Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama is a Golden Globe Award that was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951. Previously, there was a single award for "Best Actor in a Motion Picture" but the splitting allowed for recognition of it and the Best Actor – Musical or Comedy.
The formal title has varied since its inception. In 2005, it was officially called: "Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama"., the wording is "Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama".
Winners and nominees
2010s
Multiple nominations
;10 nominations;9 nominations
;8 nominations
;7 nominations
;6 nominations
;5 nominations
- Richard Burton
- Russell Crowe
- Gene Hackman
- Dustin Hoffman
- Anthony Hopkins
- Peter O'Toole
- Gregory Peck
- Sidney Poitier
- Jon Voight
;3 nominations
- Javier Bardem
- Michael Caine
- George Clooney
- Tom Cruise
- Albert Finney
- Harrison Ford
- Fredric March
- Steve McQueen
- Liam Neeson
- Nick Nolte
- Laurence Olivier
- Sean Penn
- Brad Pitt
- George C. Scott
- Alan Arkin
- Alan Bates
- Jeff Bridges
- Adrien Brody
- Timothée Chalamet
- Bradley Cooper
- Gary Cooper
- Kevin Costner
- Benedict Cumberbatch
- Tony Curtis
- Matt Damon
- Colman Domingo
- Kirk Douglas
- Michael Douglas
- Joel Edgerton
- Richard Farnsworth
- Michael Fassbender
- Ralph Fiennes
- Peter Finch
- Colin Firth
- Henry Fonda
- Morgan Freeman
- Richard Gere
- Ryan Gosling
- Rex Harrison
- Charlton Heston
- Tom Hulce
- William Hurt
- Jeremy Irons
- Ben Kingsley
- Ian McKellen
- Ray Milland
- Viggo Mortensen
- Joaquin Phoenix
- Gary Oldman
- Anthony Quinn
- Eddie Redmayne
- Geoffrey Rush
- Maximilian Schell
- Kevin Spacey
- Rod Steiger
- Forest Whitaker
- Robin Williams
Multiple wins
;3 wins;2 wins
- Marlon Brando
- Daniel Day-Lewis
- Leonardo DiCaprio
- Dustin Hoffman
- Peter O'Toole
- Al Pacino
- Gregory Peck
- Jon Voight
Firsts
- José Ferrer became the first Latino as well as the first Puerto Rican actor to win in 1951.
- Sidney Poitier became the first actor of African descent as well as the first Bahamian actor to win in 1963.
- Omar Sharif became the first actor of Middle Eastern descent as well as the first Egyptian actor to win in 1966.
- Peter Finch became the first actor to win posthumously in 1977.
- Ben Kingsley became the first actor of Asian descent to win in 1983.
- Wagner Moura became the first actor to win for a foreign language/non-English language performance in 2025.