The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...
(AMPAS). It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a
supporting role
A supporting character is a character in a narrative that is not the focus of the primary storyline, but is important to the plot/protagonist, and appears or is mentioned in the story enough to be more than just a minor character or a cameo ap ...
while working within the
film industry
The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, pos ...
. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's
Best Supporting Actress winner.
At the
9th Academy Awards
The 9th Academy Awards were held on March 4, 1937, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California to honor films released in 1936. They were hosted by George Jessel, with music by the Victor Young Orchestra, with Spike Jones on drums. This ...
ceremony held in 1937,
Walter Brennan was the first winner of this award for his role in ''
Come and Get It''. Initially, winners in both supporting acting categories were awarded plaques instead of statuettes. Beginning with the
16th ceremony held in 1944, however, winners received full-sized statuettes. Currently, nominees are determined by
single transferable vote within the actors branch of AMPAS; winners are selected by a
plurality vote
Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which a candidate, or candidates, who poll more than any other counterpart (that is, receive a plurality), are elected. In systems based on single-member districts, it elects just one member per ...
from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy.
Since its inception, the award has been given to 77 actors. Brennan has received the most awards in this category with three awards. Brennan,
Jeff Bridges,
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall (; born January 5, 1931) is an American actor and filmmaker. His career spans more than seven decades and he is considered one of the greatest American actors of all time. He is the recipient of an Academy Award, four Gold ...
,
Arthur Kennedy
John Arthur Kennedy (February 17, 1914January 5, 1990) was an American stage and film actor known for his versatility in supporting film roles and his ability to create "an exceptional honesty and naturalness on stage", especially in the origi ...
,
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. In many of his films, he played rebels against the social structure. He received numerous ...
,
Claude Rains
William Claude Rains (10 November 188930 May 1967) was a British actor whose career spanned almost seven decades. After his American film debut as Dr. Jack Griffin in ''The Invisible Man'' (1933), he appeared in such highly regarded films as '' ...
, and
Al Pacino
Alfredo James Pacino (; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has received numerous accolades: including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy A ...
were each nominated four times, more than any other actors. As of the
2022 ceremony,
Troy Kotsur is the most recent winner in this category for his performance as Frank Rossi in ''
CODA
Coda or CODA may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* Movie coda, a post-credits scene
* ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television
*''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...
''.
Winners and nominees
In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of film release in
Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...
; the ceremonies are always held the following year.
[
]
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
Multiple wins and nominations
The following individuals received two or more Best Supporting Actor awards:
The following individuals received three or more Best Supporting Actor nominations:
Age superlatives
See also
*
All Academy Award acting nominees
*
List of awards for supporting actor
Best Supporting Actor or Actress are accolades given by a group of film or television professionals in recognition of the work of supporting and character actors. Most awards for supporting actors are gender-specific.
Film
Male
* Academy Award ...
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
External links
Oscars.org(official Academy website)
The Academy Awards Database(official website)
Oscar.com(official ceremony promotional website)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Awards
Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winners
Film awards for supporting actor