# Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama is a Golden Globe Award that was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951. Previously, there was a single award for "Best Actor in a Motion Picture" but the splitting allowed for recognition of it and the Best Actor – Musical or Comedy.
The formal title has varied since its inception. In 2005, it was officially called: "Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama". As of 2013, the wording is "Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama".

## Winners and nominees
### 1940s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 1943 | Paul Lukas | Kurt Muller | Watch on the Rhine |
| 1944 | Alexander Knox | Woodrow Wilson | Wilson |
| 1945 | Ray Milland | Don Birnam | The Lost Weekend |
| 1946 | Gregory Peck | Penny Baxter | The Yearling |
| 1947 | Ronald Colman | Anthony John | A Double Life |
| 1948 | Laurence Olivier | Hamlet, Prince of Denmark | Hamlet |
| 1949 | Broderick Crawford | Willie Stark | All the King's Men |
| 1949 | Richard Todd | Cpl. Lachlan "Lachie" MacLachlan | The Hasty Heart |

### 1950s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 1950 | José Ferrer | Cyrano de Bergerac | Cyrano de Bergerac |
| 1950 | Louis Calhern | Oliver Wendell Holmes | The Magnificent Yankee |
| 1950 | James Stewart | Elwood P. Dowd | Harvey |
| 1951 | Fredric March | Willy Loman | Death of a Salesman |
| 1951 | Kirk Douglas | Det. James McLeod | Detective Story |
| 1951 | Arthur Kennedy | Larry Nevins | Bright Victory |
| 1952 | Gary Cooper | Marshal Will Kane | High Noon |
| 1952 | Ray Milland | Allan Fields | The Thief |
| 1952 | Charles Boyer | Jacques Bonnard | The Happy Time |
| 1953 | Spencer Tracy | Clinton Jones | The Actress |
| 1954 | Marlon Brando | Terry Malloy | On the Waterfront |
| 1955 | Ernest Borgnine | Marty Piletti | Marty |
| 1956 | Kirk Douglas | Vincent van Gogh | Lust for Life |
| 1956 | Karl Malden | Archie Lee Meighan | Baby Doll |
| 1956 | Gary Cooper | Jess Birdwell | Friendly Persuasion |
| 1956 | Burt Lancaster | Bill Starbuck | The Rainmaker |
| 1956 | Charlton Heston | Moses | The Ten Commandments |
| 1957 | Alec Guinness | Colonel Nicholson | The Bridge on the River Kwai |
| 1957 | Marlon Brando | Maj. Lloyd "Ace" Gruver | Sayonara |
| 1958 | David Niven | Major Pollock | Separate Tables |
| 1958 | Tony Curtis | John "Joker" Jackson | The Defiant Ones |
| 1958 | Robert Donat | The Mandarin of Yang Cheng | The Inn of the Sixth Happiness |
| 1958 | Sidney Poitier | Noah Cullen | The Defiant Ones |
| 1958 | Spencer Tracy | Santiago (The Old Man) | The Old Man and the Sea |
| 1959 | Anthony Franciosa | Sam Lawson | Career |
| 1959 | Richard Burton | Jimmy Porter | Look Back in Anger |
| 1959 | Charlton Heston | Judah Ben-Hur | Ben-Hur |
| 1959 | Fredric March | Jerry Kingsley | Middle of the Night |
| 1959 | Joseph Schildkraut | Otto Frank | The Diary of Anne Frank |

### 1960s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 1960 | Burt Lancaster | Elmer Gantry | Elmer Gantry |
| 1960 | Trevor Howard | Walter Morel | Sons and Lovers |
| 1960 | Laurence Olivier | Crassus | Spartacus |
| 1960 | Dean Stockwell | Paul Morel | Sons and Lovers |
| 1960 | Spencer Tracy | Henry Drummond | Inherit the Wind |
| 1961 | Maximilian Schell | Hans Rolfe | Judgment at Nuremberg |
