# Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor

The Best Actor Award (French: Prix d'interprétation masculine) is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival since 1946. It is given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance and chosen by the jury from the films in official competition slate at the festival.
At the 1st Cannes Film Festival held in 1946, Ray Milland was the first winner of this award for his performance in The Lost Weekend, and Jesse Plemons is the most recent winner in this category for his role in Kinds of Kindness at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in 2024.

## History

The award was first presented in 1946. The prize was not awarded on five occasions (1947, 1953–54, 1956, and 1960). The festival was not held at all in 1948, 1950, and 2020. In 1968, no awards were given as the festival was called off mid-way due to the May 1968 events in France. The award can be for lead or supporting roles, with the exception of the period from 1979 to 1981, and in 1991, when the festival used to award a separate "Best Supporting Actor" prize. The jury also, on occasion, cites actors with a special citation that is separate from the main award.
On four occasions, the jury has awarded multiple men (more than 2) the prize for one film. The four films were: A Big Family (1955), Compulsion (1959), Long Day's Journey into Night (1962), and Days of Glory (2006).
Dean Stockwell, Jack Lemmon, and Marcello Mastroianni have won the most awards in this category, each winning twice.

## Winners

Table key :
| ‡ | Indicates the Best Supporting Actor winner |

### 1940s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | English Title | Ref. |
| 1946 | / Ray Milland | Don Birnam | The Lost Weekend | |
| 1949 | Edward G. Robinson | Gino Monetti | House of Strangers | |

### 1950s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | English Title |
| 1951 | Michael Redgrave | Andrew Crocker-Harris | The Browning Version |
| 1952 | Marlon Brando | Emiliano Zapata | Viva Zapata! |
| 1955 | Spencer Tracy | John J. Macreedy | Bad Day at Black Rock |
| 1955 | Sergei Lukyanov | Matvei Zhurbin | A Big Family |
| 1955 | Boris Andreyev | Ilya Matveyevich Zhurbin | A Big Family |
| 1955 | Aleksey Batalov | Aleksei Zhurbin | A Big Family |
| 1955 | Sergei Kurilov | Viktor Zhurbin | A Big Family |
| 1955 | Vadim Medvedev | Anton Zhurbin | A Big Family |
| 1955 | Boris Bityukov | Kostya Zhurbin | A Big Family |
| 1955 | Nikolai Gritsenko | Club Manager | A Big Family |
| 1955 | Pavel Kadochnikov | Skobolev | A Big Family |
| 1955 | Boris Kokovkin | Shipyard Director | A Big Family |
| 1955 | Nikolay Sergeev | Basmanov | A Big Family |
| 1957 | John Kitzmiller | Sgt. Jim | Valley of Peace |
| 1958 | Paul Newman | Ben Quick | The Long, Hot Summer |
| 1959 | Bradford Dillman | Artie Strauss | Compulsion |
| 1959 | Dean Stockwell | Judd Steiner | Compulsion |
| 1959 | Orson Welles | Jonathan Wilk | Compulsion |

### 1960s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | English Title | Ref. |
| 1961 | Anthony Perkins | Philip Van Der Besh | Goodbye Again | |
| 1962 | Murray Melvin | Geoffrey Inghman | A Taste of Honey | [11] [12] |
| 1962 | Ralph Richardson | James Tyrone Sr. | Long Day's Journey into Night | [11] [12] |
| 1962 | Jason Robards | James Tyrone Jr. | Long Day's Journey into Night | [11] [12] |
| 1962 | Dean Stockwell | Edmund Tyrone | Long Day's Journey into Night | [11] [12] |
| 1963 | Richard Harris | Frank Machin | This Sporting Life | |
| 1964 | Antal Páger | Vajkay Ákos | Drama of the Lark | |
| 1964 | Saro Urzì | Don Vincenzo Ascalone | Seduced and Abandoned | |
| 1965 | Terence Stamp | Freddie Clegg | The Collector | |
| 1966 | Per Oscarsson | Pontus | Hunger | |
| 1967 | Oded Kotler | Eli | Three Days and a Child | |
| 1969 | Jean-Louis Trintignant | The Examining Magistrate | Z | |

### 1970s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | English Title | Ref. |
| 1970 | Marcello Mastroianni | Oreste Nardi | The Pizza Triangle | |
| 1971 | Riccardo Cucciolla | Nicola Sacco | Sacco & Vanzetti | |
| 1972 | Jean Yanne | Jean | We Won't Grow Old Together | |
| 1973 | Giancarlo Giannini | Antonio Soffiantini | Love and Anarchy | |
| 1974 | Jack Nicholson | Billy L. Buddusky | The Last Detail | |
| 1975 | Vittorio Gassman | Fausto Consolo | Scent of a Woman | |
| 1976 | José Luis Gómez | Pascual Duarte | Pascual Duarte | |
| 1977 | Fernando Rey | Luis | Elisa, vida mía | |
| 1978 | Jon Voight | Luke Martin | Coming Home | |
| 1979 | Jack Lemmon | Jack Godell | The China Syndrome | [28] [29] |
| 1979 | Stefano Madia ‡ | Marco Millozza | Dear Father | [28] [29] |

