جائزة أفضل ممثل لدور رئيسي هي من ضمن الجوائز التي تمنحها أكاديمية الفنون والعلوم السينمائية بل هي من ابرز الجوائز التي تسلط عليها الأضواء في المهرجان .
اول المتوجين بهده الجائزة هو الممثل Emil Jannings عن دوره في فيلم The Last Command
أما آخر من توج بهده الجائزة فهو الممثل القدير Jeef Bridges لهده السنة عن فيلم Crazy Heart. وانتظر جيف هده الجائزة مند أزيد من 30 سنة .
وهده قائمة بأسماء الفائزين بهده الجائزة مند نشأتها إلى يومنا هدا مع صورهم وأسماء أفلامهم التي نالوا عنها هده الجائزة.


2009
Jeff Bridges
Crazy Heart

2008
Sean Penn
Milk

2007
Daniel Day Lewis
There Will Be Blood

2006
Forest Whitaker
The Last King of Scotland

2005
Philip Seymour
Hoffman Capote

2004
Jamie Foxx
Ray

2003
Sean Penn
Mystic River

2002
Adrien Brody
The Pianist

2001
Denzel Washington
Training Day

2000
Russell Crowe
Gladiator

1999
Kevin Spacey
American Beauty

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
Lillies Of The Field

1962
Gregory Peck
To Kill A Mocking Bird

1961
Maximilian Schell
Judgment At Nuremburg

1960
Burt Lancaster
Elmer Gantry

1959
Charlton Heston
Ben

1958
David Niven
Separate Tables

1957
Alec Guinness
The Bridge Over 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

1933
Charles Laughton
The Private Life Of Henry Viii

1932
Wallace Beery
The Champ

1931
Fredric March
Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

1930
Lionel Barrymore
A Free Soul

1929
George Arliss
Disraeli

1928
Warner Baxter
In Old Arizona

1927
Emil Jannings
The Last Command