Academy Award for Best Actor

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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.

The prize is for an actor's performance in a particular film, not for the actor's performance in all films he or she has played in in the relevant year.

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.

Seven men have won the Best Actor Award twice; in chronological order, they are: Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando, Dustin Hoffman, Tom Hanks and Jack Nicholson.

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1928 Emil Jannings - The Last Command as "Gen. Dolgorucki/Grand Duke Sergius Alexander" and The Way of All Flesh as "August Schilling"
* Richard Barthelmess - The Noose and The Patent Leather Kid
* Charlie Chaplin - The Circus

1929 Warner Baxter - In Old Arizona as "The Cisco Kid"
* George Bancroft - Thunderbolt
* Chester Morris - Alibi
* Paul Muni - The Valiant
* Lewis Stone - The Patriot

1930 George Arliss - Disraeli as "Benjamin 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

1931 Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul as "Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney"
* Adolphe Menjou - The Front Page
* Jackie Cooper - Skippy
* Richard Dix - Cimarron
* Fredric March - The Royal Family of Broadway

1932 Wallace Beery - The Champ as "Andy 'Champ' Purcell" and Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as "Dr. Henry L. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde"
* Alfred Lunt - The Guardsman

1933 Charles Laughton - The Private Life of Henry VIII as "King Henry VIII"
* Leslie Howard - Berkeley Square
* Paul Muni - I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang

1934 Clark Gable - It Happened One Night as "Peter Warne"
* Frank Morgan - The Affairs of Cellini
* William Powell - The Thin Man

1935 Victor McLaglen - The Informer as "Gypo Nolan"
* Clark Gable - Mutiny on the Bounty
* Charles Laughton - Mutiny on the Bounty
* Franchot Tone - Mutiny on the Bounty

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

1937 Spencer Tracy - Captains Courageous as "Manuel Fidello"
* Charles Boyer - Conquest
* Fredric March - A Star Is Born
* Robert Montgomery - Night Must Fall
* Paul Muni - The Life of Emile Zola

1938 Spencer Tracy - Boys Town as "Father Edward J. Flanigan"
* Charles Boyer - Algiers
* James Cagney - Angels with Dirty Faces
* Robert Donat - The Citadel
* Leslie Howard - Pygmalion

1939 Robert Donat - Goodbye, Mr. Chips as "Charles E. Chipping"
* Clark Gable - Gone with the Wind
* Laurence Olivier - Wuthering Heights
* Mickey Rooney - Babes in Arms
* James Stewart - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

1940 James Stewart - The Philadelphia Story as "Macaulay Connor"
* Charlie Chaplin - The Great Dictator
* Henry Fonda - The Grapes of Wrath
* Raymond Massey - Abe Lincoln in Illinois
* Laurence Olivier - Rebecca as "Maxim de Winter"

1941 Gary Cooper - Sergeant York as "Sergeant Alvin York"
* Cary Grant - Penny Serenade
* Walter Huston - The Devil and Daniel Webster
* Robert Montgomery - Here Comes Mr. Jordan
* Orson Welles - Citizen Kane

1942 James Cagney - Yankee Doodle Dandy as "George M. Cohan"
* Ronald Colman - Random Harvest
* Gary Cooper - The Pride of the Yankees
* Walter Pidgeon - Mrs. Miniver
* Monty Woolley - The Pied Piper

1943 Paul Lukas - Watch on the Rhine as "Kurt Muller"
* Humphrey Bogart - Casablanca
* Gary Cooper - For Whom the Bell Tolls
* Walter Pidgeon - Madame Curie
* Mickey Rooney - The Human Comedy

1944 Bing Crosby - Going My Way as "Father Chuck O'Malley"
* Charles Boyer - Gaslight
* Barry Fitzgerald - Going My Way
* Cary Grant - None but the Lonely Heart
* Alexander Knox - Wilson

1945 Ray Milland - The Lost Weekend as "Don Birnam"
* 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

1946 Fredric March - The Best Years of Our Lives as "Al Stephenson"
* Laurence Olivier - Henry V
* Larry Parks - The Jolson Story
* Gregory Peck - The Yearling
* James Stewart - It's a Wonderful Life

