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Academy Award for Best Actor
Award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Academy Award for Best Actor |
| image | File:Adrien Brody-61845.jpg |
| caption | The 2003 and 2025 recipient: Adrien Brody |
| awarded_for | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role |
| presenter | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) |
| country | United States |
| year | (for films released during the 1927/1928 film season) |
| holder_label | Most recent winner |
| holder | Adrien Brody, The Brutalist (2024) |
| most_awards | Daniel Day-Lewis (3) |
| most_nominations | Laurence Olivier and Spencer Tracy (9) |
| website |
The Academy Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 1st Academy Awards to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's Best Actress winner. However, in recent years, it has shifted towards being presented by previous years' Best Actor winners instead.
The Best Actor award has been presented 97 times, to 86 actors. The first winner was German actor Emil Jannings for his roles in The Last Command (1928) and The Way of All Flesh (1927). The most recent winner is Adrien Brody for The Brutalist (2024); he previously won the award for The Pianist (2002) at the age of 29, making him the category's youngest winner. The record for most wins is three, held by Daniel Day-Lewis, and ten other actors have won twice. The record for most nominations is nine, held jointly by Spencer Tracy and Laurence Olivier. At the 5th Academy Awards in 1932, Fredric March finished one vote ahead of Wallace Beery; under the rules of the time this resulted in them sharing the award, the only time this has occurred.
Nominations process
Nominees are currently determined by single transferable vote within the actors branch of AMPAS; winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy.
In the first three years of the awards, actors and actresses were nominated as the best individuals in their categories. At that time, all of their work during the qualifying period (as many as three films, in some cases) was listed after the award. Despite this, at the 3rd Academy Awards, held in 1930, only one film was cited in each winner's award regardless of how many they were eligible to be considered for during that span. The current system, in which an actor is nominated for a specific performance in a single film, was introduced for the 4th Academy Awards. Starting with the 9th Academy Awards, held in 1937, the category was limited to a maximum five nominations per year.
Winners and nominees
In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of film release in Los Angeles County; the ceremonies are always held the following year. For the first five ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned twelve months, from August 1 to July 31. For the 6th ceremony held in 1934, the eligibility period lasted from August 1, 1932, to December 31, 1933. Since the 7th ceremony held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full previous calendar year from January 1 to December 31.
| ‡ | § | † | † |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indicates the winner | |||
| Indicates winner who refused the award | |||
| Indicates a posthumous winner | |||
| Indicates a posthumous nominee |
1920s
| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film | Ref. | 1927/28 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (1st) | 1928/29 | |||||||||||||||
| (2nd) | ||||||||||||||||
| The 2nd Academy Awards is unique in being the only occasion where there were no official nominees. Subsequent research by AMPAS has resulted in a list of unofficial or de facto nominees, based on records of which films were evaluated by the judges. | ||||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||||
| Patent Leather Kid | ||||||||||||||||
| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/05/16/the-first-oscars-what-happened-in-1929/ | first=Martin | last=Chilton | work=The Daily Telegraph | title=The first Oscars: what happened in 1929 | access-date=February 25, 2021 | url-access=subscription | date=May 16, 2016 | url-status=live | archive-date=May 19, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160519015239/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/05/16/the-first-oscars-what-happened-in-1929/}} | ||||||
