The Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor is an honour, begun in 1969, presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India to an actor for best performance in a

Malayalam film Malayalam cinema is an Indian cinema, Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kochi, Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, ...

. Until 1997, the awards were managed directly by the Department of Cultural Affairs of the

Government of Kerala Government of Kerala is the subnational government of the Indian state of Kerala. The government is led by a chief minister, who selects all the other ministers. The chief minister and their most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision ...

. Since 1998, the awards have been constituted by the

Kerala State Chalachitra Academy Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Cana ...

, an autonomous, non-profit institution functioning under the Department of Cultural Affairs. The awardees are decided by an independent jury constituted every year. They are announced by the Minister for Cultural Affairs and are presented by the

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

. Throughout the years, accounting for ties and repeat winners, the Government of Kerala has presented a total of 55 Best Actor awards to 32 different actors. The recipients receive a

figurine A figurine (a diminutive form of the word ''figure'') or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many media, with cl ...

, a certificate, and a cash prize of . Several actors have won the honour for more than one film in a given year. As of 2020, the only actor to have won the prize in consecutive years is Bharat Gopy, in 1982 and 1983. The first Kerala State film Awards ceremony was held in 1970 with Sathyan receiving the award for ''

Kadalpalam ''Kadalpalam'' is a 1969 Malayalam language film directed by K. S. Sethumadhavan, written by K. T. Mohammed and produced by M. O. Joseph under Manjilas Films. The film stars Sathyan, Prem Nazir and Jayabharathi with Sheela, Bahadoor and Adoor Bh ...

'' (1969). In 1981,

Nedumudi Venu Kesavan Venugopal (22 May 1948 – 11 October 2021), better known by his stage name Nedumudi Venu, was an Indian actor and screenwriter from Kerala, who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema. He acted in more than 500 films, primarily in Ma ...

received the honour for his performance in various films released that year. As of 2020,

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeare ...

is the most honoured actor with six awards, followed by

Mammootty Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (; born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty (), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam films. He has also appeared in Tamil l ...

with five. Two actorsBharat Gopy and Muralihave won the award four times.

Prithviraj Sukumaran Prithviraj Sukumaran (born 16 October 1982) is an Indian actor, director, producer and playback singer primarily working in Malayalam cinema. He has also done Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. He acted in more than 100 films in a variety of rol ...

is the youngest recipient at age 24 for ''

Vaasthavam ''Vaasthavam'' () is a 2006 Indian Malayalam-language romantic political crime drama film written by Babu Janardhanan and directed by M. Padmakumar. The film revolves around a youth Balachandran Adiga (Prithviraj Sukumaran) and follows his ri ...

'' (2006); he replaced Mohanlal, who held this distinction for twenty years from 1986. There were four years when there was a tie for the winner

Rajit Kapur Rajit Kapur is an Indian film and theatre actor and director. He is known for his portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi in the 1996 film, '' The Making of the Mahatma'' for which he won the National Film Award for Best Actor. Other notable roles are as ...

and Murali shared the honour in 1998,

Fahadh Faasil Fahadh Fazil (8 August 1982) is an Indian actor and film producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema and has appeared in few Tamil and Telugu films. He has acted in more than 50 films and has received several awards, including a Nati ...

and

Lal Lal ( fa, لعل, hi, लाल, bn, লাল, ur, لال, ps, Lāl) is an Indo-Iranian surname and given name, which means "darling", "precious", or "beloved", from the Sanskrit ''lala'' ("cajoling").''Dictionary of American Family Names''F ...

in 2013,

Nivin Pauly Nivin Pauly (born 11 October 1984) is an Indian actor and producer who works predominantly in Malayalam films. He is a recipient of several awards including two Kerala State Film Awards and three Filmfare Awards South, Filmfare South awards. ...

and

Sudev Nair Sudev Nair is an Indian actor and model working in Malayalam films best known for his performance in the 2014 film '' My Life Partner'', for which he was awarded the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor in 2014. He also starred in the 2019 ...

in 2014,

Jayasurya Jayasurya (born August 1978) is an Indian actor, distributor, Sponsor, Model, film producer, playback singer, and impressionist, who works in the Malayalam films. He has appeared in more than 100 films and has won several awards, including a N ...

and

Soubin Shahir Soubin Shahir (born 12 October 1983) is an Indian actor and director who works in Malayalam cinema. He began his film career as an assistant director in 2003 and worked under several directors. Soubin made his acting debut in 2013 with a suppo ...

in 2018 and the most recent winners Biju Menon and

Joju George Joseph George, better known as Joju George (born 22 October 1977) is an Indian actor, playback singer and producer who works mainly in Malayalam cinema. He has acted in Malayalam films and worked on Tamil projects as well. In 2015, he won the ...

in 2021.

Superlatives

Winners

Notes

References

External links

Official website

Department of Cultural Affairs

{{featured list Kerala State Film Awards Film awards for lead actor