Winners and nominees

Following the Academy's practice, the films below are listed by year of their Los Angeles qualifying run, which is usually (but not always) the film's year of release. For example, the Oscar for Best Actor of 1999 was announced during the award ceremony held in 2000. Winners are listed first in bold, followed by the other nominees.

1920s

• 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 as "Nicky Elkins" and The Patent Leather Kid as "the Patent Leather Kid"
  • Charles Chaplin - The Circus as "The Little Tramp"

• 1929 Warner Baxter - In Old Arizona as "The Cisco Kid"
  • George Bancroft - Thunderbolt as "Thunderbolt Jim Lang"
  • Chester Morris - Alibi as "Chick Williams (No. 1065)"
  • Paul Muni - The Valiant as "James Dyke"
  • Lewis Stone - The Patriot as "Count Pahlen"

1930s

• 1930 George Arliss - Disraeli as Benjamin Disraeli
  • George Arliss - The Green Goddess as "The Raja of Rukh"
  • Wallace Beery - The Big House as "'Machine Gun' Butch Schmidt"
  • Maurice Chevalier - The Big Pond as "Pierre Mirande" and The Love Parade as "Count Alfred Renard"
  • Ronald Colman - Bulldog Drummond as "Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond" and Condemned as "Michel"
  • Lawrence Tibbett - The Rogue Song as "Yegor"

• 1931 Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul as "Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney"
  • Adolphe Menjou - The Front Page as "Walter Burns"
  • Jackie Cooper - Skippy as "Skippy Skinner"
  • Richard Dix - Cimarron as "Yancey Cravat"
  • Fredric March - The Royal Family of Broadway as "Tony Cavendish"

• 1932 Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as "Dr. Henry L. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde" and Wallace Beery - The Champ as "Champ" (tie)
  • Alfred Lunt - The Guardsman as "The Actor"

• 1933 Charles Laughton - The Private Life of Henry VIII as King Henry VIII
  • Leslie Howard - Berkeley Square as "Peter Standish"
  • Paul Muni - I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang as "James Allen/Allen James"

• 1934 Clark Gable - It Happened One Night as "Peter Warne"
  • Frank Morgan - The Affairs of Cellini as Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence
  • William Powell - The Thin Man as "Nick Charles"

• 1935 Victor McLaglen - The Informer as "Gypo Nolan"
  • Clark Gable - Mutiny on the Bounty as Fletcher Christian
  • Charles Laughton - Mutiny on the Bounty as William Bligh
  • Paul Muni - Black Fury as "Joe Radek" (unofficial nomination; write-in candidate)
  • Franchot Tone - Mutiny on the Bounty as Midshipman Roger Byam

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

• 1937 Spencer Tracy - Captains Courageous as "Manuel"
  • Charles Boyer - Conquest as Napoleon Bonaparte
  • Fredric March - A Star Is Born as "Norman Maine / Alfred Hinkel"
  • Robert Montgomery - Night Must Fall as "Danny"
  • Paul Muni - The Life of Emile Zola as Emile Zola

• 1938 Spencer Tracy - Boys Town as Father Edward J. Flanigan
  • Charles Boyer - Algiers as "Pepe Le Moko"
  • James Cagney - Angels with Dirty Faces as "Rocky Sullivan"
  • Robert Donat - The Citadel as "Dr. Andrew Manson"
  • Leslie Howard - Pygmalion as "Professor Henry Higgins"

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

1940s

• 1940 James Stewart - The Philadelphia Story as "Macaulay Connor"
  • Charles Chaplin - The Great Dictator as "Adenoid Hynkel (Dictator of Tomania)"/"A Jewish Barber"
  • Henry Fonda - The Grapes of Wrath as "Tom Joad"
  • Raymond Massey - Abe Lincoln in Illinois as Abraham Lincoln
  • Laurence Olivier - Rebecca as "Maxim de Winter"

