AAW (The Oscars) Best Actor

1. Emil Jannings

His real name was Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz, and in the early 1900s, he was already working in the theater under Max Reinhardt's company. Important movies where he defined himself as a convincing actor were Passion (1919) and Quo Vadis? (1924), followed by The Last Laugh (1924) (aka The Last ...

1929: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Last Command (1928) and The Way of All Flesh (1927). Emil Jannings received his award early due to the fact that he was going home to Europe before the ceremony.

For His Roles As: "August Schilling/Gen. Dolgorucki"

2. Warner Baxter

Actor | Penthouse

Warner Baxter claimed to have an early pre-disposition toward show business: "I discovered a boy a block away who would eat worms and swallow flies for a penny. For one-third of the profits, I exhibited him in a tent." When he was age 9, his widowed mother moved to San Francisco where, following ...

1930: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: In Old Arizona (1928).

For His Roles As: "The Cisco Kid"

3. George Arliss

Actor | Disraeli

One of the oldest actors on the screen in the 1920s and 1930s, George Arliss starred on the London stage from an early age. He came to the United States and starred in several films, but it was his role as British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli in Disraeli (1929) that brought him his greatest ...

1930: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Disraeli (1929).

For His Roles As: "Benjamin Disraeli"

4. Lionel Barrymore

Actor | You Can't Take It with You

Famed actor, composer, artist, author and director. His talents extended to the authoring of the novel "Mr. Cartonwine: A Moral Tale" as well as his autobiography. In 1944, he joined ASCAP, and composed "Russian Dances", "Partita", "Ballet Viennois", "The Woodman and the Elves", "Behind the Horizon...

1931: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: A Free Soul (1931).

For His Roles As: "Stephen Ashe"

5. Fredric March

Actor | Inherit the Wind

Fredric March began a career in banking but in 1920 found himself cast as an extra in films being produced in New York. He starred on the Broadway stage first in 1926 and would return there between screen appearances later on. He won plaudits (and an Academy Award nomination) for his send-up of ...

1932: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931). Tied with Wallace Beery for The Champ (1931).

For His Roles As: "Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde"

6. Wallace Beery

Actor | A Date with Judy

In 1902, 16-year-old Wallace Beery joined the Ringling Brothers Circus as an assistant to the elephant trainer. He left two years later after a leopard clawed his arm. Beery next went to New York, where he found work in musical variety shows. He became a leading man in musicals and appeared on ...

1932: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Champ (1931/I). Tied with Fredric March for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931).

For His Roles As: "Andy Purcell - The Champ"

7. Charles Laughton

Actor | Witness for the Prosecution

Charles Laughton was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England, to Eliza (Conlon) and Robert Laughton, hotel keepers of Irish and English descent, respectively. He was educated at Stonyhurst (a highly esteemed Jesuit college in England) and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (received gold medal). ...

1934: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Private Life of Henry VIII. (1933).

For His Roles As: "King Henry VIII"

8. Clark Gable

Actor | It Happened One Night

William Clark Gable was born on February 1, 1901 in Cadiz, Ohio, to Adeline (Hershelman) and William Henry Gable, an oil-well driller. He was of German, Irish, and Swiss-German descent. When he was seven months old, his mother died, and his father sent him to live with his maternal aunt and uncle ...

1935: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: It Happened One Night (1934). In 1996, Steven Spielberg anonymously purchased Clark Gable's Oscar to protect it from further commercial exploitation, gave it back to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, commenting that he could think of "no better sanctuary for Gable's only Oscar than the Motion Picture Academy".

For His Roles As: "Peter Warne"

9. Victor McLaglen

Actor | The Quiet Man

Rambunctious British leading man (contrary to popular belief, he was of Scottish ancestry, not Irish) and later character actor primarily in American films, Victor McLaglen was a vital presence in a number of great motion pictures, especially those of director John Ford. McLaglen (pronounced ...

1936: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Informer (1935).

For His Roles As: "Gypo Nolan"

10. Paul Muni

Actor | Scarface

Paul Muni was born Sept. 22, 1895, in Lemberg, Austro-Hungarian Empire, to Salli and Phillip Weisenfreund, who were both professionals. His family was Jewish, and spoke Yiddish. Paul was educated in New York and Cleveland public schools. He was described as 5 feet 10 inches, with black hair and ...

1937: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936).

For His Roles As: "Louis Pasteur"

11. Spencer Tracy

Actor | Judgment at Nuremberg

Spencer Tracy was the second son born on April 5, 1900, to truck salesman John Edward and Caroline Brown Tracy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While attending Marquette Academy, he and classmate Pat O'Brien quit school to enlist in the Navy at the start of World War I. Tracy was still at Norfolk Navy Yard...

1938: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Captains Courageous (1937).

