# Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male

The Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male was one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards. It was first presented in 1987, with Morgan Freeman being the first recipient, for his role as Fast Black in Street Smart. It was last presented in 2022 with Troy Kotsur being the final recipient of the award for his role in CODA.
In 2022, it was announced that the four acting categories would be retired and replaced with two gender neutral categories, with both Best Supporting Male and Best Supporting Female merging into the Best Supporting Performance category.
Steve Buscemi, Willem Dafoe and Benicio del Toro are the only actors who have received this award more than once, with two wins each.

## Winners and nominees
### 1980s

| Year | Actress | Film | Role |
| 1987 | Morgan Freeman | Street Smart | Fast Black |
| 1987 | Wings Hauser | Tough Guys Don't Dance | Capt. Alvin Luther Regency |
| 1987 | James Earl Jones | Matewan | 'Few Clothes' Johnson |
| 1987 | Vincent Price | The Whales of August | Mr. Maranov |
| 1987 | David Strathairn | Matewan | Sid Hatfield |
| 1988 | Lou Diamond Phillips | Stand and Deliver | Angel Guzman |
| 1988 | Ernest Borgnine | Spike of Bensonhurst | Baldo Cacetti |
| 1988 | Divine | Hairspray | Edna Turnblad / Arvin Hodgepile |
| 1988 | John Lone | The Moderns | Bertram Stone |
| 1988 | John Turturro | Five Corners | Heinz |
| 1989 | Max Perlich | Drugstore Cowboy | David |
| 1989 | Steve Buscemi | Mystery Train | Charlie the Barber |
| 1989 | Scott Coffey | Shag | Chip Gaillard |
| 1989 | Gary Farmer | Powwow Highway | Philbert Bono |
| 1989 | Screamin' Jay Hawkins | Mystery Train | Night Clerk |

### 1990s

| Year | Actress | Film | Role |
| 1990 | Bruce Davison | Longtime Companion | David |
| 1990 | Willem Dafoe | Wild at Heart | Bobby Peru |
| 1990 | Robin Harris | House Party | Pop |
| 1990 | Ben Lang | The Plot Against Harry | Leo |
| 1990 | Tom Towles | Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer | Otis |
| 1991 | David Strathairn | City of Hope | Asteroid |
| 1991 | William H. Macy | Homicide | Tim Sullivan |
| 1991 | John Malkovich | Queens Logic | Eliot |
| 1991 | George T. Odom | Straight Out of Brooklyn | Ray Brown |
| 1991 | Glenn Plummer | Pastime | Tyrone Debray |
| 1992 | Steve Buscemi | Reservoir Dogs | Mr. Pink |
| 1992 | William Forsythe | The Waterdance | Bloss |
| 1992 | Jeff Goldblum | Deep Cover | David Jason |
| 1992 | Wesley Snipes | The Waterdance | Raymond Hill |
| 1992 | David Strathairn | Passion Fish | Rennie |
| 1993 | Christopher Lloyd | Twenty Bucks | Jimmy |
| 1993 | David Chung | The Ballad of Little Jo | Tinman Wong |
| 1993 | Tate Donovan | Inside Monkey Zetterland | Brent Zetterland |
| 1993 | Todd Field | Ruby in Paradise | Mike McCaslin |
| 1993 | Edward Furlong | American Heart | Nick Kelson |
| 1994 | Chazz Palminteri | Bullets Over Broadway | Cheech |
| 1994 | Giancarlo Esposito | Fresh | Esteban |
| 1994 | Larry Pine | Vanya on 42nd Street | Dr. Astrov |
| 1994 | Eric Stoltz | Pulp Fiction | Lance |
| 1994 | Nicholas Turturro | Federal Hill | Ralph |
| 1995 | Benicio del Toro | The Usual Suspects | Fred Fenster |
| 1995 | James LeGros | Living in Oblivion | Chad Palomino |
| 1995 | David Morse | The Crossing Guard | John Booth |
| 1995 | Max Perlich | Georgia | Axel Goldman |
| 1995 | Harold Perrineau | Smoke | Thomas 'Rashid' Cole |
| 1996 | Benicio del Toro | Basquiat | Benny Dalmau |
| 1996 | Kevin Corrigan | Walking and Talking | Bill |
| 1996 | Matthew Faber | Welcome to the Dollhouse | Mark Wiener |
| 1996 | Gary Farmer | Dead Man | Nobody |
| 1996 | Richard Jenkins | Flirting with Disaster | Paul Harmon |
| 1997 | Jason Lee | Chasing Amy | Banky Edwards |
| 1997 | Efrain Figueroa | Star Maps | Pepe Amato |
| 1997 | Samuel L. Jackson | Hard Eight | Jimmy |
| 1997 | Ajay Naidu | SubUrbia | Nazeer Choudhury |
| 1997 | Roy Scheider | The Myth of Fingerprints | Hal |
| 1998 | Bill Murray | Rushmore | Herman Blume |
| 1998 | James Coburn | Affliction | Glen Whitehouse |
| 1998 | Charles S. Dutton | Blind Faith | Charles Williams |
| 1998 | Gary Farmer | Smoke Signals | Arnold Joseph |
| 1998 | Philip Seymour Hoffman | Happiness | Allen |
| 1999 | Steve Zahn | Happy, Texas | Wayne Wayne Wayne Jr., aka David |
| 1999 | Charles S. Dutton | Cookie's Fortune | Jason Brown |
| 1999 | Clark Gregg | The Adventures of Sebastian Cole | Hank Rossi / Henrietta Rossi |
| 1999 | Luis Guzmán | The Limey | Eduardo Roel |
| 1999 | Terrence Howard | The Best Man | Quentin Spivey |

