# Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 9th Academy Awards to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role in a film released that year. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's Best Supporting Actress winner. However, in recent years, it has shifted towards being presented by previous years’ Best Supporting Actor winners instead. In lieu of the traditional Oscar statuette, supporting acting recipients were given plaques up until the 16th Academy Awards, when statuettes were awarded to each category instead.
The Best Supporting Actor award has been presented a total of 89 times, to 80 actors. The first winner was Walter Brennan for his role in Come and Get It (1936). The most recent winner is Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain (2024). The record for most wins is three, held by Brennan–who won every other year within a succession of the first five years. Seven other actors have won twice. Brennan is also tied for receiving the most nominations in the category (with four altogether) along with Jeff Bridges, Robert Duvall, Arthur Kennedy, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Claude Rains, and Mark Ruffalo. For his performance in The Dark Knight (2008), Heath Ledger became the first actor to win posthumously in this category—and second overall. Christopher Plummer is the oldest actor to receive a nomination in any category at age 88, for All the Money in the World (2017).

## Nominations process

Nominees are currently determined by single transferable vote within the actors branch of AMPAS; winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy.

## Winners and nominees

In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of film release in Los Angeles County; the ceremonies are always held the following year. For the first five ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned twelve months, from August 1 to July 31. For the 6th ceremony held in 1934, the eligibility period lasted from August 1, 1932, to December 31, 1933. Since the 7th ceremony held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full previous calendar year from January 1 to December 31.
Table key :
| ‡ | Indicates the winner |
| † | Indicates a posthumous winner |
| † | Indicates a posthumous nominee |
| § | Indicates actor who refused the nomination |

### 1930s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 1936 (9th) | Walter Brennan ‡ | Swan Bostrom | Come and Get It |
| 1936 (9th) | Mischa Auer | Carlo | My Man Godfrey |
| 1936 (9th) | Stuart Erwin | Amos Dodd | Pigskin Parade |
| 1936 (9th) | Basil Rathbone | Tybalt | Romeo and Juliet |
| 1936 (9th) | Akim Tamiroff | General Yang | The General Died at Dawn |
| 1937 (10th) | Joseph Schildkraut ‡ | Captain Alfred Dreyfus | The Life of Emile Zola |
| 1937 (10th) | Ralph Bellamy | Dan Leeson | The Awful Truth |
| 1937 (10th) | Thomas Mitchell | Dr. Kersaint | The Hurricane |
| 1937 (10th) | H. B. Warner | Chang | Lost Horizon |
| 1937 (10th) | Roland Young | Cosmo Topper | Topper |
| 1938 (11th) | Walter Brennan ‡ | Peter Goodwin | Kentucky |
| 1938 (11th) | John Garfield | Mickey Borden | Four Daughters |
| 1938 (11th) | Gene Lockhart | Regis | Algiers |
| 1938 (11th) | Robert Morley | King Louis XVI | Marie Antoinette |
| 1938 (11th) | Basil Rathbone | King Louis XI | If I Were King |
| 1939 (12th) | Thomas Mitchell ‡ | Dr. Josiah Boone | Stagecoach |
| 1939 (12th) | Brian Aherne | Emperor Maximilian von Habsburg | Juarez |
| 1939 (12th) | Harry Carey Sr. | President of the Senate | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington |
| 1939 (12th) | Brian Donlevy | Sgt. Markoff | Beau Geste |
| 1939 (12th) | Claude Rains | Sen. Joseph Harrison Paine | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington |

### 1940s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 1940 (13th) | Walter Brennan ‡ | Judge Roy Bean | The Westerner |
| 1940 (13th) | Albert Bassermann | Van Meer | Foreign Correspondent |
| 1940 (13th) | William Gargan | Joe | They Knew What They Wanted |
| 1940 (13th) | Jack Oakie | Benzino Napaloni (Dictator of Bacteria) | The Great Dictator |
| 1940 (13th) | James Stephenson | Howard Joyce | The Letter |
| 1941 (14th) | Donald Crisp ‡ | Gwilym Morgan | How Green Was My Valley |
| 1941 (14th) | Walter Brennan | Pastor Rosier Pile | Sergeant York |
| 1941 (14th) | Charles Coburn | John P. Merrick | The Devil and Miss Jones |
| 1941 (14th) | James Gleason | Max Corkle | Here Comes Mr. Jordan |
| 1941 (14th) | Sydney Greenstreet | Kasper Gutman | The Maltese Falcon |
| 1942 (15th) | Van Heflin ‡ | Jeff Hartnett | Johnny Eager |
| 1942 (15th) | William Bendix | Pvt. Aloysius "Smacksie" Randall | Wake Island |
| 1942 (15th) | Walter Huston | Jerry Cohan | Yankee Doodle Dandy |
| 1942 (15th) | Frank Morgan | The Pirate | Tortilla Flat |
| 1942 (15th) | Henry Travers | James Ballard | Mrs. Miniver |
| 1943 (16th) | Charles Coburn ‡ | Benjamin Dingle | The More the Merrier |
| 1943 (16th) | Charles Bickford | Father Peyramale | The Song of Bernadette |
| 1943 (16th) | J. Carrol Naish | Giuseppe | Sahara |
| 1943 (16th) | Claude Rains | Capt. Louis Renault | Casablanca |
| 1943 (16th) | Akim Tamiroff | Pablo | For Whom the Bell Tolls |
| 1944 (17th) | Barry Fitzgerald ‡ | Father Fitzgibbon | Going My Way |
| 1944 (17th) | Hume Cronyn | Paul Roeder | The Seventh Cross |
| 1944 (17th) | Claude Rains | Job Skeffington | Mr. Skeffington |
| 1944 (17th) | Clifton Webb | Waldo Lydecker | Laura |
| 1944 (17th) | Monty Woolley | Colonel William G. Smollett | Since You Went Away |
| 1945 (18th) | James Dunn ‡ | Johnny Nolan | A Tree Grows in Brooklyn |
| 1945 (18th) | Michael Chekhov | Dr. Alexander "Alex" Brulov | Spellbound |
| 1945 (18th) | John Dall | Morgan Evans | The Corn Is Green |
| 1945 (18th) | Robert Mitchum | Lt. Capt. Bill Walker | The Story of G.I. Joe |
| 1945 (18th) | J. Carrol Naish | Charley Martin | A Medal for Benny |
| 1946 (19th) | Harold Russell ‡ | Homer Parrish | The Best Years of Our Lives |
| 1946 (19th) | Charles Coburn | Alexander Gow | The Green Years |
| 1946 (19th) | William Demarest | Steve Martin | The Jolson Story |
| 1946 (19th) | Claude Rains | Alexander Sebastian | Notorious |
| 1946 (19th) | Clifton Webb | Elliott Templeton | The Razor's Edge |
| 1947 (20th) | Edmund Gwenn ‡ | Kris Kringle | Miracle on 34th Street |
| 1947 (20th) | Charles Bickford | Joseph Clancy | The Farmer's Daughter |
| 1947 (20th) | Thomas Gomez | Pancho | Ride the Pink Horse |
| 1947 (20th) | Robert Ryan | Montgomery | Crossfire |
| 1947 (20th) | Richard Widmark | Tommy Udo | Kiss of Death |
| 1948 (21st) | Walter Huston ‡ | Howard | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre |
| 1948 (21st) | Charles Bickford | Black McDonald | Johnny Belinda |
| 1948 (21st) | José Ferrer | The Dauphin – Charles VII, later King of France | Joan of Arc |
| 1948 (21st) | Oskar Homolka | Uncle Chris Halverson | I Remember Mama |
| 1948 (21st) | Cecil Kellaway | Horace (A Leprechaun) | The Luck of the Irish |
| 1949 (22nd) | Dean Jagger ‡ | Major Harvey Stovall | Twelve O'Clock High |
| 1949 (22nd) | John Ireland | Jack Burden | All the King's Men |
| 1949 (22nd) | Arthur Kennedy | Connie Kelly | Champion |
| 1949 (22nd) | Ralph Richardson | Dr. Austin Sloper | The Heiress |
| 1949 (22nd) | James Whitmore | Sgt. Kinnie | Battleground |