1947 Ronald Colman - A Double Life as "Anthony John"
* John Garfield - Body and Soul
* Gregory Peck - Gentleman's Agreement
* Michael Redgrave - Mourning Becomes Electra
* William Powell - Life with Father

1948 Laurence Olivier - Hamlet as "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark"
* Lew Ayres - Johnny Belinda
* Montgomery Clift - The Search
* Dan Dailey - When My Baby Smiles at Me
* Clifton Webb - Sitting Pretty

1949 Broderick Crawford - All the King's Men as "Willie Stark"
* Kirk Douglas - Champion
* Gregory Peck - Twelve O'Clock High
* Richard Todd - The Hasty Heart
* John Wayne - Sands of Iwo Jima

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

1951 Humphrey Bogart - The African Queen as "Charlie Allnut"
* Marlon Brando - A Streetcar Named Desire
* Montgomery Clift - A Place in the Sun
* Arthur Kennedy - Bright Victory
* Fredric March - Death of a Salesman

1952 Gary Cooper - High Noon as "Will Kane"
* Marlon Brando - Viva Zapata!
* Kirk Douglas - The Bad and the Beautiful
* José Ferrer - Moulin Rouge
* Alec Guinness - The Lavender Hill Mob

1953 William Holden - Stalag 17 as "Sergeant J.J. Sefton"
* Marlon Brando - Julius Caesar
* Richard Burton - The Robe
* Montgomery Clift - From Here to Eternity
* Burt Lancaster - From Here to Eternity

1954 Marlon Brando - On the Waterfront as "Terry Malloy"
* Humphrey Bogart - The Caine Mutiny
* Bing Crosby - The Country Girl
* James Mason - A Star Is Born
* Dan O'Herlihy - The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

1955 Ernest Borgnine - Marty as "Marty Piletti"
* 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

1956 Yul Brynner - The King and I as "King Mongkut of Siam"
* James Dean - Giant
* Kirk Douglas - Lust for Life
* Rock Hudson - Giant
* Laurence Olivier - Richard III

1957 Alec Guinness - The Bridge on the River Kwai as "Lieutenant-Colonel Nicholson"
* Marlon Brando - Sayonara
* Anthony Franciosa - A Hatful of Rain
* Charles Laughton - Witness for the Prosecution
* Anthony Quinn - Wild Is the Wind

1958 David Niven - Separate Tables as "Major Angus Pollock"
* 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

1959 Charlton Heston - Ben-Hur as "Judah 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

1960 Burt Lancaster - Elmer Gantry as "Elmer Gantry"
* Trevor Howard - Sons and Lovers
* Jack Lemmon - The Apartment
* Laurence Olivier - The Entertainer
* Spencer Tracy - Inherit the Wind

1961 Maximilian Schell - Judgment at Nuremberg as "Hans Rolfe"
* Charles Boyer - Fanny
* Paul Newman - The Hustler
* Spencer Tracy - Judgment at Nuremberg
* Stuart Whitman - The Mark

1962 Gregory Peck - To Kill a Mockingbird as "Atticus Finch"
* Burt Lancaster - Birdman of Alcatraz
* Jack Lemmon - Days of Wine and Roses
* Marcello Mastroianni - Divorce, Italian Style
* Peter O'Toole - Lawrence of Arabia

1963 Sidney Poitier - Lilies of the Field as "Homer Smith"
* Albert Finney - Tom Jones
* Richard Harris - This Sporting Life
* Rex Harrison - Cleopatra
* Paul Newman - Hud

1964 Rex Harrison - My Fair Lady as "Henry Higgins"
* 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

1965 Lee Marvin - Cat Ballou as "Kid Sheleen" and "Tim Strawn"
* Richard Burton - The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
* Laurence Olivier - Othello
* Rod Steiger - The Pawnbroker
* Oskar Werner - Ship of Fools

1966 Paul Scofield - A Man for All Seasons as "Thomas More"
* 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

1967 Rod Steiger - In the Heat of the Night as "Bill Gillespie"
* Warren Beatty - Bonnie and Clyde
* Dustin Hoffman - The Graduate
* Paul Newman - Cool Hand Luke
* Spencer Tracy - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