| 1961 | Warren Beatty | Bud Stamper | Splendor in the Grass |
| 1961 | Maurice Chevalier | Pannisse | Fanny |
| 1961 | Paul Newman | Fast Eddie Felson | The Hustler |
| 1961 | Sidney Poitier | Walter Lee Younger | A Raisin in the Sun |
| 1962 | Gregory Peck | Atticus Finch | To Kill a Mockingbird |
| 1962 | Laurence Harvey | Wilhelm Grimm/The Cobbler | The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm |
| 1962 | Burt Lancaster | Robert Franklin Stroud | Birdman of Alcatraz |
| 1962 | Jack Lemmon | Joe Clay | Days of Wine and Roses |
| 1962 | James Mason | Humbert Humbert | Lolita |
| 1962 | Paul Newman | Chance Wayne | Sweet Bird of Youth |
| 1962 | Peter O'Toole | T. E. Lawrence | Lawrence of Arabia |
| 1962 | Anthony Quinn | Auda ibu Tayi | Lawrence of Arabia |
| 1963 | Sidney Poitier | Homer Smith | Lilies of the Field |
| 1963 | Marlon Brando | Harrison Carter MacWhite | The Ugly American |
| 1963 | Stathis Giallelis | Stavros Topouzoglou | America America |
| 1963 | Rex Harrison | Julius Caesar | Cleopatra |
| 1963 | Steve McQueen | Rocky Papasano | Love with the Proper Stranger |
| 1963 | Paul Newman | Hud Bannon | Hud |
| 1963 | Gregory Peck | Captain Josiah Newman | Captain Newman, M.D. |
| 1963 | Tom Tryon | Stephen Fermoyle | The Cardinal |
| 1964 | Peter O'Toole | King Henry II | Becket |
| 1964 | Richard Burton | Thomas Becket | Becket |
| 1964 | Anthony Franciosa | Juan Luis Rodriguez | Rio Conchos |
| 1964 | Fredric March | President Lyman | Seven Days in May |
| 1964 | Anthony Quinn | Alexis Zorba | Zorba the Greek |
| 1965 | Omar Sharif | Yuri Zhivago | Doctor Zhivago |
| 1965 | Rex Harrison | Pope Julius II | The Agony and the Ecstasy |
| 1965 | Sidney Poitier | Gordon Ralfe | A Patch of Blue |
| 1965 | Rod Steiger | Sol Nazerman | The Pawnbroker |
| 1965 | Oskar Werner | Willie Schumann | Ship of Fools |
| 1966 | Paul Scofield | Sir Thomas More | A Man for All Seasons |
| 1966 | Richard Burton | George | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? |
| 1966 | Michael Caine | Alfie | Alfie |
| 1966 | Steve McQueen | Machinist's Mate 1st Class Jake Holman | The Sand Pebbles |
| 1966 | Max von Sydow | Reverend Abner Hale | Hawaii |
| 1967 | Rod Steiger | Police Chief Bill Gillespie | In the Heat of the Night |
| 1967 | Alan Bates | Gabriel Oak | Far from the Madding Crowd |
| 1967 | Warren Beatty | Clyde Barrow | Bonnie and Clyde |
| 1967 | Paul Newman | Lucas "Luke" Jackson | Cool Hand Luke |
| 1967 | Sidney Poitier | Detective Virgil Tibbs | In the Heat of the Night |
| 1967 | Spencer Tracy | Matt Drayton | Guess Who's Coming to Dinner |
| 1968 | Peter O'Toole | King Henry II | The Lion in Winter |
| 1968 | Alan Arkin | John Singer | The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter |
| 1968 | Alan Bates | Yakov Bok | The Fixer |
| 1968 | Tony Curtis | Albert DeSalvo | The Boston Strangler |
| 1968 | Cliff Robertson | Charlie Gordon | Charly |
| 1969 | John Wayne | Rooster Cogburn | True Grit |
| 1969 | Alan Arkin | Abraham "Popi" Rodriguez | Popi |
| 1969 | Richard Burton | King Henry VIII | Anne of the Thousand Days |
| 1969 | Dustin Hoffman | Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo | Midnight Cowboy |
| 1969 | Jon Voight | Joe Buck | Midnight Cowboy |

### 1970s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 1970 | George C. Scott | George S. Patton | Patton |
| 1970 | Melvyn Douglas | Tom Garrison | I Never Sang for My Father |