### 1950s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 1950 (23rd) | George Sanders ‡ | Addison DeWitt | All About Eve |
| 1950 (23rd) | Jeff Chandler | Cochise | Broken Arrow |
| 1950 (23rd) | Edmund Gwenn | "Skipper" Miller | Mister 880 |
| 1950 (23rd) | Sam Jaffe | Dr. Erwin Riedenschneider | The Asphalt Jungle |
| 1950 (23rd) | Erich von Stroheim | Max von Meyerling | Sunset Boulevard |
| 1951 (24th) | Karl Malden ‡ | Harold "Mitch" Mitchell | A Streetcar Named Desire |
| 1951 (24th) | Leo Genn | Petronius | Quo Vadis |
| 1951 (24th) | Kevin McCarthy | Biff Loman | Death of a Salesman |
| 1951 (24th) | Peter Ustinov | Nero | Quo Vadis |
| 1951 (24th) | Gig Young | Boyd Copeland | Come Fill the Cup |
| 1952 (25th) | Anthony Quinn ‡ | Eufemio Zapata | Viva Zapata! |
| 1952 (25th) | Richard Burton | Philip Ashley | My Cousin Rachel |
| 1952 (25th) | Arthur Hunnicutt | Zeb Calloway Narrator | The Big Sky |
| 1952 (25th) | Victor McLaglen | Will "Red" Danaher | The Quiet Man |
| 1952 (25th) | Jack Palance | Lester Blaine | Sudden Fear |
| 1953 (26th) | Frank Sinatra ‡ | Pvt. Angelo Maggio | From Here to Eternity |
| 1953 (26th) | Eddie Albert | Irving Radovich | Roman Holiday |
| 1953 (26th) | Brandon deWilde | Joey Starrett | Shane |
| 1953 (26th) | Jack Palance | Jack Wilson | Shane |
| 1953 (26th) | Robert Strauss | Sgt. Stanislas "Animal" Kasava | Stalag 17 |
| 1954 (27th) | Edmond O'Brien ‡ | Oscar Muldoon | The Barefoot Contessa |
| 1954 (27th) | Lee J. Cobb | Johnny Friendly | On the Waterfront |
| 1954 (27th) | Karl Malden | Father Barry | On the Waterfront |
| 1954 (27th) | Rod Steiger | Charley "The Gent" Malloy | On the Waterfront |
| 1954 (27th) | Tom Tully | Commander DeVriess | The Caine Mutiny |
| 1955 (28th) | Jack Lemmon ‡ | Ensign Frank Thurlowe Pulver | Mister Roberts |
| 1955 (28th) | Arthur Kennedy | Barney Castle | Trial |
| 1955 (28th) | Joe Mantell | Angie | Marty |
| 1955 (28th) | Sal Mineo | John "Plato" Crawford | Rebel Without a Cause |
| 1955 (28th) | Arthur O'Connell | Howard Bevans | Picnic |
| 1956 (29th) | Anthony Quinn ‡ | Paul Gauguin | Lust for Life |
| 1956 (29th) | Don Murray | Beauregard "Bo" Decker | Bus Stop |
| 1956 (29th) | Anthony Perkins | Josh Birdwell | Friendly Persuasion |
| 1956 (29th) | Mickey Rooney | Dooley | The Bold and the Brave |
| 1956 (29th) | Robert Stack | Kyle Hadley | Written on the Wind |
| 1957 (30th) | Red Buttons ‡ | Airman Joe Kelly | Sayonara |
| 1957 (30th) | Vittorio De Sica | Major Alessandro Rinaldi | A Farewell to Arms |
| 1957 (30th) | Sessue Hayakawa | Colonel Saito | The Bridge on the River Kwai |
| 1957 (30th) | Arthur Kennedy | Lucas Cross | Peyton Place |
| 1957 (30th) | Russ Tamblyn | Norman Page | Peyton Place |
| 1958 (31st) | Burl Ives ‡ | Rufus Hannassey | The Big Country |
| 1958 (31st) | Theodore Bikel | Sheriff Max Muller | The Defiant Ones |
| 1958 (31st) | Lee J. Cobb | Fyodor Karamazov | The Brothers Karamazov |
| 1958 (31st) | Arthur Kennedy | Frank Hirsh | Some Came Running |
| 1958 (31st) | Gig Young | Dr. Hugo Pine | Teacher's Pet |
| 1959 (32nd) | Hugh Griffith ‡ | Sheik Ilderim | Ben-Hur |
| 1959 (32nd) | Arthur O'Connell | Parnell Emmett McCarthy | Anatomy of a Murder |
| 1959 (32nd) | George C. Scott | Asst. State Atty. Gen. Claude Dancer | Anatomy of a Murder |
| 1959 (32nd) | Robert Vaughn | Chester "Chet" Gwynn | The Young Philadelphians |
| 1959 (32nd) | Ed Wynn | Albert Dussell | The Diary of Anne Frank |

