This page should also list nominees for each year, instead of just listing the winners...
The films are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 went to the best actor in 1999.
- 2000 Benicio del Toro - Traffic
- 1999 Michael Caine - The Cider House Rules
- 1998 James Coburn - Affliction
- 1997 Robin Williams - Good Will Hunting
- 1996 Cuba Gooding, Jr. - Jerry Maguire
- 1995 Kevin Spacey - The Usual Suspects
- 1994 Martin Landau - Ed Wood
- 1993 Tommy Lee Jones - The Fugitive
- 1992 Gene Hackman - Unforgiven
- 1991 Jack Palance - City Slickers
- 1990 Joe Pesci - Goodfellas
- 1989 Denzel Washington - Glory
- 1988 Kevin Kline - A Fish Called Wanda
- 1987 Sean Connery - The Untouchables
- 1986 Michael Caine - Hannah and Her Sisters
- 1985 Don Ameche - Cocoon
- 1984 Haing S. Ngor - The Killing Fields
- 1983 Jack Nicholson - Terms of Endearment
- 1982 Louis Gossett, Jr. - An Officer and A Gentleman
- 1981 John Gielgud - Arthur
- 1980 Timothy Hutton - Ordinary People
- 1979 Melvyn Douglas - Being There
- 1978 Christopher Walken - The Deer Hunter
- 1977 Jason Robards - Julia
- 1976 Jason Robards - All The President's Men
- 1975 George Burns - The Sunshine Boys
- 1974 Robert De Niro - The Godfather Part II
- 1973 John Houseman - The Paper Chase
- 1972 Joel Grey - Cabaret
- 1971 Ben Johnson - The Last Picture Show
- 1970 John Mills - Ryan's Daughter
- 1969 Gig Young - They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
- 1968 Jack Albertson - The Subject Was Roses
- 1967 George Kennedy - Cool Hand Luke
- 1966 Walter Matthau - The Fortune Cookie
- 1965 Martin Balsam - A Thousand Clowns
- 1964 Peter Ustinov - Topkapi
- 1963 Melvyn Douglas - Hud
- 1962 Ed Begley - Sweet Bird of Youth
- 1961 George Chakiris - West Side Story
- 1960 Peter Ustinov - Spartacus
- 1959 Hugh Griffith - Ben-Hur
- 1958 Burl Ives - The Big Country
- 1957 Red Buttons - Sayonara
- 1956 Anthony Quinn - Lust For Life
- 1955 Jack Lemmon - Mister Roberts
- 1954 Edmond O'Brien - The Barefoot Contessa
- 1953 Frank Sinatra - From Here to Eternity
- 1952 Anthony Quinn - Viva Zapata!
- 1951 Karl Malden - A Streetcar Named Desire
- 1950 George Sanders - All About Eve
- 1949 Dean Jagger - Twelve O'Clock High
- 1948 Walter Huston - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
- 1947 Edmund Gwenn - Miracle on 34th Street
- 1946 Harold Russell - The Best Years Of Our Lives
- 1945 James Dunn - A Tree Grows In Brooklyn
- 1944 Barry Fitzgerald - Going My Way
- 1943 Charles Coburn - The More the Merrier
- 1942 Van Heflin - Johnny Eager
- 1941 Donald Crisp - How Green Was My Valley
- 1940 Walter Brennan - The Westerner
- 1939 Thomas Mitchell - Stagecoach
- 1938 Walter Brennan - Kentucky
- 1937 Joseph Schildkraut - The Life of Emile Zola
- 1936 Walter Brennan - Come and Get It