Best Actor - Definition and Overview

The Academy Award for Best Actor is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. The winners are chosen by the Academy membership as a whole. Following the Academy's practice, the films below are listed by release year: for example, the Oscar for "Best Actor in 1999" was announced during the award ceremony held in 2000. Winners are listed first in bold, followed by the other nominees.

Contents

1920s

1st	1928	Emil Jannings	**The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh**
		Richard Barthelmess	The Noose and The Patent Leather Kid
		Charlie Chaplin	The Circus

2nd	1929	Warner Baxter	In Old Arizona
		George Bancroft	Thunderbolt
		Chester Morris	Alibi
		Paul Muni	The Valiant
		Lewis Stone	The Patriot

1930s

3rd	1930	George Arliss	Disraeli
		George Arliss	The Green Goddess
		Wallace Beery	The Big House
		Maurice Chevalier	The Big Pond and The Love Parade
		Ronald Colman	Bulldog Drummond and Condemned
		Lawrence Tibbett	The Rogue Song

4th	1931	Lionel Barrymore	A Free Soul
		Adolphe Menjou	The Front Page
		Jackie Cooper	Skippy
		Richard Dix	Cimarron
		Fredric March	The Royal Family of Broadway

5th	1932	Wallace Beery Fredric March	The Champ Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
		Alfred Lunt	The Guardsman

6th	1933	Charles Laughton	The Private Life of Henry VIII
		Leslie Howard	Berkeley Square
		Paul Muni	I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang

7th	1934	Clark Gable	It Happened One Night
		Frank Morgan	The Affairs of Cellini
		William Powell	The Thin Man

8th	1935	Victor McLaglen	The Informer
		Clark Gable	Mutiny on the Bounty
		Charles Laughton	Mutiny on the Bounty
		Franchot Tone	Mutiny on the Bounty

9th	1936	Paul Muni	The Story of Louis Pasteur
		Gary Cooper	Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
		Walter Huston	Dodsworth
		William Powell	My Man Godfrey
		Spencer Tracy	San Francisco

10th	1937	Spencer Tracy	Captains Courageous
		Charles Boyer	Conquest
		Fredric March	A Star Is Born
		Robert Montgomery	Night Must Fall
		Paul Muni	The Life of Emile Zola

11th	1938	Spencer Tracy	Boys Town
		Charles Boyer	Algiers
		James Cagney	Angels with Dirty Faces
		Robert Donat	The Citadel
		Leslie Howard	Pygmalion

12th	1939	Robert Donat	Goodbye, Mr. Chips
		Clark Gable	Gone With the Wind
		Laurence Olivier	Wuthering Heights
		Mickey Rooney	Babes in Arms
		James Stewart	Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

1940s

13th	1940	James Stewart	The Philadelphia Story
		Charlie Chaplin	The Great Dictator
		Henry Fonda	The Grapes of Wrath
		Raymond Massey	Abe Lincoln in Illinois
		Laurence Olivier	Rebecca

14th	1941	Gary Cooper	Sergeant York
		Cary Grant	Penny Serenade
		Walter Huston	The Devil and Daniel Webster
		Robert Montgomery	Here Comes Mr. Jordan
		Orson Welles	Citizen Kane

15th	1942	James Cagney	Yankee Doodle Dandy
		Ronald Colman	Random Harvest
		Gary Cooper	The Pride of the Yankees
		Walter Pidgeon	Mrs. Miniver
		Monty Woolley	The Pied Piper

16th	1943	Paul Lukas	Watch on the Rhine
		Humphrey Bogart	Casablanca
		Gary Cooper	For Whom the Bell Tolls
		Walter Pidgeon	Madame Curie
		Mickey Rooney	The Human Comedy

17th	1944	Bing Crosby	Going My Way
		Charles Boyer	Gaslight
		Barry Fitzgerald	Going My Way
		Cary Grant	None but the Lonely Heart
		Alexander Knox	Wilson

18th	1945	Ray Milland	The Lost Weekend
		Bing Crosby	The Bells of St. Mary's
		Gene Kelly	Anchors Aweigh
		Gregory Peck	The Keys of the Kingdom
		Cornel Wilde	A Song to Remember

19th	1946	Fredric March	The Best Years of Our Lives
		Laurence Olivier	Henry V
		Larry Parks	The Jolson Story
		Gregory Peck	The Yearling
		James Stewart	It's a Wonderful Life