### 1960s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 1960 (33rd) | Peter Ustinov ‡ | Lentulus Batiatus | Spartacus |
| 1960 (33rd) | Peter Falk | Abe "Kid Twist" Reles | Murder, Inc. |
| 1960 (33rd) | Jack Kruschen | Dr. David Dreyfuss | The Apartment |
| 1960 (33rd) | Sal Mineo | Dov Landau | Exodus |
| 1960 (33rd) | Chill Wills | Beekeeper | The Alamo |
| 1961 (34th) | George Chakiris ‡ | Bernardo Nuñez | West Side Story |
| 1961 (34th) | Montgomery Clift | Rudolph Petersen | Judgment at Nuremberg |
| 1961 (34th) | Peter Falk | Joy Boy | Pocketful of Miracles |
| 1961 (34th) | Jackie Gleason | Minnesota Fats | The Hustler |
| 1961 (34th) | George C. Scott § | Bert Gordon | The Hustler |
| 1962 (35th) | Ed Begley ‡ | Tom "Boss" Finley | Sweet Bird of Youth |
| 1962 (35th) | Victor Buono | Edwin Flagg | What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? |
| 1962 (35th) | Telly Savalas | Feto Gomez | Birdman of Alcatraz |
| 1962 (35th) | Omar Sharif | Sherif Ali ibn el Kharish | Lawrence of Arabia |
| 1962 (35th) | Terence Stamp | Billy Budd | Billy Budd |
| 1963 (36th) | Melvyn Douglas ‡ | Homer Bannon | Hud |
| 1963 (36th) | Nick Adams | Ben Brown | Twilight of Honor |
| 1963 (36th) | Bobby Darin | Corporal Jim Tompkins | Captain Newman, M.D. |
| 1963 (36th) | Hugh Griffith | Squire Western | Tom Jones |
| 1963 (36th) | John Huston | Cardinal Glennon | The Cardinal |
| 1964 (37th) | Peter Ustinov ‡ | Arthur Simon Simpson | Topkapi |
| 1964 (37th) | John Gielgud | King Louis VII | Becket |
| 1964 (37th) | Stanley Holloway | Alfred Doolittle | My Fair Lady |
| 1964 (37th) | Edmond O'Brien | Senator Raymond Clark | Seven Days in May |
| 1964 (37th) | Lee Tracy | President Art Hockstader | The Best Man |
| 1965 (38th) | Martin Balsam ‡ | Arnold Burns | A Thousand Clowns |
| 1965 (38th) | Ian Bannen | "Ratbags" Crow | The Flight of the Phoenix |
| 1965 (38th) | Tom Courtenay | Pavel "Pasha" Antipov / Strelnikov | Doctor Zhivago |
| 1965 (38th) | Michael Dunn | Carl Glocken | Ship of Fools |
| 1965 (38th) | Frank Finlay | Iago | Othello |
| 1966 (39th) | Walter Matthau ‡ | "Whiplash Willie" Gingrich | The Fortune Cookie |
| 1966 (39th) | Mako | Po-han | The Sand Pebbles |
| 1966 (39th) | James Mason | James Leamington | Georgy Girl |
| 1966 (39th) | George Segal | Nick | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? |
| 1966 (39th) | Robert Shaw | King Henry VIII | A Man for All Seasons |
| 1967 (40th) | George Kennedy ‡ | Dragline | Cool Hand Luke |
| 1967 (40th) | John Cassavetes | Victor R. Franko | The Dirty Dozen |
| 1967 (40th) | Gene Hackman | Buck Barrow | Bonnie and Clyde |
| 1967 (40th) | Cecil Kellaway | Monsignor Mike Ryan | Guess Who's Coming to Dinner |
| 1967 (40th) | Michael J. Pollard | C.W. Moss | Bonnie and Clyde |
| 1968 (41st) | Jack Albertson ‡ | John Cleary | The Subject Was Roses |
| 1968 (41st) | Seymour Cassel | Chet | Faces |
| 1968 (41st) | Daniel Massey | Noël Coward | Star! |
| 1968 (41st) | Jack Wild | The Artful Dodger | Oliver! |
| 1968 (41st) | Gene Wilder | Leo Bloom | The Producers |
| 1969 (42nd) | Gig Young ‡ | Rocky Graver | They Shoot Horses, Don't They? |
| 1969 (42nd) | Rupert Crosse | Ned McCaslin | The Reivers |
| 1969 (42nd) | Elliott Gould | Ted Henderson | Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice |
| 1969 (42nd) | Jack Nicholson | George Hanson | Easy Rider |
| 1969 (42nd) | Anthony Quayle | Cardinal Thomas Wolsey | Anne of the Thousand Days |