For His Roles As: "Manuel"

12. Spencer Tracy

Actor | Judgment at Nuremberg

Spencer Tracy was the second son born on April 5, 1900, to truck salesman John Edward and Caroline Brown Tracy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While attending Marquette Academy, he and classmate Pat O'Brien quit school to enlist in the Navy at the start of World War I. Tracy was still at Norfolk Navy Yard...

1939: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Boys Town (1938). Spencer Tracy was not present at the awards ceremony. His wife Louise Treadwell accepted the award on his behalf.

For His Roles As: "Father Flanagan"

13. Robert Donat

Actor | The 39 Steps

Robert Donat's pleasant voice and somewhat neutral English accent were carefully honed as a boy because he had a stammer and took elocution lessons starting at age 11 to overcome the impediment. It was not too surprising that freedom from such a vocal embarrassment was encouragement to act. His ...

1940: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939).

For His Roles As: "Mr. Charles Chipping (Mr. Chips)"

14. James Stewart

Actor | Vertigo

James Maitland Stewart was born on May 20, 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, to Elizabeth Ruth (Johnson) and Alexander Maitland Stewart, who owned a hardware store. He was of Scottish, Ulster-Scots, and some English descent. Stewart was educated at a local prep school, Mercersburg Academy, where he ...

1941: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Philadelphia Story (1940).

For His Roles As: "Macaulay Connor"

15. Gary Cooper

Actor | High Noon

Born to Alice Cooper and Charles Cooper. Gary attended school at Dunstable school England, Helena Montana and Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa (then called Iowa College). His first stage experience was during high school and college. Afterwards, he worked as an extra for one year before getting a ...

1942: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Sergeant York (1941).

For His Roles As: "Alvin Cullum York"

16. James Cagney

Actor | Angels with Dirty Faces

One of Hollywood's preeminent male stars of all time, James Cagney was also an accomplished dancer and easily played light comedy. James Francis Cagney was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, to Carolyn (Nelson) and James Francis Cagney, Sr., who was a bartender and amateur ...

1943: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942).

For His Roles As: "George M. Cohan"

17. Paul Lukas

Actor | Watch on the Rhine

Oscar-winning actor Paul Lukas was born in Hungary and graduated from the School for Dramatic Arts. In 1916 he went to Kosice (Kassa) to be an actor; in 1918 he became an actor specializing in comedy. For ten years he was the most popular character player and romantic lead of the company. In 1918 ...

1944: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Watch on the Rhine (1943).

For His Roles As: "Kurt Muller"

18. Bing Crosby

Actor | White Christmas

Bing Crosby was born Harry Lillis Crosby, Jr. in Tacoma, Washington, the fourth of seven children of Catherine (Harrigan) and Harry Lincoln Crosby, a brewery bookkeeper. He was of English and Irish descent. Crosby studied law at Gonzaga University in Spokane but was more interested in playing the ...

1945: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Going My Way (1944).

For His Roles As: "Father Chuck O'Malley"

19. Ray Milland

Actor | The Lost Weekend

Ray Milland became one of Paramount's most bankable and durable stars, under contract from 1934 to 1948, yet little in his early life suggested a career as a motion picture actor.

Milland was born Alfred Reginald Jones in the Welsh town of Neath, Glamorgan, to Elizabeth Annie (Truscott) and Alfred ...

1946: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Lost Weekend (1945).

For His Roles As: "Don Birnam"

20. Fredric March

Actor | Inherit the Wind

Fredric March began a career in banking but in 1920 found himself cast as an extra in films being produced in New York. He starred on the Broadway stage first in 1926 and would return there between screen appearances later on. He won plaudits (and an Academy Award nomination) for his send-up of ...

1947: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). Fredric March was not present at the awards ceremony. Cathy O'Donnell accepted the award on his behalf.

For His Roles As: "Al Stephenson"

21. Ronald Colman

Actor | A Double Life

British leading man of primarily American films, one of the great stars of the Golden Age. Raised in Ealing, the son of a successful silk merchant, he attended boarding school in Sussex, where he discovered amateur theatre. He intended to attend Cambridge and become an engineer, but his father's ...

1948: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: A Double Life (1947).

For His Roles As: "Anthony John"

22. Laurence Olivier

Actor | Sleuth

Laurence Olivier could speak William Shakespeare's lines as naturally as if he were "actually thinking them", said English playwright Charles Bennett, who met Olivier in 1927. Laurence Kerr Olivier was born in Dorking, Surrey, England, to Agnes Louise (Crookenden) and Gerard Kerr Olivier, a High ...

1949: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Hamlet (1948).

For His Roles As: "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark"

23. Broderick Crawford

Actor | All the King's Men

Broderick Crawford is best remembered for two roles: his Oscar-winning turn as Willie Stark in All the King's Men (1949) and as Chief Dan Mathews on the syndicated TV series Highway Patrol (1955). He was also memorable as Judy Holliday's vulgar partner in Born Yesterday (1950), roles both actors ...