| **** | *In Old Arizona* | |||||||||||||||
| Thunderbolt | ||||||||||||||||
| Alibi |
1930s
| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film | Ref. | 1929/30 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (3rd) | 1930/31 | |||||||||||||
| (4th) | 1931/32 | |||||||||||||
| (5th) | 1932/33 | |||||||||||||
| (6th) | 1934 | |||||||||||||
| (7th) | 1935 | |||||||||||||
| (8th) | 1936 | |||||||||||||
| (9th) | 1937 | |||||||||||||
| (10th) | 1938 | |||||||||||||
| (11th) | 1939 | |||||||||||||
| (12th) | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Disraeli* | |||||||||||||
| Bulldog Drummond | ||||||||||||||
| Michel | Condemned | |||||||||||||
| Yegor | ||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| Skippy | ||||||||||||||
| Cimarron | ||||||||||||||
| (Tie) | **** | **** | ||||||||||||
| (Tie) | **** | *Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde* | ||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| Berkeley Square | ||||||||||||||
| I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *It Happened One Night* | |||||||||||||
| Alessandro, Duke of Florence | ||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| Mutiny on the Bounty | ||||||||||||||
| (Write-in) | Black Fury | |||||||||||||
| Mutiny on the Bounty | ||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | ||||||||||||||
| Dodsworth | ||||||||||||||
| My Man Godfrey | ||||||||||||||
| San Francisco | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Captains Courageous* | |||||||||||||
| Conquest | ||||||||||||||
| Danny | Night Must Fall | |||||||||||||
| **** | *Boys Town* | |||||||||||||
| Algiers | ||||||||||||||
| Angels with Dirty Faces | ||||||||||||||
| Pygmalion | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Goodbye, Mr. Chips* | |||||||||||||
| Gone with the Wind | ||||||||||||||
| Heathcliff | Wuthering Heights | |||||||||||||
| Babes in Arms | ||||||||||||||
| Mr. Smith Goes to Washington |
1940s
| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film | Ref. | 1940 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (13th) | 1941 | |||||||||||||
| (14th) | 1942 | |||||||||||||
| (15th) | 1943 | |||||||||||||
| (16th) | 1944 | |||||||||||||
| (17th) | 1945 | |||||||||||||
| (18th) | 1946 | |||||||||||||
| (19th) | 1947 | |||||||||||||
| (20th) | 1948 | |||||||||||||
| (21st) | 1949 | |||||||||||||
| (22nd) | ||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| & The Barber | ||||||||||||||
| Abe Lincoln in Illinois | ||||||||||||||
| Rebecca | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Sergeant York* | |||||||||||||
| Penny Serenade | ||||||||||||||
| ** | ||||||||||||||
| Here Comes Mr. Jordan | ||||||||||||||
| Citizen Kane | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Yankee Doodle Dandy* | |||||||||||||
| Random Harvest | ||||||||||||||
| Mrs. Miniver | ||||||||||||||
| Howard | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Watch on the Rhine* | |||||||||||||
| Casablanca | ||||||||||||||
| For Whom the Bell Tolls | ||||||||||||||
| Madame Curie | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Going My Way* | |||||||||||||
| Gaslight | ||||||||||||||
| Going My Way | ||||||||||||||
| None but the Lonely Heart | ||||||||||||||
| Wilson | ||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| Anchors Aweigh | ||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| Henry V | ||||||||||||||
| It's a Wonderful Life | ||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| Body and Soul | ||||||||||||||
| Gentleman's Agreement | ||||||||||||||
| Life with Father | ||||||||||||||
| Mourning Becomes Electra | ||||||||||||||
| Hamlet, Prince of Denmark | *Hamlet* | |||||||||||||
| Johnny Belinda | ||||||||||||||
| When My Baby Smiles at Me | ||||||||||||||
| Sitting Pretty | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *All the King's Men* | |||||||||||||
| Champion | ||||||||||||||
| Twelve O'Clock High | ||||||||||||||
| Sands of Iwo Jima |
1950s
| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film | Ref. | 1950 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (23rd) | 1951 | |||||||||||||
| (24th) | 1952 | |||||||||||||
