# BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role

Best Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to recognise an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.

## Superlatives

| Superlative | Best Actor | Best Actor | Best Supporting Actor | Best Supporting Actor | Overall (including Most Promising Newcomer) | Overall (including Most Promising Newcomer) |
| Actor with most awards | Peter Finch | 5 | Denholm Elliott | 3 | Peter Finch | 5 |
| Actor with most British Actor Awards (until 1967) | Peter Finch | 3 | — | — | Peter Finch | 3 |
| Actor with most Foreign Actor Awards (until 1967) | Marlon Brando | 3 | — | — | Marlon Brando | 3 |
| Actor with most nominations | Daniel Day-Lewis Dustin Hoffman | 7 | Denholm Elliott | 7 | Michael Caine Dustin Hoffman Laurence Olivier | 8 |
| Actor with most British Actor Award nominations (until 1967) | Laurence Olivier | 6 | — | — | Laurence Olivier | 6 |
| Actor with most Foreign Actor Award nominations (until 1967) | Sidney Poitier | 6 | — | — | Sidney Poitier | 6 |

## Winners and nominees

From 1952 to 1967, there were two Best Actor awards: one for a British actor and another for a foreign actor. In 1968, the two prizes of British and Foreign actor were combined to create a single Best Actor award. Its current title, for Best Actor in a Leading Role, has been used since 1995.