| 1970 | James Earl Jones | Jack Jefferson | The Great White Hope |
| 1970 | Jack Nicholson | Robert Eroica Dupea | Five Easy Pieces |
| 1970 | Ryan O'Neal | Oliver Barret IV | Love Story |
| 1971 | Gene Hackman | Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle | The French Connection |
| 1971 | Peter Finch | Daniel Hirsh | Sunday Bloody Sunday |
| 1971 | Malcolm McDowell | Alex DeLarge | A Clockwork Orange |
| 1971 | Jack Nicholson | Jonathan Fuerst | Carnal Knowledge |
| 1971 | George C. Scott | Dr. Herbert Bock | The Hospital |
| 1972 | Marlon Brando | Vito Corleone | The Godfather |
| 1972 | Michael Caine | Milo Tindle | Sleuth |
| 1972 | Laurence Olivier | Andrew Wyke | Sleuth |
| 1972 | Al Pacino | Michael Corleone | The Godfather |
| 1972 | Jon Voight | Ed | Deliverance |
| 1973 | Al Pacino | Frank Serpico | Serpico |
| 1973 | Robert Blake | John Wintergreen | Electra Glide in Blue |
| 1973 | Jack Lemmon | Harry Stoner | Save the Tiger |
| 1973 | Steve McQueen | Henri "Papillon" Charrière | Papillon |
| 1973 | Jack Nicholson | Signalman 1st Class Billy L. "Badass" Buddusky | The Last Detail |
| 1974 | Jack Nicholson | J. J. "Jake" Gittes | Chinatown |
| 1974 | James Caan | Axel Freed | The Gambler |
| 1974 | Gene Hackman | Harry Caul | The Conversation |
| 1974 | Dustin Hoffman | Lenny Bruce | Lenny |
| 1974 | Al Pacino | Michael Corleone | The Godfather Part II |
| 1975 | Jack Nicholson | Randle Patrick "Mac" McMurphy | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest |
| 1975 | Gene Hackman | Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle | French Connection II |
| 1975 | Al Pacino | Sonny Wortzik | Dog Day Afternoon |
| 1975 | Maximilian Schell | Arthur Goldman | The Man in the Glass Booth |
| 1975 | James Whitmore | Harry S. Truman | Give 'em Hell, Harry! |
| 1976 | Peter Finch (posthumous) | Howard Beale | Network |
| 1976 | David Carradine | Woody Guthrie | Bound for Glory |
| 1976 | Robert De Niro | Travis Bickle | Taxi Driver |
| 1976 | Dustin Hoffman | "Babe" Levy | Marathon Man |
| 1976 | Sylvester Stallone | Rocky Balboa | Rocky |
| 1977 | Richard Burton | Dr. Martin Dysart | Equus |
| 1977 | Marcello Mastroianni | Gabriele | A Special Day |
| 1977 | Al Pacino | Bobby Deerfield | Bobby Deerfield |
| 1977 | Gregory Peck | Douglas MacArthur | MacArthur |
| 1977 | Henry Winkler | Jack Dunne | Heroes |
| 1978 | Jon Voight | Luke Martin | Coming Home |
| 1978 | Brad Davis | Billy Hayes | Midnight Express |
| 1978 | Robert De Niro | Michael Vronsky | The Deer Hunter |
| 1978 | Anthony Hopkins | Corky Withers / "Fats" | Magic |
| 1978 | Gregory Peck | Dr. Josef Mengele | The Boys from Brazil |
| 1979 | Dustin Hoffman | Ted Kramer | Kramer vs. Kramer |
| 1979 | Jack Lemmon | Jack Godell | The China Syndrome |
| 1979 | Al Pacino | Arthur Kirkland | ...And Justice for All |
| 1979 | Jon Voight | Billy Flynn | The Champ |
| 1979 | James Woods | Gregory Powell | The Onion Field |

### 1980s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 1980 | Robert De Niro | Jake LaMotta | Raging Bull |
| 1980 | John Hurt | John Merrick | The Elephant Man |
| 1980 | Jack Lemmon | Scottie Templeton | Tribute |
| 1980 | Peter O'Toole | Eli Cross | The Stunt Man |
| 1980 | Donald Sutherland | Calvin Jarrett | Ordinary People |