| (25th) | 1953 | |||||||||||||
| (26th) | 1954 | |||||||||||||
| (27th) | 1955 | |||||||||||||
| (28th) | 1956 | |||||||||||||
| (29th) | 1957 | |||||||||||||
| (30th) | 1958 | |||||||||||||
| (31st) | 1959 | |||||||||||||
| (32nd) | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Cyrano de Bergerac* | |||||||||||||
| Sunset Boulevard | ||||||||||||||
| Harvey | ||||||||||||||
| Father of the Bride | ||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| Bright Victory | ||||||||||||||
| Death of a Salesman | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *High Noon* | |||||||||||||
| Viva Zapata! | ||||||||||||||
| Moulin Rouge | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Stalag 17* | |||||||||||||
| Julius Caesar | ||||||||||||||
| From Here to Eternity | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *On the Waterfront* | |||||||||||||
| Robinson Crusoe | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Marty* | |||||||||||||
| Love Me or Leave Me | ||||||||||||||
| † | East of Eden | |||||||||||||
| Bad Day at Black Rock | ||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| † | Giant | |||||||||||||
| Lust for Life | ||||||||||||||
| Giant | ||||||||||||||
| Richard III | ||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| Sayonara | ||||||||||||||
| Witness for the Prosecution | ||||||||||||||
| Gino | Wild Is the Wind | |||||||||||||
| **** | *Separate Tables* | |||||||||||||
| Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | ||||||||||||||
| The Defiant Ones | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Ben-Hur* | |||||||||||||
| Room at the Top | ||||||||||||||
| Jerry / Daphne | Some Like It Hot | |||||||||||||
| Anatomy of a Murder |
1960s
| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film | Ref. | 1960 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (33rd) | 1961 | |||||||||||||
| (34th) | 1962 | |||||||||||||
| (35th) | 1963 | |||||||||||||
| (36th) | 1964 | |||||||||||||
| (37th) | 1965 | |||||||||||||
| (38th) | 1966 | |||||||||||||
| (39th) | 1967 | |||||||||||||
| (40th) | 1968 | |||||||||||||
| (41st) | 1969 | |||||||||||||
| (42nd) | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Elmer Gantry* | |||||||||||||
| Sons and Lovers | ||||||||||||||
| Inherit the Wind | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Judgment at Nuremberg* | |||||||||||||
| Cesar | Fanny | |||||||||||||
| Judgment at Nuremberg | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *To Kill a Mockingbird* | |||||||||||||
| Birdman of Alcatraz | ||||||||||||||
| Days of Wine and Roses | ||||||||||||||
| Divorce Italian Style | ||||||||||||||
| Lawrence of Arabia | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Lilies of the Field* | |||||||||||||
| Tom Jones | ||||||||||||||
| This Sporting Life | ||||||||||||||
| Cleopatra | ||||||||||||||
| Hud | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *My Fair Lady* | |||||||||||||
| Becket | ||||||||||||||
| Zorba the Greek | ||||||||||||||
| , President Merkin Muffley, and Dr. Strangelove | Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb | |||||||||||||
| & Tim Strawn | *Cat Ballou* | |||||||||||||
| Othello | Othello | |||||||||||||
| Ship of Fools | ||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| George | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | |||||||||||||
| Alfie | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *In the Heat of the Night* | |||||||||||||
| Bonnie and Clyde | ||||||||||||||
| Cool Hand Luke | ||||||||||||||
| † | Guess Who's Coming to Dinner | |||||||||||||
| **** | *Charly* | |||||||||||||
| Fagin | Oliver! | |||||||||||||
| **** | *True Grit* | |||||||||||||
| Anne of the Thousand Days | ||||||||||||||
| Midnight Cowboy | ||||||||||||||
| Goodbye, Mr. Chips | ||||||||||||||
| Midnight Cowboy |
1970s
| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film | Ref. | 1970 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (43rd) | 1971 | |||||||||||||
| (44th) | 1972 | |||||||||||||
| (45th) | 1973 | |||||||||||||
| (46th) | 1974 | |||||||||||||
| (47th) | 1975 | |||||||||||||
| (48th) | 1976 | |||||||||||||
| (49th) | 1977 | |||||||||||||
| (50th) | 1978 | |||||||||||||
| (51st) | 1979 | |||||||||||||
| (52nd) | ||||||||||||||