### 1950s

| Year | Actor | Film | Character |
| 1952 (6th) | Best British Actor | Best British Actor | Best British Actor |
| 1952 (6th) | Ralph Richardson | The Sound Barrier | John Ridgefield |
| 1952 (6th) | Jack Hawkins | Mandy | Dick Searle |
| 1952 (6th) | James Hayter | The Pickwick Papers | Samuel Pickwick |
| 1952 (6th) | Laurence Olivier | Carrie | George Hurstwood |
| 1952 (6th) | Nigel Patrick | The Sound Barrier | Tony Garthwaite |
| 1952 (6th) | Alastair Sim | Folly to Be Wise | Captain William Paris |
| Best Foreign Actor |||
| 1952 (6th) | Marlon Brando | Viva Zapata! | Emiliano Zapata |
| 1952 (6th) | Humphrey Bogart | The African Queen | Charlie Allnut |
| 1952 (6th) | Pierre Fresnay | God Needs Men | Thomas Gourvennec |
| 1952 (6th) | Francesco Golisano | Miracle in Milan | Totò |
| 1952 (6th) | Fredric March | Death of a Salesman | Willy Loman |
| 1953 (7th) | Best British Actor | Best British Actor | Best British Actor |
| 1953 (7th) | John Gielgud | Julius Caesar | Cassius |
| 1953 (7th) | Jack Hawkins | The Cruel Sea | George Ericson |
| 1953 (7th) | Trevor Howard | The Heart of the Matter | Harry Scobie |
| 1953 (7th) | Duncan Macrae | The Kidnappers | Jim MacKenzie |
| 1953 (7th) | Kenneth More | Genevieve | Ambrose Claverhouse |
| Best Foreign Actor |||
| 1953 (7th) | Marlon Brando | Julius Caesar | Mark Antony |
| 1953 (7th) | Eddie Albert | Roman Holiday | Irving Radovich |
| 1953 (7th) | Van Heflin | Shane | Joe Starrett |
| 1953 (7th) | Claude Laydu | Diary of a Country Priest | Priest of Ambricourt |
| 1953 (7th) | Marcel Mouloudji | We Are All Murderers | René Le Guen |
| 1953 (7th) | Gregory Peck | Roman Holiday | Joe Bradley |
| 1953 (7th) | Spencer Tracy | The Actress | Clinton Jones |
| 1954 (8th) | Best British Actor | Best British Actor | Best British Actor |
| 1954 (8th) | Kenneth More | Doctor in the House | Richard Grimsdyke |
| 1954 (8th) | Maurice Denham | The Purple Plain | Blore |
| 1954 (8th) | Robert Donat | Lease of Life | Rev. William Thorne |
| 1954 (8th) | John Mills | Hobson's Choice | Will Mossop |
| 1954 (8th) | David Niven | Carrington V.C. | Charles "Copper" Carrington |
| 1954 (8th) | Donald Wolfit | Svengali | Svengali |
| Best Foreign Actor |||
| 1954 (8th) | Marlon Brando | On the Waterfront | Terry Malloy |
| 1954 (8th) | Neville Brand | Riot in Cell Block 11 | James V. Dunn |
| 1954 (8th) | José Ferrer | The Caine Mutiny | Barney Greenwald |
| 1954 (8th) | Fredric March | Executive Suite | Loren Phineas Shaw |
| 1954 (8th) | James Stewart | The Glenn Miller Story | Glenn Miller |
| 1955 (9th) | Best British Actor | Best British Actor | Best British Actor |
| 1955 (9th) | Laurence Olivier | Richard III | Richard, Duke of Gloucester |
| 1955 (9th) | Alfie Bass | The Bespoke Overcoat | Fender |
| 1955 (9th) | Alec Guinness | The Prisoner | The Cardinal |
| 1955 (9th) | Jack Hawkins | The Prisoner | The Interrogator |
| 1955 (9th) | Kenneth More | The Deep Blue Sea | Freddie Page |
| 1955 (9th) | Michael Redgrave | The Night My Number Came Up | Air Mshl. Hardie |
| Best Foreign Actor |||
| 1955 (9th) | Ernest Borgnine | Marty | Marty Piletti |
| 1955 (9th) | James Dean (posthumous) | East of Eden | Cal Trask |
| 1955 (9th) | Jack Lemmon | Mister Roberts | Frank Thurlowe Pulver |
| 1955 (9th) | Toshiro Mifune | Seven Samurai | Kikuchiyo |
| 1955 (9th) | Takashi Shimura | Seven Samurai | Kambei Shimada |
| 1955 (9th) | Frank Sinatra | Not as a Stranger | Alfred Boone |
| 1956 (10th) | Best British Actor | Best British Actor | Best British Actor |
| 1956 (10th) | Peter Finch | A Town Like Alice | Joe Harman |
| 1956 (10th) | Jack Hawkins | The Long Arm | Tom Halliday |
| 1956 (10th) | Kenneth More | Reach for the Sky | Douglas Bader |
| Best Foreign Actor |||
