# Silver Bear for Best Actor

The Silver Bear for Best Actor (German: Silberner Bär/Bester Darsteller) was an award presented at the Berlin International Film Festival from 1956 to 2020. It was given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance and was chosen by the International Jury from the films in the Competition slate at the festival. Beginning with the 71st Berlin International Film Festival, the award was replaced with two gender-neutral categories: the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance and the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance.
At the 6th Berlin International Film Festival held in 1956, Burt Lancaster was the first winner of this award for his performance in Trapeze, and Elio Germano was the last winner in this category, for his role in Hidden Away at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival in 2020.

## History

The award was first presented in 1956 and can be for lead or supporting roles. The prize was not awarded on three occasions (1969, 1973, and 1974). In 1970, no awards were given as the festival was called off mid-way due to the controversy over the official selection film, o.k. by Michael Verhoeven, which led to the resignation of the international jury. In 2011, the entire male cast of A Separation received the award. Sidney Poitier, Jean Gabin, Fernando Fernán Gómez, and Denzel Washington have won the most awards in this category, each winning twice.
The last of this award was given out in 2020, after which it was replaced with two gender-neutral categories, Best Leading Performance and Best Supporting Performance, the following year.

## Winners
### 1950s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Title |
| 1956 | Burt Lancaster | Mike Ribble | Trapeze |
| 1957 | Pedro Infante | Tizoc | Tizoc |
| 1958 | Sidney Poitier | Noah Cullen | The Defiant Ones |
| 1959 | Jean Gabin | Joseph Hughes Guillamume Boutier-Blainville / Archimède | Archimède le clochard |

### 1960s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Title |
| 1960 | Fredric March | Matthew Harrison Brady | Inherit The Wind |
| 1961 | Peter Finch | Johnnie Byrne | No Love for Johnnie |
| 1962 | James Stewart | Roger Hobbs | Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation |
| 1963 | Sidney Poitier | Homer Smith | Lilies of the Field |
| 1964 | Rod Steiger | Sol Nazerman | The Pawnbroker |
| 1965 | Lee Marvin | Kid Shellen and Tim Strawn | Cat Ballou |
| 1966 | Jean-Pierre Léaud | Paul | Masculin Féminin |
| 1967 | Michel Simon | Pépé | The Two of Us |
| 1968 | Jean-Louis Trintignant | Jan Robin / Boris Varissa | The Man Who Lies |

### 1970s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Title |
| 1971 | Jean Gabin | Julien Bouin | Le Chat |
| 1972 | Alberto Sordi | Giusseppe Di Noi | In Prison Awaiting Trial |
| 1975 | Vlastimil Brodský | Jakob Heym | Jacob the Liar |
| 1976 | Gerhard Olschewski | Cioska | A Lost Life |
| 1977 | Fernando Fernán Gómez | Fernando Tobajas | The Anchorite |
| 1978 | Craig Russell | Robin Turner | Outrageous! |
| 1979 | Michele Placido | The Man | Ernesto |

### 1980s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Title |
| 1980 | Andrzej Seweryn | Adam Pietryk | The Orchestra Conductor |
| 1981 | Jack Lemmon | Scottie Templeton | Tribute |
| 1981 | Anatoly Solonitsyn | Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky | Twenty Six Days from the Life of Dostoyevsky |
| 1982 | Michel Piccoli | Bertrand Malair | Strange Affair |
| 1982 | Stellan Skarsgård | Sven | The Simple-Minded Murderer |
| 1983 | Bruce Dern | George Sitkowski | That Championship Season |
| 1984 | Albert Finney | Sir | The Dresser |
| 1985 | Fernando Fernán Gómez | Don Leopoldo Contreras de Tejada | Stico |
| 1986 | Tuncel Kurtiz | Hilmi | The Smile of the Lamb |
| 1987 | Gian Maria Volonté | Aldo Moro | The Moro Affair |
| 1988 | Manfred Möck | Hubertus Koschenz | Bear Ye One Another's Burden |
| 1988 | Jörg Pose | Josef Heiliger | Bear Ye One Another's Burden |
| 1989 | Gene Hackman | Rupert Anderson | Mississippi Burning |

### 1990s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Title |
| 1990 | Iain Glen | Larry Winters | Silent Scream |
| 1991 | Maynard Eziashi | Mister Johnson | Mister Johnson |
| 1992 | Armin Mueller-Stahl | Baron Kaspar Joachim von Utz | Utz |
| 1993 | Denzel Washington | Malcolm X | Malcolm X |
| 1994 | Tom Hanks | Andrew Beckett | Philadelphia |
| 1995 | Paul Newman | Donald Sullivan | Nobody's Fool |
| 1996 | Sean Penn | Matthew Poncelet | Dead Man Walking |
| 1997 | Leonardo DiCaprio | Romeo Montague | Romeo + Juliet |
| 1998 | Samuel L. Jackson | Ordell Robbie | Jackie Brown |
| 1999 | Michael Gwisdek | Peschke | Nightshapes |

### 2000s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Title |
| 2000 | Denzel Washington | Rubin "Hurricane" Carter | The Hurricane |
| 2001 | Benicio del Toro | Javier Rodriguez | Traffic |
| 2002 | Jacques Gamblin | Jean Devaivre | Safe Conduct |
| 2003 | Sam Rockwell | Chuck Barris | Confessions of a Dangerous Mind |
| 2004 | Daniel Hendler | Ariel Makaroff | Lost Embrace |
| 2005 | Lou Taylor Pucci | Justin Cobb | Thumbsucker |
| 2006 | Moritz Bleibtreu | Bruno | Atomised |
| 2007 | Julio Chávez | Juan Desouza | The Other |
| 2008 | Reza Naji | Karim | The Song of Sparrows |
| 2009 | Sotigui Kouyaté | Ousmane | London River |

### 2010s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Title |
| 2010 | Grigoriy Dobrygin | Pavel Danilov | How I Ended This Summer |
| 2010 | Sergei Puskepalis | Sergei Gulybin | How I Ended This Summer |
| 2011 | Payman Maadi | Nader | A Separation |
| 2011 | Shahab Hosseini | Hodjat | A Separation |
| 2011 | Ali-Asghar Shahbazi | Nader's Father | A Separation |
| 2011 | Babak Karimi | Judge | A Separation |
| 2012 | Mikkel Følsgaard | King Christian VII of Denmark | A Royal Affair |
| 2013 | Nazif Mujić | Nazif | An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker |
| 2014 | Liao Fan | Zhang Zili | Black Coal, Thin Ice |
| 2015 | Tom Courtenay | Geoff Mercer | 45 Years |
| 2016 | Majd Mastoura | Hedi | Hedi |
| 2017 | Georg Friedrich | Michael | Bright Nights |
| 2018 | Anthony Bajon | Thomas | The Prayer |
| 2019 | Wang Jingchun | Liu Yaojun | So Long, My Son |

### 2020s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Title | Ref. |
| 2020 | Elio Germano | Antonio Ligabue | Hidden Away | |

## Multiple winners

The following individuals have received multiple Best Actor awards:
| Wins | Actor | Nationality | Films |
| 2 | Sidney Poitier | United States | The Defiant Ones (1958), Lilies of the Field (1963) |
| 2 | Jean Gabin | France | Archimède le clochard (1959), Le Chat (1971) |
| 2 | Fernando Fernán Gómez | Spain | The Anchorite (1977), Stico (1985) |
| 2 | Denzel Washington | United States | Malcolm X (1993), The Hurricane (2000) |