# Independent Spirit Award for Best Breakthrough Performance

The Independent Spirit Award for Best Breakthrough Performance is an award presented annually at the Independent Spirit Awards to honor outstanding performances given by a new talent in an independent film. It was first presented in 1995 at the 10th Independent Spirit Awards as Best Debut Performance, which was won by Sean Nelson for his performance in the film Fresh.
The category was then discontinued in 2005, but it was later re-introduced as Best Breakthrough Performance at the 2023 ceremony. The Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series category was added ahead of the 2024 ceremony.

## Winners and nominees
### 1990s

| Year | Winner and nominees | Film | Role |
| 1995 | Sean Nelson | Fresh | Fresh |
| 1995 | Jeff Anderson | Clerks | Randal Graves |
| 1995 | Jeremy Davies | Spanking the Monkey | Ray Aibelli |
| 1995 | Alicia Witt | Fun | Bonnie |
| 1995 | Renée Zellweger | Love and a .45 | Starlene Cheatham |
| 1996 | Justin Pierce | Kids | Casper |
| 1996 | Jason Andrews | Rhythm Thief | Simon |
| 1996 | Lisa Donaldson | River of Grass | Cozy |
| 1996 | Gabriel Casseus | New Jersey Drive | Kyle "Midget" |
| 1996 | Rose McGowan | The Doom Generation | Amy Blue |
| 1997 | Heather Matarazzo | Welcome to the Dollhouse | Dawn Wiener |
| 1997 | Jena Malone | Bastard Out of Carolina | Ruth Anne "Bone" Boatwright |
| 1997 | Brendan Sexton III | Welcome to the Dollhouse | Brandon McCarthy |
| 1997 | Arie Verveen | Caught | Nick |
| 1997 | Jeffrey Wright | Basquiat | Jean-Michel Basquiat |
| 1998 | Aaron Eckhart | In the Company of Men | Chad |
| 1998 | Tyrone D. Burton, Eddie Cutanda and Phuong Duong | Squeeze | Tyson, Hector and Bao |
| 1998 | Lysa Flores | Star Maps | Maria |
| 1998 | Darling Narita | Bang | The Girl |
| 1998 | Douglas Spain | Star Maps | Carlos |
| 1999 | Evan Adams | Smoke Signals | Thomas Builds-the-Fire |
| 1999 | Anthony Roth Costanzo | A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries | Francis Fortescue |
| 1999 | Andrea Hart | Miss Monday | Gloria |
| 1999 | Sonja Sohn | Slam | Lauren Bell |
| 1999 | Saul Williams | Slam | Ray Joshua |

### 2000s

| Year | Winner and nominees | Film | Role |
| 2000 | Kimberly J. Brown | Tumbleweeds | Mary Jo Walker |
| 2000 | Jessica Campbell | Election | Tammy Metzler |
| 2000 | Jade Gordon | Sugar Town | Gwen |
| 2000 | Toby Smith | Drylongso | Pica Sullivan |
| 2000 | Chris Stafford | Edge of Seventeen | Eric Hunter |
| 2001 | Michelle Rodriguez | Girlfight | Diana Guzman |
| 2001 | Curtis Cotton III, Candace Evanofski, Rachael Handy, Donald Holden and Damian Jewan Lee | George Washington | Buddy, Nasia, Sonya, George Richardson and Vernon |
| 2001 | Rory Culkin | You Can Count on Me | Rudy |
| 2001 | Emmy Rossum | Songcatcher | Deladis Slocumb |
| 2001 | Mike White | Chuck & Buck | Buck O'Brien |
| 2002 | Paul Dano | L.I.E. | Howie Blitzer |
| 2002 | Hilary Howard, Anthony Leslie and Mitchell Riggs | Kaaterskill Falls | Ren, Lyle and Mitchell |
| 2002 | Clint Jordan | Virgil Bliss | Virgil Bliss |
| 2002 | Ana Reeder | Acts of Worship | Alix |
| 2002 | Yolonda Ross | Stranger Inside | Treasure |
| 2003 | Nia Vardalos | My Big Fat Greek Wedding | Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos |
| 2003 | Bob Burrus | Tully | Tully Russell Coates Sr. |
| 2003 | America Ferrera | Real Women Have Curves | Ana García |
| 2003 | Raven Goodwin | Lovely & Amazing | Annie Marks |
| 2003 | Artel Kayàru | Dahmer | Rodney |
| 2004 | Nikki Reed | Thirteen | Evie Zamora |
| 2004 | Anna Kendrick | Camp | Fritzi Wagner |
| 2004 | Judy Marte | Raising Victor Vargas | Judy |
| 2004 | Victor Rasuk | Raising Victor Vargas | Victor |
| 2004 | Janice Richardson | Anne B. Real | Cynthia Gimenez |
| 2005 | Rodrigo de la Serna | The Motorcycle Diaries | Alberto Granado |
| 2005 | Anthony Mackie | Brother to Brother | Perry |
| 2005 | Louie Olivos Jr. | Robbing Peter | Pedro |
| 2005 | Hannah Pilkes | The Woodsman | Robin |
| 2005 | David Sullivan | Primer | Abe |

### 2020s

| Year | Winner and nominees | Film | Role |
| 2022 | Stephanie Hsu | Everything Everywhere All at Once | Joy Wang / Jobu Tupaki |
| 2022 | Frankie Corio | Aftersun | Sophie |
| 2022 | Gracija Filipović | Murina | Julija |
| 2022 | Lily McInerny | Palm Trees and Power Lines | Lea |
| 2022 | Daniel Zolghadri | Funny Pages | Robert |
| 2023 | Dominic Sessa | The Holdovers | Angus Tully |
| 2023 | Marshawn Lynch | Bottoms | Mr. G |
| 2023 | Atibon Nazaire | Mountains | Xavier |
| 2023 | Tia Nomore | Earth Mama | Gia |
| 2023 | Anaita Wali Zada | Fremont | Donya |
| 2024 | Maisy Stella | My Old Ass | Elliott |
| 2024 | Isaac Krasner | Big Boys | Jamie |
| 2024 | Katy O'Brian | Love Lies Bleeding | Jacqueline "Jackie" Cleaver |
| 2024 | Mason Alexander Park | National Anthem | Carrie |
| 2024 | René Pérez Joglar | In the Summers | Vicente |

## Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series
### 2020s

| Year | Winner and nominees | Series | Role |
| 2023 | Keivonn Montreal Woodard | The Last of Us | Sam |
| 2023 | Clark Backo | The Changeling | Emma "Emmy" Valentine |
| 2023 | Aria Mia Loberti | All the Light We Cannot See | Marie-Laure LeBlanc |
| 2023 | Adjani Salmon | Dreaming Whilst Black | Kwabena |
| 2023 | Kara Young | I'm a Virgo | Jones |
| 2024 | Jessica Gunning | Baby Reindeer | Martha Scott |
| 2024 | Diarra Kilpatrick | Diarra from Detroit | Diarra Brickland |
| 2024 | Joe Locke | Agatha All Along | Billy Maximoff and Tommy Maximoff |
| 2024 | Megan Stott | Penelope | Penelope |
| 2024 | Hoa Xuande | The Sympathizer | The Captain |