### 2000s

| Year | Actress | Film | Role |
| 2000 | Willem Dafoe | Shadow of the Vampire | Max Schreck |
| 2000 | Cole Hauser | Tigerland | Staff Sgt. Cota |
| 2000 | Gary Oldman | The Contender | Shelly Runyon |
| 2000 | Giovanni Ribisi | The Gift | Buddy Cole |
| 2000 | Billy Dee Williams | The Visit | Henry |
| 2001 | Steve Buscemi | Ghost World | Seymour |
| 2001 | Don Cheadle | Things Behind the Sun | Chuck |
| 2001 | Billy Kay | L.I.E. | Gary Terrio |
| 2001 | Garrett Morris | Jackpot | Lester Irving |
| 2001 | John C. Reilly | The Anniversary Party | Mac Forsyth |
| 2002 | Dennis Quaid | Far from Heaven | Frank Whitaker |
| 2002 | Alan Arkin | Thirteen Conversations About One Thing | Gene |
| 2002 | Ray Liotta | Narc | Henry Oak |
| 2002 | John C. Reilly | The Good Girl | Phil Last |
| 2002 | Peter Weller | Ivans Xtc | Don West |
| 2003 | Djimon Hounsou | In America | Mateo |
| 2003 | Judah Friedlander | American Splendor | Toby Radloff |
| 2003 | Troy Garity | Soldier's Girl | Barry Winchell |
| 2003 | Alessandro Nivola | Laurel Canyon | Ian McKnight |
| 2003 | Peter Sarsgaard | Shattered Glass | Chuck Lane |
| 2004 | Thomas Haden Church | Sideways | Jack Cole |
| 2004 | Jon Gries | Napoleon Dynamite | Uncle Rico |
| 2004 | Aidan Quinn | Cavedweller | Clint Windsor |
| 2004 | Roger Robinson | Brother to Brother | Bruce Nugent |
| 2004 | Peter Sarsgaard | Kinsey | Clyde Martin |
| 2005 | Matt Dillon | Crash | Sgt. John Ryan |
| 2005 | Firdous Bamji | The War Within | Sayeed |
| 2005 | Jesse Eisenberg | The Squid and the Whale | Walt Berkman |
| 2005 | Barry Pepper | The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada | Mike Norton |
| 2005 | Jeffrey Wright | Broken Flowers | Winston |
| 2006 | Alan Arkin | Little Miss Sunshine | Edwin Hoover |
| 2006 | Raymond J. Barry | Steel City | Vic Lee |
| 2006 | Daniel Craig | Infamous | Perry Smith |
| 2006 | Paul Dano | Little Miss Sunshine | Dwayne |
| 2006 | Channing Tatum | A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints | Young Antonio |
| 2007 | Chiwetel Ejiofor | Talk to Me | Dewey Hughes |
| 2007 | Marcus Carl Franklin | I'm Not There | Woody Guthrie |
| 2007 | Kene Holliday | Great World of Sound | Clarence |
| 2007 | Irrfan Khan | The Namesake | Ashoke Ganguli |
| 2007 | Steve Zahn | Rescue Dawn | Duane W. Martin |
| 2008 | James Franco | Milk | Scott Smith |
| 2008 | Anthony Mackie | The Hurt Locker | Sergeant J. T. Sanborn |
| 2008 | Charlie McDermott | Frozen River | Troy "T.J." Eddy, Jr. |
| 2008 | Jim Myron Ross | Ballast | James |
| 2008 | Haaz Sleiman | The Visitor | Tarek |
| 2009 | Woody Harrelson | The Messenger | Capt. Tony Stone |
| 2009 | Jemaine Clement | Gentlemen Broncos | Dr. Ronald Chevalier |
| 2009 | Christian McKay | Me and Orson Welles | Orson Welles |
| 2009 | Ray McKinnon | That Evening Sun | Lonzo Choat |
| 2009 | Christopher Plummer | The Last Station | Leo Tolstoy |