| 1956 (10th) | François Périer | Gervaise | Henri Coupeau |
| 1956 (10th) | Gunnar Björnstrand | Smiles of a Summer Night | Fredik Egerman |
| 1956 (10th) | James Dean (posthumous) | Rebel Without a Cause | Jim Stark |
| 1956 (10th) | Pierre Fresnay | The Unfrocked One | Maurice Morand |
| 1956 (10th) | William Holden | Picnic | Hal Carter |
| 1956 (10th) | Karl Malden | Baby Doll | Archie Lee Meighan |
| 1956 (10th) | Frank Sinatra | The Man with the Golden Arm | Frankie Machine |
| 1956 (10th) | Spencer Tracy | The Mountain | Zachary Teller |
| 1957 (11th) | Best British Actor | Best British Actor | Best British Actor |
| 1957 (11th) | Alec Guinness | The Bridge on the River Kwai | Cmdr. Nicholson |
| 1957 (11th) | Peter Finch | Windom's Way | Alec Windom |
| 1957 (11th) | Trevor Howard | Manuela | James Prothero |
| 1957 (11th) | Laurence Olivier | The Prince and the Showgirl | Charles, Prince Regent of Carpathia |
| 1957 (11th) | Michael Redgrave | Time Without Pity | David Graham |
| Best Foreign Actor |||
| 1957 (11th) | Henry Fonda | 12 Angry Men | Juror 8 |
| 1957 (11th) | Richard Basehart | Time Limit | Maj. Harry Cargill |
| 1957 (11th) | Pierre Brasseur | The Gates of Paris | Juju |
| 1957 (11th) | Tony Curtis | Sweet Smell of Success | Sidney Falco |
| 1957 (11th) | Jean Gabin | La Traversé de Paris | Grandgil |
| 1957 (11th) | Robert Mitchum | Heaven Knows, Mr Allison | Cpl. Allison |
| 1957 (11th) | Sidney Poitier | Edge of the City | Tommy Tyler |
| 1957 (11th) | Ed Wynn | The Great Man | Paul Beaseley |
| 1958 (12th) | Best British Actor | Best British Actor | Best British Actor |
| 1958 (12th) | Trevor Howard | The Key | Chris Ford |
| 1958 (12th) | Michael Craig | Sea of Sand | Captain Tim Cotton |
| 1958 (12th) | Laurence Harvey | Room at the Top | Joe Lampton |
| 1958 (12th) | I. S. Johar | Harry Black | Bapu |
| 1958 (12th) | Anthony Quayle | Ice Cold in Alex | Captain van der Poel / Haupt. Otto Lutz |
| 1958 (12th) | Terry-Thomas | Tom Thumb | Ivan |
| 1958 (12th) | Donald Wolfit | Room at the Top | Mr. Brown |
| Best Foreign Actor |||
| 1958 (12th) | Sidney Poitier | The Defiant Ones | Noah Cullen |
| 1958 (12th) | Marlon Brando | The Young Lions | Christian Diestl |
| 1958 (12th) | Tony Curtis | The Defiant Ones | John "Joker" Jackson |
| 1958 (12th) | Glenn Ford | The Sheepman | Jason Sweet |
| 1958 (12th) | Curd Jürgens | The Enemy Below | Kapt. von Stolberg |
| 1958 (12th) | Curd Jürgens | The Inn of the Sixth Happiness | Captain Lin Nan |
| 1958 (12th) | Charles Laughton | Witness for the Prosecution | Sir Wilfrid Robarts |
| 1958 (12th) | Paul Newman | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | Brick Pollitt |
| 1958 (12th) | Victor Sjöström | Wild Strawberries | Prof. Isak Borg |
| 1958 (12th) | Spencer Tracy | The Last Hurrah | Frank Skeffington |
| 1959 (13th) | Best British Actor | Best British Actor | Best British Actor |
| 1959 (13th) | Peter Sellers | I'm All Right Jack | Fred Kite |
| 1959 (13th) | Stanley Baker | Yesterday's Enemy | Captain Langford |
| 1959 (13th) | Richard Burton | Look Back in Anger | Jimmy Porter |
| 1959 (13th) | Peter Finch | The Nun's Story | Dr. Fortunati |
| 1959 (13th) | Laurence Harvey | Expresso Bongo | Johnny Jackson |
| 1959 (13th) | Gordon Jackson | Yesterday's Enemy | Sgt. MacKenzie |
| 1959 (13th) | Laurence Olivier | The Devil's Disciple | John Burgoyne |
| Best Foreign Actor |||
| 1959 (13th) | Jack Lemmon | Some Like It Hot | Jerry / "Daphne" |
| 1959 (13th) | Zbigniew Cybulski | Ashes and Diamonds | Maciek Chelmicki |
| 1959 (13th) | Jean Desailly | Maigret Sets a Trap | Marcel Maurin |
| 1959 (13th) | Jean Gabin | Maigret Sets a Trap | Jules Maigret |
| 1959 (13th) | Takashi Shimura | Living | Kanji Watanabe |
| 1959 (13th) | James Stewart | Anatomy of a Murder | Paul Biegler |