20th	1947	Ronald Colman	A Double Life
		John Garfield	Body and Soul
		Gregory Peck	Gentleman's Agreement
		Michael Redgrave	Mourning Becomes Electra
		William Powell	Life with Father

21st	1948	Laurence Olivier	Hamlet
		Lew Ayres	Johnny Belinda
		Montgomery Clift	The Search
		Dan Dailey	When My Baby Smiles at Me
		Clifton Webb	Sitting Pretty

22nd	1949	Broderick Crawford	All the King's Men
		Kirk Douglas	Champion
		Gregory Peck	Twelve O'Clock High
		Richard Todd	The Hasty Heart
		John Wayne	Sands of Iwo Jima

1950s

23rd	1950	José Ferrer	Cyrano de Bergerac
		Louis Calhern	The Magnificent Yankee
		William Holden	Sunset Boulevard
		James Stewart	Harvey
		Spencer Tracy	Father of the Bride

24th	1951	Humphrey Bogart	The African Queen
		Marlon Brando	A Streetcar Named Desire
		Montgomery Clift	A Place in the Sun
		Arthur Kennedy	Bright Victory
		Fredric March	Death of a Salesman

25th	1952	Gary Cooper	High Noon
		Marlon Brando	Viva Zapata!
		Kirk Douglas	The Bad and the Beautiful
		José Ferrer	Moulin Rouge
		Alec Guinness	The Lavender Hill Mob

26th	1953	William Holden	Stalag 17
		Marlon Brando	Julius Caesar
		Richard Burton	The Robe
		Montgomery Clift	From Here to Eternity
		Burt Lancaster	From Here to Eternity

27th	1954	Marlon Brando	On the Waterfront
		Humphrey Bogart	The Caine Mutiny
		Bing Crosby	The Country Girl
		James Mason	A Star Is Born
		Dan O'Herlihy	The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

28th	1955	Ernest Borgnine	Marty
		James Cagney	Love Me or Leave Me
		James Dean	East of Eden
		Frank Sinatra	The Man with the Golden Arm
		Spencer Tracy	Bad Day at Black Rock

29th	1956	Yul Brynner	The King and I
		James Dean	Giant
		Kirk Douglas	Lust for Life
		Rock Hudson	Giant
		Laurence Olivier	Richard III

30th	1957	Alec Guinness	The Bridge on the River Kwai
		Marlon Brando	Sayonara
		Anthony Franciosa	A Hatful of Rain
		Charles Laughton	Witness for the Prosecution
		Anthony Quinn	Wild Is the Wind

31st	1958	David Niven	Separate Tables
		Tony Curtis	The Defiant Ones
		Paul Newman	Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
		Sidney Poitier	The Defiant Ones
		Spencer Tracy	The Old Man and the Sea

32nd	1959	Charlton Heston	Ben-Hur
		Laurence Harvey	Room at the Top
		Jack Lemmon	Some Like It Hot
		Paul Muni	The Last Angry Man
		James Stewart	Anatomy of a Murder

1960s

33rd	1960	Burt Lancaster	Elmer Gantry
		Trevor Howard	Sons and Lovers
		Jack Lemmon	The Apartment
		Laurence Olivier	The Entertainer
		Spencer Tracy	Inherit the Wind

34th	1961	Maximilian Schell	Judgment at Nuremberg
		Charles Boyer	Fanny
		Paul Newman	The Hustler
		Spencer Tracy	Judgment at Nuremberg
		Stuart Whitman	The Mark

35th	1962	Gregory Peck	To Kill a Mockingbird
		Burt Lancaster	Birdman of Alcatraz
		Jack Lemmon	Days of Wine and Roses
		Marcello Mastroianni	Divorce, Italian Style
		Peter O'Toole	Lawrence of Arabia

36th	1963	Sidney Poitier	Lilies of the Field
		Albert Finney	Tom Jones
		Richard Harris	This Sporting Life
		Rex Harrison	Cleopatra
		Paul Newman	Hud

37th	1964	Rex Harrison	My Fair Lady
		Richard Burton	Becket
		Peter O'Toole	Becket
		Anthony Quinn	Zorba the Greek
		Peter Sellers	Dr. Strangelove or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

38th	1965	Lee Marvin	Cat Ballou
		Richard Burton	The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
		Laurence Olivier	Othello
		Rod Steiger	The Pawnbroker
		Oskar Werner	Ship of Fools

39th	1966	Paul Scofield	A Man for All Seasons
		Alan Arkin	The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming
		Richard Burton	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
		Michael Caine	Alfie
		Steve McQueen	The Sand Pebbles