1950: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: All the King's Men (1949).

For His Roles As: "Willie Stark"

24. José Ferrer

Actor | The Caine Mutiny

José Ferrer was a Puerto Rican actor and film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for playing the title character in Cyrano de Bergerac (1950). Ferrer was the first Puerto Rican actor to win an Academy Award, and also the first Hispanic actor to win an Academy Award.

In 1912, Ferrer was...

1951: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Cyrano de Bergerac (1950).

For His Roles As: "Cyrano de Bergerac"

25. Humphrey Bogart

Actor | Casablanca

Humphrey DeForest Bogart was born in New York City, New York, to Maud Humphrey, a famed magazine illustrator and suffragette, and Belmont DeForest Bogart, a moderately wealthy surgeon (who was secretly addicted to opium). Bogart was educated at Trinity School, NYC, and was sent to Phillips Academy ...

1952: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The African Queen (1951).

For His Roles As: "Charlie Allnut"

26. Gary Cooper

Actor | High Noon

Born to Alice Cooper and Charles Cooper. Gary attended school at Dunstable school England, Helena Montana and Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa (then called Iowa College). His first stage experience was during high school and college. Afterwards, he worked as an extra for one year before getting a ...

1953: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: High Noon (1952). Gary Cooper was not present at the awards ceremony. John Wayne accepted on his behalf.

For His Roles As: "Marshal Will Kane"

27. William Holden

Actor | Stalag 17

Billy Wilder proclaimed William Holden to be "the ideal motion picture actor". For almost four decades, the handsome, affable 'Golden Holden' was among Hollywood's most durable and engaging stars. He was born William Franklin Beedle Jr., one of three sons to a high school English teacher, Mary ...

1954: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Stalag 17 (1953).

For His Roles As: "Sgt. J.J. Sefton"

28. Marlon Brando

Actor | Apocalypse Now

Marlon Brando is widely considered the greatest movie actor of all time, rivaled only by the more theatrically oriented Laurence Olivier in terms of esteem. Unlike Olivier, who preferred the stage to the screen, Brando concentrated his talents on movies after bidding the Broadway stage adieu in ...

1955: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: On the Waterfront (1954).

For His Roles As: "Terry Malloy"

29. Ernest Borgnine

Actor | Marty

Ernest Borgnine was born Ermes Effron Borgnino on January 24, 1917 in Hamden, Connecticut. His parents were Anna (Boselli), who had emigrated from Carpi (MO), Italy, and Camillo Borgnino, who had emigrated from Ottiglio (AL), Italy. As an only child, Ernest enjoyed most sports, especially boxing, ...

1956: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Marty (1955).

For His Roles As: "Marty Piletti"

30. Yul Brynner

Actor | The King and I

Exotic leading man of American films, famed as much for his completely bald head as for his performances, Yul Brynner masked much of his life in mystery and outright lies designed to tease people he considered gullible. It was not until the publication of the books "Yul: The Man Who Would Be King" ...

1957: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The King and I (1956).

For His Roles As: "King Mongkut of Siam"

31. Alec Guinness

Actor | Star Wars

Alec Guinness was an English actor. He is known for his six collaborations with David Lean: Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946), Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948), Col. Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor), Prince Faisal in Lawrence...

1958: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). Alec Guinness was not present at the awards ceremony. Jean Simmons accepted the award on his behalf.

For His Roles As: "Col. Nicholson"

32. David Niven

Actor | Murder by Death

His mother was the French Lady Comynyplatt Henrietta de Gacher, his father was the British Lieutenant William Graham Niven, who died in the war when David was six years old. Niven was considered a difficult child to educate and had to change schools often until he finally went to Sandhurst Military...

1959: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Separate Tables (1958).

For His Roles As: "Major Angus Pollock"

33. Charlton Heston

Actor | Ben-Hur

With features chiseled in stone, and renowned for playing a long list of historical figures, particularly in Biblical epics, the tall, well-built and ruggedly handsome Charlton Heston was one of Hollywood's top leading men of his prime and remained active in front of movie cameras for over sixty ...

1960: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Ben-Hur (1959).

For His Roles As: "Judah Ben-Hur"

34. Burt Lancaster

Actor | From Here to Eternity

Burt Lancaster, one of five children, was born in Manhattan, to Elizabeth (Roberts) and James Henry Lancaster, a postal worker. All his grandparents were immigrants from the north of Ireland. He was a tough street kid who took an early interest in gymnastics. He joined the circus as an acrobat and ...

1961: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Elmer Gantry (1960).