### 1960s

| Year | Actor | Film | Character |
| 1960 (14th) | Best British Actor | Best British Actor | Best British Actor |
| 1960 (14th) | Peter Finch | The Trials of Oscar Wilde | Oscar Wilde |
| 1960 (14th) | Richard Attenborough | The Angry Silence | Tom Curtis |
| 1960 (14th) | Albert Finney | Saturday Night and Sunday Morning | Arthur Seaton |
| 1960 (14th) | John Fraser | The Trials of Oscar Wilde | Lord Alfred Douglas |
| 1960 (14th) | Alec Guinness | Tunes of Glory | Maj. Jock Sinclair |
| 1960 (14th) | John Mills | Tunes of Glory | Lt. Col. Basil Barrow |
| 1960 (14th) | Laurence Olivier | The Entertainer | Archie Rice |
| Best Foreign Actor |||
| 1960 (14th) | Jack Lemmon | The Apartment | C. C. Baxter |
| 1960 (14th) | George Hamilton | Crime and Punishment U.S.A. | Robert Cole |
| 1960 (14th) | Burt Lancaster | Elmer Gantry | Elmer Gantry |
| 1960 (14th) | Fredric March | Inherit the Wind | Matthew Harrison Brady |
| 1960 (14th) | Yves Montand | Let's Make Love | Jean-Marc Clement / Alexander Dumas |
| 1960 (14th) | Spencer Tracy | Inherit the Wind | Henry Drummond |
| 1961 (15th) | Best British Actor | Best British Actor | Best British Actor |
| 1961 (15th) | Peter Finch | No Love for Johnnie | Johnnie Byrne |
| 1961 (15th) | Dirk Bogarde | Victim | Melville Farr |
| Best Foreign Actor |||
| 1961 (15th) | Paul Newman | The Hustler | "Fast Eddie" Felson |
| 1961 (15th) | Montgomery Clift | Judgment at Nuremberg | Rudolph Petersen |
| 1961 (15th) | Vladimir Ivashov | Ballad of a Soldier | Pvt. Alyosha Skvortsov |
| 1961 (15th) | Philippe Leroy | The Night Watch | Manu Borelli |
| 1961 (15th) | Sidney Poitier | A Raisin in the Sun | Walter Lee Younger |
| 1961 (15th) | Maximilian Schell | Judgment at Nuremberg | Hans Rolfe |
| 1961 (15th) | Alberto Sordi | The Best of Enemies | Captain Blasi |
| 1962 (16th) | Best British Actor | Best British Actor | Best British Actor |
| 1962 (16th) | Peter O'Toole | Lawrence of Arabia | T. E. Lawrence |
| 1962 (16th) | Richard Attenborough | The Dock Brief | Herbert Fowle |
| 1962 (16th) | Alan Bates | A Kind of Loving | Victor 'Vic' Brown |
| 1962 (16th) | James Mason | Lolita | Humbert Humbert |
| 1962 (16th) | Laurence Olivier | Term of Trial | Graham Weir |
| 1962 (16th) | Peter Sellers | Only Two Can Play | John Lewis |
| Best Foreign Actor |||
| 1962 (16th) | Burt Lancaster | Birdman of Alcatraz | Robert Stroud |
| 1962 (16th) | Jean-Paul Belmondo | Léon Morin, Priest | Léon Morin |
| 1962 (16th) | Kirk Douglas | Lonely are the Brave | John W. "Jack" Burns |
| 1962 (16th) | George Hamilton | Light in the Piazza | Fabrizio Naccarelli |
| 1962 (16th) | Charles Laughton | Advise and Consent | Sen. Seabright "Seeb" Cooley |
| 1962 (16th) | Anthony Quinn | Lawrence of Arabia | Auda ibu Tayi |
| 1962 (16th) | Robert Ryan | Billy Budd | John Claggart |
| 1962 (16th) | Georges Wilson | The Long Absence | The Tramp |
| 1963 (17th) | Best British Actor | Best British Actor | Best British Actor |
| 1963 (17th) | Dirk Bogarde | The Servant | Hugo Barrett |
| 1963 (17th) | Tom Courtenay | Billy Liar | William Terrence 'Billy' Fisher |
| 1963 (17th) | Albert Finney | Tom Jones | Tom Jones |
| 1963 (17th) | Hugh Griffith | Tom Jones | Squire Western |
| 1963 (17th) | Richard Harris | This Sporting Life | Frank Machin |
| Best Foreign Actor |||
| 1963 (17th) | Marcello Mastroianni | Divorce Italian Style | Ferdinando Cefalù |
| 1963 (17th) | Franco Citti | Accattone | Vittorio "Accattone" Cataldi |
| 1963 (17th) | Howard Da Silva | David and Lisa | Dr. Swinford |
| 1963 (17th) | Jack Lemmon | Days of Wine and Roses | Joe Clay |
| 1963 (17th) | Paul Newman | Hud | Hud Bannon |
| 1963 (17th) | Gregory Peck | To Kill a Mockingbird | Atticus Finch |
| 1964 (18th) | Best British Actor | Best British Actor | Best British Actor |
| 1964 (18th) | Richard Attenborough | Guns at Batasi Seance on a Wet Afternoon | RSM Lauderdale Billy Savage |
| 1964 (18th) | Tom Courtenay | King & Country | Pvt. Arthur Hamp |
| 1964 (18th) | Peter O'Toole | Becket | King Henry II |
| 1964 (18th) | Peter Sellers | Dr. Strangelove The Pink Panther | Gp Capt. Lionel Mandrake / President Merkin Muffley / Dr. Strangelove Inspector Jacques Clouseau |
| Best Foreign Actor |||
| 1964 (18th) | Marcello Mastroianni | Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow | Carmine Sbaratti / Renzo / Augusto Rusconi |
| 1964 (18th) | Cary Grant | Charade | Peter Joshua |
| 1964 (18th) | Sterling Hayden | Dr. Strangelove | BG Jack D. Ripper |
| 1964 (18th) | Sidney Poitier | Lilies of the Field | Homer Smith |
| 1965 (19th) | Best British Actor | Best British Actor | Best British Actor |
| 1965 (19th) | Dirk Bogarde | Darling | Robert Gold |
| 1965 (19th) | Harry Andrews | The Hill | RSM Wilson |
| 1965 (19th) | Michael Caine | The Ipcress File | Harry Palmer |
| 1965 (19th) | Rex Harrison | My Fair Lady | Prof. Henry Higgins |
| Best Foreign Actor |||
| 1965 (19th) | Lee Marvin | Cat Ballou The Killers | Kid Shelleen / Tim Strawn Charlie Strom |
| 1965 (19th) | Jack Lemmon | Good Neighbor Sam How to Murder Your Wife | Sam Bissell Stanley Ford |
| 1965 (19th) | Anthony Quinn | Zorba the Greek | Alexis Zorba |
| 1965 (19th) | Innokenty Smoktunovsky | Hamlet | Prince Hamlet |
| 1965 (19th) | Oskar Werner | Ship of Fools | Dr. Wilhelm "Willi" Schumann |
| 1966 (20th) | Best British Actor | Best British Actor | Best British Actor |
| 1966 (20th) | Richard Burton | The Spy Who Came in from the Cold Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | Alec Leamas George |
| 1966 (20th) | Michael Caine | Alfie | Alfred "Alfie" Elkins |
| 1966 (20th) | Ralph Richardson | Doctor Zhivago / Khartoum / The Wrong Box | Alexander "Sasha" Gromeko William Ewart Gladstone Joseph Finsbury |
| 1966 (20th) | David Warner | Morgan – A Suitable Case for Treatment | Morgan Delt |
| Best Foreign Actor |||
| 1966 (20th) | Rod Steiger | The Pawnbroker | Sol Nazerman |
| 1966 (20th) | Jean-Paul Belmondo | Pierrot le Fou | Ferdinand Griffon / "Pierrot" |
| 1966 (20th) | Sidney Poitier | A Patch of Blue | Gordon Ralfe |
| 1966 (20th) | Oskar Werner | The Spy Who Came in from the Cold | Fiedler |
| 1967 (21st) | Best British Actor | Best British Actor | Best British Actor |
| 1967 (21st) | Paul Scofield | A Man for All Seasons | Sir Thomas More |
| 1967 (21st) | Dirk Bogarde | Accident Our Mother's House | Stephen Charlie Hook |
| 1967 (21st) | Richard Burton | The Taming of the Shrew | Petruchio |
| 1967 (21st) | James Mason | The Deadly Affair | Charles Dobbs |
| Best Foreign Actor |||
| 1967 (21st) | Rod Steiger | In the Heat of the Night | Police Chief Bill Gillespie |
| 1967 (21st) | Warren Beatty | Bonnie and Clyde | Clyde Barrow |
| 1967 (21st) | Sidney Poitier | In the Heat of the Night | Detective Virgil Tibbs |
| 1967 (21st) | Orson Welles | Chimes at Midnight | Sir John Falstaff |
| 1968 (22nd) | Best Actor | Best Actor | Best Actor |
| 1968 (22nd) | Spencer Tracy | Guess Who's Coming to Dinner | Matt Drayton |
| 1968 (22nd) | Trevor Howard | The Charge of the Light Brigade | Lord Cardigan |
| 1968 (22nd) | Ron Moody | Oliver! | Fagin |
| 1968 (22nd) | Nicol Williamson | The Bofors Gun | O'Rourke |
| 1969 (23rd) | Dustin Hoffman | John and Mary Midnight Cowboy | John Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo |
| 1969 (23rd) | Alan Bates | Women in Love | Rupert Birkin |
| 1969 (23rd) | Walter Matthau | Hello, Dolly! The Secret Life of an American Wife | Horace Vandergelder The Movie Star |
| 1969 (23rd) | Nicol Williamson | Inadmissible Evidence | Bill Maitland |