1968 Cliff Robertson - Charly as "Charly Gordon"
* Alan Arkin - The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
* Alan Bates - The Fixer
* Ron Moody - Oliver!
* Peter O'Toole - The Lion in Winter

1969 John Wayne - True Grit as "Rooster Cogburn"
* Richard Burton - Anne of the Thousand Days
* Dustin Hoffman - Midnight Cowboy
* Peter O'Toole - Goodbye, Mr. Chips
* Jon Voight - Midnight Cowboy

1970 George C. Scott - Patton (declined) as "George S. Patton"
* 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

1971 Gene Hackman - The French Connection as "Detective Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle"
* Peter Finch - Sunday Bloody Sunday
* Walter Matthau - Kotch
* George C. Scott - The Hospital
* Topol - Fiddler on the Roof

1972 Marlon Brando - The Godfather (declined) as "Vito Corleone"
* Michael Caine - Sleuth
* Laurence Olivier - Sleuth
* Peter O'Toole - The Ruling Class
* Paul Winfield - Sounder

1973 Jack Lemmon - Save the Tiger as "Harry Stoner"
* Marlon Brando - Last Tango in Paris
* Jack Nicholson - The Last Detail
* Al Pacino - Serpico
* Robert Redford - The Sting

1974 Art Carney - Harry and Tonto as "Harry Coombes"
* Albert Finney - Murder on the Orient Express
* Dustin Hoffman - Lenny
* Jack Nicholson - Chinatown
* Al Pacino - The Godfather, Part II

1975 Jack Nicholson - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest as "Randle Patrick McMurphy"
* Walter Matthau - The Sunshine Boys
* Al Pacino - Dog Day Afternoon
* Maximilian Schell - The Man in the Glass Booth
* James Whitmore - Give 'em Hell, Harry!

1976 Peter Finch - Network (posthumous) as "Howard Beale"
* Robert De Niro - Taxi Driver
* Giancarlo Giannini - Seven Beauties (Pasqualino Settebellezze)
* William Holden - Network
* Sylvester Stallone - Rocky

1977 Richard Dreyfuss - The Goodbye Girl as "Elliot Garfield"
* Woody Allen - Annie Hall
* Richard Burton - Equus
* Marcello Mastroianni - A Special Day
* John Travolta - Saturday Night Fever

1978 Jon Voight - Coming Home as "Luke Martin"
* Warren Beatty - Heaven Can Wait
* Gary Busey - The Buddy Holly Story
* Robert De Niro - The Deer Hunter
* Laurence Olivier - The Boys from Brazil

1979 Dustin Hoffman - Kramer vs. Kramer as "Ted Kramer"
* Jack Lemmon - The China Syndrome
* Roy Scheider - All That Jazz
* Peter Sellers - Being There
* Al Pacino - ...And Justice for All

1980 Robert De Niro - Raging Bull as "Jake LaMotta"
* Robert Duvall - The Great Santini
* John Hurt - The Elephant Man
* Jack Lemmon - Tribute
* Peter O'Toole - The Stunt Man

1981 Henry Fonda - On Golden Pond as "Norman Thayer Jr."
* Warren Beatty - Reds
* Burt Lancaster - Atlantic City
* Dudley Moore - Arthur
* Paul Newman - Absence of Malice

1982 Ben Kingsley - Gandhi as "Mahatma Gandhi"
* Dustin Hoffman - Tootsie
* Jack Lemmon - Missing
* Paul Newman - The Verdict
* Peter O'Toole - My Favorite Year

1983 Robert Duvall - Tender Mercies as "Mac Sledge"
* Michael Caine - Educating Rita
* Tom Conti - Reuben, Reuben
* Tom Courtenay - The Dresser
* Albert Finney - The Dresser

1984 F. Murray Abraham - Amadeus as "Antonio Salieri"
* Jeff Bridges - Starman
* Albert Finney - Under the Volcano
* Tom Hulce - Amadeus
* Sam Waterston - The Killing Fields

1985 William Hurt - Kiss of the Spider Woman as "Luis Molina"
* Harrison Ford - Witness
* James Garner - Murphy's Romance
* Jack Nicholson - Prizzi's Honor
* Jon Voight - Runaway Train