| 1981 | Henry Fonda | Norman Thayer | On Golden Pond |
| 1981 | Warren Beatty | John Reed | Reds |
| 1981 | Timothy Hutton | Brian Moreland | Taps |
| 1981 | Burt Lancaster | Lou Pascal | Atlantic City |
| 1981 | Treat Williams | Daniel Ciello | Prince of the City |
| 1982 | Ben Kingsley | Mahatma Gandhi | Gandhi |
| 1982 | Albert Finney | George Dunlap | Shoot the Moon |
| 1982 | Richard Gere | Zack Mayo | An Officer and a Gentleman |
| 1982 | Jack Lemmon | Ed Horman | Missing |
| 1982 | Paul Newman | Frank Galvin | The Verdict |
| 1983 | Tom Courtenay | Norman | The Dresser |
| 1983 | Robert Duvall | Mac Sledge | Tender Mercies |
| 1983 | Tom Conti | Gowan McGland | Reuben, Reuben |
| 1983 | Richard Farnsworth | Bill Miner | The Grey Fox |
| 1983 | Albert Finney | Sir | The Dresser |
| 1983 | Al Pacino | Tony Montana | Scarface |
| 1983 | Eric Roberts | Paul Snider | Star 80 |
| 1984 | F. Murray Abraham | Antonio Salieri | Amadeus |
| 1984 | Jeff Bridges | Starman ("Scott Hayden") | Starman |
| 1984 | Albert Finney | Geoffrey Firmin | Under the Volcano |
| 1984 | Tom Hulce | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Amadeus |
| 1984 | Sam Waterston | Sydney Schanberg | The Killing Fields |
| 1985 | Jon Voight | Oscar Manheim | Runaway Train |
| 1985 | Harrison Ford | John Book | Witness |
| 1985 | Gene Hackman | Harry MacKenzie | Twice in a Lifetime |
| 1985 | William Hurt | Luis Molina | Kiss of the Spider Woman |
| 1985 | Raul Julia | Valentin Arregui | Kiss of the Spider Woman |
| 1986 | Bob Hoskins | George | Mona Lisa |
| 1986 | Harrison Ford | Allie Fox | The Mosquito Coast |
| 1986 | Dexter Gordon | Dale Turner | Round Midnight |
| 1986 | William Hurt | James Leeds | Children of a Lesser God |
| 1986 | Jeremy Irons | Father Gabriel | The Mission |
| 1986 | Paul Newman | Fast Eddie Felson | The Color of Money |
| 1987 | Michael Douglas | Gordon Gekko | Wall Street |
| 1987 | John Lone | Puyi | The Last Emperor |
| 1987 | Jack Nicholson | Francis Phelan | Ironweed |
| 1987 | Nick Nolte | Lee Umstetter | Weeds |
| 1987 | Denzel Washington | Steve Biko | Cry Freedom |
| 1988 | Dustin Hoffman | Raymond Babbitt | Rain Man |
| 1988 | Gene Hackman | Rupert Anderson | Mississippi Burning |
| 1988 | Tom Hulce | Dominick Luciano | Dominick and Eugene |
| 1988 | Edward James Olmos | Jaime Escalante | Stand and Deliver |
| 1988 | Forest Whitaker | Charlie Parker | Bird |
| 1989 | Tom Cruise | Ron Kovic | Born on the Fourth of July |
| 1989 | Daniel Day-Lewis | Christy Brown | My Left Foot |
| 1989 | Jack Lemmon | Jake Tremont | Dad |
| 1989 | Al Pacino | Frank Keller | Sea of Love |
| 1989 | Robin Williams | John Keating | Dead Poets Society |

### 1990s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 1990 | Jeremy Irons | Claus von Bülow | Reversal of Fortune |
| 1990 | Kevin Costner | Lt. John J. Dunbar / Dances with Wolves | Dances with Wolves |
| 1990 | Richard Harris | Bull McCabe | The Field |
| 1990 | Al Pacino | Michael Corleone | The Godfather Part III |
| 1990 | Robin Williams | Dr. Malcolm Sayer | Awakenings |
| 1991 | Nick Nolte | Tom Wingo | The Prince of Tides |
| 1991 | Warren Beatty | Bugsy Siegel | Bugsy |
| 1991 | Kevin Costner | Jim Garrison | JFK |
| 1991 | Robert De Niro | Max Cady | Cape Fear |
| 1991 | Anthony Hopkins | Dr. Hannibal Lecter | The Silence of the Lambs |