### 1970s

| Year | Actor | Film | Character |
| 1970 (24th) | Robert Redford | Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Downhill Racer Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here | Sundance Kid David Chappellet Deputy Sheriff Christopher Cooper |
| 1970 (24th) | Elliott Gould | Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice MASH | Ted Henderson Trapper John McIntyre |
| 1970 (24th) | Paul Newman | Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid | Butch Cassidy |
| 1970 (24th) | George C. Scott | Patton | George S. Patton |
| 1971 (25th) | Peter Finch | Sunday Bloody Sunday | Dr. Daniel Hirsh |
| 1971 (25th) | Dirk Bogarde | Death in Venice | Gustav von Aschenbach |
| 1971 (25th) | Albert Finney | Gumshoe | Eddie Ginley |
| 1971 (25th) | Dustin Hoffman | Little Big Man | Jack Crabb |
| 1972 (26th) | Gene Hackman | The French Connection The Poseidon Adventure | Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle Reverend Frank Scott |
| 1972 (26th) | Marlon Brando | The Godfather The Nightcomers | Vito Corleone Peter Quint |
| 1972 (26th) | George C. Scott | The Hospital They Might Be Giants | Dr. Herbert "Herb" Bock Justin Playfair |
| 1972 (26th) | Robert Shaw | Young Winston | Lord Randolph Churchill |
| 1973 (27th) | Walter Matthau | Charley Varrick Pete 'n' Tillie | Charley Varrick Pete |
| 1973 (27th) | Marlon Brando | Last Tango in Paris | Paul |
| 1973 (27th) | Laurence Olivier | Sleuth | Andrew Wyke |
| 1973 (27th) | Donald Sutherland | Don't Look Now Steelyard Blues | John Baxter Jesse Veldini |
| 1974 (28th) | Jack Nicholson | Chinatown The Last Detail | J.J. "Jake" Gittes Signalman 1st Class Billy "Badass" Buddusky |
| 1974 (28th) | Albert Finney | Murder on the Orient Express | Hercule Poirot |
| 1974 (28th) | Gene Hackman | The Conversation | Harry Caul |
| 1974 (28th) | Al Pacino | Serpico | Frank Serpico |
| 1975 (29th) | Al Pacino | Dog Day Afternoon The Godfather Part II | Sonny Wortzik Michael Corleone |
| 1975 (29th) | Richard Dreyfuss | Jaws | Matt Hooper |
| 1975 (29th) | Gene Hackman | French Connection II Night Moves | Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle Harry Moseby |
| 1975 (29th) | Dustin Hoffman | Lenny | Lenny Bruce |
| 1976 (30th) | Jack Nicholson | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | R.P. McMurphy |
| 1976 (30th) | Robert De Niro | Taxi Driver | Travis Bickle |
| 1976 (30th) | Dustin Hoffman | All the President's Men Marathon Man | Carl Bernstein Thomas "Babe" Levy |
| 1976 (30th) | Walter Matthau | The Bad News Bears The Sunshine Boys | Morris Buttermaker Willy Clark |
| 1977 (31st) | Peter Finch (posthumous) | Network | Howard Beale |
| 1977 (31st) | Woody Allen | Annie Hall | Alvy "Max" Singer |
| 1977 (31st) | William Holden | Network | Max Schumacher |
| 1977 (31st) | Sylvester Stallone | Rocky | Rocky Balboa |
| 1978 (32nd) | Richard Dreyfuss | The Goodbye Girl | Elliot Garfield |
| 1978 (32nd) | Anthony Hopkins | Magic | Corky Withers / Fats (voice) |
| 1978 (32nd) | Brad Davis | Midnight Express | Billy Hayes |
| 1978 (32nd) | Peter Ustinov | Death on the Nile | Hercule Poirot |
| 1979 (33rd) | Jack Lemmon | The China Syndrome | Jack Godell |
| 1979 (33rd) | Woody Allen | Manhattan | Isaac Davis |
| 1979 (33rd) | Robert De Niro | The Deer Hunter | S/Sgt. Michael "Mike" Vronsky |
| 1979 (33rd) | Martin Sheen | Apocalypse Now | Captain Benjamin L. Willard |

### 1980s

| Year | Actor | Film | Character |
| 1980 (34th) | John Hurt | The Elephant Man | John Merrick |
| 1980 (34th) | Dustin Hoffman | Kramer vs. Kramer | Ted Kramer |
| 1980 (34th) | Roy Scheider | All That Jazz | Joe Gideon |
| 1980 (34th) | Peter Sellers | Being There | Chance the Gardener |
| 1981 (35th) | Burt Lancaster | Atlantic City | Lou Pascal |
| 1981 (35th) | Robert De Niro | Raging Bull | Jake LaMotta |
| 1981 (35th) | Bob Hoskins | The Long Good Friday | Harold Shand |
| 1981 (35th) | Jeremy Irons | The French Lieutenant's Woman | Charles Henry Smithson / Mike |
| 1982 (36th) | Ben Kingsley | Gandhi | Mahatma Gandhi |
| 1982 (36th) | Warren Beatty | Reds | John Reed |
| 1982 (36th) | Albert Finney | Shoot the Moon | George Dunlap |
| 1982 (36th) | Henry Fonda | On Golden Pond | Norman Thayer, Jr. |
| 1982 (36th) | Jack Lemmon | Missing | Ed Horman |
| 1983 (37th) | Michael Caine (TIE) | Educating Rita | Dr. Frank Bryant |
| 1983 (37th) | Dustin Hoffman (TIE) | Tootsie | Michael Dorsey / Dorothy Michaels |
| 1983 (37th) | Michael Caine | The Honorary Consul | Charley Fortnum, Consul |
| 1983 (37th) | Robert De Niro | The King of Comedy | Rupert Pupkin |
| 1984 (38th) | Haing S. Ngor | The Killing Fields | Dith Pran |
| 1984 (38th) | Tom Courtenay | The Dresser | Norman |
| 1984 (38th) | Albert Finney | The Dresser | Sir |
| 1984 (38th) | Sam Waterston | The Killing Fields | Sydney Schanberg |
| 1985 (39th) | William Hurt | Kiss of the Spider Woman | Luis Molina |
| 1985 (39th) | F. Murray Abraham | Amadeus | Antonio Salieri |
| 1985 (39th) | Victor Banerjee | A Passage to India | Dr. Aziz Ahmed |
| 1985 (39th) | Harrison Ford | Witness | John Book |
| 1986 (40th) | Bob Hoskins | Mona Lisa | George |
| 1986 (40th) | Woody Allen | Hannah and Her Sisters | Mickey Sachs |
| 1986 (40th) | Michael Caine | Hannah and Her Sisters | Elliot |
| 1986 (40th) | Paul Hogan | Crocodile Dundee | Michael "Crocodile" Dundee |
| 1987 (41st) | Sean Connery | The Name of the Rose | William of Baskerville |
| 1987 (41st) | Gérard Depardieu | Jean de Florette | Jean Cadoret / "Jean de Florette" |
| 1987 (41st) | Yves Montand | Jean de Florette | César Soubeyran / Le Papet |
| 1987 (41st) | Gary Oldman | Prick Up Your Ears | Joe Orton |
| 1988 (42nd) | John Cleese | A Fish Called Wanda | Archie Leach |
| 1988 (42nd) | Michael Douglas | Fatal Attraction | Dan Gallagher |
| 1988 (42nd) | Kevin Kline | A Fish Called Wanda | Otto West |
| 1988 (42nd) | Robin Williams | Good Morning, Vietnam | Adrian Cronauer |
| 1989 (43rd) | Daniel Day-Lewis | My Left Foot | Christy Brown |
| 1989 (43rd) | Kenneth Branagh | Henry V | King Henry V |
| 1989 (43rd) | Dustin Hoffman | Rain Man | Raymond Babbit |
| 1989 (43rd) | Robin Williams | Dead Poets Society | John Keating |