• 1941 Gary Cooper - Sergeant York as Sergeant Alvin York
  • Cary Grant - Penny Serenade as "Roger Adams"
  • Walter Huston - The Devil and Daniel Webster as "Mr. Scratch"
  • Robert Montgomery - Here Comes Mr. Jordan as "Joe Pendleton"
  • Orson Welles - Citizen Kane as "Charles Foster Kane"

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

• 1943 Paul Lukas - Watch on the Rhine as "Kurt Muller"
  • Humphrey Bogart - Casablanca as "Rick Blaine"
  • Gary Cooper - For Whom the Bell Tolls as "Robert Jordan"
  • Walter Pidgeon - Madame Curie as Pierre Curie
  • Mickey Rooney - The Human Comedy as "Homer Macauley"

• 1944 Bing Crosby - Going My Way as "Father Chuck O'Malley"
  • Charles Boyer - Gaslight as "Gregory Anton"
  • Barry Fitzgerald - Going My Way as "Father Fitzgibbon"
  • Cary Grant - None but the Lonely Heart as "Ernie Mott"
  • Alexander Knox - Wilson as Woodrow Wilson

• 1945 Ray Milland - The Lost Weekend as "Don Birnam"
  • Bing Crosby - The Bells of St. Mary's as "Father Chuck O'Malley"
  • Gene Kelly - Anchors Aweigh as "Joseph Brady"
  • Gregory Peck - The Keys of the Kingdom as "Father Francis Chisolm"
  • Cornel Wilde - A Song to Remember as Frederic Chopin

• 1946 Fredric March - The Best Years of Our Lives as "Al Stephenson"
  • Laurence Olivier - Henry V as Henry V of England (Note: Olivier received an Academy Honorary Award for "his Outstanding achievement as actor, producer and director in bringing Henry V to the screen")
  • Larry Parks - The Jolson Story as Al Jolson
  • Gregory Peck - The Yearling as "Penny Baxter"
  • James Stewart - It's a Wonderful Life as "George Bailey"

• 1947 Ronald Colman - A Double Life as "Anthony John"
  • John Garfield - Body and Soul as "Charley Davis"
  • Gregory Peck - Gentleman's Agreement as "Philip Schuyler Green"
  • Michael Redgrave - Mourning Becomes Electra as "Orin Mannon"
  • William Powell - Life with Father as "Clarence 'Father' Day"

• 1948 Laurence Olivier - Hamlet as "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark"
  • Lew Ayres - Johnny Belinda as "Dr. Robert Richardson"
  • Montgomery Clift - The Search as "Ralph 'Steve' Stevenson"
  • Dan Dailey - When My Baby Smiles at Me as "'Skid' Johnson"
  • Clifton Webb - Sitting Pretty as "Lynn Belvedere"

• 1949 Broderick Crawford - All the King's Men as "Willie Stark"
  • Kirk Douglas - Champion as "Michael 'Midge' Kelly"
  • Gregory Peck - Twelve O'Clock High as "Brig. Gen. Frank Savage"
  • Richard Todd - The Hasty Heart as "Cpl. Lachlan 'Lachie' MacLachlan"
  • John Wayne - Sands of Iwo Jima as "Sgt. John Stryker"

1950s

• 1950 José Ferrer - Cyrano de Bergerac as Cyrano de Bergerac
  • Louis Calhern - The Magnificent Yankee as Oliver Wendell Holmes
  • William Holden - Sunset Boulevard as "Joe Gillis"
  • James Stewart - Harvey as "Elwood P. Dowd"
  • Spencer Tracy - Father of the Bride as "Stanley T. Banks"

• 1951 Humphrey Bogart - The African Queen as "Charlie Allnut"
  • Marlon Brando - A Streetcar Named Desire as "Stanley Kowalski"
  • Montgomery Clift - A Place in the Sun as "George Eastman"
  • Arthur Kennedy - Bright Victory as "Larry Nevins"
  • Fredric March - Death of a Salesman as "Willy Loman"