40th	1967	Rod Steiger	In the Heat of the Night
		Warren Beatty	Bonnie and Clyde
		Dustin Hoffman	The Graduate
		Paul Newman	Cool Hand Luke
		Spencer Tracy	Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

41st	1968	Cliff Robertson	Charly
		Alan Arkin	The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
		Alan Bates	The Fixer
		Ron Moody	Oliver!
		Peter O'Toole	The Lion in Winter

42nd	1969	John Wayne	True Grit
		Richard Burton	Anne of the Thousand Days
		Dustin Hoffman	Midnight Cowboy
		Peter O'Toole	Goodbye, Mr. Chips
		Jon Voight	Midnight Cowboy

1970s

43rd	1970	George C. Scott	Patton (declined)
		Melvyn Douglas	I Never Sang for My Father
		James Earl Jones	The Great White Hope
		Jack Nicholson	Five Easy Pieces
		Ryan O'Neal	Love Story

44th	1971	Gene Hackman	The French Connection
		Peter Finch	Sunday Bloody Sunday
		Walter Matthau	Kotch
		George C. Scott	The Hospital
		Topol	Fiddler on the Roof

45th	1972	Marlon Brando	The Godfather (declined)
		Michael Caine	Sleuth
		Laurence Olivier	Sleuth
		Peter O'Toole	The Ruling Class
		Paul Winfield	Sounder

46th	1973	Jack Lemmon	Save the Tiger
		Marlon Brando	Last Tango in Paris
		Jack Nicholson	The Last Detail
		Al Pacino	Serpico
		Robert Redford	The Sting

47th	1974	Art Carney	Harry and Tonto
		Albert Finney	Murder on the Orient Express
		Dustin Hoffman	Lenny
		Jack Nicholson	Chinatown
		Al Pacino	The Godfather, Part II

48th	1975	Jack Nicholson	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
		Walter Matthau	The Sunshine Boys
		Al Pacino	Dog Day Afternoon
		Maximilian Schell	The Man in the Glass Booth
		James Whitmore	Give 'em Hell, Harry!

49th	1976	Peter Finch	Network
		Robert De Niro	Taxi Driver
		Giancarlo Giannini	Seven Beauties (Pasqualino Settebellezze)
		William Holden	Network
		Sylvester Stallone	Rocky

50th	1977	Richard Dreyfuss	The Goodbye Girl
		Woody Allen	Annie Hall
		Richard Burton	Equus
		Marcello Mastroianni	A Special Day
		John Travolta	Saturday Night Fever

51st	1978	Jon Voight	Coming Home
		Warren Beatty	Heaven Can Wait
		Gary Busey	The Buddy Holly Story
		Robert De Niro	The Deer Hunter
		Laurence Olivier	The Boys from Brazil

52nd	1979	Dustin Hoffman	Kramer vs. Kramer
		Jack Lemmon	The China Syndrome
		Roy Scheider	All That Jazz
		Peter Sellers	Being There
		Al Pacino	...And Justice for All

1980s

53rd	1980	Robert De Niro	Raging Bull
		Robert Duvall	The Great Santini
		John Hurt	The Elephant Man
		Jack Lemmon	Tribute
		Peter O'Toole	The Stunt Man

54th	1981	Henry Fonda	On Golden Pond
		Warren Beatty	Reds
		Burt Lancaster	Atlantic City
		Dudley Moore	Arthur
		Paul Newman	Absence of Malice

55th	1982	Ben Kingsley	Gandhi
		Dustin Hoffman	Tootsie
		Jack Lemmon	Missing
		Paul Newman	The Verdict
		Peter O'Toole	My Favorite Year

56th	1983	Robert Duvall	Tender Mercies
		Michael Caine	Educating Rita
		Tom Conti	Reuben, Reuben
		Tom Courtenay	The Dresser
		Albert Finney	The Dresser

57th	1984	F. Murray Abraham	Amadeus
		Jeff Bridges	Starman
		Albert Finney	Under the Volcano
		Tom Hulce	Amadeus
		Sam Waterston	The Killing Fields

58th	1985	William Hurt	Kiss of the Spider Woman
		Harrison Ford	Witness
		James Garner	Murphy's Romance
		Jack Nicholson	Prizzi's Honor
		Jon Voight	Runaway Train

