The National Board of Review Award for Best Actor is one of the annual film awards given (since 1945) by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.
Winners
1940s Year Winner Film Role 1945 Ray Milland The Lost Weekend Don Birnam 1946 Laurence Olivier Henry V King Henry V 1947 Michael Redgrave Mourning Becomes Electra Orin Mannon 1948 Walter Huston The Treasure of the Sierra Madre Howard 1949 Ralph Richardson The Fallen Idol Baines The Heiress Austin Sloper
1950s Year Winner Film Role 1950 Alec Guinness Kind Hearts and Coronets Various 1951 Richard Basehart Fourteen Hours Robert Cosick 1952 Ralph Richardson Breaking the Sound Barrier John Ridgefield 1953 James Mason The Desert Rats Field Marshal Erwin von Rommel Face to Face The Captain Julius Caesar Brutus The Man Between Ivo Kern 1954 Bing Crosby The Country Girl Frank Elgin 1955 Ernest Borgnine Marty Marty Piletti 1956 Yul Brynner Anastasia General Sergei Pavlovich Bounine The King and I King Mongkut of Siam The Ten Commandments Pharaoh Rameses II 1957 Alec Guinness The Bridge on the River Kwai Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson 1958 Spencer Tracy The Old Man and the Sea The Old Man / Narrator 1959 Victor Sjöström Wild Strawberries Professor Isak Borg
1960s Year Winner Film Role 1960 Robert Mitchum Home from the Hill Wade Hunnicutt The Sundowners Paddy Carmody 1961 Albert Finney Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Arthur Seaton 1962 Jason Robards, Jr. Long Day's Journey Into Night James Tyrone, Jr. Tender Is the Night Dick Diver 1963 Rex Harrison Cleopatra Julius Caesar 1964 Anthony Quinn Zorba the Greek (Alexis Zorbas) Alexis Zorba 1965 Lee Marvin Cat Ballou Kid Shelleen / Tim Strawn Ship of Fools Bill Tenny 1966 Paul Scofield A Man for All Seasons Sir Thomas More 1967 Peter Finch Far from the Madding Crowd William Boldwood 1968 Cliff Robertson Charly Charly Gordon 1969 Peter O'Toole Goodbye, Mr. Chips Arthur Chipping, MA (Oxon), Latin Master
1970s Year Winner Film Role 1970 George C. Scott Patton George S. Patton, Jr. 1971 Gene Hackman The French Connection Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle 1972 Peter O'Toole Man of La Mancha Don Quixote de La Mancha / Miguel de Cervantes / Alonso Quijana The Ruling Class Jack Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney 1973 Al Pacino Serpico Francesco "Frank" Serpico Robert Ryan The Iceman Cometh Larry Slade 1974 Gene Hackman The Conversation Harry Caul 1975 Jack Nicholson One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Randle "R.P." McMurphy 1976 David Carradine Bound for Glory Woodrow "Woody" Guthrie 1977 John Travolta Saturday Night Fever Anthony "Tony" Manero 1978 Jon Voight Coming Home Luke Martin Laurence Olivier The Boys from Brazil Ezra Lieberman 1979 Peter Sellers Being There Chance
1980s Year Winner Film Role 1980 Robert De Niro Raging Bull Jake LaMotta 1981 Henry Fonda On Golden Pond Norman Thayer 1982 Ben Kingsley Gandhi Mahatma Gandhi 1983 Tom Conti Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence John Lawrence Reuben, Reuben Gowan McGland 1984 Victor Banerjee A Passage to India Dr. Aziz H. Ahmed 1985 William Hurt and Raúl Juliá Kiss of the Spider Woman Luis Molina and Valentin Arregui 1986 Paul Newman The Color of Money Fast Eddie Felson 1987 Michael Douglas Wall Street Gordon Gekko 1988 Gene Hackman Mississippi Burning Agent Rupert Anderson 1989 Morgan Freeman Driving Miss Daisy Hoke Colburn
