Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor

List of winners and nominees

1990s

• 1995: Kevin Bacon – Murder in the First as Henri Young
• 1996: Geoffrey Rush – Shine as David Helfgott
• 1997: Jack Nicholson – As Good as It Gets as Melvin Udall
• 1998: Ian McKellen – Gods and Monsters as James Whale / Apt Pupil – Kurt Dussander / Arthur Denker
• 1999: Russell Crowe – The Insider as Jeffrey Wigand

  2000s

• Sean Penn – I Am Sam as Sam Dawson
• Will Smith – Ali as Muhammad Ali

• Robin Williams – One Hour Photo as Seymour "Sy" Parrish

• Russell Crowe – ' as Captain Jack Aubrey
• Johnny Depp – ' as Captain Jack Sparrow
• Ben Kingsley – House of Sand and Fog as Amir Behrani
• Bill Murray – Lost in Translation as Bob Harris

• Javier Bardem – The Sea Inside as Ramón Sampedro
• Don Cheadle – Hotel Rwanda as Paul Rusesabagina
• Johnny Depp – Finding Neverland as J. M. Barrie
• Leonardo DiCaprio – The Aviator as Howard Hughes
• Paul Giamatti – Sideways as Miles Raymond

• Russell Crowe – Cinderella Man as James J. Braddock
• Terrence Howard – Hustle & Flow as DJay
• Heath Ledger – Brokeback Mountain as Ennis Del Mar
• Joaquin Phoenix – Walk the Line as Johnny Cash
• David Strathairn – Good Night, and Good Luck. as Edward R. Murrow

• Leonardo DiCaprio – Blood Diamond as Danny Archer
• Leonardo DiCaprio – The Departed as William "Billy" Costigan, Jr.
• Ryan Gosling – Half Nelson as Dan Dunne
• Peter O'Toole – Venus as Maurice Russell
• Will Smith – The Pursuit of Happyness as Chris Gardner

• George Clooney – Michael Clayton as Michael Clayton
• Johnny Depp – ' as Benjamin Barker / Sweeney Todd
• Ryan Gosling – Lars and the Real Girl as Lars Lindstrom
• Emile Hirsch – Into the Wild as Christopher McCandless
• Viggo Mortensen – Eastern Promises as Nikolai Luzhin

• George Clooney – Up in the Air as Ryan Bingham
• Colin Firth – A Single Man as George Falconer
• Morgan Freeman – Invictus as Nelson Mandela
• Viggo Mortensen – The Road as Man
• Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker'' as Sergeant First Class William James

  2010s

• Jeff Bridges – True Grit as Rooster Cogburn
• Robert Duvall – Get Low as Felix Bush
• Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network as Mark Zuckerberg
• James Franco – 127 Hours as Aron Ralston
• Ryan Gosling – Blue Valentine as Dean Pereira

• Leonardo DiCaprio – J. Edgar as J. Edgar Hoover
• Jean Dujardin – The Artist as George Valentin
• Michael Fassbender – Shame as Brandon Sullivan
• Ryan Gosling – Drive as Driver
• Brad Pitt – Moneyball as Billy Beane

• Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook as Patrizio "Pat" Solitano, Jr.
• John Hawkes – The Sessions as Mark O'Brien
• Hugh Jackman – Les Misérables as Jean Valjean
• Joaquin Phoenix – The Master as Freddie Quell
• Denzel Washington – Flight as William "Whip" Whitaker, Sr.

• Christian Bale – American Hustle as Irving Rosenfeld
• Bruce Dern – Nebraska as Woody Grant
• Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave as Solomon Northup
• Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips as Captain Richard Phillips
• Robert Redford – All Is Lost as Our Man

• Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game as Alan Turing
• Ralph Fiennes – The Grand Budapest Hotel as Monsieur Gustave H.
• Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler as Lou Bloom
• David Oyelowo – Selma as Martin Luther King Jr.
• Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything as Stephen Hawking

• Bryan Cranston – Trumbo as Dalton Trumbo
• Matt Damon – The Martian as Mark Watney
• Johnny Depp – Black Mass as Whitey Bulger
• Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs as Steve Jobs
• Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl as Lili Elbe / Einar Wegener

• Joel Edgerton – Loving as Richard Loving
• Andrew Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge as Desmond T. Doss
• Ryan Gosling – La La Land as Sebastian Wilder
• Tom Hanks – Sully as Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger
• Denzel Washington – Fences as Troy Maxson

• Timothée Chalamet – Call Me by Your Name as Elio Perlman
• Daniel Day-Lewis – Phantom Thread as Reynolds Woodcock
• James Franco – The Disaster Artist as Tommy Wiseau
• Jake Gyllenhaal – Stronger as Jeff Bauman
• Tom Hanks – The Post as Ben Bradlee
• Daniel Kaluuya – Get Out as Chris Washington

• Bradley Cooper – A Star Is Born as Jackson Maine
• Willem Dafoe – At Eternity's Gate as Vincent van Gogh
• Ryan Gosling – First Man as Neil Armstrong
• Ethan Hawke – First Reformed as Reverend Ernst Toller
• Rami Malek – Bohemian Rhapsody as Freddie Mercury
• Viggo Mortensen – Green Book as Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga

• Antonio Banderas – Pain and Glory as Salvador Mallo
• Robert De Niro – The Irishman as Frank Sheeran
• Leonardo DiCaprio – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as Rick Dalton
• Adam Driver – Marriage Story as Charlie Barber
• Eddie Murphy – Dolemite Is My Name as Rudy Ray Moore
• Adam Sandler – Uncut Gems as Howard Ratner

  Multiple nominees

• Christian Bale
• Jeff Bridges
• Bradley Cooper
• Michael Fassbender
• Colin Firth
• James Franco
• Jake Gyllenhaal
• Jack Nicholson
• Brad Pitt
• Eddie Redmayne
• Will Smith
• Denzel Washington

• George Clooney
• Tom Hanks
• Viggo Mortensen
• Sean Penn
• Joaquin Phoenix

• Daniel Day-Lewis
• Johnny Depp

• Russell Crowe

• Leonardo DiCaprio
• Ryan Gosling

  Multiple winners

• Daniel Day-Lewis
• Russell Crowe

• Jack Nicholson
• Sean Penn