| 1992 | Al Pacino | Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade | Scent of a Woman |
| 1992 | Tom Cruise | Lt. Daniel Kaffee, USN, JAG Corps | A Few Good Men |
| 1992 | Robert Downey Jr. | Charlie Chaplin | Chaplin |
| 1992 | Jack Nicholson | Jimmy Hoffa | Hoffa |
| 1992 | Denzel Washington | Malcolm X | Malcolm X |
| 1993 | Tom Hanks | Andrew Beckett | Philadelphia |
| 1993 | Daniel Day-Lewis | Gerry Conlon | In the Name of the Father |
| 1993 | Harrison Ford | Dr. Richard Kimble | The Fugitive |
| 1993 | Anthony Hopkins | James Stevens | The Remains of the Day |
| 1993 | Liam Neeson | Oskar Schindler | Schindler's List |
| 1994 | Tom Hanks | Forrest Gump | Forrest Gump |
| 1994 | Morgan Freeman | Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding | The Shawshank Redemption |
| 1994 | Paul Newman | Donald "Sully" Sullivan | Nobody's Fool |
| 1994 | Brad Pitt | Tristan Ludlow | Legends of the Fall |
| 1994 | John Travolta | Vincent Vega | Pulp Fiction |
| 1995 | Nicolas Cage | Ben Sanderson | Leaving Las Vegas |
| 1995 | Richard Dreyfuss | Glenn Holland | Mr. Holland's Opus |
| 1995 | Anthony Hopkins | Richard Nixon | Nixon |
| 1995 | Ian McKellen | King Richard III | Richard III |
| 1995 | Sean Penn | Matthew Poncelet | Dead Man Walking |
| 1996 | Geoffrey Rush | David Helfgott | Shine |
| 1996 | Ralph Fiennes | László de Almásy | The English Patient |
| 1996 | Mel Gibson | Tom Mullen | Ransom |
| 1996 | Woody Harrelson | Larry Flynt | The People vs. Larry Flynt |
| 1996 | Liam Neeson | Michael Collins | Michael Collins |
| 1997 | Peter Fonda | Ulee Jackson | Ulee's Gold |
| 1997 | Matt Damon | Will Hunting | Good Will Hunting |
| 1997 | Daniel Day-Lewis | Danny Flynn | The Boxer |
| 1997 | Leonardo DiCaprio | Jack Dawson | Titanic |
| 1997 | Djimon Hounsou | Joseph Cinqué | Amistad |
| 1998 | Jim Carrey | Truman Burbank | The Truman Show |
| 1998 | Stephen Fry | Oscar Wilde | Wilde |
| 1998 | Tom Hanks | Captain John H. Miller | Saving Private Ryan |
| 1998 | Ian McKellen | James Whale | Gods and Monsters |
| 1998 | Nick Nolte | Wade Whitehouse | Affliction |
| 1999 | Denzel Washington | Rubin "Hurricane" Carter | The Hurricane |
| 1999 | Russell Crowe | Jeffrey Wigand | The Insider |
| 1999 | Matt Damon | Tom Ripley | The Talented Mr. Ripley |
| 1999 | Richard Farnsworth | Alvin Straight | The Straight Story |
| 1999 | Kevin Spacey | Lester Burnham | American Beauty |

### 2000s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 2000 | Tom Hanks | Chuck Noland | Cast Away |
| 2000 | Javier Bardem | Reinaldo Arenas | Before Night Falls |
| 2000 | Russell Crowe | Maximus Decimus Meridius | Gladiator |
| 2000 | Michael Douglas | Grady Tripp | Wonder Boys |
| 2000 | Geoffrey Rush | Marquis de Sade | Quills |
| 2001 | Russell Crowe | John Nash | A Beautiful Mind |
| 2001 | Will Smith | Muhammad Ali | Ali |
| 2001 | Kevin Spacey | Quoyle | The Shipping News |
| 2001 | Billy Bob Thornton | Ed Crane | The Man Who Wasn't There |
| 2001 | Denzel Washington | Detective Alonzo Harris | Training Day |
| 2002 | Jack Nicholson | Warren R. Schmidt | About Schmidt |
| 2002 | Adrien Brody | Władysław Szpilman | The Pianist |
| 2002 | Michael Caine | Thomas Fowler | The Quiet American |
| 2002 | Daniel Day-Lewis | William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting | Gangs of New York |
| 2002 | Leonardo DiCaprio | Frank Abagnale, Jr. | Catch Me If You Can |