59th	1986	Paul Newman	The Color of Money
		Dexter Gordon	'Round Midnight
		Bob Hoskins	Mona Lisa
		William Hurt	Children of a Lesser God
		James Woods	Salvador

60th	1987	Michael Douglas	Wall Street
		William Hurt	Broadcast News
		Marcello Mastroianni	Dark Eyes
		Jack Nicholson	Ironweed
		Robin Williams	Good Morning, Vietnam

61st	1988	Dustin Hoffman	Rain Man
		Gene Hackman	Mississippi Burning
		Tom Hanks	Big
		Edward James Olmos	Stand and Deliver
		Max von Sydow	Pelle the Conqueror

62nd	1989	Daniel Day-Lewis	My Left Foot
		Kenneth Branagh	Henry V
		Tom Cruise	Born on the Fourth of July
		Morgan Freeman	Driving Miss Daisy
		Robin Williams	Dead Poets Society

1990s

63rd	1990	Jeremy Irons	Reversal of Fortune
		Kevin Costner	Dances with Wolves
		Robert De Niro	Awakenings
		Gerard Depardieu	Cyrano de Bergerac
		Richard Harris	The Field

64th	1991	Anthony Hopkins	The Silence of the Lambs
		Warren Beatty	Bugsy
		Robert De Niro	Cape Fear
		Nick Nolte	The Prince of Tides
		Robin Williams	The Fisher King

65th	1992	Al Pacino	Scent of a Woman
		Robert Downey Jr.	Chaplin
		Clint Eastwood	Unforgiven
		Stephen Rea	The Crying Game
		Denzel Washington	Malcolm X

66th	1993	Tom Hanks	Philadelphia
		Laurence Fishburne	What's Love Got to Do with It?
		Anthony Hopkins	The Remains of the Day
		Daniel Day-Lewis	In the Name of the Father
		Liam Neeson	Schindler's List

67th	1994	Tom Hanks	Forrest Gump
		Morgan Freeman	The Shawshank Redemption
		Nigel Hawthorne	The Madness of King George
		Paul Newman	Nobody's Fool
		John Travolta	Pulp Fiction

68th	1995	Nicolas Cage	Leaving Las Vegas
		Richard Dreyfuss	Mr. Holland's Opus
		Anthony Hopkins	Nixon
		Sean Penn	Dead Man Walking
		Massimo Troisi	Il Postino

69th	1996	Geoffrey Rush	*Shine*
		Tom Cruise	Jerry Maguire
		Ralph Fiennes	The English Patient
		Billy Bob Thornton	Sling Blade
		Woody Harrelson	The People vs. Larry Flynt

70th	1997	Jack Nicholson	As Good As It Gets
		Matt Damon	Good Will Hunting
		Robert Duvall	The Apostle
		Peter Fonda	Ulee's Gold
		Dustin Hoffman	Wag the Dog

71st	1998	Roberto Benigni	Life Is Beautiful
		Ian McKellen	Gods and Monsters
		Nick Nolte	Affliction
		Edward Norton	American History X
		Tom Hanks	Saving Private Ryan

72nd	1999	Kevin Spacey	American Beauty
		Denzel Washington	The Hurricane
		Russell Crowe	The Insider
		Richard Farnsworth	The Straight Story
		Sean Penn	Sweet and Lowdown

2000s

73rd	2000	Russell Crowe	Gladiator
		Javier Bardem	Before Night Falls
		Tom Hanks	Cast Away
		Ed Harris	Pollock
		Geoffrey Rush	Quills

74th	2001	Denzel Washington	Training Day
		Will Smith	Ali
		Russell Crowe	A Beautiful Mind
		Sean Penn	I Am Sam
		Tom Wilkinson	In the Bedroom

75th	2002	Adrien Brody	The Pianist
		Jack Nicholson	About Schmidt
		Nicolas Cage	Adaptation
		Daniel Day-Lewis	Gangs of New York
		Michael Caine	The Quiet American

76th	2003	Sean Penn	Mystic River
		Johnny Depp	Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
		Ben Kingsley	House of Sand and Fog
		Jude Law	Cold Mountain
		Bill Murray	Lost in Translation

Nominations for 77th	2004	(This line will be replaced with the winner after the awards program)
		Don Cheadle	Hotel Rwanda
		Johnny Depp	Finding Neverland
		Leonardo DiCaprio	The Aviator
		Clint Eastwood	Million Dollar Baby
		Jamie Foxx	Ray

Best Actor - Definition and Overview

See also

Example Usage of Actor