British Academy Games Award for Performer in a Leading Role

The British Academy Video Games Award for Performer in a Leading Role is an award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) in honour of the best leading performance featured in a game "from voice artistry through to motion capture".

BAFTA has honoured video game performances since the 8th British Academy Video Games Awards ceremony in 2012, with Mark Hamill winning the inaugural award for his performance as the Joker in Batman: Arkham City. From 2012 to 2019, performers in both leading and supporting roles were considered together in the merged category of British Academy Games Award for Performer but, as of the 16th British Academy Games Awards, during a reconfiguration of categories, BAFTA announced that the Performer award would be split into both Leading and Supporting categories.

The inaugural winner in the Leading category was Gonzalo Martin for his role as Sean Diaz in Dontnod Entertainment's Life Is Strange 2. Laura Bailey has received the most nominations with two, one for her role as Kait Diaz in Gears 5 and one for her portrayal of Abby in The Last of Us Part II, which she won.

The current holder of the award is Jennifer English for her role as Maelle in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, who won at the 22nd British Academy Games Awards in 2026.

Laura Bailey, two-time nominee and 2020 winner

Nadji Jeter, two-time nominee and 2023 winner

Christopher Judge received the award in 2022.

In the following table, the years are listed as per BAFTA convention, and generally correspond to the year of game release in the United Kingdom.

• British Academy Video Games Awards official website