| 2003 | Sean Penn | Jimmy Markum | Mystic River |
| 2003 | Russell Crowe | Captain Jack Aubrey | Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World |
| 2003 | Tom Cruise | Captain Nathan Algren | The Last Samurai |
| 2003 | Ben Kingsley | Massoud Behrani | House of Sand and Fog |
| 2003 | Jude Law | W. P. Inman | Cold Mountain |
| 2004 | Leonardo DiCaprio | Howard Hughes | The Aviator |
| 2004 | Javier Bardem | Ramón Sampedro | The Sea Inside |
| 2004 | Don Cheadle | Paul Rusesabagina | Hotel Rwanda |
| 2004 | Johnny Depp | J. M. Barrie | Finding Neverland |
| 2004 | Liam Neeson | Alfred Kinsey | Kinsey |
| 2005 | Philip Seymour Hoffman | Truman Capote | Capote |
| 2005 | Russell Crowe | James J. Braddock | Cinderella Man |
| 2005 | Terrence Howard | DJay | Hustle & Flow |
| 2005 | Heath Ledger | Ennis Del Mar | Brokeback Mountain |
| 2005 | David Strathairn | Edward R. Murrow | Good Night, and Good Luck |
| 2006 | Forest Whitaker | Idi Amin | The Last King of Scotland |
| 2006 | Leonardo DiCaprio | Danny Archer | Blood Diamond |
| 2006 | Leonardo DiCaprio | William "Billy" Costigan, Jr. | The Departed |
| 2006 | Peter O'Toole | Maurice Russell | Venus |
| 2006 | Will Smith | Chris Gardner | The Pursuit of Happyness |
| 2007 | Daniel Day-Lewis | Daniel Plainview | There Will Be Blood |
| 2007 | George Clooney | Michael Clayton | Michael Clayton |
| 2007 | James McAvoy | Robbie Turner | Atonement |
| 2007 | Viggo Mortensen | Nikolai Luzhin | Eastern Promises |
| 2007 | Denzel Washington | Frank Lucas | American Gangster |
| 2008 | Mickey Rourke | Randy "The Ram" Robinson | The Wrestler |
| 2008 | Leonardo DiCaprio | Frank Wheeler | Revolutionary Road |
| 2008 | Frank Langella | Richard Nixon | Frost/Nixon |
| 2008 | Sean Penn | Harvey Milk | Milk |
| 2008 | Brad Pitt | Benjamin Button | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button |
| 2009 | Jeff Bridges | Otis "Bad" Blake | Crazy Heart |
| 2009 | George Clooney | Ryan Bingham | Up in the Air |
| 2009 | Colin Firth | George Falconer | A Single Man |
| 2009 | Morgan Freeman | Nelson Mandela | Invictus |
| 2009 | Tobey Maguire | Captain Sam Cahill | Brothers |

### 2010s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 2010 | Colin Firth | King George VI | The King's Speech |
| 2010 | Jesse Eisenberg | Mark Zuckerberg | The Social Network |
| 2010 | James Franco | Aron Ralston | 127 Hours |
| 2010 | Ryan Gosling | Dean Pereira | Blue Valentine |
| 2010 | Mark Wahlberg | Micky Ward | The Fighter |
| 2011 | George Clooney | Matt King | The Descendants |
| 2011 | Leonardo DiCaprio | J. Edgar Hoover | J. Edgar |
| 2011 | Michael Fassbender | Brandon Sullivan | Shame |
| 2011 | Ryan Gosling | Stephen Meyers | The Ides of March |
| 2011 | Brad Pitt | Billy Beane | Moneyball |
| 2012 | Daniel Day-Lewis | Abraham Lincoln | Lincoln |
| 2012 | Richard Gere | Robert Miller | Arbitrage |
| 2012 | John Hawkes | Mark O'Brien | The Sessions |
| 2012 | Joaquin Phoenix | Freddie Quell | The Master |
| 2012 | Denzel Washington | William "Whip" Whitaker, Sr. | Flight |
| 2013 | Matthew McConaughey | Ron Woodroof | Dallas Buyers Club |
| 2013 | Chiwetel Ejiofor | Solomon Northup | 12 Years a Slave |
| 2013 | Idris Elba | Nelson Mandela | Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom |
| 2013 | Tom Hanks | Captain Richard Phillips | Captain Phillips |