### 1990s

| Year | Actor | Film | Character |
| 1990 (44th) | Philippe Noiret | Cinema Paradiso | Alfredo |
| 1990 (44th) | Sean Connery | The Hunt for Red October | Captain Marko Ramius |
| 1990 (44th) | Tom Cruise | Born on the Fourth of July | Ron Kovic |
| 1990 (44th) | Robert De Niro | Goodfellas | Jimmy Conway |
| 1991 (45th) | Anthony Hopkins | The Silence of the Lambs | Dr. Hannibal Lecter |
| 1991 (45th) | Kevin Costner | Dances with Wolves | Lt. John J. Dunbar / Dances with Wolves |
| 1991 (45th) | Gérard Depardieu | Cyrano de Bergerac | Cyrano de Bergerac |
| 1991 (45th) | Alan Rickman | Truly, Madly, Deeply | Jamie |
| 1992 (46th) | Robert Downey Jr. | Chaplin | Charlie Chaplin |
| 1992 (46th) | Daniel Day-Lewis | The Last of the Mohicans | Nathaniel Poe |
| 1992 (46th) | Stephen Rea | The Crying Game | Fergus |
| 1992 (46th) | Tim Robbins | The Player | Griffin Mill |
| 1993 (47th) | Anthony Hopkins | The Remains of the Day | James Stevens |
| 1993 (47th) | Daniel Day-Lewis | In the Name of the Father | Gerry Conlon |
| 1993 (47th) | Anthony Hopkins | Shadowlands | C. S. Lewis |
| 1993 (47th) | Liam Neeson | Schindler's List | Oskar Schindler |
| 1994 (48th) | Hugh Grant | Four Weddings and a Funeral | Charles |
| 1994 (48th) | Tom Hanks | Forrest Gump | Forrest Gump |
| 1994 (48th) | Terence Stamp | The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert | Ralph / Bernadette Bassenger |
| 1994 (48th) | John Travolta | Pulp Fiction | Vincent Vega |
| 1995 (49th) | Nigel Hawthorne | The Madness of King George | King George III |
| 1995 (49th) | Nicolas Cage | Leaving Las Vegas | Ben Sanderson |
| 1995 (49th) | Jonathan Pryce | Carrington | Lytton Strachey |
| 1995 (49th) | Massimo Troisi (posthumous) | Il Postino: The Postman | Mario Ruoppolo |
| 1996 (50th) | Geoffrey Rush | Shine | David Helfgott |
| 1996 (50th) | Ralph Fiennes | The English Patient | Count Laszlo de Almásy |
| 1996 (50th) | Ian McKellen | Richard III | King Richard III |
| 1996 (50th) | Timothy Spall | Secrets & Lies | Maurice Purley |
| 1997 (51st) | Robert Carlyle | The Full Monty | Gaz Schofield |
| 1997 (51st) | Billy Connolly | Mrs Brown | John Brown |
| 1997 (51st) | Kevin Spacey | L.A. Confidential | Jack Vincennes |
| 1997 (51st) | Ray Winstone | Nil by Mouth | Ray |
| 1998 (52nd) | Roberto Benigni | Life Is Beautiful | Guido |
| 1998 (52nd) | Michael Caine | Little Voice | Ray Say |
| 1998 (52nd) | Joseph Fiennes | Shakespeare in Love | William Shakespeare |
| 1998 (52nd) | Tom Hanks | Saving Private Ryan | Captain John H. Miller |
| 1999 (53rd) | Kevin Spacey | American Beauty | Lester Burnham |
| 1999 (53rd) | Jim Broadbent | Topsy-Turvy | W. S. Gilbert |
| 1999 (53rd) | Russell Crowe | The Insider | Jeffrey Wigand |
| 1999 (53rd) | Ralph Fiennes | The End of the Affair | Maurice Bendrax |
| 1999 (53rd) | Om Puri | East is East | George Khan |