### 1970s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 1970 (43rd) | John Mills ‡ | Michael | Ryan's Daughter |
| 1970 (43rd) | Richard S. Castellano | Frank Vecchio | Lovers and Other Strangers |
| 1970 (43rd) | Chief Dan George | Old Lodge Skins | Little Big Man |
| 1970 (43rd) | Gene Hackman | Gene Garrison | I Never Sang for My Father |
| 1970 (43rd) | John Marley | Phil Cavalleri | Love Story |
| 1971 (44th) | Ben Johnson ‡ | Sam the Lion | The Last Picture Show |
| 1971 (44th) | Jeff Bridges | Duane Jackson | The Last Picture Show |
| 1971 (44th) | Leonard Frey | Motel Kamzoil | Fiddler on the Roof |
| 1971 (44th) | Richard Jaeckel | Joe Ben Stamper | Sometimes a Great Notion |
| 1971 (44th) | Roy Scheider | Buddy "Cloudy" Russo | The French Connection |
| 1972 (45th) | Joel Grey ‡ | The Master of Ceremonies | Cabaret |
| 1972 (45th) | Eddie Albert | Mr. Corcoran | The Heartbreak Kid |
| 1972 (45th) | James Caan | Santino "Sonny" Corleone | The Godfather |
| 1972 (45th) | Robert Duvall | Tom Hagen | The Godfather |
| 1972 (45th) | Al Pacino | Michael Corleone | The Godfather |
| 1973 (46th) | John Houseman ‡ | Charles W. Kingsfield Jr. | The Paper Chase |
| 1973 (46th) | Vincent Gardenia | Dutch Schnell | Bang the Drum Slowly |
| 1973 (46th) | Jack Gilford | Phil Greene | Save the Tiger |
| 1973 (46th) | Jason Miller | Father Damien Karras | The Exorcist |
| 1973 (46th) | Randy Quaid | Larry Meadows | The Last Detail |
| 1974 (47th) | Robert De Niro ‡ | Vito Corleone | The Godfather Part II |
| 1974 (47th) | Fred Astaire | Harlee Claiborne | The Towering Inferno |
| 1974 (47th) | Jeff Bridges | Lightfoot | Thunderbolt and Lightfoot |
| 1974 (47th) | Michael V. Gazzo | Frank Pentangeli | The Godfather Part II |
| 1974 (47th) | Lee Strasberg | Hyman Roth | The Godfather Part II |
| 1975 (48th) | George Burns ‡ | Al Lewis | The Sunshine Boys |
| 1975 (48th) | Brad Dourif | Billy Bibbit | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest |
| 1975 (48th) | Burgess Meredith | Harry Greener | The Day of the Locust |
| 1975 (48th) | Chris Sarandon | Leon Shermer | Dog Day Afternoon |
| 1975 (48th) | Jack Warden | Lester Karpf | Shampoo |
| 1976 (49th) | Jason Robards ‡ | Ben Bradlee | All the President's Men |
| 1976 (49th) | Ned Beatty | Arthur Jensen | Network |
| 1976 (49th) | Burgess Meredith | Mickey Goldmill | Rocky |
| 1976 (49th) | Laurence Olivier | Dr. Christian Szell | Marathon Man |
| 1976 (49th) | Burt Young | Paulie Pennino | Rocky |
| 1977 (50th) | Jason Robards ‡ | Dashiell Hammett | Julia |
| 1977 (50th) | Mikhail Baryshnikov | Yuri Kopeikine | The Turning Point |
| 1977 (50th) | Peter Firth | Alan Strang | Equus |
| 1977 (50th) | Alec Guinness | Obi-Wan Kenobi | Star Wars |
| 1977 (50th) | Maximilian Schell | Johann | Julia |
| 1978 (51st) | Christopher Walken ‡ | Nikanor "Nick" Chevotarevich | The Deer Hunter |
| 1978 (51st) | Bruce Dern | Captain Bob Hyde | Coming Home |
| 1978 (51st) | Richard Farnsworth | Dodger | Comes a Horseman |
| 1978 (51st) | John Hurt | Max | Midnight Express |
| 1978 (51st) | Jack Warden | Max Corkle | Heaven Can Wait |
| 1979 (52nd) | Melvyn Douglas ‡ | Benjamin Rand | Being There |
| 1979 (52nd) | Robert Duvall | Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore | Apocalypse Now |
| 1979 (52nd) | Frederic Forrest | Houston Dyer | The Rose |
| 1979 (52nd) | Justin Henry | Billy Kramer | Kramer vs. Kramer |
| 1979 (52nd) | Mickey Rooney | Henry Dailey | The Black Stallion |