1990s Year Winner Film Role 1990 Robert De Niro and Robin Williams Awakenings Leonard Lowe and Dr. Malcolm Sayer 1991 Warren Beatty Bugsy Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel 1992 Jack Lemmon Glengarry Glen Ross Shelley "The Machine" Levene 1993 Anthony Hopkins The Remains of the Day James Stevens Shadowlands Clive "C. S." Lewis 1994 Tom Hanks Forrest Gump Forrest Gump 1995 Nicolas Cage Leaving Las Vegas Ben Sanderson 1996 Tom Cruise Jerry Maguire Jerry Maguire 1997 Jack Nicholson As Good as It Gets Melvin Udall 1998 Ian McKellen Gods and Monsters James Whale 1999 Russell Crowe The Insider Dr. Jeffrey Wigand
2000s Year Winner Film Role 2000 Javier Bardem Before Night Falls Reinaldo Arenas 2001 Billy Bob Thornton Bandits Terry Lee Collins The Man Who Wasn't There Ed Crane Monster's Ball Hank Grotowski 2002 Campbell Scott Roger Dodger Roger Swanson 2003 Sean Penn Mystic River Jimmy Markum 2004 Jamie Foxx Ray Ray Charles 2005 Philip Seymour Hoffman Capote Truman Capote 2006 Forest Whitaker The Last King of Scotland Idi Amin 2007 George Clooney Michael Clayton Michael Clayton 2008 Clint Eastwood Gran Torino Walt Kowalski 2009 George Clooney Up in the Air Ryan Bingham Morgan Freeman Invictus Nelson Mandela
2010s Year Winner Film Role 2010 Jesse Eisenberg The Social Network Mark Zuckerberg 2011 George Clooney The Descendants Matt King 2012 Bradley Cooper Silver Linings Playbook Patrick "Pat" Solitano, Jr. 2013 Bruce Dern Nebraska Woodrow "Woody" Grant 2014 Oscar Isaac A Most Violent Year Abel Morales Michael Keaton Birdman Riggan Thomson 2015 Matt Damon The Martian Mark Watney 2016 Casey Affleck Manchester by the Sea Lee Chandler 2017 Tom Hanks The Post Ben Bradlee 2018 Viggo Mortensen Green BookNational Board of Review Names 'Green Book' Best Film of 2018 - Variety Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga 2019 Adam Sandler Uncut GemsNational Board of Review 2019 Winners|IndieWire Howard Ratner
2020s Year Winner Film Role 2020 Riz Ahmed Sound of Metal2021 National Board of Review Winners and Analysis - Variety Ruben Stone 2021 Will Smith King RichardNational Board of Review Winners 2021:|IndieWire Richard Williams 2022 Colin Farrell The Banshees of InisherinTop Gun: Maverick Named Best Movie of 2022 by National Board of Review - The Hollywood Reporter Pádraic Súilleabháin 2023 Paul Giamatti The Holdovers‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Named Best Picture by National Board of Review, Lily Gladstone and Paul Giamatti Nab Top Acting Honors Paul Hunham 2024 Daniel Craig Queer‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Named Best Picture by National Board of Review, Lily Gladstone and Paul Giamatti Nab Top Acting Honors William Lee 2025 Leonardo DiCaprio One Battle After AnotherNational Board of Review Names 2025 Honorees "Ghetto" Pat Calhoun / "Rocketman" / Bob Ferguson
Multiple awards
3 wins George Clooney (2007, 2009, 2011) Gene Hackman (1971, 1974, 1988)
2 wins Robert De Niro (1980, 1990) Morgan Freeman (1989, 2009) Alec Guinness (1950, 1957) Tom Hanks (1994, 2017) Jack Nicholson (1975, 1997) Laurence Olivier (1946, 1978) Peter O'Toole (1969, 1972) Ralph Richardson (1949, 1952)
See also New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor
References