James Whale
	Nick Nolte	Affliction	Wade Whitehouse
	Edward Norton	American History X	Derek Vinyard
1999 (72nd)
	Kevin Spacey	American Beauty	Lester Burnham
	Russell Crowe	The Insider	Jeffrey Wigand
	Richard Farnsworth	The Straight Story	Alvin Straight
	Sean Penn	Sweet and Lowdown	Emmet Ray
	Denzel Washington	The Hurricane	Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter

2000s

Year	Actor	Movie	Role(s)
2000 (73rd)
	Russell Crowe	Gladiator	Maximus Decimus Meridius
	Javier Bardem	Before Night Falls	Reinaldo Arenas
	Tom Hanks	Cast Away	Chuck Noland
	Ed Harris	Pollock	Jackson Pollock
	Geoffrey Rush	Quills	The Marquis de Sade
2001 (74th)
	Denzel Washington	Training Day	Alonzo Harris
	Russell Crowe	A Beautiful Mind	John Nash
	Sean Penn	I Am Sam	Sam Dawson
	Will Smith	Ali	Muhammad Ali
	Tom Wilkinson	In the Bedroom	Dr. Matt Fowler
2002 (75th)
	Adrien Brody	The Pianist	Władysław Szpilman
	Nicolas Cage	Adaptation.	Charlie Kaufman Donald Kaufman
	Michael Caine	The Quiet American	Thomas Fowler
	Daniel Day-Lewis	Gangs of New York	William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting
	Jack Nicholson	About Schmidt	Warren R. Schmidt
2003 (76th)
	Sean Penn	Mystic River	Jimmy Markum
	Johnny Depp	Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl	Captain Jack Sparrow
	Ben Kingsley	House of Sand and Fog	Massoud Amir Behrani
	Jude Law	Cold Mountain	Inman
	Bill Murray	Lost in Translation	Bob Harris
2004 (77th)
	Jamie Foxx	Ray	Ray Charles
	Don Cheadle	Hotel Rwanda	Paul Rusesabagina
	Johnny Depp	Finding Neverland	Sir J.M. Barrie
	Leonardo DiCaprio	The Aviator	Howard Hughes
	Clint Eastwood	Million Dollar Baby	Frankie Dunn
2005 (78th)
	Philip Seymour Hoffman	Capote	Truman Capote
	Terrence Howard	Hustle & Flow	Djay
	Heath Ledger	Brokeback Mountain	Ennis Del Mar
	Joaquin Phoenix	Walk the Line	Johnny Cash
	David Strathairn	Good Night, and Good Luck	Edward R. Murrow
2006 (79th)
	Forest Whitaker	The Last King of Scotland	Idi Amin
	Leonardo DiCaprio	Blood Diamond	Danny Archer
	Ryan Gosling	Half Nelson	Dan Dunne
	Peter O'Toole	Venus	Maurice
	Will Smith	The Pursuit of Happyness	Chris Gardner
2007 (80th)
	Daniel Day-Lewis	There Will Be Blood	Daniel Plainview
	George Clooney	Michael Clayton	Michael Clayton
	Johnny Depp	Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street	Sweeney Todd
	Tommy Lee Jones	In the Valley of Elah	Hank Deerfield
	Viggo Mortensen	Eastern Promises	Nikolai Luzhin
2008 (81st)
	Sean Penn	Milk	Harvey Milk
	Richard Jenkins	The Visitor	Walter Vale
	Frank Langella	Frost/Nixon	Richard Nixon
	Brad Pitt	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	Benjamin Button
	Mickey Rourke	The Wrestler	Randy "The Ram" Robinson
2009 (82nd)
	Jeff Bridges	Crazy Heart	Ottis 'Bad' Blake
	George Clooney	Up in the Air	Ryan Bingham
	Colin Firth	A Single Man	George Falconer
	Morgan Freeman	Invictus	Nelson Mandela
	Jeremy Renner	The Hurt Locker	SFC William James