For His Roles As: "Elmer Gantry"

35. Maximilian Schell

Actor | Judgment at Nuremberg

Maximilian Schell was the most successful German-speaking actor in English-language films since Emil Jannings, the winner of the first Best Actor Academy Award. Like Jannings, Schell won the Oscar, but unlike him, he was a dedicated anti-Nazi. Indeed, with the exception of Maurice Chevalier and ...

1962: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Judgment at Nuremberg (1961).

For His Roles As: : "Hans Rolfe"

36. Gregory Peck

Actor | To Kill a Mockingbird

Eldred Gregory Peck was born on April 5, 1916 in La Jolla, California, to Bernice Mae (Ayres) and Gregory Pearl Peck, a chemist and druggist in San Diego. He had Irish (from his paternal grandmother), English, and some German, ancestry. His parents divorced when he was five years old. An only child...

1963: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).

For His Roles As: "Atticus Finch"

37. Sidney Poitier

Actor | In the Heat of the Night

Sidney Poitier was a native of Cat Island, Bahamas, although born, two months prematurely, in Miami during a visit by his parents, Evelyn (Outten) and Reginald James Poitier. He grew up in poverty as the son of farmers, with his father also driving a cab in Nassau. Sidney had little formal ...

1964: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Lilies of the Field (1963).

For His Roles As: "Homer Smith"

38. Rex Harrison

Actor | My Fair Lady

Rex Harrison was born Reginald Carey Harrison in Huyton, Lancashire, England, to Edith Mary (Carey) and William Reginald Harrison, a cotton broker. He changed his name to Rex as a young boy, knowing it was the Latin word for "King". Starting out on his theater career at age 18, his first job at the ...

1965: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: My Fair Lady (1964).

For His Roles As: "Professor Henry Higgins"

39. Lee Marvin

Actor | Paint Your Wagon

American actor Lee Marvin was born Lamont Waltman Marvin Jr. in New York City. After leaving school aged 18, Marvin enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve in August 1942. He served with the 4th Marine Division in the Pacific Theater during World War II and after being wounded in action ...

1966: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Cat Ballou (1965).

For His Roles As: "Kid Shelleen/Tim Strawn"

40. Paul Scofield

Actor | A Man for All Seasons

Though his number of film roles amount to a bit over 30, Paul Scofield has cast a giant shadow in the world of stage and film acting. He grew up in West Sussex, the son of a schoolmaster. He attended the Varndean School for Boys in Brighton. The love of acting came early. While still high school ...

1967: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: A Man for All Seasons (1966). Paul Scofield was not present at the awards ceremony. His co-star Wendy Hiller accepted the award on his behalf.

For His Roles As: "Sir Thomas More"

41. Rod Steiger

Actor | In the Heat of the Night

Rodney Stephen Steiger was born in Westhampton, New York, to Augusta Amelia (Driver) and Frederick Jacob Steiger, both vaudevillians. He was of German and Austrian ancestry. After his parents' divorce, Steiger was raised by his mother in Newark, New Jersey. He dropped out of Westside High school at...

1968: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: In the Heat of the Night (1967).

For His Roles As: "Police Chief Bill Gillespie"

42. Cliff Robertson

Actor | Spider-Man

Clifford Parker Robertson III became a fairly successful leading man through most of his career without ever becoming a major star. Following strong stage and television experience, he made an interesting film debut in a supporting role in Picnic (1955). He then played Joan Crawford's deranged ...

1969: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Charly (1968). Cliff Robertson was not present at the Awards ceremony. Gregory Peck accepted the award on his behalf.

For His Roles As: "Charly Gordon"

43. John Wayne

Actor | True Grit

John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison in Iowa, to Mary Alberta (Brown) and Clyde Leonard Morrison, a pharmacist. He was of English, Scottish, Ulster-Scots, and Irish ancestry.

Clyde developed a lung condition that required him to move his family from Iowa to the warmer climate of southern ...

1970: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: True Grit (1969).

For His Roles As: "Marshal Reuben J. 'Rooster' Cogburn"

44. George C. Scott

Actor | Patton

George C. Scott was an immensely talented actor, a star of the big screen, stage and television. He was born on October 18, 1927 in Wise, Virginia, to Helena Agnes (Slemp) and George Dewey Scott. At the age of eight, his mother died, and his father, an executive at Buick, raised him. In 1945, he ...

1971: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Patton (1970). Refused to accept the nomination and the award, because he did not feel himself to be in any competition with other actors. Frank McCarthy, the film's producer, accepted the award on Scott's behalf at the ceremony, but returned it to the Academy the next day in keeping with Scott's wishes.

For His Roles As: "Gen. George S. Patton, Jr."

45. Gene Hackman

Actor | The French Connection

Eugene Allen Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California, the son of Anna Lyda Elizabeth (Gray) and Eugene Ezra Hackman, who operated a newspaper printing press. He is of Pennsylvania Dutch (German), English, and Scottish ancestry, partly by way of Canada, where his mother was born. After ...

