Academy Award for Best Actor facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids Academy Award for Best Actor
The 2024 recipient: Adrien Brody
Presented by	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)
Country	United States
First awarded	1929
Currently held by	Adrien Brody, The Brutalist (2024)

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). Italian actor Roberto Benigni gave the first non-English winning performance in Life Is Beautiful (1997) in this category. The record for most wins is three, held by Daniel Day-Lewis, while ten other actors have won twice. The record for most nominations is nine, jointly held by Spencer Tracy and Laurence Olivier. James Dean, with two consecutive nominations, remains the only actor to have been posthumously nominated for this award more than once. Meanwhile, Peter Finch remains the only posthumous winner in this category, for Network (1976). At the 5th Academy Awards, Fredric March finished one vote ahead of Wallace Beery; under the rules of the time, this meant both actors were awarded, in this category's only tie. Peter O'Toole holds the record in this category for most nominations (eight) without a win—albeit in 2003, he was an Honorary Oscar recipient.

Nominations process
Winners and nominees
- 1920s
- 1930s
- 1940s
- 1950s
- 1960s
- 1970s
- 1980s
- 1990s
- 2000s
- 2010s
- 2020s
Multiple awards and nominations
Age superlatives
Films with multiple Leading Actor nominations
Multiple character nominations
See also

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.

Emil Jannings was the inaugural winner, for two films: The Last Command (1928) and The Way of All Flesh (1927).

Warner Baxter won for In Old Arizona (1928).

George Arliss won for Disraeli (1929).

Lionel Barrymore won for A Free Soul (1931).

Fredric March won twice, for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) and The Best Years of Our Lives (1946).

Wallace Beery won for The Champ (1931), in a tie with Fredric March.

Charles Laughton won for The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933).

Clark Gable won for It Happened One Night (1934).

Victor McLaglen won for The Informer (1935).

Paul Muni won for The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936).

Spencer Tracy was the first actor to consecutively win twice, for Captains Courageous (1937) and Boys Town (1938).

Robert Donat won for Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939).

James Stewart won for The Philadelphia Story (1940).

Gary Cooper won twice, for Sergeant York (1941) and High Noon (1952).

James Cagney won for Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942).

Paul Lukas won for Watch on the Rhine (1943).

Bing Crosby won for Going My Way (1944).

Ray Milland won for The Lost Weekend (1945).

Ronald Colman won for A Double Life (1947).

Laurence Olivier won for Hamlet (1948); first self-directed win (and simultaneous Best Picture).

Broderick Crawford won for All the King's Men (1949).

José Ferrer won for Cyrano de Bergerac (1950); Tony winner for the same role–first to accomplish this and the category's first latino winner.

Humphrey Bogart won for The African Queen (1951).

William Holden won for Stalag 17 (1953).

Marlon Brando won twice, for On the Waterfront (1954) & The Godfather (1972).

Ernest Borgnine won for Marty (1955).

Yul Brynner won for The King and I (1956); first Asian winner in category.

Alec Guinness won for The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957).

David Niven won for Separate Tables (1958).

Charlton Heston won for Ben-Hur (1959).

Burt Lancaster won for Elmer Gantry (1960).

Maximilian Schell won for Judgment at Nuremberg (1961).

Gregory Peck won for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).

Sidney Poitier won for Lilies of the Field (1963); first black actor to win.

Rex Harrison won for My Fair Lady (1964).

Lee Marvin won for playing dual roles in Cat Ballou (1965).

Paul Scofield won for A Man for All Seasons (1966).

Rod Steiger won for In the Heat of the Night (1967).

Cliff Robertson won for CHAЯLY (1968).

John Wayne won for True Grit (1969).

George C. Scott won for Patton (1970).

Gene Hackman won for The French Connection (1971).

Jack Lemmon won for Save the Tiger (1973).

Art Carney won for Harry & Tonto (1974).

Jack Nicholson won twice, for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and As Good as It Gets (1997).

Peter Finch won for Network (1976); first actor to win posthumously.

Richard Dreyfuss won for The Goodbye Girl (1977).

Jon Voight won for Coming Home (1978).