| § | **** | *Patton* | ||||||||||||
| I Never Sang for My Father | ||||||||||||||
| Five Easy Pieces | ||||||||||||||
| Love Story | ||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| Sunday Bloody Sunday | ||||||||||||||
| Kotch | ||||||||||||||
| Topol | Tevye | Fiddler on the Roof | ||||||||||||
| § | **** | **** | ||||||||||||
| Sleuth | ||||||||||||||
| Sounder | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Save the Tiger* | |||||||||||||
| Paul | Last Tango in Paris | |||||||||||||
| Serpico | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Harry and Tonto* | |||||||||||||
| Murder on the Orient Express | ||||||||||||||
| Lenny | ||||||||||||||
| Chinatown | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest* | |||||||||||||
| Dog Day Afternoon | ||||||||||||||
| Give 'em Hell, Harry! | ||||||||||||||
| † | **** | *Network* | ||||||||||||
| Taxi Driver | ||||||||||||||
| Seven Beauties | ||||||||||||||
| Network | ||||||||||||||
| Rocky | ||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| Annie Hall | ||||||||||||||
| Equus | ||||||||||||||
| Gabriele | ||||||||||||||
| Saturday Night Fever | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Coming Home* | |||||||||||||
| Heaven Can Wait | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Kramer vs. Kramer* | |||||||||||||
| ...And Justice for All | ||||||||||||||
| All That Jazz | ||||||||||||||
| Being There |
1980s
| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film | Ref. | 1980 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (53rd) | 1981 | |||||||||||||
| (54th) | 1982 | |||||||||||||
| (55th) | 1983 | |||||||||||||
| (56th) | 1984 | |||||||||||||
| (57th) | 1985 | |||||||||||||
| (58th) | 1986 | |||||||||||||
| (59th) | 1987 | |||||||||||||
| (60th) | 1988 | |||||||||||||
| (61st) | 1989 | |||||||||||||
| (62nd) | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Raging Bull* | |||||||||||||
| Tribute | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *On Golden Pond* | |||||||||||||
| Reds | ||||||||||||||
| Atlantic City | ||||||||||||||
| Arthur | ||||||||||||||
| Absence of Malice | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Gandhi* | |||||||||||||
| Tootsie | ||||||||||||||
| Missing | ||||||||||||||
| My Favorite Year | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Tender Mercies* | |||||||||||||
| Educating Rita | ||||||||||||||
| Reuben, Reuben | ||||||||||||||
| Norman | ||||||||||||||
| Sir | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Amadeus* | |||||||||||||
| Scott “Starman” Hayden | Starman | |||||||||||||
| Under the Volcano | ||||||||||||||
| Amadeus | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Kiss of the Spider Woman* | |||||||||||||
| Witness | ||||||||||||||
| Murphy's Romance | ||||||||||||||
| Prizzi's Honor | ||||||||||||||
| Runaway Train | ||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| Round Midnight | ||||||||||||||
| George | Mona Lisa | |||||||||||||
| Children of a Lesser God | ||||||||||||||
| Salvador | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Wall Street* | |||||||||||||
| Broadcast News | ||||||||||||||
| Romano Patroni | Dark Eyes | |||||||||||||
| Ironweed | ||||||||||||||
| Good Morning, Vietnam | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Rain Man* | |||||||||||||
| Mississippi Burning | ||||||||||||||
| Big | ||||||||||||||
| Stand and Deliver | ||||||||||||||
| Lassefar "Lasse" Karlsson | Pelle the Conqueror | |||||||||||||
| **** | *My Left Foot* | |||||||||||||
| Henry V | ||||||||||||||
| Born on the Fourth of July | ||||||||||||||
| Driving Miss Daisy | ||||||||||||||
| Dead Poets Society |
1990s
| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film | Ref. | 1990 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (63rd) | 1991 | |||||||||||||
| (64th) | 1992 | |||||||||||||
| (65th) | 1993 | |||||||||||||
| (66th) | 1994 | |||||||||||||
| (67th) | 1995 | |||||||||||||
| (68th) | 1996 | |||||||||||||
| (69th) | 1997 | |||||||||||||
| (70th) | 1998 | |||||||||||||
| (71st) | 1999 | |||||||||||||
| (72nd) | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Reversal of Fortune* | |||||||||||||
| Dances With Wolves | ||||||||||||||
| Awakenings | ||||||||||||||
