# AARP Movies for Grownups Award for Best Actor

The AARP Movies for Grownups Award for Best Actor is one of the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards presented annually by the AARP since the awards' inception in 2002. The award honors the best actor over the age of fifty. The Best Actor Award is one of the seven original trophies issued by AARP the Magazine, along with awards for Best Movie for Grownups, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Foreign Film, Best Documentary, and Best Movie for Grownups Who Refuse to Grow Up.

## Winners and Nominees

    indicates the winners.

### 2000s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 2001 (1st) | Tom Wilkinson | Matt Fowler | In the Bedroom |
| 2001 (1st) | Morgan Freeman | Dr. Alex Cross | Along Came a Spider |
| 2001 (1st) | Gene Hackman | Royal Tenenbaum | The Royal Tenenbaums |
| 2002 (2nd) | Jack Nicholson | Warren R. Schmidt | About Schmidt |
| 2002 (2nd) | Michael Caine | Thomas Fowler | The Quiet American |
| 2002 (2nd) | Dustin Hoffman | Ben Floss | Moonlight Mile |
| 2002 (2nd) | Samuel L. Jackson | Doyle Gipson | Changing Lanes |
| 2003 (3rd) | Bill Murray | Bob Harris | Lost in Translation |
| 2003 (3rd) | Albert Finney | Edward Bloom | Big Fish |
| 2003 (3rd) | Anthony Hopkins | Coleman Silk | The Human Stain |
| 2003 (3rd) | Tommy Lee Jones | Samuel Jones / Chaa-duu-ba-its-iidan | The Missing |
| 2003 (3rd) | Ben Kingsley | Colonel Massoud Amir Behrani | House of Sand and Fog |
| 2004 (4th) | Liam Neeson | Alfred Kinsey | Kinsey |
| 2004 (4th) | Jeff Bridges | Ted Cole | The Door in the Floor |
| 2004 (4th) | Richard Gere | John Clark | Shall We Dance? |
| 2004 (4th) | Dennis Quaid | Dan Foreman | In Good Company |
| 2004 (4th) | Kurt Russell | Herb Brooks | Miracle |
| 2004 (4th) | Omar Sharif | Monsieur Ibrahim | Monsieur Ibrahim |
| 2005 (5th) | Jeff Daniels | Bernard Berkman | The Squid and the Whale |
| 2005 (5th) | Anthony Hopkins | Burt Munro | The World's Fastest Indian |
| 2005 (5th) | Kurt Russell | Ben Crane | Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story |
| 2005 (5th) | Nathan Lane | Max Bialystock | The Producers |
| 2005 (5th) | Tom Wilkinson | James Manning | Separate Lies |
| 2006 (6th) | Donald Sutherland | Ronald Shorter | Aurora Borealis |
| 2006 (6th) | Gabriel Byrne | Harry | Wah-Wah |
| 2006 (6th) | Samuel L. Jackson | Detective Lorenzo Council | Freedomland |
| 2006 (6th) | Jack Nicholson | Frank Costello | The Departed |
| 2006 (6th) | Peter O'Toole | Maurice Russell | Venus |
| 2007 (7th) | Chris Cooper | Robert Hanssen | Breach |
| 2007 (7th) | Richard Gere | Clifford Irving | The Hoax |
| 2007 (7th) | Tom Hanks | Charlie Wilson | Charlie Wilson's War |
| 2007 (7th) | Tommy Lee Jones | Hank Deerfield | In the Valley of Elah |
| 2007 (7th) | Denzel Washington | Frank Lucas | American Gangster |
| 2008 (8th) | Frank Langella | Richard Nixon | Frost/Nixon |
| 2008 (8th) | Mickey Rourke | Robin Ramzinski / Randy "The Ram" Robinson | The Wrestler |
| 2008 (8th) | Clint Eastwood | Walt Kowalski | Gran Torino |
| 2008 (8th) | Chris Cooper | Harry Allen | Married Life |
| 2008 (8th) | Richard Jenkins | Walter Vale | The Visitor |
| 2009 (9th) | Jeff Bridges | Otis "Bad" Blake | Crazy Heart |
| 2009 (9th) | Daniel Day-Lewis | Guido Contini | Nine |
| 2009 (9th) | Robert De Niro | Frank Goode | Everybody's Fine |
| 2009 (9th) | Morgan Freeman | Nelson Mandela | Invictus |
| 2009 (9th) | Viggo Mortensen | Man | The Road |