Dustin Hoffman won twice, for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Rain Man (1988).

Robert De Niro won for Raging Bull (1980).

Henry Fonda won for On Golden Pond (1981)

Ben Kingsley won for Gandhi (1982).

Robert Duvall won for Tender Mercies (1983).

F. Murray Abraham won for Amadeus (1984).

William Hurt won for Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985).

Paul Newman won for The Color of Money (1986).

Michael Douglas won for Wall Street (1987).

Daniel Day-Lewis won thrice, for My Left Foot (1989), There Will Be Blood (2007), and Lincoln (2012).

Jeremy Irons won for Reversal of Fortune (1990).

Anthony Hopkins won twice, for The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and The Father (2020)—the latter rendering him the overall oldest acting winner, at age 83.

Al Pacino won for Scent of a Woman (1992).

Tom Hanks won twice consecutively, for Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994).

Nicolas Cage won for Leaving Las Vegas (1995).

Geoffrey Rush won for Shine (1996).

Roberto Benigni won for Life Is Beautiful (1997); first Italian-spoken role to win for the category.

Kevin Spacey won for American Beauty (1999).

Russell Crowe won for Gladiator (2000).

Denzel Washington won for Training Day (2001).

Adrien Brody won twice, for The Pianist (2002) and The Brutalist (2024); the former of which making him the youngest winner of this category.

Sean Penn won twice, for Mystic River (2003) & Milk (2008).

Jamie Foxx won for Ray (2004).

Philip Seymour Hoffman won for Capote (2005).

Forest Whitaker won for The Last King of Scotland (2006).

Jeff Bridges won for Crazy Heart (2009).

Colin Firth won for The King's Speech (2010).

Jean Dujardin won for The Artist (2011).

Matthew McConaughey won for Dallas Buyers Club (2013).

Eddie Redmayne won for The Theory of Everything (2014).

Leonardo DiCaprio won for The Revenant (2015).

Casey Affleck won for Manchester by the Sea (2016).

Gary Oldman won for Darkest Hour (2017).

Rami Malek won for Bohemian Rhapsody (2018).

Joaquin Phoenix won for Joker (2019).

Will Smith won for King Richard (2021).

Brendan Fraser won for The Whale (2022).

Cillian Murphy won for Oppenheimer (2023).

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.

Table key
‡	Indicates the winner
§	Indicates winner who refused the award
†	Indicates a posthumous winner
†	Indicates a posthumous nominee

1920s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	Film
1927/28 (1st)	Emil Jannings	Grand Duke Sergius Alexander	*The Last Command*
	Emil Jannings	August Schilling	*The Way of All Flesh*
	Richard Barthelmess	Nickie Elkins	The Noose
	Richard Barthelmess	Patent Leather Kid	The Patent Leather Kid
	Charlie Chaplin	The Tramp	The Circus
1928/29 (2nd)	Warner Baxter	The Cisco Kid	In Old Arizona
	George Bancroft	Thunderbolt Jim Lang	Thunderbolt
	Chester Morris	Chick Williams	Alibi
	Paul Muni	James Dyke	The Valiant
	Lewis Stone	Count Pahlen	The Patriot

