BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role


Best Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognise an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.

Superlatives

Winners and nominees

From 1952 to 1967, there were two Best Actor awards: one for a British actor and another for a foreign actor. In 1968, the two prizes of British and Foreign actor were combined to create a single Best Actor award. Its current title, for Best Actor in a Leading Role, has been used since 1995.
File:Marlon Brando in The Men.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|Marlon Brando won three times for Viva Zapata!, Julius Caesar, and On the Waterfront |alt=Black and white photo of Marlon Brando in the film, A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948
File:John Gielgud - 1953.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|John Gielgud won for Julius Caesar
File:Laurence Olivier - Rebecca.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|Laurence Olivier won for Richard III
File:Ernest Borgnine McHale McHale's Navy 1963.JPG|thumb|right|120px|upright=.6|Ernest Borgnine won for Marty
File:Peter Finch 2.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|Peter Finch won five times in 1956, 1960, 1961, 1971, and 1976|alt=Peter Finch 2.jpg
File:Alec Guinness 6 Allan Warren.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|Alec Guinness won for The Bridge on the River Kwai
File:Henry Fonda, 1940.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|Henry Fonda won for 12 Angry Men
File:Sidney Poitier 1968.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|Sidney Poitier became the first black actor to win for The Defiant Ones |alt=Black and white photo of Sidney Poitier in 1963
File:Peter Sellers 1973 by Allan Warren 2.jpg|thumb|right|120px|upright=.6|Peter Sellers won for I'm All Right Jack
File:Jack Lemmon - 1968.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|Jack Lemmon won thrice for Some Like It Hot, The Apartment and The China Syndrome |alt=Jack Lemmon - 1968.jpg
File:Paul Newman - 1958.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Paul Newman won for The Hustler
File:David di Donatello 1970 Loren O'Toole.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Peter O'Toole won for No Love for Johnnie
File:Burt Lancaster - publicity 1947.JPG|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Burt Lancaster won twice for Birdman of Alcatraz and Atlantic City
File:Richard Burton at Schiphol Airport.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|Richard Burton won for The Spy Who Came in from the Cold / Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? |alt=Photo of Richard Burton in The Robe, 1953
File:Regisseur Richard Attenborough, Bestanddeelnr 928-0661.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Richard Attenborough won for Guns at Batasi / Seance on a Wet Afternoon
File:Allan Warren.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|Paul Scofield won for A Man for All Seasons
File:Rod Steiger 2 bw.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|Rod Steiger won twice for The Pawnbroker and In the Heat of the Night
File:Spencer tracy state of the union.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|Spencer Tracy won for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
File:Dustin Hoffman - 1968.jpg|thumbnail|upright=.6|120px|Dustin Hoffman won twice for Midnight Cowboy / John and Mary, and Tootsie |alt=Photo of Dustin Hoffman attending the French premiere of his film, Quartet in 2013

File:Gene Hackman - 1972.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|Gene Hackman won for The French Connection and The Poseidon Adventure |alt=GeneHackmanJun08.jpg
File:Walter Matthau - 1952.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|Walter Matthau won for Charley Varrick / Pete 'n' Tillie
File:Jack Nicholson 2002.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|Jack Nicholson won twice for The Last Detail / Chinatown, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest |alt=Photo of Jack Nicholson attending the Cannes Film Festival in 2002
File:Al Pacino - Hummel.jpg|thumbnail|upright=.6|120px|Al Pacino won for The Godfather Part II / Dog Day Afternoon |alt=Photo of Al Pacino attending the Venice Film Festival in 2004
File:John Hurt at the London premiere of Tinker Tailor Soldier Sp.png|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|John Hurt won for The Elephant Man
File:Ben Kingsley by Gage Skidmore.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|Ben Kingsley won for Gandhi
File:Michael Caine - Viennale 2012 g.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Michael Caine won for Educating Rita
File:SeanConneryJune08.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Sean Connery won for The Name of the Rose
File:John Cleese.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|John Cleese won for A Fish Called Wanda
File:Daniel Day Lewis 26 May 2013.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|alt=Photo of Daniel Day-Lewis at the 2013 Jaguar Mille Miglia event.|Daniel Day-Lewis won four times for My Left Foot, Gangs of New York, There Will Be Blood and Lincoln
File:AnthonyHopkins10TIFF.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|Anthony Hopkins won thrice for The Silence of the Lambs, The Remains of the Day and The Father |alt=Photo of Sir Anthony Hopkins at the 2009 Tuscan Sun Festival in Cortona, Italy
File:Robert Downey, Jr. 2012.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Robert Downey Jr. won for Chaplin
File:Hugh Grant Brussels '08.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Hugh Grant won for Four Weddings and a Funeral
File:Geoffrey Rush Final Portrait Red Carpet Berlinale 2017 01.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Geoffrey Rush won for Shine
File:Robert Carlyle in 2014.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Robert Carlyle won for The Full Monty
File:Benigni2.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Roberto Benigni won for Life Is Beautiful
File:Kevin Spacey, May 2013.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Kevin Spacey won for American Beauty
File:Jamie Bell by Gage Skidmore.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|Jamie Bell won for Billy Elliot
File:Russell Crowe.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|Russell Crowe won for A Beautiful Mind |alt=Photo of Crowe at the London film premiere for State of Play, 21 April 2009
File:Bill Murray 2018.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Bill Murray won for Lost in Translation
File:Jamie Foxx Django avp.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Jamie Foxx won for Ray
File:Philip Seymour Hoffman 2011.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Philip Seymour Hoffman won for Capote
File:Forest Whitaker by Gage Skidmore.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Forest Whitaker won for The Last King of Scotland
File:Flickr - nicogenin - 66ème Festival de Venise Colin Firth.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|Colin Firth won twice for A Single Man and The King's Speech |alt=Photo of Colin Firth at the San Diego Comic-Con International in 2017
File:Jean Dujardin Cannes 2011.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Jean Dujardin won for The Artist
File:Chiwetel Ejiofor TIFF 2015.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.6|120px|Chiwetel Ejiofor won for 12 Years a Slave |alt=Chiwetel Ejiofor TIFF 2015.jpg
File:Eddie Redmayne 2022.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Eddie Redmayne won for The Theory of Everything
File:Leonardo DiCaprio cropped and rotated.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Leonardo DiCaprio won for The Revenant
File:Casey Affleck at the Manchester by the Sea premiere .jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Casey Affleck won for Manchester by the Sea
File:Gary Oldman .jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Gary Oldman won for Darkest Hour
File:SXSW 2016 - Rami Malek .jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Rami Malek won for Bohemian Rhapsody
File:Joaquin Phoenix in 2018.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Joaquin Phoenix won for Joker
File:Austin Butler, The Bikeriders, 2024.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Austin Butler won for Elvis
File:MKr347645 Cillian Murphy.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|120px|Cillian Murphy won for Oppenheimer
File:Adrien Brody-61584.jpg|thumb|120px|Adrien Brody won for The Brutalist

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Multiple nominations

;7 nominations
;6 nominations
;5 nominations
;4 nominations
;3 nominations
;2 nominations