### 2010s

| Year | Actress | Film | Role |
| 2010 | John Hawkes | Winter's Bone | Teardrop Dolly |
| 2010 | Samuel L. Jackson | Mother and Child | Paul |
| 2010 | Bill Murray | Get Low | Frank Quinn |
| 2010 | John Ortiz | Jack Goes Boating | Clyde |
| 2010 | Mark Ruffalo | The Kids Are All Right | Paul Hatfield |
| 2011 | Christopher Plummer | Beginners | Hal Fields |
| 2011 | Albert Brooks | Drive | Bernie Rose |
| 2011 | John Hawkes | Martha Marcy May Marlene | Patrick |
| 2011 | John C. Reilly | Cedar Rapids | Dean Ziegler |
| 2011 | Corey Stoll | Midnight in Paris | Ernest Hemingway |
| 2012 | Matthew McConaughey | Magic Mike | Dallas |
| 2012 | David Oyelowo | Middle of Nowhere | Brian |
| 2012 | Michael Peña | End of Watch | Miguel "Mike" Zavala |
| 2012 | Sam Rockwell | Seven Psychopaths | Billy Bickle |
| 2012 | Bruce Willis | Moonrise Kingdom | Captain Duffy Sharp |
| 2013 | Jared Leto | Dallas Buyers Club | Rayon |
| 2013 | Michael Fassbender | 12 Years a Slave | Edwin Epps |
| 2013 | Will Forte | Nebraska | David Grant |
| 2013 | James Gandolfini | Enough Said | Albert |
| 2013 | Lakeith Stanfield | Short Term 12 | Marcus |
| 2014 | J. K. Simmons | Whiplash | Terence Fletcher |
| 2014 | Riz Ahmed | Nightcrawler | Rick Blaine |
| 2014 | Ethan Hawke | Boyhood | Mason Evans, Sr. |
| 2014 | Alfred Molina | Love Is Strange | George |
| 2014 | Edward Norton | Birdman | Mike Shiner |
| 2015 | Idris Elba | Beasts of No Nation | The Commandant |
| 2015 | Kevin Corrigan | Results | Danny |
| 2015 | Paul Dano | Love & Mercy | Brian Wilson |
| 2015 | Richard Jenkins | Bone Tomahawk | Deputy Chicory |
| 2015 | Michael Shannon | 99 Homes | Rick Carver |
| 2016 | Ben Foster | Hell or High Water | Tanner Howard |
| 2016 | Ralph Fiennes | A Bigger Splash | Harry Hawkes |
| 2016 | Lucas Hedges | Manchester by the Sea | Patrick Chandler |
| 2016 | Shia LaBeouf | American Honey | Jake |
| 2016 | Craig Robinson | Morris from America | Curtis Gentry |
| 2017 | Sam Rockwell | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri | Officer Jason Dixon |
| 2017 | Nnamdi Asomugha | Crown Heights | Carl King |
| 2017 | Armie Hammer | Call Me by Your Name | Oliver |
| 2017 | Barry Keoghan | The Killing of a Sacred Deer | Martin |
| 2017 | Benny Safdie | Good Time | Nick Nikas |
| 2018 | Richard E. Grant | Can You Ever Forgive Me? | Jack Hock |
| 2018 | Raúl Castillo | We the Animals | Paps |
| 2018 | Adam Driver | BlacKkKlansman | Detective Flip Zimmerman |
| 2018 | Josh Hamilton | Eighth Grade | Mark Day |
| 2018 | John David Washington | Monsters and Men | Dennis Williams |
| 2019 | Willem Dafoe | The Lighthouse | Thomas Wake |
| 2019 | Noah Jupe | Honey Boy | Young Otis Lort |
| 2019 | Shia LaBeouf | Honey Boy | James Lort |
| 2019 | Jonathan Majors | The Last Black Man in San Francisco | Montgomery Allen |
| 2019 | Wendell Pierce | Burning Cane | Reverend Tillman |

### 2020s

| Year | Actress | Film | Role |
| 2020 | Paul Raci | Sound of Metal | Joe |
| 2020 | Colman Domingo | Ma Rainey's Black Bottom | Cutler |
| 2020 | Orion Lee | First Cow | King-Lu |
| 2020 | Glynn Turman | Ma Rainey's Black Bottom | Toledo |
| 2020 | Benedict Wong | Nine Days | Kyo |
| 2021 | Troy Kotsur | CODA | Frank Rossi |
| 2021 | Colman Domingo | Zola | Abegunde "X" Olawale |
| 2021 | Meeko Gattuso | Queen of Glory | Pitt |
| 2021 | Will Patton | Sweet Thing | Adam |
| 2021 | Chaske Spencer | Wild Indian | Teddo |

## Multiple winners
### 2 wins

* Steve Buscemi
* Willem Dafoe
* Benicio del Toro (consecutive)