1930s

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

1940s

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

1950s

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

1960s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	Film
1960 (33rd)	Burt Lancaster	Elmer Gantry	Elmer Gantry
	Trevor Howard	Walter Morel	Sons and Lovers
	Jack Lemmon	C. C. "Bud" Baxter	The Apartment
	Laurence Olivier	Archie Rice	The Entertainer
	Spencer Tracy	Henry Drummond	Inherit the Wind
1961 (34th)	Maximilian Schell	Hans Rolfe	Judgment at Nuremberg
	Charles Boyer	Cesar	Fanny
	Paul Newman	"Fast" Eddie Felson	The Hustler
	Spencer Tracy	Chief Judge Dan Haywood	Judgment at Nuremberg
	Stuart Whitman	Jim Fuller	The Mark
1962 (35th)	Gregory Peck	Atticus Finch	To Kill a Mockingbird
	Burt Lancaster	Robert Stroud	Birdman of Alcatraz
	Jack Lemmon	Joe Clay	Days of Wine and Roses
	Marcello Mastroianni	Ferdinando Cefalù	Divorce Italian Style
	Peter O'Toole	Thomas Edward Lawrence	Lawrence of Arabia
1963 (36th)	Sidney Poitier	Homer Smith	Lilies of the Field
	Albert Finney	Tom Jones	Tom Jones
	Richard Harris	Frank Machin	This Sporting Life
	Rex Harrison	Julius Caesar	Cleopatra
	Paul Newman	Hud Bannon	Hud
1964 (37th)	Rex Harrison	Professor Henry Higgins	My Fair Lady
	Richard Burton	Thomas Becket	Becket
	Peter O'Toole	King Henry II	Becket
	Anthony Quinn	Alexis Zorba	Zorba the Greek
	Peter Sellers	Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, President Merkin Muffley, and Dr. Strangelove	Dr. Strangelove
1965 (38th)	Lee Marvin	Kid Shelleen & Tim Strawn	Cat Ballou
	Richard Burton	Alec Leamas	The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
	Laurence Olivier	Othello	Othello
	Rod Steiger	Sol Nazerman	The Pawnbroker
	Oskar Werner	Willie Schumann	Ship of Fools
1966 (39th)	Paul Scofield	Sir Thomas More	*A Man for All Seasons*
	Alan Arkin	Lt. Rozanov	The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming
	Richard Burton	George	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
	Michael Caine	Alfie Elkins	Alfie
	Steve McQueen	Jake Holman	The Sand Pebbles
1967 (40th)	Rod Steiger	Bill Gillespie	In the Heat of the Night
	Warren Beatty	Clyde Barrow	Bonnie and Clyde
	Dustin Hoffman	Benjamin Braddock	The Graduate
	Paul Newman	Lucas "Luke" Jackson	Cool Hand Luke
	Spencer Tracy †	Matt Drayton	Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
1968 (41st)	Cliff Robertson	Charly Gordon	Charly
	Alan Arkin	John Singer	The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
	Alan Bates	Yakov Bok	The Fixer
	Ron Moody	Fagin	Oliver!
	Peter O'Toole	King Henry II	The Lion in Winter
1969 (42nd)	John Wayne	Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn	True Grit
	Richard Burton	King Henry VIII	Anne of the Thousand Days
	Dustin Hoffman	Enrico Salvatore "Ratso" Rizzo	Midnight Cowboy
	Peter O'Toole	Arthur Chipping	Goodbye, Mr. Chips
	Jon Voight	Joe Buck	Midnight Cowboy

