Best Actor in a Leading Role is a

British Academy Film Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...

presented annually by the

British Academy of Film and Television Arts British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

(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 ''The Graduate'' is a 1967 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from W ...

''.

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. Ralph Richardson

Sir Michael Caine, 28th EFA Awards 2015, Berlin (cropped)

Flickr - nicogenin - 66ème Festival de Venise (Mostra) (56) Colin Firth

Casey Affleck at the Manchester by the Sea premiere (30199719155) (cropped)

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 *

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* Peter Finch *

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* Jack Lemmon * Laurence Olivier ;6 nominations * Marlon Brando * Leonardo DiCaprio * Albert Finney * Sidney Poitier ;5 nominations * Dirk Bogarde * Robert De Niro *

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;4 nominations *

Ralph Fiennes Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes ( ; born 22 December 1962) is an English actor, film producer, and director. A Shakespeare interpreter, he excelled onstage at the Royal National Theatre before having further success at the Royal Shak ...

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* Paul Newman *

Peter Sellers Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show'', featured on a number of hit comic songs ...

;3 nominations *

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* Richard Attenborough *

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* George Clooney *

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* Russell Crowe * Alec Guinness * Gene Hackman * Burt Lancaster *

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* Walter Matthau *

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;2 nominations *

Christian Bale Christian Charles Philip Bale (born 30 January 1974) is an English actor. Known for his versatility and physical transformations for his roles, he has been a leading man in films of several genres. He has received various accolades, including ...

* Alan Bates *

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Jamie Bell Andrew James Matfin Bell (born 14 March 1986) is an English actor and dancer. He rose to prominence for his debut role in ''Billy Elliot'' (2000), for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, becoming one of the youngest ...

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* Jim Broadbent *

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* Sean Connery *

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* James Dean * Gérard Depardieu * Johnny Depp *

Michael Douglas Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the A ...

* Richard Dreyfuss * Michael Fassbender * Colin Firth *

Henry Fonda Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics. Born and ra ...

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Jean Gabin Jean Gabin (; 17 May 190415 November 1976) was a French actor and singer. Considered a key figure in French cinema, he starred in several classic films including ''Pépé le Moko'' (1937), '' La grande illusion'' (1937), ''Le Quai des brumes'' ...

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Brit ...

* George Hamilton * Laurence Harvey *

William Holden William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film ''Stalag 17'' (1953) ...

* Bob Hoskins * Charles Laughton * Ian McKellen *

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* James Mason * Marcello Mastroianni * Al Pacino * Gregory Peck * Brad Pitt *

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* Ralph Richardson *

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* Frank Sinatra * Rod Steiger * James Stewart *

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