### 1980s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 1980 (53rd) | Timothy Hutton ‡ | Conrad Jarrett | Ordinary People |
| 1980 (53rd) | Judd Hirsch | Dr. Tyrone C. Berger | Ordinary People |
| 1980 (53rd) | Michael O'Keefe | Ben Meechum | The Great Santini |
| 1980 (53rd) | Joe Pesci | Joey LaMotta | Raging Bull |
| 1980 (53rd) | Jason Robards | Howard Hughes | Melvin and Howard |
| 1981 (54th) | John Gielgud ‡ | Hobson | Arthur |
| 1981 (54th) | James Coco | Jimmy Perrino | Only When I Laugh |
| 1981 (54th) | Ian Holm | Sam Mussabini | Chariots of Fire |
| 1981 (54th) | Jack Nicholson | Eugene O'Neill | Reds |
| 1981 (54th) | Howard Rollins | Coalhouse Walker Jr. | Ragtime |
| 1982 (55th) | Louis Gossett Jr. ‡ | Gunnery Sgt. Emil Foley | An Officer and a Gentleman |
| 1982 (55th) | Charles Durning | The Governor of Texas | The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas |
| 1982 (55th) | John Lithgow | Roberta Muldoon | The World According to Garp |
| 1982 (55th) | James Mason | Ed Concannon | The Verdict |
| 1982 (55th) | Robert Preston | Carroll 'Toddy' Todd | Victor/Victoria |
| 1983 (56th) | Jack Nicholson ‡ | Garrett Breedlove | Terms of Endearment |
| 1983 (56th) | Charles Durning | Colonel Erhardt | To Be or Not to Be |
| 1983 (56th) | John Lithgow | Sam Burns | Terms of Endearment |
| 1983 (56th) | Sam Shepard | Chuck Yeager | The Right Stuff |
| 1983 (56th) | Rip Torn | Marsh Turner | Cross Creek |
| 1984 (57th) | Haing S. Ngor ‡ | Dith Pran | The Killing Fields |
| 1984 (57th) | Adolph Caesar | Sgt. Vernon Waters | A Soldier's Story |
| 1984 (57th) | John Malkovich | Mr. Will | Places in the Heart |
| 1984 (57th) | Pat Morita | Mr. Miyagi | The Karate Kid |
| 1984 (57th) | Ralph Richardson † | The Sixth Earl of Greystoke | Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes |
| 1985 (58th) | Don Ameche ‡ | Arthur Selwyn | Cocoon |
| 1985 (58th) | Klaus Maria Brandauer | Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke and Baron Hans von Blixen-Finecke | Out of Africa |
| 1985 (58th) | William Hickey | Don Corrado Prizzi | Prizzi's Honor |
| 1985 (58th) | Robert Loggia | Sam Ransom | Jagged Edge |
| 1985 (58th) | Eric Roberts | Buck McGeehy | Runaway Train |
| 1986 (59th) | Michael Caine ‡ | Elliott Daniels | Hannah and Her Sisters |
| 1986 (59th) | Tom Berenger | Sgt. Bob Barnes | Platoon |
| 1986 (59th) | Willem Dafoe | Sgt. Elias Grodin | Platoon |
| 1986 (59th) | Denholm Elliott | Mr. Emerson | A Room with a View |
| 1986 (59th) | Dennis Hopper | Wilbur "Shooter" Flatch | Hoosiers |
| 1987 (60th) | Sean Connery ‡ | Jimmy Malone | The Untouchables |
| 1987 (60th) | Albert Brooks | Aaron Altman | Broadcast News |
| 1987 (60th) | Morgan Freeman | Leo "Fast Black" Smalls Jr. | Street Smart |
| 1987 (60th) | Vincent Gardenia | Cosmo Castorini | Moonstruck |
| 1987 (60th) | Denzel Washington | Steve Biko | Cry Freedom |
| 1988 (61st) | Kevin Kline ‡ | Otto West | A Fish Called Wanda |
| 1988 (61st) | Alec Guinness | William Dorrit | Little Dorrit |
| 1988 (61st) | Martin Landau | Abe Karatz | Tucker: The Man and His Dream |
| 1988 (61st) | River Phoenix | Danny Pope | Running on Empty |
| 1988 (61st) | Dean Stockwell | Tony "The Tiger" Russo | Married to the Mob |
| 1989 (62nd) | Denzel Washington ‡ | Pvt. Silas Trip | Glory |
| 1989 (62nd) | Danny Aiello | Sal Frangione | Do the Right Thing |
| 1989 (62nd) | Dan Aykroyd | Boolie Werthan | Driving Miss Daisy |
| 1989 (62nd) | Marlon Brando | Ian Mackenzie | A Dry White Season |
| 1989 (62nd) | Martin Landau | Judah Rosenthal | Crimes and Misdemeanors |

