Best Actor

1955 National Board of Review - Best Actor WinnerMartyErnest BorgnineA middle-aged butcher and a school teacher who have given up on the idea of love meet at a dance and fall for each other.Amazon

2009 National Board of Review - Best Actor WinnerInvictusMorgan FreemanNelson Mandela, in his first term as President of South Africa, initiates a unique venture to unite the Apartheid-torn land: enlist the national rugby team on a mission to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup.AmazonUp in the AirGeorge ClooneyRyan Bingham enjoys living out of a suitcase for his job, travelling around the country firing people, but finds that lifestyle threatened by the presence of a potential love interest, and a new hire.Amazon

1999 National Board of Review - Best Actor WinnerThe InsiderRussell CroweA research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a 60 Minutes (1968) exposé on Big Tobacco.Amazon

2000 National Board of Review - Best Actor WinnerBefore Night FallsJavier BardemThe life of Cuban poet and novelist, Reinaldo Arenas.Amazon

2001 National Board of Review - Best Actor WinnerMonster's BallBilly Bob ThorntonAfter a family tragedy, a racist prison guard re-examines his attitudes while falling in love with the African-American wife of the last prisoner he executed.Amazon

2002 National Board of Review - Best Actor WinnerRoger DodgerCampbell ScottAfter breaking up with his lover and boss, a smooth-talking man takes his teenaged nephew out on the town in search of sex.Amazon

2003 National Board of Review - Best Actor WinnerMystic RiverSean PennThe lives of three men who were childhood friends are shattered when one of them has a family tragedy.Amazon

2004 National Board of Review - Best Actor WinnerRayJamie FoxxThe story of the life and career of the legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles, from his humble beginnings in the South, where he went blind at age seven, to his meteoric rise to stardom during the 1950s and 1960s.Amazon

2005 National Board of Review - Best Actor WinnerCapotePhilip Seymour HoffmanIn 1959, Truman Capote learns of the murder of a Kansas family and decides to write a book about the case. While researching for his novel In Cold Blood, Capote forms a relationship with one of the killers, Perry Smith, who is on death row.Amazon

2006 National Board of Review - Best Actor WinnerThe Last King of ScotlandForest WhitakerBased on the events of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's regime as seen by his personal physician during the 1970s.Amazon