Townflex takes you back in memory lane as we bring you the complete list of every Best Actor Oscar Winner since the first Academy Awards in 1929.
The Academy Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year’s Best Actress winner.
The 1st Academy Awards were held in 1929 with Emil Jannings receiving the award for his roles in The Last Command (1928) and The Way of All Flesh (1927).
About The Oscars
The Oscars, also known as the Academy Awards, is an annual awards ceremony that honors outstanding achievements in the film industry. The awards are presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and were first awarded in 1929.
The Oscars recognize achievements in various categories, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Documentary Feature, Best Animated Feature, and Best International Feature Film.
Related: See Oscars 2023 Winners and Nominees
The nominations and winners are selected by the Academy’s voting membership, which is composed of more than 9,000 members from various branches of the film industry. The ceremony is typically held in late February or early March and is broadcast live on television in over 200 countries and territories.
Best Actor Oscars Winners
2023: Brendan Fraser, The Whale
2022: Will Smith, King Richard
2021: Anthony Hopkins, The Father
2020: Joaquin Phoenix, Joker
2019: Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
2018: Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
2017: Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
2016: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
2015: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
2014: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
2013: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
2012: Jean Dujardin, The Artist
2011: Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
2010: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
2009: Sean Penn, Milk
2008: Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
2007: Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
2006: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
2005: Jamie Foxx, Ray
2004: Sean Penn, Mystic River
2003: Adrien Brody, The Pianist
2002: Denzel Washington, Training Day
2001: Russell Crowe, Gladiator
2000: Kevin Spacey, American Beauty
1999: Roberto Benigni, Life Is Beautiful
1998: Jack Nicholson, As Good as It Gets
1997: Geoffrey Rush, Shine
1996: Nicolas Cage, Leaving Las Vegas
1995: Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump
1994: Tom Hanks, Philadelphia
1993: Al Pacino, Scent of a Woman
1992: Anthony Hopkins, The Silence of the Lambs
1991: Jeremy Irons, Reversal of Fortune
1990: Daniel Day-Lewis, My Left Foot
1989: Dustin Hoffman, Rain Man
1988: Michael Douglas, Wall Street
1987: Paul Newman, The Color of Money
1986: William Hurt, Kiss of the Spider Woman
1985: F. Murray Abraham, Amadeus
1984: Robert Duvall, Tender Mercies
1983: Ben Kingsley, Gandhi
1982: Henry Fonda, On Golden Pond
1981: Robert De Niro, Raging Bull
1980: Dustin Hoffman, Kramer vs. Kramer
1979: Jon Voight, Coming Home
1978: Richard Dreyfuss, The Goodbye Girl
1977: Peter Finch, Network
1976: Jack Nicholson, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
1975: Art Carney, Harry and Tonto
1974: Jack Lemmon, Save the Tiger
1973: Marlon Brando, The Godfather
1972: Gene Hackman, The French Connection
1971: George C. Scott, Patton
1970: John Wayne, True Grit
1969: Cliff Robertson, Charly
1968: Rod Steiger, In the Heat of the Night
1967: Paul Scofield, A Man for All Seasons
1966: Lee Marvin, Cat Ballou
1965: Rex Harrison, My Fair Lady
1964: Sidney Poitier, Lilies of the Field
1963: Gregory Peck, To Kill a Mockingbird
1962: Maximilian Schell, Judgement at Nuremberg
1961: Burt Lancaster, Elmer Gantry
1960: Charlton Heston, Ben-Hur
1955: Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront
1959: David Niven, Separate Tables
1958: Alec Guinness, The Bridge on the River Kwai
1957: Yul Brynner, The King and I
1956: Ernest Borgnine, Marty
1954: William Holden, Stalag 17
1953: Gary Cooper, High Noon
1952: Humphrey Bogart, The African Queen
1951: José Ferrer, Cyrano de Bergerac
1950: Broderick Crawford, All the King’s Men
1949: Laurence Olivier, Hamlet
1948: Ronald Colman, A Double Life
1947: Fredric March, The Best Years of Our Lives
1946: Ray Milland, The Lost Weekend
1945: Bing Crosby, Going My Way
1944: Paul Lukas, Watch on the Rhine
1943: James Cagney, Yankee Doodle Dandy
1942: Gary Cooper, Sergeant York
1941: James Stewart, The Philadelphia Story
1940: Robert Donat, Goodbye, Mr. Chips
1939: Spencer Tracy, Boys Town
1938: Spencer Tracy, Captains Courageous
1937: Paul Muni, The Story of Louis Pasteur
1936: Victor McLaglen, The Informer
1935: Clark Gable, It Happened One Night
1934: Charles Laughton, The Private Life of Henry VIII
1933: Wallace Beery, The Champ
1932: Lionel Barrymore, A Free Soul
1931: George Arliss, Disraeli
1930: Warner Baxter, In Old Arizona
1929: Emil Jannings, The Way of All Flesh and The Last Command
See All Oscars Best Actress Winners Since 1929
