# Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Actor

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Actor is an annual Best Actor award given by the Alliance of Women Film Journalists. The award is often referred to as an EDA as a tribute to AWFJ founder Jennifer Merin's mother, actress Eda Reiss Merin. EDA is also an acronym for Excellent Dynamic Activism.

## 2000s

| Year | Actor | Character | Film |
| 2007 | Daniel Day-Lewis † | Daniel Plainview | There Will Be Blood |
| 2007 | Johnny Depp ‡ | Benjamin Barker / Sweeney Todd | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street |
| 2007 | Tommy Lee Jones ‡ | Hank Deerfield | In the Valley of Elah |
| 2007 | Viggo Mortensen ‡ | Nikolai Luzhin | Eastern Promises |
| 2008 | Sean Penn † | Harvey Milk | Milk |
| 2008 | Richard Jenkins ‡ | Walter Vale | The Visitor |
| 2008 | Mickey Rourke ‡ | Randy "The Ram" Robinson | The Wrestler |
| 2009 | Jeff Bridges † | Otis "Bad" Blake | Crazy Heart |
| 2009 | George Clooney ‡ | Ryan Bingham | Up in the Air |
| 2009 | Jeremy Renner ‡ | Sergeant First Class William James | The Hurt Locker |

## 2010s

| Year | Actor | Character | Film |
| 2010 | Colin Firth † | King George VI | The King's Speech |
| 2010 | Javier Bardem ‡ | Uxbal | Biutiful |
| 2010 | Jeff Bridges ‡ | Rooster Cogburn | True Grit |
| 2010 | Jesse Eisenberg ‡ | Mark Zuckerberg | The Social Network |
| 2010 | James Franco ‡ | Aron Ralston | 127 Hours |
| 2011 | Michael Fassbender | Brandon Sullivan | Shame |
| 2011 | George Clooney ‡ | Matt King | The Descendants |
| 2011 | Jean Dujardin † | George Valentin | The Artist |
| 2011 | Brad Pitt ‡ | Billy Beane | Moneyball |
| 2011 | Michael Shannon | Curtis LaForche | Take Shelter |
| 2012 | Daniel Day-Lewis † | Abraham Lincoln | Lincoln |
| 2012 | John Hawkes | Mark O'Brien | The Sessions |
| 2012 | Joaquin Phoenix ‡ | Freddy Quell | The Master |
| 2013 | Matthew McConaughey † | Ron Woodroof | Dallas Buyers Club |
| 2013 | Bruce Dern ‡ | Woody Grant | Nebraska |
| 2013 | Chiwetel Ejiofor ‡ | Solomon Northup | 12 Years a Slave |
| 2013 | Oscar Isaac | Llewyn Davis | Inside Llewyn Davis |
| 2013 | Joaquin Phoenix | Theodore Twombly | Her |
| 2013 | Robert Redford | Our Man | All Is Lost |
| 2014 | Michael Keaton ‡ | Riggan Thomson | Birdman |
| 2014 | Jake Gyllenhaal | Louis "Lou" Bloom | Nightcrawler |
| 2014 | Eddie Redmayne † | Stephen Hawking | The Theory of Everything |
| 2015 | Leonardo DiCaprio † | Hugh Glass | The Revenant |
| 2015 | Matt Damon ‡ | Mark Watney | The Martian |
| 2015 | Michael Fassbender ‡ | Steve Jobs | Steve Jobs |
| 2015 | Eddie Redmayne ‡ | Lili Elbe | The Danish Girl |
| 2016 | Casey Affleck † | Lee Chandler | Manchester by the Sea |
| 2016 | Joel Edgerton | Richard Loving | Loving |
| 2016 | Ryan Gosling ‡ | Sebastian Wilder | La La Land |
| 2016 | Tom Hanks | Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger | Sully |
| 2016 | Denzel Washington ‡ | Troy Maxson | Fences |
| 2017 | Gary Oldman † | Winston Churchill | Darkest Hour |
| 2017 | Timothée Chalamet ‡ | Elio Perlman | Call Me by Your Name |
| 2017 | Daniel Kaluuya ‡ | Chris Washington | Get Out |
| 2018 | Christian Bale | Dick Cheney | Vice |
| 2018 | Willem Dafoe | Vincent van Gogh | At Eternity's Gate |
| 2018 | Ben Foster | Will | Leave No Trace |
| 2018 | Ethan Hawke | Pastor Ernst Toller | First Reformed |
| 2018 | Rami Malek | Freddie Mercury | Bohemian Rhapsody |
| 2018 | Viggo Mortensen | Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga | Green Book |