Leading role

Variants and examples

Sometimes there is more than one significant leading role in a dramatic piece, and the actors are said to play co-leads; a large supporting role may be considered a secondary lead. Award nominations for acting often reflect such ambiguities. Therefore, sometimes two actors in the same performance piece are Academy Award–nominated for Best Actor or Best Actress—categories traditionally reserved for leads. For example, in 1935Clark Gable, Charles Laughton and Franchot Tone were each nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for Mutiny on the Bounty. There can even be controversy over whether a particular performance should be nominated in the Best Actor/Actress or Best Supporting Actor/Best Supporting Actress category; for instance, The Godfather'sAl Pacino boycotted the 45th Academy Awards ceremony since he was insulted at being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor award; he noted that he had more screen time than his co-star and Best Actor winner Marlon Brando and so he should have received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.