1972: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The French Connection (1971).

For His Roles As: "Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle"

46. Marlon Brando

Actor | Apocalypse Now

Marlon Brando is widely considered the greatest movie actor of all time, rivaled only by the more theatrically oriented Laurence Olivier in terms of esteem. Unlike Olivier, who preferred the stage to the screen, Brando concentrated his talents on movies after bidding the Broadway stage adieu in ...

1973: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Godfather (1972). Refused to accept the award for the reason that the U.S. and especially Hollywood are discriminating Native American people. Brando did not show up at the ceremony, but instead sent a faked Indian woman named Sacheen Littlefeather who later turned out to be Maria Cruz, a less known Californian actress.

For His Roles As: "Don Vito Corleone"

47. Jack Lemmon

Actor | The Apartment

Jack Lemmon was born in Newton, Massachusetts, to Mildred Lankford Noel and John Uhler Lemmon, Jr., the president of a doughnut company. His ancestry included Irish (from his paternal grandmother) and English. Jack attended Ward Elementary near his Newton, MA home. At age 9 he was sent to Rivers ...

1974: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Save the Tiger (1973).

For His Roles As: "Harry Stoner"

48. Art Carney

Actor | Harry and Tonto

Art Carney was an American actor with a lengthy career but is primarily remembered for two roles. In television, Carney played municipal sewer worker Ed Norton in the influential sitcom "The Honeymooners" (1955-1956). In film, Carney played senior citizen Harry Coombes in the road movie "Harry and ...

1975: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Harry and Tonto (1974).

For His Roles As: "Harry Coombes"

49. Jack Nicholson

Actor | Chinatown

Jack Nicholson, an American actor, producer, director and screenwriter, is a three-time Academy Award winner and twelve-time nominee. Nicholson is also notable for being one of two actors - the other being Michael Caine - who have received an Oscar nomination in every decade from the '60s through ...

1976: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975).

For His Roles As: "Randle Patrick (R. P.) "Mac" McMurphy"

50. Peter Finch

Actor | Network

Despite being one of the finest actors of his generation, Peter Finch will be remembered as much for his reputation as a hard-drinking, hell-raising womanizer as for his performances on the screen. He was born in London in 1916 and went to live in Sydney, Australia, at the age of ten. There, he ...

1977: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Network (1976). Nomination and award were posthumous. Finch became the first posthumous winner in an acting category. His widow Eletha Finch and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky accepted the award on his behalf.

For His Roles As: "Howard Beale"

51. Richard Dreyfuss

Actor | The Goodbye Girl

Richard Dreyfuss is an American leading man, who has played his fair share of irritating pests and brash, ambitious hustlers.

He was born Richard Stephen Dreyfus in Brooklyn, New York, to Geraldine (Robbins), an activist, and Norman Dreyfus, a restaurateur and attorney. His paternal grandparents ...

1978: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Goodbye Girl (1977).

For His Roles As: "Elliot Garfield"

52. Jon Voight

Actor | Midnight Cowboy

Jon Voight is an American actor of German and Slovak descent. He has won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his role as paraplegic Vietnam War veteran Luke Martin in the war film "Coming Home" (1978). He has also been nominated for the same award other two times. He was first ...

1979: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Coming Home (1978).

For His Roles As: "Luke Martin"

53. Dustin Hoffman

Actor | Tootsie

Dustin Lee Hoffman was born in Los Angeles, California, to Lillian (Gold) and Harry Hoffman, who was a furniture salesman and prop supervisor for Columbia Pictures. He was raised in a Jewish family (from Ukraine, Russia-Poland, and Romania). Hoffman graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1955, ...

1980: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Kramer vs. Kramer (1979).

For His Roles As: "Ted Kramer"

54. Robert De Niro

Actor | Cape Fear

One of the greatest actors of all time, Robert De Niro was born on August 17, 1943 in Manhattan, New York City, to artists Virginia (Admiral) and Robert De Niro Sr. His paternal grandfather was of Italian descent, and his other ancestry is Irish, English, Dutch, German, and French. He was trained ...

1981: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Raging Bull (1980).

For His Roles As: "Jake LaMotta"

55. Henry Fonda

Actor | 12 Angry Men

This remarkable, soft-spoken American began in films as a diffident juvenile. With passing years, he matured into a star character actor who exemplified not only integrity and strength, but an ideal of the common man fighting against social injustice and oppression. He was born in Grand Island, ...

1982: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: On Golden Pond (1981). Henry Fonda was not present at the awards ceremony. His daughter and co-star Jane Fonda accepted the award on his behalf.

