Children's and Family Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Performer

The Children's and Family Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Performer in a Preschool, Children's or Young Teen Program is an award which honors performances in both television series and made-for-television/streaming films. The category was established at the 1st Children's and Family Emmy Awards in 2022, and is open to performers of all genders. The current holder of the award is Joe Locke, who won at the 4th Children's and Family Emmy Awards for his role as Charlie Spring in Netflix series Heartstopper.

On November 17, 2021, the NATAS announced the creation of the Children's and Family Emmy Awards to recognize the best in children's and family television. The organization cited an "explosive growth in the quantity and quality of children’s and family programming" as justification for a dedicated ceremony. Many categories of the awards were previously presented at the Daytime Emmy Awards. Performers in programming aimed towards children and young people were previously honored with the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming, which was presented under various names however, following the announcement of the establishment of the Children's and Family Emmy Awards, these categories were discontinued.

The original name for the category was Outstanding Lead Performance in a Preschool, Children's or Young Teen Program, and the award received its current name as of the 3rd Children's and Family Emmy Awards.

Inaugural recipient Kit Connor.

2023 winner Tony Hale.

2024 winner Christian Slater.

2 nominations

• Ella Bright

• Kit Connor

• Joe Locke

4 nominations

• Heartstopper

3 nominations

• Malory Towers

2 nominations

• The Baby-Sitters Club

8 nominations

• Netflix

7 nominations

• Disney+/Disney Channel

5 nominations

• BYUtv

2 nominations

• Apple TV+