| Cyrano de Bergerac | ||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| Bugsy | ||||||||||||||
| Cape Fear | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Scent of a Woman* | |||||||||||||
| Chaplin | ||||||||||||||
| Unforgiven | ||||||||||||||
| Fergus | ||||||||||||||
| Malcolm Little / Malcolm X | Malcolm X | |||||||||||||
| **** | *Philadelphia* | |||||||||||||
| In the Name of the Father | ||||||||||||||
| What's Love Got to Do with It | ||||||||||||||
| Schindler's List | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Forrest Gump* | |||||||||||||
| Nobody's Fool | ||||||||||||||
| Pulp Fiction | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Leaving Las Vegas* | |||||||||||||
| Mr. Holland's Opus | ||||||||||||||
| Nixon | ||||||||||||||
| Dead Man Walking | ||||||||||||||
| † | Il Postino: The Postman | |||||||||||||
| **** | *Shine* | |||||||||||||
| Jerry Maguire | ||||||||||||||
| Sling Blade | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *As Good as It Gets* | |||||||||||||
| Good Will Hunting | ||||||||||||||
| Ulee's Gold | ||||||||||||||
| Wag the Dog | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Life Is Beautiful* | |||||||||||||
| Saving Private Ryan | ||||||||||||||
| Gods and Monsters | ||||||||||||||
| Affliction | ||||||||||||||
| American History X | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *American Beauty* | |||||||||||||
| Sweet and Lowdown |
2000s
| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film | Ref. | 2000 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (73rd) | 2001 | |||||||||||||
| (74th) | 2002 | |||||||||||||
| (75th) | 2003 | |||||||||||||
| (76th) | 2004 | |||||||||||||
| (77th) | 2005 | |||||||||||||
| (78th) | 2006 | |||||||||||||
| (79th) | 2007 | |||||||||||||
| (80th) | 2008 | |||||||||||||
| (81st) | 2009 | |||||||||||||
| (82nd) | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Gladiator* | |||||||||||||
| Before Night Falls | ||||||||||||||
| Cast Away | ||||||||||||||
| Pollock | ||||||||||||||
| Quills | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Training Day* | |||||||||||||
| I Am Sam | ||||||||||||||
| Ali | ||||||||||||||
| In the Bedroom | ||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| Adaptation. | ||||||||||||||
| Gangs of New York | ||||||||||||||
| About Schmidt | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Mystic River* | |||||||||||||
| Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl | ||||||||||||||
| House of Sand and Fog | ||||||||||||||
| Cold Mountain | ||||||||||||||
| Lost in Translation | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Ray* | |||||||||||||
| Hotel Rwanda | ||||||||||||||
| Finding Neverland | ||||||||||||||
| Million Dollar Baby | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Capote* | |||||||||||||
| DJay | Hustle & Flow | |||||||||||||
| Brokeback Mountain | ||||||||||||||
| Walk the Line | ||||||||||||||
| Good Night, and Good Luck. | ||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| Blood Diamond | ||||||||||||||
| Half Nelson | ||||||||||||||
| Venus | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *There Will Be Blood* | |||||||||||||
| Michael Clayton | ||||||||||||||
| Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | ||||||||||||||
| In the Valley of Elah | ||||||||||||||
| Eastern Promises | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Milk* | |||||||||||||
| Frost/Nixon | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Crazy Heart* | |||||||||||||
| Up in the Air | ||||||||||||||
| Invictus |
2010s
| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film | Ref. | 2010 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (83rd) | 2011 | |||||||||||||
| (84th) | 2012 | |||||||||||||
| (85th) | 2013 | |||||||||||||
| (86th) | 2014 | |||||||||||||
| (87th) | 2015 | |||||||||||||
| (88th) | 2016 | |||||||||||||
| (89th) | 2017 | |||||||||||||
| (90th) | 2018 | |||||||||||||
| (91st) | 2019 | |||||||||||||
| (92nd) | ||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| Uxbal | ||||||||||||||
| True Grit | ||||||||||||||
| 127 Hours | ||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy | ||||||||||||||
| Moneyball | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Lincoln* | |||||||||||||
| Silver Linings Playbook | ||||||||||||||