For His Roles As: "Norman Thayer"

56. Ben Kingsley

Actor | Sexy Beast

Ben Kingsley was born Krishna Bhanji on December 31, 1943 in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England. His father, Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji, was a Kenyan-born medical doctor, of Gujarati Indian descent, and his mother, Anna Lyna Mary (Goodman), was an English actress. Ben began to act in stage plays during ...

1983: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Gandhi (1982).

For His Roles As: "Mahatma Gandhi"

57. Robert Duvall

Actor | The Apostle

Veteran actor and director Robert Selden Duvall was born on January 5, 1931, in San Diego, CA, to Mildred Virginia (Hart), an amateur actress, and William Howard Duvall, a career military officer who later became an admiral. Duvall majored in drama at Principia College (Elsah, IL), then served a ...

1984: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Tender Mercies (1983).

For His Roles As: "Mac Sledge"

58. F. Murray Abraham

Actor | The Grand Budapest Hotel

Academy Award-winning actor F. Murray Abraham was born on October 24, 1939 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and raised in El Paso, Texas. His father, Fred Abraham, was a Syrian (Antiochian Orthodox Christian) immigrant. His mother, Josephine (Stello) Abraham, was the daughter of Italian immigrants. Born...

1985: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Amadeus (1984).

For His Roles As: "Antonio Salieri"

59. William Hurt

Actor | A History of Violence

William McChord Hurt was born in Washington, D.C., to Claire Isabel (McGill) and Alfred McChord Hurt, who worked at the State Department. He was trained at Tufts University and The Juilliard School and has been nominated for four Academy Awards, including the most recent nomination for his ...

1986: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985).

For His Roles As: "Luis Molina"

60. Paul Newman

Actor | The Hustler

Screen legend, superstar, and the man with the most famous blue eyes in movie history, Paul Leonard Newman was born on January 26, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, the second son of Arthur Sigmund Newman (died 1950) and Theresa Fetsko (died 1982). His elder brother was Arthur S. Newman Jr., named for ...

1987: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Color of Money (1986). Paul Newman was not present at the awards ceremony. Robert Wise accepted the award on his behalf.

For His Roles As: "Fast Eddie' Felson"

61. Michael Douglas

Actor | Wall Street

A legendary actor with 50 celebrated years of film, television and producing experience, Michael Douglas is known for his era-defining roles and enduring cultural impact.

In addition to his career accomplishments, Douglas has remained a steadfast public servant, activist and philanthropist dedicated...

1988: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Wall Street (1987).

For His Roles As: "Gordon Gekko"

62. Dustin Hoffman

Actor | Tootsie

Dustin Lee Hoffman was born in Los Angeles, California, to Lillian (Gold) and Harry Hoffman, who was a furniture salesman and prop supervisor for Columbia Pictures. He was raised in a Jewish family (from Ukraine, Russia-Poland, and Romania). Hoffman graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1955, ...

1989: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Rain Man (1988).

For His Roles As: "Raymond Babbitt"

63. Daniel Day-Lewis

Actor | There Will Be Blood

Born in London, England, Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is the second child of Cecil Day-Lewis, Poet Laureate of the U.K., and his second wife, actress Jill Balcon. His maternal grandfather was Sir Michael Balcon, an important figure in the history of British cinema and head of the famous Ealing ...

1990: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: My Left Foot (1989).

For His Roles As: "Christy Brown"

64. Jeremy Irons

Actor | Dead Ringers

British actor Jeremy Irons was born in Cowes, Isle of Wight, a small island off the south coast of England. He is the son of Barbara Anne Brereton (Sharpe) and Paul Dugan Irons, an accountant. Young Jeremy didn't prove very fond of figures. He visited mainland England only once a year. He wound up ...

1991: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Reversal of Fortune (1990).

For His Roles As: "Claus von Bulow"

65. Anthony Hopkins

Actor | The Silence of the Lambs

Anthony Hopkins was born on December 31, 1937, in Margam, Wales, to Muriel Anne (Yeats) and Richard Arthur Hopkins, a baker. His parents were both of half Welsh and half English descent. Influenced by Richard Burton, he decided to study at College of Music and Drama and graduated in 1957. In 1965, ...

1992: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Silence of the Lambs (1991).

For His Roles As: "Dr. Hannibal Lecter"

66. Al Pacino

Actor | Serpico

Alfredo James "Al" 'Pacino established himself as a film actor during one of cinema's most vibrant decades, the 1970s, and has become an enduring and iconic figure in the world of American movies.

He was born April 25, 1940 in Manhattan, New York City, to Italian-American parents, Rose (nee Gerardi)...

1993: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Scent of a Woman (1992).

For His Roles As: "Lieut. Col. Frank Slade"

67. Tom Hanks

Producer | Cast Away

Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born in Concord, California, to Janet Marylyn (Frager), a hospital worker, and Amos Mefford Hanks, an itinerant cook. His mother's family, originally surnamed "Fraga", was entirely Portuguese, while his father was of mostly English ancestry. Tom grew up in what he has ...