### 2010s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 2010 (10th) | Colin Firth | King George VI | The King's Speech |
| 2010 (10th) | Michael Caine | Harold "Harry" Brown | Harry Brown |
| 2010 (10th) | Michael Douglas | Ben Kalmen | Solitary Man |
| 2010 (10th) | Robert Duvall | Felix Bush | Get Low |
| 2010 (10th) | Kevin Spacey | Jack Abramoff | Casino Jack |
| 2011 (11th) | Oliver Litondo | Kimani Maruge | The First Grader |
| 2011 (11th) | George Clooney | Matthew "Matt" King | The Descendants |
| 2011 (11th) | Mel Gibson | Walter Black/The Beaver | The Beaver |
| 2011 (11th) | Gary Oldman | George Smiley | Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy |
| 2011 (11th) | Kevin Spacey | Sam Rogers | Margin Call |
| 2012 (12th) | Denzel Washington | Whip Whitaker | Flight |
| 2012 (12th) | Daniel Day-Lewis | Abraham Lincoln | Lincoln |
| 2012 (12th) | John Hawkes | Mark O'Brien | The Sessions |
| 2012 (12th) | Anthony Hopkins | Alfred Hitchcock | Hitchcock |
| 2012 (12th) | Jean-Louis Trintignant | Georges Laurent | Amour |
| 2013 (13th) | Bruce Dern | Woodrow T. "Woody" Grant | Nebraska |
| 2013 (13th) | Tom Hanks | Richard "Rich" Phillips | Captain Phillips |
| 2013 (13th) | Brad Pitt | Gerry Lane | World War Z |
| 2013 (13th) | Robert Redford | Man | All Is Lost |
| 2013 (13th) | Forest Whitaker | Cecil Gaines | The Butler |
| 2014 (14th) | Steve Carell | John du Pont | Foxcatcher |
| 2014 (14th) | Michael Keaton | Riggan Thompson | Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) |
| 2014 (14th) | John Lithgow | Ben Hull | Love is Strange |
| 2014 (14th) | Bill Murray | Vincent MacKenna | St. Vincent |
| 2014 (14th) | Al Pacino | Simon Axler | The Humbling |
| 2015 (15th) | Bryan Cranston | Dalton Trumbo | Trumbo |
| 2015 (15th) | Michael Caine | Fred Ballinger | Youth |
| 2015 (15th) | Tom Courtenay | Geoff Mercer | 45 Years |
| 2015 (15th) | Johnny Depp | James "Whitey" Bulger | Black Mass |
| 2015 (15th) | Ian McKellen | Sherlock Holmes | Mr. Holmes |
| 2016 (16th) | Denzel Washington | Troy Maxson | Fences |
| 2016 (16th) | Warren Beatty | Howard Hughes | Rules Don't Apply |
| 2016 (16th) | Tom Hanks | Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger | Sully |
| 2016 (16th) | Michael Keaton | Ray Kroc | The Founder |
| 2016 (16th) | Viggo Mortensen | Ben Cash | Captain Fantastic |
| 2017 (17th) | Gary Oldman | Winston Churchill | Darkest Hour |
| 2017 (17th) | Steve Carell | Bobby Riggs | Battle of the Sexes |
| 2017 (17th) | Daniel Day-Lewis | Reynolds Woodcock | Phantom Thread |
| 2017 (17th) | Tom Hanks | Ben Bradlee | The Post |
| 2017 (17th) | Denzel Washington | Roman J. Israel | Roman J. Israel, Esq. |
| 2018 (18th) | Viggo Mortensen | Tony Lip | Green Book |
| 2018 (18th) | Willem Dafoe | Vincent van Gogh | At Eternity's Gate |
| 2018 (18th) | Hugh Jackman | Gary Hart | The Front Runner |
| 2018 (18th) | Robert Redford | Forrest Tucker | The Old Man & the Gun |
| 2018 (18th) | John C. Reilly | Oliver "Ollie" Hardy | Stan & Ollie |
| 2019 (19th) | Adam Sandler | Howard Ratner | Uncut Gems |
| 2019 (19th) | Antonio Banderas | Salvador Mallo | Pain and Glory |
| 2019 (19th) | Robert De Niro | Frank Sheeran | The Irishman |
| 2019 (19th) | Eddie Murphy | Rudy Ray Moore | Dolemite Is My Name |
| 2019 (19th) | Jonathan Pryce | Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio | The Two Popes |

### 2020s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 2020 (20th) | Anthony Hopkins | Anthony | The Father |
| 2020 (20th) | Ralph Fiennes | Basil Brown | The Dig |
| 2020 (20th) | Tom Hanks | Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd | News of the World |
| 2020 (20th) | Delroy Lindo | Paul | Da 5 Bloods |
| 2020 (20th) | Gary Oldman | Herman J. "Mank" Mankiewicz | Mank |
| 2021 (21st) | Will Smith | Richard Williams | King Richard |
| 2021 (21st) | Javier Bardem | Desi Arnaz | Being the Ricardos |
| 2021 (21st) | Jim Broadbent | Kempton Bunton | The Duke |
| 2021 (21st) | Peter Dinklage | Cyrano de Bergerac | Cyrano |
| 2021 (21st) | Denzel Washington | Lord Macbeth | The Tragedy of Macbeth |
| 2022 (22nd) | Brendan Fraser | Charlie | The Whale |
| 2022 (22nd) | Tom Cruise | Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell | Top Gun: Maverick |
| 2022 (22nd) | Tom Hanks | Otto Anderson | A Man Called Otto |
| 2022 (22nd) | Bill Nighy | Mr. Williams | Living |
| 2022 (22nd) | Adam Sandler | Stanley Sugerman | Hustle |
| 2023 (23rd) | Colman Domingo | Bayard Rustin | Rustin |
| 2023 (23rd) | Nicolas Cage | Dr. Paul Matthews | Dream Scenario |
| 2023 (23rd) | Paul Giamatti | Paul Hunham | The Holdovers |
| 2023 (23rd) | Anthony Hopkins | Sigmund Freud | Freud's Last Session |
| 2023 (23rd) | Jeffrey Wright | Thelonious "Monk" Ellison | American Fiction |
| 2024 (24th) | Adrien Brody | László Tóth | The Brutalist |
| 2024 (24th) | Daniel Craig | William Lee | Queer |
| 2024 (24th) | Colman Domingo | John "Divine G" Whitfield | Sing Sing |
| 2024 (24th) | Ralph Fiennes | Cardinal Thomas Lawrence | Conclave |
| 2024 (24th) | Jude Law | Terry Husk | The Order |