| Les Misérables | ||||||||||||||
| Flight | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Dallas Buyers Club* | |||||||||||||
| American Hustle | ||||||||||||||
| Nebraska | ||||||||||||||
| 12 Years a Slave | ||||||||||||||
| **** | **** | |||||||||||||
| Foxcatcher | ||||||||||||||
| American Sniper | ||||||||||||||
| Birdman | ||||||||||||||
| **** | ||||||||||||||
| Trumbo | ||||||||||||||
| Steve Jobs | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Manchester by the Sea* | |||||||||||||
| Hacksaw Ridge | ||||||||||||||
| La La Land | ||||||||||||||
| Captain Fantastic | ||||||||||||||
| Fences | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Darkest Hour* | |||||||||||||
| Call Me by Your Name | ||||||||||||||
| Phantom Thread | ||||||||||||||
| Get Out | ||||||||||||||
| Roman J. Israel, Esq. | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Bohemian Rhapsody* | |||||||||||||
| Vice | ||||||||||||||
| At Eternity's Gate | ||||||||||||||
| Green Book | ||||||||||||||
| **** | *Joker* | |||||||||||||
| Pain and Glory | ||||||||||||||
| Once Upon a Time in Hollywood | ||||||||||||||
| Marriage Story |
2020s
| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film | Ref. | 2020/21 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (93rd) | 2021 | |||||||||
| (94th) | 2022 | |||||||||
| (95th) | 2023 | |||||||||
| (96th) | 2024 | |||||||||
| (97th) | 2025 | |||||||||
| (98th) | ||||||||||
| ** ** | Anthony | **** | ||||||||
| Sound of Metal | ||||||||||
| † | Ma Rainey's Black Bottom | |||||||||
| Mank | ||||||||||
| Minari | ||||||||||
| ** ** | **** | *King Richard* | ||||||||
| Being the Ricardos | ||||||||||
| Tick, Tick... Boom! | ||||||||||
| ** ** | Charlie | **** | ||||||||
| Elvis | ||||||||||
| Aftersun | ||||||||||
| Living | ||||||||||
| ** ** | **** | *Oppenheimer* | ||||||||
| Maestro | ||||||||||
| Rustin | ||||||||||
| American Fiction | ||||||||||
| ** ** | **** | **** | ||||||||
| Sing Sing | ||||||||||
| Conclave | ||||||||||
| Marty Supreme | ||||||||||
| One Battle After Another | ||||||||||
| Blue Moon | ||||||||||
| Sinners | ||||||||||
| The Secret Agent |
Multiple awards and nominations
The following individuals won two or more Academy Awards for Best Actor:
| Wins | Actor | Nominations | Years won |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Daniel Day-Lewis | 6 | 1989, 2007, 2012 |
| 2 | Spencer Tracy | 9 | 1937, 1938 |
| Jack Nicholson | 8 | 1975, 1997 | |
| Marlon Brando | 7 | 1954, 1972 | |
| Dustin Hoffman | 1979, 1988 | ||
| Gary Cooper | 5 | 1941, 1952 | |
| Tom Hanks | 1993, 1994 | ||
| Fredric March | 1931-32, 1946 | ||
| Sean Penn | 2003, 2008 | ||
| Anthony Hopkins | 4 | 1991, 2020 | |
| Adrien Brody | 2 | 2002, 2024 |
Main article: List of actors with more than one Academy Award nomination in the acting categories#Most nominations by category (actor)
The following individuals received three or more Best Actor nominations:
| Nominations | Actor |
|---|---|
| 9 | Laurence Olivier |
| Spencer Tracy | |
| 8 | Paul Newman |
| Jack Nicholson | |
| Peter O'Toole | |
| 7 | Marlon Brando |
| Dustin Hoffman | |
| Jack Lemmon | |
| Denzel Washington | |
| 6 | Richard Burton |
| Daniel Day-Lewis | |
| Leonardo DiCaprio | |
| Paul Muni | |
| 5 | Gary Cooper |
| Robert De Niro | |
| Tom Hanks | |
| Fredric March | |
| Al Pacino | |
| Gregory Peck | |
| Sean Penn | |
| James Stewart | |
| 4 | Warren Beatty |
| Charles Boyer | |
| Michael Caine | |
| Bradley Cooper | |
| Albert Finney | |
| Anthony Hopkins | |
| Burt Lancaster | |
| 3 | Javier Bardem |
| Humphrey Bogart | |
| Jeff Bridges | |
| James Cagney | |
| Timothée Chalamet | |
| Montgomery Clift | |
| George Clooney | |
| Ronald Colman | |
| Bing Crosby | |
| Russell Crowe | |
| Johnny Depp | |
| Kirk Douglas | |
| Robert Duvall | |
| Morgan Freeman | |
| Clark Gable | |
| William Holden | |
| William Hurt | |
| Charles Laughton | |
| Marcello Mastroianni | |
| Viggo Mortensen | |
| Gary Oldman | |
| Joaquin Phoenix | |
| William Powell | |
| Will Smith | |
| Jon Voight | |
| Robin Williams |
Age superlatives
Main article: List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees#Best Actor in a Leading Role
Films with multiple Leading Actor nominations
Winners are in bold.
- Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) – Clark Gable, Charles Laughton, and Franchot Tone
- Going My Way (1944) – Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald
- From Here to Eternity (1953) – Montgomery Clift and Burt Lancaster
- Giant (1956) – James Dean and Rock Hudson
- The Defiant Ones (1958) – Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier
- Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) – Maximilian Schell and Spencer Tracy
- Becket (1964) – Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole
- Midnight Cowboy (1969) – Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight
- Sleuth (1972) – Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier
- Network (1976) – Peter Finch and William Holden
- The Dresser (1983) – Tom Courtenay and Albert Finney
- Amadeus (1984) – F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce
Multiple character nominations
The following were nominated for their portrayals of the same fictional or non-fictional character in separate films (including variations of the original).
Winners are in bold.
- Cyrano de Bergerac from Cyrano de Bergerac (José Ferrer, 1950) and Cyrano de Bergerac (Gérard Depardieu, 1990)
- Eddie "Fast Eddie" Felson from The Hustler (Paul Newman, 1961) and The Color of Money (Paul Newman, 1986)
- Father Chuck O'Malley from Going My Way (Bing Crosby, 1944) and The Bells of St. Mary's (Bing Crosby, 1945)
- Joe Pendleton from Here Comes Mr. Jordan (Robert Montgomery, 1941) and Heaven Can Wait (Warren Beatty, 1978)
- King Henry II from Becket (Peter O'Toole, 1964) and The Lion in Winter (Peter O'Toole, 1968)
- King Henry V from Henry V (Laurence Olivier, 1946) and Henry V (Kenneth Branagh, 1989)
- King Henry VIII from The Private Life of Henry VIII (Charles Laughton, 1933) and Anne of the Thousand Days (Richard Burton, 1969)
- Mr. Chipping from Goodbye, Mr. Chips (Robert Donat, 1939) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (Peter O'Toole, 1969)
- Norman Maine (/) from A Star Is Born (Fredric March, 1937) and A Star Is Born (James Mason, 1954)
- Jackson "Jack" Maine from A Star Is Born (Bradley Cooper, 2018)
- President Abraham Lincoln from Abe Lincoln in Illinois (Raymond Massey, 1940) and Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis, 2012)
- President Richard Nixon from Nixon (Anthony Hopkins, 1995) and Frost/Nixon (Frank Langella, 2008)
- Professor Henry Higgins from Pygmalion (Leslie Howard, 1938) and My Fair Lady (Rex Harrison, 1964)
- Rooster Cogburn from True Grit (John Wayne, 1969) and True Grit (Jeff Bridges, 2010)
- Vincent van Gogh from Lust for Life (Kirk Douglas, 1956) and At Eternity's Gate (Willem Dafoe, 2018)
Notes
:A: According to longstanding Hollywood legend, reported by Susan Orlean, Rin Tin Tin actually received the most Best Actor votes, but the Academy (not wishing to give the first award to a dog) refactored the votes to ensure that Jannings won. :B:The Circus originally received three nominations: Best Director (Comedy Picture), Best Actor, and Best Writing (Original Story) for Charles Chaplin. However, the Academy subsequently decided to remove Chaplin's name from the competitive award categories and instead to confer upon him a Special Award "for acting, writing, directing and producing The Circus". :C: Rules at the time of the first three ceremonies allowed for a performer to receive a single nomination which could his or her work in more than one film. George Arliss, Maurice Chevalier, and Ronald Colman were all nominated for two different roles in the same category. Current Academy rules forbid this from happening. No official reason was ever given as to why Arliss won the award for only one of the two films he was listed for. :D: Fredric March received one more vote than Wallace Beery. Academy rules at that time considered such a close margin to be a tie, so both March and Beery received the award. Currently, Academy rules stipulate that a tie must result from exactly the same number of votes. :E: As in the previous year when the Academy relaxed the rules to allow write-in votes following the outcry over Bette Davis's snub for Of Human Bondage, the Academy permitted write-in votes for that year as well. Thus, Paul Muni received a write-in nomination for his performance in Black Fury and actually finished second in the votes. Although as with Davis the previous year, the Academy did not recognize these two as "official nominees", they are nevertheless listed on the official website amongst their respective years' nominations for posterity's sake. :F: Due to category confusion, Barry Fitzgerald received nominations (each for the same performance as Father Fitzgibbon in Going My Way) in both the leading and supporting actor categories for 1944, winning the Oscar for the latter. As a result of this confusion, the Academy amended its rules so that if any actor or actress received enough votes to qualify as one of the final five nominees for both again, the performer would only receive the nomination for the category in which he or she obtained the larger percentage of the votes.
References
Bibliography
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References
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