1970s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	Film
1970 (43rd)	George C. Scott §	General George S. Patton Jr.	Patton
	Melvyn Douglas	Tom Garrison	I Never Sang for My Father
	James Earl Jones	Jack Jefferson	The Great White Hope
	Jack Nicholson	Robert Eroica Dupea	Five Easy Pieces
	Ryan O'Neal	Oliver Barrett IV	Love Story
1971 (44th)	Gene Hackman	Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle	*The French Connection*
	Peter Finch	Dr. Daniel Hirsh	Sunday Bloody Sunday
	Walter Matthau	Joseph P. Kotcher	Kotch
	George C. Scott	Dr. Herbert Bock	The Hospital
	Topol	Tevye	Fiddler on the Roof
1972 (45th)	Marlon Brando §	Vito Corleone	*The Godfather*
	Michael Caine	Milo Tindle	Sleuth
	Laurence Olivier	Andrew Wyke	Sleuth
	Peter O'Toole	Jack Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney	The Ruling Class
	Paul Winfield	Nathan Lee Morgan	Sounder
1973 (46th)	Jack Lemmon	Harry Stoner	Save the Tiger
	Marlon Brando	Paul	Last Tango in Paris
	Jack Nicholson	Signalman 1st Class Billy L. "Badass" Buddusky	The Last Detail
	Al Pacino	Frank Serpico	Serpico
	Robert Redford	Johnny "Kelly" Hooker	The Sting
1974 (47th)	Art Carney	Harry Coombes	Harry and Tonto
	Albert Finney	Hercule Poirot	Murder on the Orient Express
	Dustin Hoffman	Lenny Bruce	Lenny
	Jack Nicholson	J. J. "Jake" Gittes	Chinatown
	Al Pacino	Michael Corleone	The Godfather Part II
1975 (48th)	Jack Nicholson	Randle Patrick McMurphy	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
	Walter Matthau	Willy Clark	The Sunshine Boys
	Al Pacino	Sonny Wortzik	Dog Day Afternoon
	Maximilian Schell	Arthur Goldman	The Man in the Glass Booth
	James Whitmore	Harry S. Truman	Give 'em Hell, Harry!
1976 (49th)	Peter Finch †	Howard Beale	Network
	Robert De Niro	Travis Bickle	Taxi Driver
	Giancarlo Giannini	Pasqualino Frafuso	Seven Beauties
	William Holden	Max Schumacher	Network
	Sylvester Stallone	Rocky Balboa	Rocky
1977 (50th)	Richard Dreyfuss	Elliot Garfield	*The Goodbye Girl*
	Woody Allen	Alvy Singer	Annie Hall
	Richard Burton	Martin Dysart	Equus
	Marcello Mastroianni	Gabriele	A Special Day
	John Travolta	Tony Manero	Saturday Night Fever
1978 (51st)	Jon Voight	Luke Martin	Coming Home
	Warren Beatty	Joe Pendleton / Leo Farnsworth / Tom Jarrett	Heaven Can Wait
	Gary Busey	Buddy Holly	The Buddy Holly Story
	Robert De Niro	Michael Vronsky	The Deer Hunter
	Laurence Olivier	Ezra Lieberman	The Boys from Brazil
1979 (52nd)	Dustin Hoffman	Ted Kramer	Kramer vs. Kramer
	Jack Lemmon	Jack Godell	The China Syndrome
	Al Pacino	Arthur Kirkland	...And Justice for All
	Roy Scheider	Joe Gideon	All That Jazz
	Peter Sellers	Chance the gardener / Chauncey Gardiner	Being There

1980s

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

1990s

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

2000s

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

2010s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	Film
2010 (83rd)	Colin Firth	King George VI	*The King's Speech*
	Javier Bardem	Uxbal	Biutiful
	Jeff Bridges	Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn	True Grit
	Jesse Eisenberg	Mark Zuckerberg	The Social Network
	James Franco	Aron Ralston	127 Hours
2011 (84th)	Jean Dujardin	George Valentin	*The Artist*
	Demián Bichir	Carlos Galindo	A Better Life
	George Clooney	Matt King	The Descendants
	Gary Oldman	George Smiley	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
	Brad Pitt	Billy Beane	Moneyball
2012 (85th)	Daniel Day-Lewis	Abraham Lincoln	Lincoln
	Bradley Cooper	Patrizio "Pat" Solitano Jr.	Silver Linings Playbook
	Hugh Jackman	Jean Valjean	Les Misérables
	Joaquin Phoenix	Freddie Quell	The Master
	Denzel Washington	William "Whip" Whitaker	Flight
2013 (86th)	Matthew McConaughey	Ron Woodroof	Dallas Buyers Club
	Christian Bale	Irving Rosenfeld	American Hustle
	Bruce Dern	Woodrow "Woody" Grant	Nebraska
	Leonardo DiCaprio	Jordan Belfort	The Wolf of Wall Street
	Chiwetel Ejiofor	Solomon Northup	12 Years a Slave
2014 (87th)	Eddie Redmayne	Stephen Hawking	*The Theory of Everything*
	Steve Carell	John du Pont	Foxcatcher
	Bradley Cooper	Chris Kyle	American Sniper
	Benedict Cumberbatch	Alan Turing	The Imitation Game
	Michael Keaton	Riggan Thomson	Birdman
2015 (88th)	Leonardo DiCaprio	Hugh Glass	The Revenant
	Bryan Cranston	Dalton Trumbo	Trumbo
	Matt Damon	Mark Watney	The Martian
	Michael Fassbender	Steve Jobs	Steve Jobs
	Eddie Redmayne	Lili Elbe	The Danish Girl
2016 (89th)	Casey Affleck	Lee Chandler	Manchester by the Sea
	Andrew Garfield	Desmond Doss	Hacksaw Ridge
	Ryan Gosling	Sebastian Wilder	La La Land
	Viggo Mortensen	Ben Cash	Captain Fantastic
	Denzel Washington	Troy Maxson	Fences
2017 (90th)	Gary Oldman	Winston Churchill	Darkest Hour
	Timothée Chalamet	Elio Perlman	Call Me by Your Name
	Daniel Day-Lewis	Reynolds Woodcock	Phantom Thread
	Daniel Kaluuya	Chris Washington	Get Out
	Denzel Washington	Roman J. Israel	Roman J. Israel, Esq.
2018 (91st)	Rami Malek	Freddie Mercury	Bohemian Rhapsody
	Christian Bale	Dick Cheney	Vice
	Bradley Cooper	Jackson Maine	A Star Is Born
	Willem Dafoe	Vincent van Gogh	At Eternity's Gate
	Viggo Mortensen	Anthony "Tony Lip" Vallelonga	Green Book
2019 (92nd)	Joaquin Phoenix	Arthur Fleck / Joker	Joker
	Antonio Banderas	Salvador Mallo	Pain and Glory
	Leonardo DiCaprio	Rick Dalton	Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
	Adam Driver	Charlie Barber	Marriage Story
	Jonathan Pryce	Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio	The Two Popes