• 1952 Gary Cooper - High Noon as "Will Kane"
  • Marlon Brando - Viva Zapata! as Emiliano Zapata
  • Kirk Douglas - The Bad and the Beautiful as "Jonathan Shields"
  • José Ferrer - Moulin Rouge as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Comte Alphonse de Toulouse-Lautrec
  • Alec Guinness - The Lavender Hill Mob as "Henry 'Dutch' Holland"

• 1953 William Holden - Stalag 17 as "Sergeant J.J. Sefton"
  • Marlon Brando - Julius Caesar as Mark Antony
  • Richard Burton - The Robe as "Marcellus Gallio"
  • Montgomery Clift - From Here to Eternity as "Pvt. Robert E. Lee 'Prew' Prewitt"
  • Burt Lancaster - From Here to Eternity as "Sgt. Milton Warden"

• 1954 Marlon Brando - On the Waterfront as "Terry Malloy"
  • Humphrey Bogart - The Caine Mutiny as "Phillip Francis Queeg"
  • Bing Crosby - The Country Girl as "Frank Elgin"
  • James Mason - A Star Is Born as "Norman Maine"
  • Dan O'Herlihy - The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe as "Robinson Crusoe"

• 1955 Ernest Borgnine - Marty as "Marty Piletti"
  • James Cagney - Love Me or Leave Me as Martin Snyder
  • James Dean - East of Eden as "Cal Trask" (posthumously nominated)
  • Frank Sinatra - The Man with the Golden Arm as "Frankie Machine"
  • Spencer Tracy - Bad Day at Black Rock as "John J. Macreedy"

• 1956 Yul Brynner - The King and I as "King Mongkut of Siam"
  • James Dean - Giant as "Jett Rink" (posthumously nominated)
  • Kirk Douglas - Lust for Life as Vincent Van Gogh
  • Rock Hudson - Giant as "Bick Benedict"
  • Laurence Olivier - Richard III as Richard III of England

• 1957 Alec Guinness - The Bridge on the River Kwai as "Lieutenant-Colonel Nicholson"
  • Marlon Brando - Sayonara as "Major Lloyd 'Ace Garber, USAF"
  • Anthony Franciosa - A Hatful of Rain as "Polo Pope"
  • Charles Laughton - Witness for the Prosecution as "Sir Wilfrid Robarts"
  • Anthony Quinn - Wild Is the Wind as "Gino"

• 1958 David Niven - Separate Tables as "Major Angus Pollock"
  • Tony Curtis - The Defiant Ones as "John 'Joker' Jackson"
  • Paul Newman - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as "Brick Pollitt"
  • Sidney Poitier - The Defiant Ones as "Noah Cullen"
  • Spencer Tracy - The Old Man and the Sea as "Santiago"

• 1959 Charlton Heston - Ben-Hur as "Judah Ben-Hur"
  • Laurence Harvey - Room at the Top as "Joe Lampton"
  • Jack Lemmon - Some Like It Hot as "Jerry/Daphne"
  • Paul Muni - The Last Angry Man as "Dr. Sam Abelman"
  • James Stewart - Anatomy of a Murder as "Paul Biegler"

1960s

• 1960 Burt Lancaster - Elmer Gantry as "Elmer Gantry"
  • Trevor Howard - Sons and Lovers as "Walter Morel"
  • Jack Lemmon - The Apartment as "C.C. Baxter"
  • Laurence Olivier - The Entertainer as "Archie Rice"
  • Spencer Tracy - Inherit the Wind as "Henry Drummond"

• 1961 Maximilian Schell - Judgment at Nuremberg as "Hans Rolfe"
  • Charles Boyer - Fanny as "Fanny"
  • Paul Newman - The Hustler as "Fast Eddie Felson"
  • Spencer Tracy - Judgment at Nuremberg as "Chief Judge Dan Haywood"
  • Stuart Whitman - The Mark as "Jim Fuller"