### 2000s

| Year | Actor | Film | Character |
| 2000 (54th) | Jamie Bell | Billy Elliot | Billy Elliot |
| 2000 (54th) | Russell Crowe | Gladiator | Maximus Decimus Meridius |
| 2000 (54th) | Michael Douglas | Wonder Boys | Grady Tripp |
| 2000 (54th) | Tom Hanks | Cast Away | Chuck Noland |
| 2000 (54th) | Geoffrey Rush | Quills | Marquis de Sade |
| 2001 (55th) | Russell Crowe | A Beautiful Mind | John Forbes Nash Jr. |
| 2001 (55th) | Jim Broadbent | Iris | John Bayley |
| 2001 (55th) | Ian McKellen | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | Gandalf |
| 2001 (55th) | Kevin Spacey | The Shipping News | Quoyle |
| 2001 (55th) | Tom Wilkinson | In the Bedroom | Matt Fowler |
| 2002 (56th) | Daniel Day-Lewis | Gangs of New York | William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting |
| 2002 (56th) | Adrien Brody | The Pianist | Władysław Szpilman |
| 2002 (56th) | Nicolas Cage | Adaptation | Charlie and Donald Kaufman |
| 2002 (56th) | Michael Caine | The Quiet American | Thomas Fowler |
| 2002 (56th) | Jack Nicholson | About Schmidt | Warren Schmidt |
| 2003 (57th) | Bill Murray | Lost in Translation | Bob Harris |
| 2003 (57th) | Benicio del Toro | 21 Grams | Jack Jordan |
| 2003 (57th) | Johnny Depp | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl | Captain Jack Sparrow |
| 2003 (57th) | Jude Law | Cold Mountain | W. P. Inman |
| 2003 (57th) | Sean Penn | 21 Grams | Paul Rivers |
| 2003 (57th) | Sean Penn | Mystic River | Jimmy Markum |
| 2004 (58th) | Jamie Foxx | Ray | Ray Charles |
| 2004 (58th) | Jim Carrey | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind | Joel Barish |
| 2004 (58th) | Johnny Depp | Finding Neverland | J. M. Barrie |
| 2004 (58th) | Leonardo DiCaprio | The Aviator | Howard Hughes |
| 2004 (58th) | Gael García Bernal | The Motorcycle Diaries | Ernesto "Che" Guevara |
| 2005 (59th) | Philip Seymour Hoffman | Capote | Truman Capote |
| 2005 (59th) | Ralph Fiennes | The Constant Gardener | Justin Quayle |
| 2005 (59th) | Heath Ledger | Brokeback Mountain | Ennis Del Mar |
| 2005 (59th) | Joaquin Phoenix | Walk the Line | Johnny Cash |
| 2005 (59th) | David Strathairn | Good Night, and Good Luck | Edward R. Murrow |
| 2006 (60th) | Forest Whitaker | The Last King of Scotland | Idi Amin |
| 2006 (60th) | Daniel Craig | Casino Royale | James Bond |
| 2006 (60th) | Leonardo DiCaprio | The Departed | William "Billy" Costigan, Jr. |
| 2006 (60th) | Richard Griffiths | The History Boys | Hector |
| 2006 (60th) | Peter O'Toole | Venus | Maurice Russell |
| 2007 (61st) | Daniel Day-Lewis | There Will Be Blood | Daniel Plainview |
| 2007 (61st) | George Clooney | Michael Clayton | Michael Clayton |
| 2007 (61st) | James McAvoy | Atonement | Robbie Turner |
| 2007 (61st) | Viggo Mortensen | Eastern Promises | Nikolai Luzhin |
| 2007 (61st) | Ulrich Mühe (posthumous) | The Lives of Others | Gerd Wiesler |
| 2008 (62nd) | Mickey Rourke | The Wrestler | Randy "The Ram" Robinson |
| 2008 (62nd) | Frank Langella | Frost/Nixon | Richard Nixon |
| 2008 (62nd) | Dev Patel | Slumdog Millionaire | Jamal Malik |
| 2008 (62nd) | Sean Penn | Milk | Harvey Milk |
| 2008 (62nd) | Brad Pitt | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button | Benjamin Button |
| 2009 (63rd) | Colin Firth | A Single Man | George Falconer |
| 2009 (63rd) | Jeff Bridges | Crazy Heart | Otis "Bad" Blake |
| 2009 (63rd) | George Clooney | Up in the Air | Ryan Bingham |
| 2009 (63rd) | Jeremy Renner | The Hurt Locker | SFC. William James |
| 2009 (63rd) | Andy Serkis | Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll | Ian Dury |