### 1990s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 1990 (63rd) | Joe Pesci ‡ | Tommy DeVito | GoodFellas |
| 1990 (63rd) | Bruce Davison | David | Longtime Companion |
| 1990 (63rd) | Andy García | Vincent Mancini | The Godfather Part III |
| 1990 (63rd) | Graham Greene | Kicking Bird | Dances with Wolves |
| 1990 (63rd) | Al Pacino | Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice | Dick Tracy |
| 1991 (64th) | Jack Palance ‡ | Curly Washburn | City Slickers |
| 1991 (64th) | Tommy Lee Jones | Clay Shaw | JFK |
| 1991 (64th) | Harvey Keitel | Mickey Cohen | Bugsy |
| 1991 (64th) | Ben Kingsley | Meyer Lansky | Bugsy |
| 1991 (64th) | Michael Lerner | Jack Lipnick | Barton Fink |
| 1992 (65th) | Gene Hackman ‡ | "Little" Bill Daggett | Unforgiven |
| 1992 (65th) | Jaye Davidson | Dil | The Crying Game |
| 1992 (65th) | Jack Nicholson | Col. Nathan R. Jessep | A Few Good Men |
| 1992 (65th) | Al Pacino | Richard "Ricky" Roma | Glengarry Glen Ross |
| 1992 (65th) | David Paymer | Stan Young | Mr. Saturday Night |
| 1993 (66th) | Tommy Lee Jones ‡ | U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard | The Fugitive |
| 1993 (66th) | Leonardo DiCaprio | Arnold "Arnie" Grape | What's Eating Gilbert Grape |
| 1993 (66th) | Ralph Fiennes | Amon Göth | Schindler's List |
| 1993 (66th) | John Malkovich | Mitch Leary | In the Line of Fire |
| 1993 (66th) | Pete Postlethwaite | Giuseppe Conlon | In the Name of the Father |
| 1994 (67th) | Martin Landau ‡ | Béla Lugosi | Ed Wood |
| 1994 (67th) | Samuel L. Jackson | Jules Winnfield | Pulp Fiction |
| 1994 (67th) | Chazz Palminteri | Cheech | Bullets over Broadway |
| 1994 (67th) | Paul Scofield | Mark Van Doren | Quiz Show |
| 1994 (67th) | Gary Sinise | Lt. Dan Taylor | Forrest Gump |
| 1995 (68th) | Kevin Spacey ‡ | Roger "Verbal" Kint | The Usual Suspects |
| 1995 (68th) | James Cromwell | Arthur Hoggett | Babe |
| 1995 (68th) | Ed Harris | Gene Kranz | Apollo 13 |
| 1995 (68th) | Brad Pitt | Jeffrey Goines | 12 Monkeys |
| 1995 (68th) | Tim Roth | Archibald Cunningham | Rob Roy |
| 1996 (69th) | Cuba Gooding Jr. ‡ | Rod Tidwell | Jerry Maguire |
| 1996 (69th) | William H. Macy | Jerry Lundegaard | Fargo |
| 1996 (69th) | Armin Mueller-Stahl | Peter Helfgott | Shine |
| 1996 (69th) | Edward Norton | Aaron Stampler | Primal Fear |
| 1996 (69th) | James Woods | Byron De La Beckwith | Ghosts of Mississippi |
| 1997 (70th) | Robin Williams ‡ | Sean Maguire | Good Will Hunting |
| 1997 (70th) | Robert Forster | Max Cherry | Jackie Brown |
| 1997 (70th) | Anthony Hopkins | John Quincy Adams | Amistad |
| 1997 (70th) | Greg Kinnear | Simon Bishop | As Good as It Gets |
| 1997 (70th) | Burt Reynolds | Jack Horner | Boogie Nights |
| 1998 (71st) | James Coburn ‡ | Glen Whitehouse | Affliction |
| 1998 (71st) | Robert Duvall | Jerome Facher | A Civil Action |
| 1998 (71st) | Ed Harris | Christof | The Truman Show |
| 1998 (71st) | Geoffrey Rush | Philip Henslowe | Shakespeare in Love |
| 1998 (71st) | Billy Bob Thornton | Jacob Mitchell | A Simple Plan |
| 1999 (72nd) | Michael Caine ‡ | Dr. Wilbur Larch | The Cider House Rules |
| 1999 (72nd) | Tom Cruise | Frank T.J. Mackey | Magnolia |
| 1999 (72nd) | Michael Clarke Duncan | John Coffey | The Green Mile |
| 1999 (72nd) | Jude Law | Dickie Greenleaf | The Talented Mr. Ripley |
| 1999 (72nd) | Haley Joel Osment | Cole Sear | The Sixth Sense |

### 2000s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 2000 (73rd) | Benicio del Toro ‡ | Javier Rodriguez | Traffic |
| 2000 (73rd) | Jeff Bridges | Jackson Evans | The Contender |
| 2000 (73rd) | Willem Dafoe | Max Schreck | Shadow of the Vampire |
| 2000 (73rd) | Albert Finney | Edward L. Masry | Erin Brockovich |
| 2000 (73rd) | Joaquin Phoenix | Emperor Commodus | Gladiator |
| 2001 (74th) | Jim Broadbent ‡ | John Bayley | Iris |
| 2001 (74th) | Ethan Hawke | Jake Hoyt | Training Day |
| 2001 (74th) | Ben Kingsley | Don Logan | Sexy Beast |
| 2001 (74th) | Ian McKellen | Gandalf the Grey | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring |
| 2001 (74th) | Jon Voight | Howard Cosell | Ali |
| 2002 (75th) | Chris Cooper ‡ | John Laroche | Adaptation |
| 2002 (75th) | Ed Harris | Richard "Richie" Brown | The Hours |
| 2002 (75th) | Paul Newman | John Rooney | Road to Perdition |
| 2002 (75th) | John C. Reilly | Amos Hart | Chicago |
| 2002 (75th) | Christopher Walken | Frank Abagnale Sr. | Catch Me If You Can |
| 2003 (76th) | Tim Robbins ‡ | Dave Boyle | Mystic River |
| 2003 (76th) | Alec Baldwin | Shelly Kaplow | The Cooler |
| 2003 (76th) | Benicio del Toro | Jack Jordan | 21 Grams |
| 2003 (76th) | Djimon Hounsou | Mateo | In America |
| 2003 (76th) | Ken Watanabe | Lord Moritsugu Katsumoto | The Last Samurai |
| 2004 (77th) | Morgan Freeman ‡ | Eddie "Scrap-Iron" Dupris | Million Dollar Baby |
| 2004 (77th) | Alan Alda | Owen Brewster | The Aviator |
| 2004 (77th) | Thomas Haden Church | Jack Cole | Sideways |
| 2004 (77th) | Jamie Foxx | Max Durocher | Collateral |
| 2004 (77th) | Clive Owen | Larry Gray | Closer |
| 2005 (78th) | George Clooney ‡ | Bob Barnes | Syriana |
| 2005 (78th) | Matt Dillon | John Ryan | Crash |
| 2005 (78th) | Paul Giamatti | Joe Gould | Cinderella Man |
| 2005 (78th) | Jake Gyllenhaal | Jack Twist | Brokeback Mountain |
| 2005 (78th) | William Hurt | Richie Cusack | A History of Violence |
| 2006 (79th) | Alan Arkin ‡ | Edwin Hoover | Little Miss Sunshine |
| 2006 (79th) | Jackie Earle Haley | Ronald James McGorvey | Little Children |
| 2006 (79th) | Djimon Hounsou | Solomon Vandy | Blood Diamond |
| 2006 (79th) | Eddie Murphy | James "Thunder" Early | Dreamgirls |
| 2006 (79th) | Mark Wahlberg | Staff Sergeant Sean Dignam | The Departed |
| 2007 (80th) | Javier Bardem ‡ | Anton Chigurh | No Country for Old Men |
| 2007 (80th) | Casey Affleck | Robert Ford | The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford |
| 2007 (80th) | Philip Seymour Hoffman | Gust Avrakotos | Charlie Wilson's War |
| 2007 (80th) | Hal Holbrook | Ron Franz | Into the Wild |
| 2007 (80th) | Tom Wilkinson | Arthur Edens | Michael Clayton |
| 2008 (81st) | Heath Ledger † | The Joker | The Dark Knight |
| 2008 (81st) | Josh Brolin | Dan White | Milk |
| 2008 (81st) | Robert Downey Jr. | Kirk Lazarus | Tropic Thunder |
| 2008 (81st) | Philip Seymour Hoffman | Father Brendan Flynn | Doubt |
| 2008 (81st) | Michael Shannon | John Givings Jr. | Revolutionary Road |
| 2009 (82nd) | Christoph Waltz ‡ | SS Colonel Hans Landa | Inglourious Basterds |
| 2009 (82nd) | Matt Damon | Francois Pienaar | Invictus |
| 2009 (82nd) | Woody Harrelson | Captain Tony Stone | The Messenger |
| 2009 (82nd) | Christopher Plummer | Leo Tolstoy | The Last Station |
| 2009 (82nd) | Stanley Tucci | George Harvey | The Lovely Bones |