• 1962 Gregory Peck - To Kill a Mockingbird as "Atticus Finch"
  • Burt Lancaster - Birdman of Alcatraz as Robert Stroud
  • Jack Lemmon - Days of Wine and Roses as "Joe Clay"
  • Marcello Mastroianni - Divorce, Italian Style as "Ferdinando Cefalú"
  • Peter O'Toole - Lawrence of Arabia as T. E. Lawrence

• 1963 Sidney Poitier - Lilies of the Field as "Homer Smith"
  • Albert Finney - Tom Jones as "Tom Jones"
  • Richard Harris - This Sporting Life as "Frank Machin"
  • Rex Harrison - Cleopatra as Julius Caesar
  • Paul Newman - Hud as "Hud Bannon"

• 1964 Rex Harrison - My Fair Lady as "Henry Higgins"
  • Richard Burton - Becket as Thomas Becket
  • Peter O'Toole - Becket as Henry II of England
  • Anthony Quinn - Zorba the Greek as "Alexis Zorba"
  • Peter Sellers - Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb as "Group Captain Lionel Mendrake," "President Merkin Muffley," and "Dr. Strangelove"

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

• 1966 Paul Scofield - A Man for All Seasons as Thomas More
  • Alan Arkin - The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming as "Lt. Rozanov"
  • Richard Burton - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as "George"
  • Michael Caine - Alfie as "Alfie"
  • Steve McQueen - The Sand Pebbles as "Jake Holman"

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

• 1968 Cliff Robertson - Charly as "Charly Gordon"
  • Alan Arkin - The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter as "John Singer"
  • Alan Bates - The Fixer as "Yakov Bok"
  • Ron Moody - Oliver! as "Fagin"
  • Peter O'Toole - The Lion in Winter as Henry II of England

• 1969 John Wayne - True Grit as "Rooster Cogburn"
  • Richard Burton - Anne of the Thousand Days as Henry VIII of England
  • Dustin Hoffman - Midnight Cowboy as "Enrico 'Ratso' Rizzo"
  • Peter O'Toole - Goodbye, Mr. Chips as "Arthur Chipping"
  • Jon Voight - Midnight Cowboy as "Joe Buck"

1970s

• 1970 George C. Scott - Patton (declined) as George S. Patton
  • Melvyn Douglas - I Never Sang for My Father as "Tom Garrison"
  • James Earl Jones - The Great White Hope as "Jack Jefferson"
  • Jack Nicholson - Five Easy Pieces as "Bobby Dupea"
  • Ryan O'Neal - Love Story as "Oliver Barrett IV"

• 1971 Gene Hackman - The French Connection as "Detective Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle"
  • Peter Finch - Sunday Bloody Sunday as "Daniel Hirsh"
  • Walter Matthau - Kotch as "Joseph P. Kotcher"
  • George C. Scott - The Hospital as "Dr. Herbert Bock"
  • Topol - Fiddler on the Roof as "Tevye"

• 1972 Marlon Brando - The Godfather (declined) as "Vito Corleone"
  • Michael Caine - Sleuth as "Milo Tindle"
  • Laurence Olivier - Sleuth as "Andrew Wyke"
  • Peter O'Toole - The Ruling Class as "Jack Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney"
  • Paul Winfield - Sounder as "Nathan Lee Morgan"

• 1973 Jack Lemmon - Save the Tiger as "Harry Stoner"
  • Marlon Brando - Last Tango in Paris as "Paul"
  • Jack Nicholson - The Last Detail as "Billy 'Bad Ass' Buddusky"
  • Al Pacino - Serpico as Frank Serpico
  • Robert Redford - The Sting as "Johnny Hooker"

