BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role facts for kids

Quick facts for kids BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor
The 2024 recipient: Kieran Culkin
Presented by	British Academy of Film and Television Arts
Location	United Kingdom
Currently held by	Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain (2024)

The Best Actor in a Supporting Role is a special prize given out every year at the British Academy Film Awards. This award celebrates an actor who has done an amazing job in a supporting role in a film.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is a British group. They host big awards shows for movies, TV, kids' shows, and video games. Since 1968, talented actors have received the BAFTA award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. This happens at a yearly ceremony.

What is the BAFTA Best Supporting Actor Award?

This award is for actors who play important, but not main, characters in a movie. These actors help make the main story shine. They often play friends, family members, or even villains. Their performances are key to the film's success.

A Look Back: History of the Award

The Best Supporting Actor award has been given out 54 times. It has gone to 48 different actors. The very first winner was Ian Holm for his role in The Bofors Gun.

No award was given in this category in 1980. For one year, in 1981, the award was called "Best Supporting Artist." This meant it could go to a male or female actor. However, all four nominees that year were men.

The actor who has won this award the most times is Denholm Elliott. He won three times in a row! Five other actors have won twice. Denholm Elliott also holds the record for the most nominations, with seven. The most recent winner is Robert Downey Jr. for his role in Oppenheimer.

Who Has Won? Winners and Nominees

Below, you'll see lists of actors who have been nominated for this award. The names and film titles in bold with a gold background are the winners. The other names are the nominees. The years shown are when the movies were released. The award ceremony always takes place the year after the movie came out.

     indicates the winner

Ian Holm was the first winner. He won twice for The Bofors Gun (1968) and Chariots of Fire (1981).

Laurence Olivier won for Oh! What a Lovely War (1969).

Ben Johnson won for The Last Picture Show (1972).

Fred Astaire won for The Towering Inferno (1975).

Robert Duvall won for Apocalypse Now (1979).

Daniel Auteuil won for Jean de Florette (1987).

Alan Rickman won for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991).

Ralph Fiennes won for Schindler's List (1993).

Samuel L. Jackson won for Pulp Fiction (1994).

Paul Scofield won for The Crucible (1996).

Tom Wilkinson won for The Full Monty (1997).

Geoffrey Rush won twice, for Shakespeare in Love (1998) and The King's Speech (2010).

Benicio del Toro won for Traffic (2000).

Jim Broadbent won for Moulin Rouge! (2001).

Christopher Walken won for Catch Me If You Can (2002).

Jake Gyllenhaal won for Brokeback Mountain (2005).

Alan Arkin won for Little Miss Sunshine (2006).

Javier Bardem won for No Country for Old Men (2007).

Heath Ledger won after his death for The Dark Knight (2008).

Christoph Waltz won twice, for Inglourious Basterds (2009) and Django Unchained (2012).

Christopher Plummer won for Beginners (2011).

Barkhad Abdi won for Captain Phillips (2013).

JK Simmons won for Whiplash (2014).

Mark Rylance won for Bridge of Spies (2015).

Dev Patel won for Lion (2016).

Sam Rockwell won for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017).

Mahershala Ali won for Green Book (2018).

Brad Pitt won for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

Daniel Kaluuya won for Judas and the Black Messiah (2021).

Troy Kotsur won for CODA (2021).

Barry Keoghan won for The Banshees of Inisherin (2022).

Robert Downey Jr. won for Oppenheimer (2023).

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s

The 2000s

The 2010s

The 2020s

Record Holders: Multiple Wins and Nominations

Some actors have been nominated for, or won, this award many times.

Most Nominations

Most Wins

3 wins

• Denholm Elliott

2 wins

• Edward Fox
• Ian Holm
• Ray McAnally
• Geoffrey Rush
• Christoph Waltz

More About Film Awards

In Spanish: Anexo:BAFTA al mejor actor de reparto para niños

• Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
• Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actor
• Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
• Guldbagge Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
• Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role