### 2010s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 2010 (83rd) | Christian Bale ‡ | Dicky Eklund | The Fighter |
| 2010 (83rd) | John Hawkes | Teardrop Dolly | Winter's Bone |
| 2010 (83rd) | Jeremy Renner | James "Jem" Coughlin | The Town |
| 2010 (83rd) | Mark Ruffalo | Paul Hatfield | The Kids Are All Right |
| 2010 (83rd) | Geoffrey Rush | Lionel Logue | The King's Speech |
| 2011 (84th) | Christopher Plummer ‡ | Hal Fields | Beginners |
| 2011 (84th) | Kenneth Branagh | Laurence Olivier | My Week with Marilyn |
| 2011 (84th) | Jonah Hill | Peter Brand | Moneyball |
| 2011 (84th) | Nick Nolte | Paddy Conlon | Warrior |
| 2011 (84th) | Max von Sydow | The Renter | Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close |
| 2012 (85th) | Christoph Waltz ‡ | Dr. King Schultz | Django Unchained |
| 2012 (85th) | Alan Arkin | Lester Siegel | Argo |
| 2012 (85th) | Robert De Niro | Patrizio Solitano Sr. | Silver Linings Playbook |
| 2012 (85th) | Philip Seymour Hoffman | Lancaster Dodd | The Master |
| 2012 (85th) | Tommy Lee Jones | Thaddeus Stevens | Lincoln |
| 2013 (86th) | Jared Leto ‡ | Rayon | Dallas Buyers Club |
| 2013 (86th) | Barkhad Abdi | Abduwali Muse | Captain Phillips |
| 2013 (86th) | Bradley Cooper | Richie DiMaso | American Hustle |
| 2013 (86th) | Michael Fassbender | Edwin Epps | 12 Years a Slave |
| 2013 (86th) | Jonah Hill | Donnie Azoff | The Wolf of Wall Street |
| 2014 (87th) | J. K. Simmons ‡ | Terence Fletcher | Whiplash |
| 2014 (87th) | Robert Duvall | Joseph Palmer | The Judge |
| 2014 (87th) | Ethan Hawke | Mason Evans Sr. | Boyhood |
| 2014 (87th) | Edward Norton | Mike Shiner | Birdman |
| 2014 (87th) | Mark Ruffalo | David Schultz | Foxcatcher |
| 2015 (88th) | Mark Rylance ‡ | Rudolf Abel | Bridge of Spies |
| 2015 (88th) | Christian Bale | Michael Burry | The Big Short |
| 2015 (88th) | Tom Hardy | John Fitzgerald | The Revenant |
| 2015 (88th) | Mark Ruffalo | Michael Rezendes | Spotlight |
| 2015 (88th) | Sylvester Stallone | Rocky Balboa | Creed |
| 2016 (89th) | Mahershala Ali ‡ | Juan | Moonlight |
| 2016 (89th) | Jeff Bridges | Marcus Hamilton | Hell or High Water |
| 2016 (89th) | Lucas Hedges | Patrick Chandler | Manchester by the Sea |
| 2016 (89th) | Dev Patel | Saroo Brierley | Lion |
| 2016 (89th) | Michael Shannon | Bobby Andes | Nocturnal Animals |
| 2017 (90th) | Sam Rockwell ‡ | Jason Dixon | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri |
| 2017 (90th) | Willem Dafoe | Bobby Hicks | The Florida Project |
| 2017 (90th) | Woody Harrelson | Bill Willoughby | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri |
| 2017 (90th) | Richard Jenkins | Giles | The Shape of Water |
| 2017 (90th) | Christopher Plummer | J. Paul Getty | All the Money in the World |
| 2018 (91st) | Mahershala Ali ‡ | Don Shirley | Green Book |
| 2018 (91st) | Adam Driver | Philip "Flip" Zimmerman | BlacKkKlansman |
| 2018 (91st) | Sam Elliott | Bobby Maine | A Star Is Born |
| 2018 (91st) | Richard E. Grant | Jack Hock | Can You Ever Forgive Me? |
| 2018 (91st) | Sam Rockwell | George W. Bush | Vice |
| 2019 (92nd) | Brad Pitt ‡ | Cliff Booth | Once Upon a Time in Hollywood |
| 2019 (92nd) | Tom Hanks | Fred Rogers | A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood |
| 2019 (92nd) | Anthony Hopkins | Pope Benedict XVI | The Two Popes |
| 2019 (92nd) | Al Pacino | Jimmy Hoffa | The Irishman |
| 2019 (92nd) | Joe Pesci | Russell Bufalino | The Irishman |