• 1974 Art Carney - Harry and Tonto as "Harry Coombes"
  • Albert Finney - Murder on the Orient Express as "Hercule Poirot"
  • Dustin Hoffman - Lenny as Lenny Bruce
  • Jack Nicholson - Chinatown as "Jake 'J.J' Gittes"
  • Al Pacino - The Godfather, Part II as "Michael Corleone"

• 1975 Jack Nicholson - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest as "Randle Patrick McMurphy"
  • Walter Matthau - The Sunshine Boys as "Willy Clark"
  • Al Pacino - Dog Day Afternoon as "Sonny Wortzik"
  • Maximilian Schell - The Man in the Glass Booth as "Arthur Goldman"
  • James Whitmore - Give 'em Hell, Harry! as Harry S. Truman

• 1976 Peter Finch - Network (posthumous) as "Howard Beale"
  • Robert De Niro - Taxi Driver as "Travis Bickle"
  • Giancarlo Giannini - Seven Beauties (Pasqualino Settebellezze) as "Pasqualino Frafuso"
  • William Holden - Network as "Max Schumacher"
  • Sylvester Stallone - Rocky as "Rocky Balboa"

• 1977 Richard Dreyfuss - The Goodbye Girl as "Elliot Garfield"
  • Woody Allen - Annie Hall as "Alvy Singer"
  • Richard Burton - Equus as "Martin Dysart"
  • Marcello Mastroianni - A Special Day as "Gabriele"
  • John Travolta - Saturday Night Fever as "Tony Manero"

• 1978 Jon Voight - Coming Home as "Luke Martin"
  • Warren Beatty - Heaven Can Wait as "Joe Pendleton"
  • Gary Busey - The Buddy Holly Story as Buddy Holly
  • Robert De Niro - The Deer Hunter as "Michael Vronsky"
  • Laurence Olivier - The Boys from Brazil as "Ezra Lieberman"

• 1979 Dustin Hoffman - Kramer vs. Kramer as "Ted Kramer"
  • Jack Lemmon - The China Syndrome as "Jack Godell"
  • Al Pacino - ...And Justice for All as "Arthur Kirkland"
  • Roy Scheider - All That Jazz as "Joe Gideon"
  • Peter Sellers - Being There as "Chance"

1980s

• 1980 Robert De Niro - Raging Bull as Jake LaMotta
  • Robert Duvall - The Great Santini as "Lieutenant Colonel Bull Meechum"
  • John Hurt - The Elephant Man as Joseph Merrick
  • Jack Lemmon - Tribute as "Scottie Templeton"
  • Peter O'Toole - The Stunt Man as "Eli Cross"

• 1981 Henry Fonda - On Golden Pond as "Norman Thayer, Jr."
  • Warren Beatty - Reds as John Silas Reed
  • Burt Lancaster - Atlantic City as "Lou Pascal"
  • Dudley Moore - Arthur as "Arthur Bach"
  • Paul Newman - Absence of Malice as "Michael Colin Gallagher"

• 1982 Ben Kingsley - Gandhi as Mahatma Gandhi
  • Dustin Hoffman - Tootsie as "Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels"
  • Jack Lemmon - Missing as Ed Horman
  • Paul Newman - The Verdict as "Frank Galvin"
  • Peter O'Toole - My Favorite Year as "Alan Swann"

• 1983 Robert Duvall - Tender Mercies as "Mac Sledge"
  • Michael Caine - Educating Rita as "Dr. Frank Bryant"
  • Tom Conti - Reuben, Reuben as "Gowan McGland"
  • Tom Courtenay - The Dresser as "Norman"
  • Albert Finney - The Dresser as "Sir"

• 1984 F. Murray Abraham - Amadeus as "Antonio Salieri"
  • Jeff Bridges - Starman as "Starman"
  • Albert Finney - Under the Volcano as "Geoffrey Firmin"
  • Tom Hulce - Amadeus as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Sam Waterston - The Killing Fields as Sydney Schanberg