| 2013 | Robert Redford | Our Man | All Is Lost |
| 2014 | Eddie Redmayne | Stephen Hawking | The Theory of Everything |
| 2014 | Steve Carell | John Eleuthère du Pont | Foxcatcher |
| 2014 | Benedict Cumberbatch | Alan Turing | The Imitation Game |
| 2014 | Jake Gyllenhaal | Louis "Lou" Bloom | Nightcrawler |
| 2014 | David Oyelowo | Martin Luther King Jr. | Selma |
| 2015 | Leonardo DiCaprio | Hugh Glass | The Revenant |
| 2015 | Bryan Cranston | Dalton Trumbo | Trumbo |
| 2015 | Michael Fassbender | Steve Jobs | Steve Jobs |
| 2015 | Eddie Redmayne | Lili Elbe | The Danish Girl |
| 2015 | Will Smith | Dr. Bennet Omalu | Concussion |
| 2016 | Casey Affleck | Lee Chandler | Manchester by the Sea |
| 2016 | Joel Edgerton | Richard Loving | Loving |
| 2016 | Andrew Garfield | Desmond T. Doss | Hacksaw Ridge |
| 2016 | Viggo Mortensen | Ben Cash | Captain Fantastic |
| 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 Day-Lewis | Reynolds Woodcock | Phantom Thread |
| 2017 | Tom Hanks | Ben Bradlee | The Post |
| 2017 | Denzel Washington | Roman J. Israel | Roman J. Israel, Esq. |
| 2018 | Rami Malek | Freddie Mercury | Bohemian Rhapsody |
| 2018 | Bradley Cooper | Jackson Maine | A Star Is Born |
| 2018 | Willem Dafoe | Vincent van Gogh | At Eternity's Gate |
| 2018 | Lucas Hedges | Jared Eamons | Boy Erased |
| 2018 | John David Washington | Ron Stallworth | BlacKkKlansman |
| 2019 | Joaquin Phoenix | Arthur Fleck / Joker | Joker |
| 2019 | Christian Bale | Ken Miles | Ford v. Ferrari |
| 2019 | Antonio Banderas | Salvador Mallo | Pain and Glory |
| 2019 | Adam Driver | Charlie Barber | Marriage Story |
| 2019 | Jonathan Pryce | Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio | The Two Popes |

### 2020s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 2020 | Chadwick Boseman (posthumous) | Levee Green | Ma Rainey's Black Bottom |
| 2020 | Riz Ahmed | Ruben Stone | Sound of Metal |
| 2020 | Anthony Hopkins | Anthony | The Father |
| 2020 | Gary Oldman | Herman J. Mankiewicz | Mank |
| 2020 | Tahar Rahim | Mohamedou Ould Salahi | The Mauritanian |
| 2021 | Will Smith | Richard Williams | King Richard |
| 2021 | Mahershala Ali | Cameron Turner | Swan Song |
| 2021 | Javier Bardem | Desi Arnaz | Being the Ricardos |
| 2021 | Benedict Cumberbatch | Phil Burbank | The Power of the Dog |
| 2021 | Denzel Washington | Lord Macbeth | The Tragedy of Macbeth |
| 2022 | Austin Butler | Elvis Presley | Elvis |
| 2022 | Brendan Fraser | Charlie | The Whale |
| 2022 | Hugh Jackman | Peter Miller | The Son |
| 2022 | Bill Nighy | Mr. Williams | Living |
| 2022 | Jeremy Pope | Ellis French | The Inspection |
| 2023 | Cillian Murphy | J. Robert Oppenheimer | Oppenheimer |
| 2023 | Bradley Cooper | Leonard Bernstein | Maestro |
| 2023 | Leonardo DiCaprio | Ernest Burkhart | Killers of the Flower Moon |
| 2023 | Colman Domingo | Bayard Rustin | Rustin |
| 2023 | Barry Keoghan | Oliver Quick | Saltburn |
| 2023 | Andrew Scott | Adam | All of Us Strangers |
| 2024 | Adrien Brody | László Tóth | The Brutalist |
| 2024 | Timothée Chalamet | Bob Dylan | A Complete Unknown |
| 2024 | Daniel Craig | William Lee | Queer |
| 2024 | Colman Domingo | John "Divine G" Whitfield | Sing Sing |
| 2024 | Ralph Fiennes | Thomas Cardinal Lawrence | Conclave |
| 2024 | Sebastian Stan | Donald Trump | The Apprentice |