### 2010s

| Year | Actor | Film | Character |
| 2010 (64th) | Colin Firth | The King's Speech | King George VI |
| 2010 (64th) | Javier Bardem | Biutiful | Uxbal |
| 2010 (64th) | Jeff Bridges | True Grit | Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn |
| 2010 (64th) | Jesse Eisenberg | The Social Network | Mark Zuckerberg |
| 2010 (64th) | James Franco | 127 Hours | Aron Ralston |
| 2011 (65th) | Jean Dujardin | The Artist | George Valentin |
| 2011 (65th) | George Clooney | The Descendants | Matthew "Matt" King |
| 2011 (65th) | Michael Fassbender | Shame | Brandon Sullivan |
| 2011 (65th) | Gary Oldman | Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy | George Smiley |
| 2011 (65th) | Brad Pitt | Moneyball | Billy Beane |
| 2012 (66th) | Daniel Day-Lewis | Lincoln | Abraham Lincoln |
| 2012 (66th) | Ben Affleck | Argo | Tony Mendez |
| 2012 (66th) | Bradley Cooper | Silver Linings Playbook | Patrick "Pat" Solitano, Jr. |
| 2012 (66th) | Hugh Jackman | Les Misérables | Jean Valjean |
| 2012 (66th) | Joaquin Phoenix | The Master | Freddie Quell |
| 2013 (67th) | Chiwetel Ejiofor | 12 Years a Slave | Solomon Northup |
| 2013 (67th) | Christian Bale | American Hustle | Irving Rosenfeld |
| 2013 (67th) | Bruce Dern | Nebraska | Woody Grant |
| 2013 (67th) | Leonardo DiCaprio | The Wolf of Wall Street | Jordan Belfort |
| 2013 (67th) | Tom Hanks | Captain Phillips | Captain Richard Phillips |
| 2014 (68th) | Eddie Redmayne | The Theory of Everything | Stephen Hawking |
| 2014 (68th) | Benedict Cumberbatch | The Imitation Game | Alan Turing |
| 2014 (68th) | Ralph Fiennes | The Grand Budapest Hotel | Monsieur Gustave H. |
| 2014 (68th) | Jake Gyllenhaal | Nightcrawler | Louis "Lou" Bloom |
| 2014 (68th) | Michael Keaton | Birdman | Riggan Thomson |
| 2015 (69th) | Leonardo DiCaprio | The Revenant | Hugh Glass |
| 2015 (69th) | Bryan Cranston | Trumbo | Dalton Trumbo |
| 2015 (69th) | Matt Damon | The Martian | Mark Watney |
| 2015 (69th) | Michael Fassbender | Steve Jobs | Steve Jobs |
| 2015 (69th) | Eddie Redmayne | The Danish Girl | Lili Elbe / Einar Wegener |
| 2016 (70th) | Casey Affleck | Manchester by the Sea | Lee Chandler |
| 2016 (70th) | Andrew Garfield | Hacksaw Ridge | Desmond T. Doss |
| 2016 (70th) | Ryan Gosling | La La Land | Sebastian Wilder |
| 2016 (70th) | Jake Gyllenhaal | Nocturnal Animals | Edward Sheffield / Tony Hastings |
| 2016 (70th) | Viggo Mortensen | Captain Fantastic | Ben Cash |
| 2017 (71st) | Gary Oldman | Darkest Hour | Winston Churchill |
| 2017 (71st) | Jamie Bell | Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool | Peter Turner |
| 2017 (71st) | Timothée Chalamet | Call Me by Your Name | Elio Perlman |
| 2017 (71st) | Daniel Day-Lewis | Phantom Thread | Reynolds Woodcock |
| 2017 (71st) | Daniel Kaluuya | Get Out | Chris Washington |
| 2018 (72nd) | Rami Malek | Bohemian Rhapsody | Freddie Mercury |
| 2018 (72nd) | Christian Bale | Vice | Dick Cheney |
| 2018 (72nd) | Steve Coogan | Stan & Ollie | Stan Laurel |
| 2018 (72nd) | Bradley Cooper | A Star Is Born | Jackson Maine |
| 2018 (72nd) | Viggo Mortensen | Green Book | Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga |
| 2019 (73rd) | Joaquin Phoenix | Joker | Arthur Fleck / Joker |
| 2019 (73rd) | Leonardo DiCaprio | Once Upon a Time in Hollywood | Rick Dalton |
| 2019 (73rd) | Adam Driver | Marriage Story | Charlie Barber |
| 2019 (73rd) | Taron Egerton | Rocketman | Elton John |
| 2019 (73rd) | Jonathan Pryce | The Two Popes | Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio |

### 2020s

| Year | Actor | Film | Character |
| 2020 (74th) | Anthony Hopkins | The Father | Anthony |
| 2020 (74th) | Riz Ahmed | Sound of Metal | Ruben Stone |
| 2020 (74th) | Chadwick Boseman (posthumous) | Ma Rainey's Black Bottom | Levee Green |
| 2020 (74th) | Adarsh Gourav | The White Tiger | Balram Halwai |
| 2020 (74th) | Mads Mikkelsen | Another Round | Martin |
| 2020 (74th) | Tahar Rahim | The Mauritanian | Mohamedou Ould Salahi |
| 2021 (75th) | Will Smith | King Richard | Richard Williams |
| 2021 (75th) | Adeel Akhtar | Ali & Ava | Ali |
| 2021 (75th) | Mahershala Ali | Swan Song | Cameron Turner |
| 2021 (75th) | Benedict Cumberbatch | The Power of the Dog | Phil Burbank |
| 2021 (75th) | Leonardo DiCaprio | Don't Look Up | Dr. Randall Mindy |
| 2021 (75th) | Stephen Graham | Boiling Point | Andy Jones |
| 2022 (76th) | Austin Butler | Elvis | Elvis Presley |
| 2022 (76th) | Colin Farrell | The Banshees of Inisherin | Pádraic Súilleabháin |
| 2022 (76th) | Brendan Fraser | The Whale | Charlie |
| 2022 (76th) | Daryl McCormack | Good Luck to You, Leo Grande | Leo Grande / Connor |
| 2022 (76th) | Paul Mescal | Aftersun | Calum Patterson |
| 2022 (76th) | Bill Nighy | Living | Mr. Williams |
| 2023 (77th) | Cillian Murphy | Oppenheimer | J. Robert Oppenheimer |
| 2023 (77th) | Bradley Cooper | Maestro | Leonard Bernstein |
| 2023 (77th) | Colman Domingo | Rustin | Bayard Rustin |
| 2023 (77th) | Paul Giamatti | The Holdovers | Paul Hunham |
| 2023 (77th) | Barry Keoghan | Saltburn | Oliver Quick |
| 2023 (77th) | Teo Yoo | Past Lives | Hae Sung |
| 2024 (78th) |
| 2024 (78th) | Adrien Brody | The Brutalist | László Tóth |
| 2024 (78th) | Timothée Chalamet | A Complete Unknown | Bob Dylan |
| 2024 (78th) | Colman Domingo | Sing Sing | John "Divine G" Whitfield |
| 2024 (78th) | Ralph Fiennes | Conclave | Thomas Cardinal Lawrence |
| 2024 (78th) | Hugh Grant | Heretic | Mr. Reed |
| 2024 (78th) | Sebastian Stan | The Apprentice | Donald Trump |