• 1985 William Hurt - Kiss of the Spider Woman as "Luis Molina"
  • Harrison Ford - Witness as "John Book"
  • James Garner - Murphy's Romance as "Murphy Jones"
  • Jack Nicholson - Prizzi's Honor as "Charley Partaana"
  • Jon Voight - Runaway Train as "Oscar 'Manny' Manheim"

• 1986 Paul Newman - The Color of Money as "Fast Eddie Felson"
  • Dexter Gordon - 'Round Midnight as "Dale Turner"
  • Bob Hoskins - Mona Lisa as "George"
  • William Hurt - Children of a Lesser God as "James Leeds"
  • James Woods - Salvador as Richard Boyle

• 1987 Michael Douglas - Wall Street as "Gordon Gekko"
  • William Hurt - Broadcast News as "Tom Grunick"
  • Marcello Mastroianni - Dark Eyes as "Romano"
  • Jack Nicholson - Ironweed as 'Francis Phelan"
  • Robin Williams - Good Morning, Vietnam as Adrian Cronauer

• 1988 Dustin Hoffman - Rain Man as "Raymond Babbitt"
  • Gene Hackman - Mississippi Burning as "Rupert Anderson"
  • Tom Hanks - Big as "Josh Baskin"
  • Edward James Olmos - Stand and Deliver as Jaime Escalante
  • Max von Sydow - Pelle the Conqueror as "Lassefar"

• 1989 Daniel Day-Lewis - My Left Foot as Christy Brown
  • Kenneth Branagh - Henry V as Henry V of England
  • Tom Cruise - Born on the Fourth of July as Ron Kovic
  • Morgan Freeman - Driving Miss Daisy as "Hoke Colburn"
  • Robin Williams - Dead Poets Society as "John Keating"

1990s

• 1990 Jeremy Irons - Reversal of Fortune as Claus von Bülow
  • Kevin Costner - Dances with Wolves as "Lieutenant Dunbar"
  • Robert De Niro - Awakenings as "Leonard Lowe"
  • Gerard Depardieu - Cyrano de Bergerac as Cyrano de Bergerac
  • Richard Harris - The Field as "Bull McCabe"

• 1991 Anthony Hopkins - The Silence of the Lambs as "Dr. Hannibal Lecter"
  • Warren Beatty - Bugsy as Bugsy Siegel
  • Robert De Niro - Cape Fear as "Max Cady"
  • Nick Nolte - The Prince of Tides as "Tom Wingo"
  • Robin Williams - The Fisher King as "Parry"

• 1992 Al Pacino - Scent of a Woman as "Lt. Col. Frank Slade"
  • Robert Downey Jr. - Chaplin as Charlie Chaplin
  • Clint Eastwood - Unforgiven as "William 'Bill' Munny"
  • Stephen Rea - The Crying Game as "Fergus"
  • Denzel Washington - Malcolm X as Malcolm X

• 1993 Tom Hanks - Philadelphia as "Andrew Beckett"
  • Laurence Fishburne - What's Love Got to Do with It? as Ike Turner
  • Anthony Hopkins - The Remains of the Day as "James Stevens"
  • Daniel Day-Lewis - In the Name of the Father as Gerry Conlon
  • Liam Neeson - Schindler's List as Oskar Schindler

• 1994 Tom Hanks - Forrest Gump as "Forrest Gump"
  • Morgan Freeman - The Shawshank Redemption as "Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding"
  • Nigel Hawthorne - The Madness of King George as George III
  • Paul Newman - Nobody's Fool as "Sully Sullivan"
  • John Travolta - Pulp Fiction as "Vincent Vega"

• 1995 Nicolas Cage - Leaving Las Vegas as "Ben Sanderson"
  • Richard Dreyfuss - Mr. Holland's Opus as "Glenn Holland"
  • Anthony Hopkins - Nixon as Richard Nixon
  • Sean Penn - Dead Man Walking as "Matthew Poncelet"
  • Massimo Troisi - Il Postino as Mario Ruoppolo (posthumously nominated)