1994: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Philadelphia (1993).

For His Roles As: "Andrew Beckett"

68. Tom Hanks

Producer | Cast Away

Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born in Concord, California, to Janet Marylyn (Frager), a hospital worker, and Amos Mefford Hanks, an itinerant cook. His mother's family, originally surnamed "Fraga", was entirely Portuguese, while his father was of mostly English ancestry. Tom grew up in what he has ...

1995: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Forrest Gump (1994).

For His Roles As: "Forrest Gump"

69. Nicolas Cage

Actor | Face/Off

Nicolas Cage was born Nicolas Kim Coppola in Long Beach, California, the son of comparative literature professor August Coppola (whose brother is director Francis Ford Coppola) and dancer/choreographer Joy Vogelsang. He is of Italian (father) and Polish and German (mother) descent. Cage changed his...

1996: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Leaving Las Vegas (1995).

For His Roles As: "Ben Sanderson"

70. Geoffrey Rush

Actor | The King's Speech

Geoffrey Roy Rush was born on July 6, 1951, in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, to Merle (Bischof), a department store sales assistant, and Roy Baden Rush, an accountant for the Royal Australian Air Force. His mother was of German descent and his father had English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. ...

1997: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Shine (1996).

For His Roles As: "David Helfgott"

71. Jack Nicholson

Actor | Chinatown

Jack Nicholson, an American actor, producer, director and screenwriter, is a three-time Academy Award winner and twelve-time nominee. Nicholson is also notable for being one of two actors - the other being Michael Caine - who have received an Oscar nomination in every decade from the '60s through ...

1998: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: As Good as It Gets (1997).

For His Roles As: "Melvin Udall"

72. Roberto Benigni

Actor | La vita è bella

Roberto Benigni was born on October 27, 1952 in Manciano La Misericordia, Castiglion Fiorentino, Tuscany, Italy. He is an actor and writer, known for Life Is Beautiful (1997), The Tiger and the Snow (2005) and Down by Law (1986). He has been married to Nicoletta Braschi since December 26, 1991.

1999: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Life Is Beautiful (1997).

For His Roles As: "Guido Orefice"

73. Kevin Spacey

Actor | The Usual Suspects

Kevin Spacey Fowler, better known by his stage name Kevin Spacey, is an American actor of screen and stage, film director, producer, screenwriter and singer. He began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s before obtaining supporting roles in film and television. He gained critical acclaim in...

2000: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: American Beauty (1999).

For His Roles As: "Lester Burnham"

74. Russell Crowe

Actor | Les Misérables

Russell Ira Crowe was born in Wellington, New Zealand, to Jocelyn Yvonne (Wemyss) and John Alexander Crowe, both of whom catered movie sets. His maternal grandfather, Stanley Wemyss, was a cinematographer. Crowe's recent ancestry includes Welsh (where his paternal grandfather was born, in Wrexham),...

2001: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Gladiator (2000).

For His Roles As: "Maximus Decimus Meridius"

75. Denzel Washington

Actor | Fences

Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. was born on December 28, 1954 in Mount Vernon, New York. He is the middle of three children of a beautician mother, Lennis, from Georgia, and a Pentecostal minister father, Denzel Washington, Sr., from Virginia. After graduating from high school, Denzel enrolled at ...

2002: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Training Day (2001).

For His Roles As: "Alonzo Harris"

76. Adrien Brody

Actor | The Pianist

Adrien Nicholas Brody was born in Woodhaven, Queens, New York, the only child of retired history professor Elliot Brody and Hungarian-born photographer Sylvia Plachy. He accompanied his mother on assignments for the Village Voice, and credits her with making him feel comfortable in front of the ...

2003: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Pianist (2002).

For His Roles As: "Wladyslaw Szpilman"

77. Sean Penn

Actor | Mystic River

Sean Penn is a powerhouse film performer capable of intensely moving work, who has gone from strength to strength during a colourful film career, and who has drawn much media attention for his stormy private life and political viewpoints.

Sean Justin Penn was born in Los Angeles, California, the ...

2004: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Mystic River (2003).

For His Roles As: "Jimmy Markum"

78. Jamie Foxx

Actor | Collateral

Jamie Foxx is an American actor, singer and comedian. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor, BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, for his work in the biographical film Ray (2004). The same year, he was nominated for the Academy...

2005: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Ray (2004).

For His Roles As: "Ray Charles"

79. Philip Seymour Hoffman

Actor | The Master

Film and stage actor and theater director Philip Seymour Hoffman was born in the Rochester, New York, suburb of Fairport to Marilyn (Loucks), a lawyer and judge, and Gordon Stowell Hoffman, a Xerox employee, and was mostly of German, Irish, English and Dutch ancestry. After becoming involved in ...

