Best Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.
Superlatives
Note: Dustin Hoffman's total of eight nominations, includes his 1968 Most Promising Newcomer nomination for The Graduate.
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.
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
Note: All nominations for multiple performances in a single year from the 1950s to the 1970s count as one nomination. The two mentions for Michael Caine (1983) and Anthony Hopkins (1993) count as two separate nominations.
Multiple nominations
7 nominations
Michael Caine
Daniel Day-Lewis
Peter Finch
Dustin Hoffman
Jack Lemmon
Laurence Olivier
6 nominations
Marlon Brando
Leonardo DiCaprio
Albert Finney
Sidney Poitier
5 nominations
Dirk Bogarde
Robert De Niro
Anthony Hopkins
Spencer Tracy
4 nominations
Ralph Fiennes
Tom Hanks
Jack Hawkins
Trevor Howard
Kenneth More
Paul Newman
Peter Sellers
3 nominations
Woody Allen
Richard Attenborough
Richard Burton
George Clooney
Tom Courtenay
Russell Crowe
Alec Guinness
Gene Hackman
Burt Lancaster
Fredric March
Walter Matthau
Viggo Mortensen
Jack Nicholson
Gary Oldman
Sean Penn
Joaquin Phoenix
Kevin Spacey
2 nominations
Christian Bale
Alan Bates
Warren Beatty
Jamie Bell
Jean-Paul Belmondo
Jeff Bridges
Jim Broadbent
Nicolas Cage
Sean Connery
Bradley Cooper
Benedict Cumberbatch
Tony Curtis
James Dean
Gérard Depardieu
Johnny Depp
Michael Douglas
Richard Dreyfuss
Michael Fassbender
Colin Firth
Henry Fonda
Pierre Fresnay
Jake Gyllenhaal
Jean Gabin
John Gielgud
George Hamilton
Laurence Harvey
William Holden
Bob Hoskins
Charles Laughton
Ian McKellen
John Mills
Yves Montand
James Mason
Marcello Mastroianni
Al Pacino
Gregory Peck
Brad Pitt
Jonathan Pryce
Anthony Quinn
Michael Redgrave
Eddie Redmayne
Ralph Richardson
Geoffrey Rush
George C. Scott
Martin Sheen
Takashi Shimura
Frank Sinatra
Rod Steiger
James Stewart
Robin Williams
Nicol Williamson
Donald Wolfit
Multiple wins
5 wins
Peter Finch
4 wins
Daniel Day-Lewis
3 wins
Marlon Brando
Anthony Hopkins
Jack Lemmon
2 wins
Dirk Bogarde
Colin Firth
Dustin Hoffman
Burt Lancaster
Marcello Mastroianni
Jack Nicholson
Rod Steiger
See also
Academy Award for Best Actor
Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor
Guldbagge Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role