2010s

Year	Actor	Movie	Role
2010 (83rd)
	Colin Firth	The King's Speech	King George VI
	Javier Bardem	Biutiful	Uxbal
	Jeff Bridges	True Grit	Rooster Cogburn
	Jesse Eisenberg	The Social Network	Mark Zuckerberg
	James Franco	127 Hours	Aron Ralston
2011 (84th)
	Jean Dujardin	The Artist	George Valentin
	Demián Bichir	A Better Life	Carlos Galindo
	George Clooney	The Descendants	Matt King
	Gary Oldman	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	George Smiley
	Brad Pitt	Moneyball	Billy Beane
2012 (85th)
	Daniel Day-Lewis	Lincoln	Abraham Lincoln
	Bradley Cooper	Silver Linings Playbook	Pat
	Hugh Jackman	Les Misérables	Jean Valjean
	Joaquin Phoenix	The Master	Freddie Quell
	Denzel Washington	Flight	William „Whip“ Whitaker
2013 (86th)
	Matthew McConaughey	Dallas Buyers Club	Ron Woodroof
	Christian Bale	American Hustle	Irving Rosenfeld
	Bruce Dern	Nebraska	Woodrow "Woody" T. Grant
	Leonardo DiCaprio	The Wolf of Wall Street	Jordan Belfort
	Chiwetel Ejiofor	12 Years a Slave	Solomon Northup
2014 (87th)
	Eddie Redmayne	The Theory of Everything	Stephen Hawking
	Steve Carell	Foxcatcher	John du Point
	Bradley Cooper	American Sniper	Chris Kyle
	Benedict Cumberbatch	The Imitation Game	Alan Turing
	Michael Keaton	Birdman	Riggan Thomson
2015 (88th)
	Leonardo DiCaprio	The Revenant	Hugh Glass
	Bryan Cranston	Trumbo	Dalton Trumbo
	Matt Damon	The Martian	Mark Watney
	Michael Fassbender	Steve Jobs	Steve Jobs
	Eddie Redmayne	The Danish Girl	Lili Elbe
2016 (89th)
	Casey Affleck	Manchester by the Sea	Lee Chandler
	Andrew Garfield	Hacksaw Ridge	Desmond Doss
	Ryan Gosling	La La Land	Sebastian Wilber
	Viggo Mortensen	Captain Fantastic	Ben Cash
	Denzel Washington	Fences	Troy Maxson
2017 (90th)
	Gary Oldman	Darkest Hour	Winston Churchill
	Timothée Chalamet	Call Me by Your Name	Elio Perlman
	Daniel Day-Lewis	Phantom Thread	Reynolds Woodcock
	Daniel Kaluuya	Get Out	Chris Washington
	Denzel Washington	Roman J. Israel, Esq.	Roman J. Israel
2018 (91st)
	Rami Malek	Bohemian Rhapsody	Freddie Mercury
	Christian Bale	Vice	Dick Cheney
	Bradley Cooper	A Star Is Born	Jackson Maine
	Willem Dafoe	At Eternity's Gate	Vincent Van Gogh
	Viggo Mortensen	Green Book	Tony "Lip" Vallelonga
2019 (92nd)
	Joaquin Phoenix	Joker	Arthur Fleck / Joker
	Antonio Banderas	Pain and Glory	Salvador Mallo
	Leonardo DiCaprio	Once Upon a Time in Hollywood	Rick Dalton
	Adam Driver	Marriage Story	Charlie Barber
	Jonathan Pryce	The Two Popes	Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio

2020s

Year	Actor	Movie	Role
2020 (93rd)
	Anthony Hopkins	The Father	Anthony
	Riz Ahmed	Sound of Metal	Ruben Stone
	Chadwick Boseman (posthumous nomination)	Ma Rainey's Black Bottom	Levee Green
	Gary Oldman	Mank	Herman J. Mankiewicz
	Steven Yeun	Minari	Jacob Yi
2021 (94th)
	Will Smith	King Richard	Richard Williams
	Javier Bardem	Being the Ricardos	Desi Arnaz
	Benedict Cumberbatch	The Power of the Dog	Phil Burbank
	Andrew Garfield	Tick, Tick... Boom!	Jonathan Larson
	Denzel Washington	The Tragedy of Macbeth	Lord Macbeth
2022 (95th)
	Brendan Fraser	Charlie	The Whale
	Austin Butler	Elvis Presley	Elvis
	Colin Farrell	Pádraic Súilleabháin	The Banshees of Inisherin
	Paul Mescal	Calum Paterson	Aftersun
	Bill Nighy	Rodney Williams	Living
2023 (96th)	Bradley Cooper	Leonard Bernstein	Maestro
	Colman Domingo	Bayard Rustin	Rustin
	Paul Giamatti	Paul Hunham	The Holdovers
	Cillian Murphy	J. Robert Oppenheimer	Oppenheimer
	Jeffrey Wright	Thelonious "Monk" Ellison	American Fiction

Related pages

• BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role

Other websites

• Oscars.org (official Academy site)