1986 Paul Newman - The Color of Money as "Fast Eddie Felson"
* Dexter Gordon - 'Round Midnight
* Bob Hoskins - Mona Lisa
* William Hurt - Children of a Lesser God
* James Woods - Salvador

1987 Michael Douglas - Wall Street as "Gordon Gekko"
* William Hurt - Broadcast News
* Marcello Mastroianni - Dark Eyes
* Jack Nicholson - Ironweed
* Robin Williams - Good Morning, Vietnam

1988 Dustin Hoffman - Rain Man as "Raymond Babbitt"
* Gene Hackman - Mississippi Burning
* Tom Hanks - Big
* Edward James Olmos - Stand and Deliver
* Max von Sydow - Pelle the Conqueror

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

1990 Jeremy Irons - Reversal of Fortune as "Claus Von Bulow"
* Kevin Costner - Dances with Wolves
* Robert De Niro - Awakenings
* Gerard Depardieu - Cyrano de Bergerac
* Richard Harris - The Field

1991 Anthony Hopkins - The Silence of the Lambs as "Hannibal Lecter"
* Warren Beatty - Bugsy
* Robert De Niro - Cape Fear
* Nick Nolte - The Prince of Tides
* Robin Williams - The Fisher King

1992 Al Pacino - Scent of a Woman as "Lt. Col. Frank Slade"
* Robert Downey Jr. - Chaplin
* Clint Eastwood - Unforgiven
* Stephen Rea - The Crying Game
* Denzel Washington - Malcolm X

1993 Tom Hanks - Philadelphia as "Andy Beckett"
* 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

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

1995 Nicolas Cage - Leaving Las Vegas as "Ben Sanderson"
* Richard Dreyfuss - Mr. Holland's Opus
* Anthony Hopkins - Nixon
* Sean Penn - Dead Man Walking
* Massimo Troisi - Il Postino

1996 Geoffrey Rush - Shine as "David Helfgott"
* Tom Cruise - Jerry Maguire
* Ralph Fiennes - The English Patient
* Woody Harrelson - The People vs. Larry Flynt
* Billy Bob Thornton - Sling Blade

1997 Jack Nicholson - As Good as It Gets as "Melvin Udall"
* Matt Damon - Good Will Hunting
* Robert Duvall - The Apostle
* Peter Fonda - Ulee's Gold
* Dustin Hoffman - Wag the Dog

1998 Roberto Benigni - Life Is Beautiful as "Guido Orefice"
* Tom Hanks - Saving Private Ryan
* Ian McKellen - Gods and Monsters
* Nick Nolte - Affliction
* Edward Norton - American History X

1999 Kevin Spacey - American Beauty as "Lester Burnham"
* Russell Crowe - The Insider
* Richard Farnsworth - The Straight Story
* Sean Penn - Sweet and Lowdown
* Denzel Washington -The Hurricane

2000 Russell Crowe - Gladiator as "Maximus"
* Javier Bardem - Before Night Falls
* Tom Hanks - Cast Away
* Ed Harris - Pollock
* Geoffrey Rush - Quills

2001 Denzel Washington - Training Day as "Alonzo Harris"
* Russell Crowe - A Beautiful Mind
* Sean Penn - I Am Sam
* Will Smith - Ali
* Tom Wilkinson - In the Bedroom

2002 Adrien Brody - The Pianist as "Wladyslaw Szpilman"
* Nicolas Cage - Adaptation.
* Daniel Day-Lewis - Gangs of New York
* Michael Caine - The Quiet American
* Jack Nicholson - About Schmidt

2003 Sean Penn - Mystic River as "Jimmy Markum"
* 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

2004 Jamie Foxx - Ray as "Ray Charles"
* Don Cheadle - Hotel Rwanda
* Johnny Depp - Finding Neverland
* Leonardo DiCaprio - The Aviator
* Clint Eastwood - Million Dollar Baby

2005 Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote as "Truman Capote"
* Terrence Howard - ''Hustle & Flow
* Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain
* Joaquin Phoenix - Walk the Line
* David Strathairn - Good Night, and Good Luck.

Academy Award for Best Actor

See also