### 2020s

| Year | Actor | Role(s) | Film |
| 2020/21 (93rd) | Daniel Kaluuya ‡ | Fred Hampton | Judas and the Black Messiah |
| 2020/21 (93rd) | Sacha Baron Cohen | Abbie Hoffman | The Trial of the Chicago 7 |
| 2020/21 (93rd) | Leslie Odom Jr. | Sam Cooke | One Night in Miami... |
| 2020/21 (93rd) | Paul Raci | Joe | Sound of Metal |
| 2020/21 (93rd) | LaKeith Stanfield | William O'Neal | Judas and the Black Messiah |
| 2021 (94th) | Troy Kotsur ‡ | Frank Rossi | CODA |
| 2021 (94th) | Ciarán Hinds | Pop | Belfast |
| 2021 (94th) | Jesse Plemons | George Burbank | The Power of the Dog |
| 2021 (94th) | J. K. Simmons | William Frawley | Being the Ricardos |
| 2021 (94th) | Kodi Smit-McPhee | Peter Gordon | The Power of the Dog |
| 2022 (95th) | Ke Huy Quan ‡ | Waymond Wang | Everything Everywhere All at Once |
| 2022 (95th) | Brendan Gleeson | Colm Doherty | The Banshees of Inisherin |
| 2022 (95th) | Brian Tyree Henry | James Aucoin | Causeway |
| 2022 (95th) | Judd Hirsch | Boris Podgorny | The Fabelmans |
| 2022 (95th) | Barry Keoghan | Dominic Kearney | The Banshees of Inisherin |
| 2023 (96th) | Robert Downey Jr. ‡ | Lewis Strauss | Oppenheimer |
| 2023 (96th) | Sterling K. Brown | Clifford "Cliff" Ellison | American Fiction |
| 2023 (96th) | Robert De Niro | William King Hale | Killers of the Flower Moon |
| 2023 (96th) | Ryan Gosling | Ken | Barbie |
| 2023 (96th) | Mark Ruffalo | Duncan Wedderburn | Poor Things |
| 2024 (97th) | Kieran Culkin ‡ | Benjamin "Benji" Kaplan | A Real Pain |
| 2024 (97th) | Yura Borisov | Igor | Anora |
| 2024 (97th) | Edward Norton | Pete Seeger | A Complete Unknown |
| 2024 (97th) | Guy Pearce | Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr. | The Brutalist |
| 2024 (97th) | Jeremy Strong | Roy Cohn | The Apprentice |

## Multiple wins and nominations

The following individuals received two or more Best Supporting Actor awards:
| Wins | Actor |
| 3 | Walter Brennan |
| 2 | Mahershala Ali |
| 2 | Michael Caine |
| 2 | Melvyn Douglas |
| 2 | Anthony Quinn |
| 2 | Jason Robards |
| 2 | Peter Ustinov |
| 2 | Christoph Waltz |
The following individuals received three or more Best Supporting Actor nominations:
| Nominations | Actor |
| 4 | Walter Brennan |
| 4 | Jeff Bridges |
| 4 | Robert Duvall |
| 4 | Arthur Kennedy |
| 4 | Jack Nicholson |
| 4 | Al Pacino |
| 4 | Claude Rains |
| 4 | Mark Ruffalo |
| 3 | Charles Bickford |
| 3 | Charles Coburn |
| 3 | Willem Dafoe |
| 3 | Robert De Niro |
| 3 | Gene Hackman |
| 3 | Ed Harris |
| 3 | Philip Seymour Hoffman |
| 3 | Tommy Lee Jones |
| 3 | Martin Landau |
| 3 | Edward Norton |
| 3 | Jack Palance |
| 3 | Joe Pesci |
| 3 | Christopher Plummer |
| 3 | Jason Robards |
| 3 | Peter Ustinov |
| 3 | Gig Young |

## Age superlatives

| Record | Actor | Film | Age (in years) |
| Oldest winner | Christopher Plummer | Beginners | 82 |
| Oldest nominee | Christopher Plummer | All the Money in the World | 88 |
| Youngest winner | Timothy Hutton | Ordinary People | 20 |
| Youngest nominee | Justin Henry | Kramer vs. Kramer | 8 |

## Films with multiple Supporting Actor nominations

There have been 22 instances in which films have produced more than one nominee within this category. All resulted in two nominations, with the exceptions of On the Waterfront (1954); The Godfather (1972); and The Godfather Part II (1974), which each obtained three.
Winners are in bold.
* Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) -- Harry Carey Sr. and Claude Rains
* Quo Vadis (1951) -- Leo Genn and Peter Ustinov
* Shane (1953) -- Brandon deWilde and Jack Palance
* On the Waterfront (1954) -- Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, and Rod Steiger
* Peyton Place (1957) -- Arthur Kennedy and Russ Tamblyn
* Anatomy of a Murder (1959) -- Arthur O'Connell and George C. Scott
* The Hustler (1961) -- Jackie Gleason and George C. Scott
* Bonnie and Clyde (1967) -- Gene Hackman and Michael J. Pollard
* The Last Picture Show (1971) -- Jeff Bridges and Ben Johnson
* The Godfather (1972) -- James Caan, Robert Duvall, and Al Pacino
* The Godfather Part II (1974) -- Robert De Niro, Michael V. Gazzo, and Lee Strasberg
* Rocky (1976) -- Burgess Meredith and Burt Young
* Julia (1977) -- Jason Robards and Maximilian Schell
* Ordinary People (1980) -- Judd Hirsch and Timothy Hutton
* Terms of Endearment (1983) -- John Lithgow and Jack Nicholson
* Platoon (1986) -- Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe
* Bugsy (1991) -- Harvey Keitel and Ben Kingsley
* Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) -- Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell
* The Irishman (2019) -- Al Pacino and Joe Pesci
* Judas and the Black Messiah (2020) -- Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield
* The Power of the Dog (2021) -- Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee
* The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) -- Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan

### Multiple character nominations

* Max "Pop" Corkle from Here Comes Mr. Jordan (James Gleason, 1941) & Heaven Can Wait (Jack Warden, 1978)
Thus far, this is the only instance of the same character producing two nominated performances within this particular same category.