### 1980s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | English Title | Ref. |
| 1980 | Michel Piccoli | Mauro Ponticelli | A Leap in the Dark | [30] [31] |
| 1980 | Jack Thompson ‡ | Major J.F. Thomas | Breaker Morant | [30] [31] |
| 1981 | Ugo Tognazzi | Primo Spaggiari | Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man | [32] [33] |
| 1981 | Ian Holm ‡ | Sam Mussabini | Chariots of Fire | [32] [33] |
| 1982 | Jack Lemmon | Edmund Horman | Missing | |
| 1983 | Gian Maria Volonté | Bernard Fontana | The Death of Mario Ricci | |
| 1984 | Alfredo Landa | Paco el Bajo | The Holy Innocents | |
| 1984 | Francisco Rabal | Azarías | The Holy Innocents | |
| 1985 | William Hurt | Luis Molina | Kiss of the Spider Woman | |
| 1986 | Michel Blanc | Antoine | Tenue de soirée | |
| 1986 | Bob Hoskins | George | Mona Lisa | Mona Lisa |
| 1987 | Marcello Mastroianni | Romano | Dark Eyes | |
| 1988 | Forest Whitaker | Charlie "Bird" Parker | Bird | |
| 1989 | James Spader | Graham Dalton | Sex, Lies, and Videotape | |

### 1990s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | English Title |
| 1990 | Gérard Depardieu | Cyrano de Bergerac | Cyrano de Bergerac |
| 1991 | John Turturro | Barton Fink | Barton Fink |
| 1991 | Samuel L. Jackson ‡ | Gator Purify | Jungle Fever |
| 1992 | Tim Robbins | Griffin Mill | The Player |
| 1993 | David Thewlis | Johnny | Naked |
| 1994 | Ge You | Xu Fugui | To Live |
| 1995 | Jonathan Pryce | Lytton Strachey | Carrington |
| 1996 | Daniel Auteuil | Harry | The Eighth Day |
| 1996 | Pascal Duquenne | Georges | The Eighth Day |
| 1997 | Sean Penn | Eddie Quinn | She's So Lovely |
| 1998 | Peter Mullan | Joe Kavanagh | My Name Is Joe |
| 1999 | Emmanuel Schotté | Pharaon de Winter | Humanité |

### 2000s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | English Title |
| 2000 | Tony Leung Chiu-wai | Chow Mo-wan | In the Mood for Love |
| 2001 | Benoît Magimel | Walter Klemmer | The Piano Teacher |
| 2002 | Olivier Gourmet | Olivier | The Son |
| 2003 | Muzaffer Özdemir | Mahmut | Uzak |
| 2003 | Mehmet Emin Toprak | Yusuf | Uzak |
| 2004 | Yūya Yagira | Akira Fukushima | Nobody Knows |
| 2005 | Tommy Lee Jones | Pete Perkins | The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada |
| 2006 | / Roschdy Zem | Messaoud Souni | Days of Glory |
| 2006 | Bernard Blancan | Sergent Roger Martinez | Days of Glory |
| 2006 | / Jamel Debbouze | Saïd Otmari | Days of Glory |
| 2006 | / Samy Naceri | Yassir | Days of Glory |
| 2006 | / Sami Bouajila | Abdelkader | Days of Glory |
| 2007 | Konstantin Lavronenko | Alex | The Banishment |
| 2008 | Benicio del Toro | Ernesto "Che" Guevara | Che |
| 2009 | / Christoph Waltz | Col. Hans Landa | Inglourious Basterds |

### 2010s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | English Title | Ref. |
| 2010 | Javier Bardem | Uxbal | Biutiful | |
| 2010 | Elio Germano | Claudio | La nostra vita | La nostra vita |
| 2011 | Jean Dujardin | George Valentin | The Artist | |
| 2012 | Mads Mikkelsen | Lucas | The Hunt | |
| 2013 | Bruce Dern | Woody Grant | Nebraska | |
| 2014 | Timothy Spall | J. M. W. Turner | Mr. Turner | |
| 2015 | Vincent Lindon | Thierry Taugourdeau | The Measure of a Man | |
| 2016 | Shahab Hosseini | Emad | The Salesman | |
| 2017 | Joaquin Phoenix | Joe | You Were Never Really Here | |
| 2018 | Marcello Fonte | Marcello | Dogman | |
| 2019 | Antonio Banderas | Salvador Mallo | Pain and Glory | |

### 2020s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | English Title |
| 2021 | Caleb Landry Jones | Martin Bryant | Nitram |
| 2022 | Song Kang-ho | Sang-hyeon | Broker |
| 2023 | Koji Yakusho | Hirayama | Perfect Days |
| 2024 | Jesse Plemons | Robert / Daniel / Andrew | Kinds of Kindness |

## Multiple winners

The following individuals have received multiple Best Actor awards:
| Number of wins | Actors | Nationality | Films |
| 2 | Dean Stockwell | United States | Compulsion (1959), Long Day's Journey into Night (1962) |
| 2 | Jack Lemmon | United States | The China Syndrome (1979), Missing (1982) |
| 2 | Marcello Mastroianni | Italy | The Pizza Triangle (1970), Dark Eyes (1987) |