- 2024: Cillian Murphy - Oppenheimer
- 2023: Brendan Fraser - The Whale
- 2022: Will Smith - King Richard
- 2021: Anthony Hopkins - The Father
- 2020: Joaquin Phoenix - Joker
- 2019: Rami Malek - Bohemian Rhapsody
- 2018: Gary Oldman - Darkest Hour
- 2017: Casey Affleck - Manchester by the Sea
- 2016: Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant
- 2015: Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything
- 2014: Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club
- 2013: Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln
- 2012: Jean Dujardin - The Artist
- 2011: Colin Firth - The King's Speech
- 2010: Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
- 2009: Sean Penn - Milk
- 2008: Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
- 2007: Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
- 2006: Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote
- 2005: Jamie Foxx - Ray
- 2004: Sean Penn - Mystic River
- 2003: Adrien Brody - The Pianist
- 2002: Denzel Washington - Training Day
- 2001: Russell Crowe - Gladiator
- 2000: Kevin Spacey - American Beauty
- 1999: Roberto Benigni - Life Is Beautiful
- 1998: Jack Nicholson - As Good as It Gets
- 1997: Geoffrey Rush - Shine
- 1996: Nicolas Cage - Leaving Las Vegas
- 1995: Tom Hanks - Forrest Gump
- 1994: Tom Hanks - Philadelphia
- 1993: Al Pacino - Scent of a Woman
- 1992: Anthony Hopkins - The Silence of the Lambs
- 1991: Jeremy Irons - Reversal of Fortune
- 1990: Daniel Day-Lewis - My Left Foot
- 1989: Dustin Hoffman - Rain Man
- 1988: Michael Douglas - Wall Street
- 1987: Paul Newman - The Color of Money
- 1986: William Hurt - Kiss of the Spider Woman
- 1985: F. Murray Abraham - Amadeus
- 1984: Robert Duvall - Tender Mercies
- 1983: Ben Kingsley - Gandhi
- 1982: Henry Fonda - On Golden Pond
- 1981: Robert De Niro - Raging Bull
- 1980: Dustin Hoffman - Kramer vs. Kramer
- 1979: Jon Voight - Coming Home
- 1978: Richard Dreyfuss - The Goodbye Girl
- 1977: Peter Finch - Network
- 1976: Jack Nicholson - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
- 1975: Art Carney - Harry and Tonto
- 1974: Jack Lemmon - Save the Tiger
- 1973: Marlon Brando - The Godfather
- 1972: Gene Hackman - The French Connection
- 1971: George C. Scott - Patton
- 1970: John Wayne - True Grit
- 1969: Cliff Robertson - Charly
- 1968: Rod Steiger - In the Heat of the Night
- 1967: Paul Scofield - A Man for All Seasons
- 1966: Lee Marvin - Cat Ballou
- 1965: Rex Harrison - My Fair Lady
- 1964: Sidney Poitier - Lilies of the Field
- 1963: Gregory Peck - To Kill a Mockingbird
- 1962: Maximilian Schell - Judgment at Nuremberg
- 1961: Burt Lancaster - Elmer Gantry
- 1960: Charlton Heston - Ben-Hur
- 1959: David Niven - Separate Tables
- 1958: Alec Guinness - The Bridge on the River Kwai
- 1957: Yul Brynner - The King and I
- 1956: Ernest Borgnine - Marty
- 1955: Marlon Brando - On the Waterfront
- 1954: William Holden - Stalag 17
- 1953: Gary Cooper - High Noon
- 1952: Humphrey Bogart - The African Queen
- 1951: José Ferrer - Cyrano de Bergerac
- 1950: Broderick Crawford - All the King's Men
- 1949: Laurence Olivier - Hamlet
- 1948: Ronald Colman - A Double Life
- 1947: Fredric March - The Best Years of Our Lives
- 1946: Ray Milland - The Lost Weekend
- 1945: Bing Crosby - Going My Way
- 1944: Paul Lukas - Watch on the Rhine
- 1943: James Cagney - Yankee Doodle Dandy
- 1942: Gary Cooper - Sergeant York
- 1941: James Stewart - The Philadelphia Story
- 1940: Robert Donat - Goodbye, Mr. Chips
- 1939: Spencer Tracy - Boys Town
- 1938: Spencer Tracy - Captains Courageous
- 1937: Paul Muni - The Story of Louis Pasteur
- 1936: Victor McLaglen - The Informer
- 1935: Clark Gable - It Happened One Night
- 1934: Charles Laughton - The Private Life of Henry VIII
- 1933: Fredric March - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde / Wallace Beery - The Champ (Tie)
- 1932: Lionel Barrymore - A Free Soul
- 1931: George Arliss - Disraeli
- 1930: Warner Baxter - In Old Arizona
- 1929: Emil Jannings - The Last Command, The Way of All Flesh