2006: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Capote (2005).

For His Roles As: "Truman Capote"

80. Forest Whitaker

Actor | The Last King of Scotland

Forest Steven Whitaker has packaged a king-size talent into his hulking 6' 2", 220 lb. frame. He won an Academy Award for his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the film The Last King of Scotland (2006), and has also won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. He is the fourth African-American male to...

2007: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Last King of Scotland (2006).

For His Roles As: "Idi Amin"

81. Daniel Day-Lewis

Actor | There Will Be Blood

Born in London, England, Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is the second child of Cecil Day-Lewis, Poet Laureate of the U.K., and his second wife, actress Jill Balcon. His maternal grandfather was Sir Michael Balcon, an important figure in the history of British cinema and head of the famous Ealing ...

2008: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: There Will Be Blood (2007).

For His Roles As: "Daniel Plainview"

82. Sean Penn

Actor | Mystic River

Sean Penn is a powerhouse film performer capable of intensely moving work, who has gone from strength to strength during a colourful film career, and who has drawn much media attention for his stormy private life and political viewpoints.

Sean Justin Penn was born in Los Angeles, California, the ...

2009: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Milk (2008).

For His Roles As: "Harvey Milk"

83. Jeff Bridges

Actor | The Big Lebowski

Jeffrey Leon Bridges was born on December 4, 1949 in Los Angeles, California, the son of well-known film and TV star Lloyd Bridges and his long-time wife Dorothy Dean Bridges (née Simpson). He grew up amid the happening Hollywood scene with big brother Beau Bridges. Both boys popped up, without ...

2010: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Crazy Heart (2009).

For His Roles As: "Bad Blake"

84. Colin Firth

Actor | A Single Man

Colin Andrew Firth was born into an academic family in Grayshott, Hampshire, England. His mother, Shirley Jean (Rolles), was a comparative religion lecturer at the Open University, and his father, David Norman Lewis Firth, lectured on history at Winchester University College (formerly King Alfred's...

2011: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The King's Speech (2010).

For His Roles As: "King George VI"

85. Jean Dujardin

Actor | The Artist

In 1995 he began his first one man show, the same year he met Bruno Salomone, Eric Collado, Emmanuel Joucla and Eric Massot with whom he created the "Nous Ç Nous". In 1999, he became "Loulou" in Un gars, une fille (1999). This part permitted him to show his talent to a larger public. Since the end ...

2012: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Artist (2011).

For His Roles As: "George Valentin"

86. Daniel Day-Lewis

Actor | There Will Be Blood

Born in London, England, Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is the second child of Cecil Day-Lewis, Poet Laureate of the U.K., and his second wife, actress Jill Balcon. His maternal grandfather was Sir Michael Balcon, an important figure in the history of British cinema and head of the famous Ealing ...

2013: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Lincoln (2012).

For His Roles As: "Abraham Lincoln"

87. Matthew McConaughey

Actor | Interstellar

American actor and producer Matthew David McConaughey was born in Uvalde, Texas. His mother, Mary Kathleen (McCabe), is a substitute school teacher originally from New Jersey. His father, James Donald McConaughey, was a Mississippi-born gas station owner who ran an oil pipe supply business. He is ...

2014: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Dallas Buyers Club (2013).

For His Roles As: "Ron Woodroof"

88. Eddie Redmayne

Actor | Les Misérables

British actor Eddie Redmayne won the Academy Award for Best Actor (for The Theory of Everything (2014)).

Edward John David Redmayne was born and raised in London, England, the son of Patricia (Burke) and Richard Charles Tunstall Redmayne, a businessman. His great-grandfather was Sir Richard ...

2015: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Theory of Everything (2014).

For His Roles As: "Stephen Hawking"

89. Leonardo DiCaprio

Actor | Inception

Few actors in the world have had a career quite as diverse as Leonardo DiCaprio's. DiCaprio has gone from relatively humble beginnings, as a supporting cast member of the sitcom Growing Pains (1985) and low budget horror movies, such as Critters 3 (1991), to a major teenage heartthrob in the 1990s,...

2016: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: The Revenant (2015).

For His Roles As: "Hugh Glass"

90. Casey Affleck

Actor | Manchester by the Sea

An accomplished and striking performer, Academy Award® winner Casey Affleck has established himself as a powerful leading man with performances in multiple projects.

Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts. His mother, Chris Anne (née Boldt), is a school teacher, and ...

2017: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Manchester By the Sea (2016).

For His Roles As: "Lee Chandler"

91. Gary Oldman

Actor | Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Gary Oldman is a talented English movie star and character actor, renowned for his expressive acting style. One of the most celebrated thespians of his generation, with a diverse career encompassing theatre, film and television, he is known for his roles as Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy (1986), ...

2018: Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Darkest Hour (2017).

For His Roles As: "Winston Churchill"