Updated February 4, 2020
1930s
1936: Walter Brennan, Come and Get It
1937: Joseph Schildkraut, The Life of Emile Zola
1938: Walter Brennan, Kentucky
1939: Thomas Mitchell, Stagecoach
1940s
1940: Walter Brennan, The Westerner
1941: Donald Crisp, How Green Was My Valley
1942: Van Hefflin, Johnny Eager
1943: Charles Coburn, The More the Merrier
1944: Barry Fitzgerald, Going My Way
1945: James Dunn, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
1946: Harold Russell, The Best Years of Our Lives
1947: Edmund Gwenn, The Miracle on 34th Street
1948: Walter Huston, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
1949: Dean Jagger, Twelve O’Clock High
1950s
1950: George Sanders, All About Eve
1951: Karl Malden, A Streetcar Named Desire
1952: Anthony Quinn, Viva Zapata
1953: Frank Sinatra, From Here to Eternity
1954: Edmond O’Brien, The Barefoot Contessa
1955: Jack Lemmon, Mister Roberts
1956: Anthony Quinn, Lust for Life
1957: Red Buttons, Sayonara
1958: Burl Ives, The Big Country
1959: Hugh Griffith, Ben-Hur
1960s
1960: Peter Ustinov, Spartacus
1961: George Chakiris, West Side Story
1962: Ed Begley, Sweet Bird of Youth
1963: Melvyn Douglas, Hud
1964: Peter Ustinov, Topkapi
1965: Martin Balsam, A Thousand Clowns
1966: Walter Matthau, The Fortune Cookie
1967: George Kennedy, Cool Hand Luke
1968: Jack Albertson, The Subject Was Roses
1969: Gig Young, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They
1970s
1970: John Mills, Ryan’s Daughter
1971: Ben Johnson, The Last Picture Show
1972: Joel Grey, Cabaret
1973: John Houseman, The Paper Chase
1974: Robert De Niro, The Godfather, Part II
1975: George Burns, The Sunshine Boys
1976: Jason Robards, All the President’s Men
1977: Jason Robards, Julia
1978: Christopher Walken, The Deer Hunter
1979: Mlevyn Douglas, Being There
1980s
1980: Timothy Hutton, Ordinary People
1981: John Gielgud, Arthur
1982: Louis Gossett Jr., An Officer and a Gentleman
1983: Jack Nicholson, Terms of Endearment
1984: Hang S. Ngor, The Killing Fields
1985: Don Ameche, Cocoon
1986: Michael Caine, Hannah and Her Sisters
1987: Sean Connery, The Untouchables
1988: Kevin Kline, A Fish Called Wanda
1989: Denzel Washington, Glory
1990s
1990: Joe Pesci, GoodFellas
1991: Jack Palance, City Slickers
1992: Gene Hackman, Unforgiven
1993: Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive
1994: Martin Landau, Ed Wood
1995: Kevin Spacey, The Usual Suspects
1996: Cuba Gooding Jr., Jerry Maguire
1997: Robin Williams, Good Will Hunting
1998: James Coburn, Affliction
1999: Michael Caine, The Cider House Rules
2000
2000: Benicio Del Toro, Traffic
2001: Jim Broadbent, Iris
2002: Chris Cooper, Adaptation
2003: Tim Robbins, Mystic River
2004: Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby
2005: George Clooney, Syriana
2006: Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
2007: Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
2008: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight (posthumous)
2009: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
2010-2019
2010: Christian Bale, The Fighter
2011: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
2012: Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
2013: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
2014: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
2015: Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
2016: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
2017: Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
2018: Mahershala Ali, Green Book
2019: Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