2020s

Year	Actor	Role(s)	Film
2020/21 (93rd)	Anthony Hopkins	Anthony	*The Father*
	Riz Ahmed	Ruben Stone	Sound of Metal
	Chadwick Boseman †	Levee Green	Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
	Gary Oldman	Herman J. Mankiewicz	Mank
	Steven Yeun	Jacob Yi	Minari
2021 (94th)	Will Smith	Richard Williams	King Richard
	Javier Bardem	Desi Arnaz	Being the Ricardos
	Benedict Cumberbatch	Phil Burbank	The Power of the Dog
	Andrew Garfield	Jonathan Larson	Tick, Tick... Boom!
	Denzel Washington	Lord Macbeth	The Tragedy of 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)	Cillian Murphy	J. Robert Oppenheimer	Oppenheimer
	Bradley Cooper	Leonard Bernstein	Maestro
	Colman Domingo	Bayard Rustin	Rustin
	Paul Giamatti	Paul Hunham	The Holdovers
	Jeffrey Wright	Thelonious "Monk" Ellison	American Fiction
2024 (97th)	Adrien Brody	László Tóth	*The Brutalist*
	Timothée Chalamet	Bob Dylan	A Complete Unknown
	Colman Domingo	John "Divine G" Whitfield	Sing Sing
	Ralph Fiennes	Cardinal Thomas Lawrence	Conclave
	Sebastian Stan	Donald Trump	The Apprentice

Multiple awards and nominations

The following individuals received two or more Best Actor awards:

Wins	Actor	Nominations
3	Daniel Day-Lewis	6
2	Spencer Tracy	9
	Jack Nicholson	8
	Marlon Brando	7
	Dustin Hoffman	7
	Gary Cooper	5
	Tom Hanks
	Fredric March
	Sean Penn
	Anthony Hopkins	4
	Adrien Brody	2

The following individuals received three or more Best Actor nominations:

Nominations	Actor
9	Laurence Olivier
9	Spencer Tracy
8	Paul Newman
	Jack Nicholson
	Peter O'Toole
7	Marlon Brando
	Dustin Hoffman
	Jack Lemmon
	Denzel Washington
6	Richard Burton
6	Daniel Day-Lewis
5	Gary Cooper
	Robert De Niro
	Leonardo DiCaprio
	Tom Hanks
	Fredric March
	Paul Muni
	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
	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

Record	Actor	Film	Year	Age
Oldest Winner	Anthony Hopkins	The Father	2020	83
Oldest Nominee	Anthony Hopkins	The Father	2020	83
Youngest Winner	Adrien Brody	The Pianist	2002	29
Youngest Nominee	Jackie Cooper	Skippy	1931	9

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).