2003 Sean Penn "Mystic River"
2002 Adrien Brody "The Pianist"
2001 Denzel Washington "Training Day"
2000 Russel Crowe "Gladiator"
1999 Kevin Spacey "American Beauty"
1998 Roberto Benigni "Life Is Beautiful"
1997 Jack Nicholson "As Good As It Gets"
1996 Geoffrey Rush "Shine"
1995 Nicolas Cage "Leaving Las Vegas"
1994 Tom Hanks "Forrest Gump"
1993 Tom Hanks "Philadelphia"
1992 Al Pacino "Scent of a Woman"
1991 Anthony Hopkins "The Silence of the Lambs"
1990 Jeremy Irons "Reversal of Fortune"
1989 Daniel Day-Lewis "My Left Foot"
1988 Dustin Hoffman "Rain Man"
1987 Michael Douglas "Wall Street"
1986 Paul Newman "The Color of Money"
1985 William Hurt "Kiss of the Spider Woman"
1984 F. Murray Abraham "Amadeus"
1983 Robert Duvall "Tender Mercies"
1982 Ben Kingsley "Gandhi"
1981 Henry Fonda "On Golden Pond"
1980 Robert De Niro "Raging Bull"
1979 Dustin Hoffman "Kramer vs. Kramer"
1978 Jon Voight "Coming Home"
1977 Richard Dreyfuss "The Goodbye Girl"
1976 Peter Finch "Network"
1975 Jack Nicholson "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"
1974 Art Carney "Harry and Tonto"
1973 Jack Lemmon "Save the Tiger"
1972 Marlon Brando "The Godfather"
1971 Gene Hackman "The French Connection"
1970 George C. Scott "Patton"
1969 John Wayne "True Grit"
1968 Cliff Robertson "Charly"
1967 Rod Steiger "In the Heat of the Night"
1966 Paul Scofield "A Man for All Seasons"
1965 Lee Marvin "Cat Ballou"
1964 Rex Harrison "My Fair Lady"
1963 Sidney Poitier "Lilies of the Field"
1962 Gregory Peck "To Kill a Mockingbird"
1961 Maximilian Schell "Judgment at Nuremberg"
1960 Burt Lancaster "Elmer Gantry"
1959 Charlton Heston "Ben-Hur"
1958 David Niven "Separate Tables"
1957 Alec Guinness "The Bridge on the River Kwai"
1956 Yul Brynner "The King and I"
1955 Ernest Borgnine "Marty"
1954 Marlon Brando "On the Waterfront"
1953 William Holden "Stalag 17"
1952 Gary Cooper "High Noon"
1951 Humphrey Bogart "The African Queen"
1950 José Ferrer "Cyrano de Bergerac"
1949 Broderick Crawford "All the King's Men"
1948 Laurence Olivier "Hamlet"
1947 Ronald Colman "A Double Life"
1946 Fredric March "The Best Years of Our Lives"
1945 Ray Milland "The Lost Weekend"
1944 Bing Crosby "Going My Way"
1943 Paul Lukas "Watch on the Rhine"
1942 James Cagney "Yankee Doodle Dandy"
1941 Gary Cooper "Sergeant York"
1940 James Stewart "The Philadelphia Story"
1939 Robert Donat "Goodbye, Mr. Chips"
1938 Spencer Tracy "Boys Town"
1937 Spencer Tracy "Captains Courageous"
1936 Paul Muni "The Story of Louis Pasteur"
1935 Victor McLaglen "The Informer"
1934 Clark Gable "It Happened One Night"
1932/33 Charles Laughton "The Private Life of Henry VIII"
1931/32 Wallace Beery "The Champ"
1931/32 Fredric March "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"
1930/31 Lionel Barrymore "A Free Soul"
1929/30 George Arliss "Disraeli"
1928/29 Warner Baxter "In Old Arizona"
1927/28 Emil Jannings "The Last Command" & "The Way of All Flesh"