• 1996 Geoffrey Rush - Shine as David Helfgott
  • Tom Cruise - Jerry Maguire as "Jerry Maguire"
  • Ralph Fiennes - The English Patient as Count László de Almásy
  • Woody Harrelson - The People vs. Larry Flynt as Larry Flynt
  • Billy Bob Thornton - Sling Blade as "Karl Childers"

• 1997 Jack Nicholson - As Good as It Gets as "Melvin Udall"
  • Matt Damon - Good Will Hunting as "Will Hunting"
  • Robert Duvall - The Apostle as "Euliss 'Sonny' Dewey"
  • Peter Fonda - Ulee's Gold as "Ulysses 'Ulee' Jackson"
  • Dustin Hoffman - Wag the Dog as "Stanley Motss"

• 1998 Roberto Benigni - Life Is Beautiful as "Guido Orefice"
  • Tom Hanks - Saving Private Ryan as "Captain John H. Miller"
  • Ian McKellen - Gods and Monsters as James Whale
  • Nick Nolte - Affliction as "Wade Whitehouse"
  • Edward Norton - American History X as "Derek Vinyard"

• 1999 Kevin Spacey - American Beauty as "Lester Burnham"
  • Russell Crowe - The Insider as Dr. Jeffrey Wigand
  • Richard Farnsworth - The Straight Story as Alvin Straight
  • Sean Penn - Sweet and Lowdown as "Emmet Ray"
  • Denzel Washington -The Hurricane as Rubin "Hurricane" Carter

2000s

• 2000 Russell Crowe - Gladiator as "Maximus Decimus Meridius"
  • Javier Bardem - Before Night Falls as Reinaldo Arenas
  • Tom Hanks - Cast Away as "Chuck Noland"
  • Ed Harris - Pollock as Jackson Pollock
  • Geoffrey Rush - Quills as The Marquis de Sade

• 2001 Denzel Washington - Training Day as "Alonzo Harris"
  • Russell Crowe - A Beautiful Mind as John Forbes Nash
  • Sean Penn - I Am Sam as "Sam Dawson"
  • Will Smith - Ali as Muhammad Ali
  • Tom Wilkinson - In the Bedroom as "Matt Fowler"

• 2002 Adrien Brody - The Pianist as Władysław Szpilman
  • Nicolas Cage - Adaptation. as Charlie Kaufman/"Donald Kaufman"
  • Michael Caine - The Quiet American as "Thomas Fowler"
  • Daniel Day-Lewis - Gangs of New York as "William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting"
  • Jack Nicholson - About Schmidt as "Warren Schmidt"

• 2003 Sean Penn - Mystic River as "Jimmy Markum"
  • Johnny Depp - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl as "Captain Jack Sparrow"
  • Ben Kingsley - House of Sand and Fog as "Behrani"
  • Jude Law - Cold Mountain as "Inman"
  • Bill Murray - Lost in Translation as "Bob Harris"

• 2004 Jamie Foxx - Ray as Ray Charles
  • Don Cheadle - Hotel Rwanda as Paul Rusesabagina
  • Johnny Depp - Finding Neverland as Sir James Matthew Barrie
  • Leonardo DiCaprio - The Aviator as Howard Hughes
  • Clint Eastwood - Million Dollar Baby as "Frankie Dunn"

• 2005 Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote as Truman Capote
  • Terrence Howard - Hustle & Flow as "Djay"
  • Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain as "Ennis Del Mar"
  • Joaquin Phoenix - Walk the Line as Johnny Cash
  • David Strathairn - Good Night, and Good Luck. as Edward R. Murrow

• 2006 Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland as Idi Amin
  • Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond as "Danny Archer"
  • Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson as "Dan Dunne"
  • Peter O'Toole - Venus as "Maurice"
  • Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness as "Chris Gardner"