Click through each award to see the full list of nominees and winners!
2020 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Joker
Joaquin Phoenix
2019 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Bohemian Rhapsody
Rami Malek
2018 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Darkest Hour
Gary Oldman
2017 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Manchester by the Sea
Casey Affleck
2016 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The Revenant
Leonardo DiCaprio
2015 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The Theory of Everything
Eddie Redmayne
2014 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Dallas Buyers Club
Matthew McConaughey
2013 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Lincoln
Daniel Day-Lewis
2012 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The Artist
Jean Dujardin
2011 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The King’s Speech
Colin Firth
2010 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Crazy Heart
Jeff Bridges
2009 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Milk
Sean Penn
2008 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
There Will Be Blood
Daniel Day-Lewis
2007 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The Last King of Scotland
Forest Whitaker
2006 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Capote
Philip Seymour Hoffman
2005 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Ray
Jamie Foxx
2004 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Mystic River
Sean Penn
2003 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The Pianist
Adrien Brody
2002 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Training Day
Denzel Washington
2001 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Gladiator
Russell Crowe
2000 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
American Beauty
Kevin Spacey
1999 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Life Is Beautiful
Roberto Benigni
1998 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
As Good as It Gets
Jack Nicholson
1997 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Shine
Geoffrey Rush
1996 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Leaving Las Vegas
Nicolas Cage
1995 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Forrest Gump
Tom Hanks
1994 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Philadelphia
Tom Hanks
1993 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Scent of a Woman
Al Pacino
1992 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The Silence of the Lambs
Anthony Hopkins
1991 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Reversal of Fortune
Jeremy Irons
1990 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
My Left Foot
Daniel Day-Lewis
1989 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Rain Man
Dustin Hoffman
1988 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Wall Street
Michael Douglas
1987 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The Color of Money
Paul Newman
1986 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Kiss of the Spider Woman
William Hurt
1985 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Amadeus
F. Murray Abraham
1984 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Tender Mercies
Robert Duvall
1983 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Gandhi
Ben Kingsley
1982 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
On Golden Pond
Henry Fonda
1981 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Raging Bull
Robert De Niro
1980 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Kramer vs. Kramer
Dustin Hoffman
1979 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Coming Home
Jon Voight
1978 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The Goodbye Girl
Richard Dreyfuss
1977 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Network
Peter Finch
1976 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Jack Nicholson
1975 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Harry and Tonto
Art Carney
1974 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Save the Tiger
Jack Lemmon
1973 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The Godfather
Marlon Brando
1972 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The French Connection
Gene Hackman
1971 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Patton
George C. Scott
1970 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
True Grit
John Wayne
1969 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Charly
Cliff Robertson
1968 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
In the Heat of the Night
Rod Steiger
1967 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
A Man for All Seasons
Paul Scofield
1966 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Cat Ballou
Lee Marvin
1965 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
My Fair Lady
Rex Harrison
1964 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Lilies of the Field
Sidney Poitier
1963 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
To Kill a Mockingbird
Gregory Peck
1962 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Judgment at Nuremberg
Maximilian Schell
1961 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Elmer Gantry
Burt Lancaster
1960 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Ben-Hur
Charlton Heston
1959 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Separate Tables
David Niven
1958 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Alec Guinness
1957 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The King and I
Yul Brynner
1956 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Marty
Ernest Borgnine
1955 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
On the Waterfront
Marlon Brando
1954 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Stalag 17
William Holden
1953 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
High Noon
Gary Cooper
1952 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The African Queen
Humphrey Bogart
1951 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Cyrano de Bergerac
José Ferrer
1950 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
All the King’s Men
Broderick Crawford
1949 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Hamlet
Laurence Olivier
1948 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
A Double Life
Ronald Colman
1947 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The Best Years of Our Lives
Fredric March
1946 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The Lost Weekend
Ray Milland
1945 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Going My Way
Bing Crosby
1944 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Watch on the Rhine
Paul Lukas
1943 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Yankee Doodle Dandy
James Cagney
1942 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Sergeant York
Gary Cooper
1941 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The Philadelphia Story
James Stewart
1940 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Robert Donat
1939 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Boys Town
Spencer Tracy
1938 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Captains Courageous
Spencer Tracy
1937 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The Story of Louis Pasteur
Paul Muni
1936 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The Informer
Victor McLaglen
1935 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
It Happened One Night
Clark Gable
1934 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The Private Life of Henry VIII.
Charles Laughton
1932 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Fredric March
1932 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
The Champ
Wallace Beery
1931 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
A Free Soul
Lionel Barrymore
1930s Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
Disraeli
George Arliss
1930 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
In Old Arizona
Warner Baxter
1929 Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role
