Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

SAG Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture
The 2023 recipient: Cillian Murphy
Awarded for	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture
Location	Los Angeles, California
Presented by	SAG-AFTRA
First awarded	Tom Hanks for Forrest Gump (1994)
Currently held by	Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer (2023)
Website	sagawards.org

The Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture is an award presented annually by the Screen Actors Guild. It has been presented since the 1st Screen Actors Guild Awards in 1995 to a male actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year.

The award has been presented 30 times, and 28 actors have won the award. Tom Hanks was the award's first winner for Forrest Gump (1994). The most recent winner is Cillian Murphy who won for his performance in Oppenheimer (2023). Daniel Day-Lewis has won the award three times; no other actor has won it more than once. Denzel Washington has the most nominations with six.

Winners and nominees

Tom Hanks was the award's first winner, for Forrest Gump (1994).

Nicolas Cage won for Leaving Las Vegas (1995).

Geoffrey Rush won for Shine (1996).

Jack Nicholson won for As Good as It Gets (1997).

Roberto Benigni won for Life Is Beautiful (1998).

Kevin Spacey won for American Beauty (1999).

Benicio del Toro won for Traffic (2000).

Russell Crowe won for A Beautiful Mind (2001).

Daniel Day-Lewis won thrice for Gangs of New York (2002), There Will Be Blood (2007) and Lincoln (2012).

Johnny Depp won for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003).

Jamie Foxx won for Ray (2004).

Philip Seymour Hoffman won for Capote (2005).

Forest Whitaker won for The Last King of Scotland (2006).

Sean Penn won for Milk (2008).

Jeff Bridges won for Crazy Heart (2009).

Colin Firth won for The King's Speech (2010).

Jean Dujardin won for The Artist (2011).

Matthew McConaughey won for Dallas Buyers Club (2013).

Eddie Redmayne won for The Theory of Everything (2014).

Leonardo DiCaprio won for The Revenant (2015).

Denzel Washington won for Fences (2016).

Gary Oldman won for Darkest Hour (2017).

Rami Malek won for Bohemian Rhapsody (2018).

Joaquin Phoenix won for Joker (2019)

Chadwick Boseman won posthumously for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020).

Will Smith won for King Richard (2021).

Brendan Fraser won for The Whale (2022).

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Superlatives

Multiple winners

Three wins

• Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs of New York (2002), There Will Be Blood (2007), Lincoln (2012))

Multiple nominees

Note: Winners are indicated in bold type.

Two nominations

• Christian Bale (Vice (2018), Ford v Ferrari (2019))
• Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart (2009), True Grit (2010))
• Nicolas Cage (Leaving Las Vegas (1995), Adaptation. (2002))
• Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game (2014), The Power of the Dog (2021))
• Robert Duvall (The Apostle (1997), Get Low (2010))
• Colin Firth (A Single Man (2009), The King's Speech (2010))
• James Franco (127 Hours (2010), The Disaster Artist (2017))
• Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Invictus (2009))
• Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge (2016), Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021))
• Paul Giamatti (Sideways (2004), The Holdovers (2023))
• Philip Seymour Hoffman (Flawless (1999), Capote (2005))
• Anthony Hopkins (Nixon (1995), The Father (2020))
• Jack Nicholson (As Good as It Gets (1997), About Schmidt (2002))
• Gary Oldman (The Darkest Hour (2017), Mank (2020))
• Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything (2014), The Danish Girl (2015))
• Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line (2005), Joker (2019))
• Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Moneyball (2011))
• Geoffrey Rush (Shine (1996), Quills (2000))
• Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), King Richard (2021))
• Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland (2006), The Butler (2013))

Three nominations

• George Clooney (Michael Clayton (2007), Up in the Air (2009), The Descendants (2011))
• Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook (2012), A Star is Born (2018), Maestro (2023))
• Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs of New York (2002), There Will Be Blood (2007), Lincoln (2012))
• Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Finding Neverland (2004), Black Mass (2015))
• Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson (2006), Lars and the Real Girl (2007), La La Land (2016))
• Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises (2007), Captain Fantastic (2016), Green Book (2018))

Four nominations

• Russell Crowe (The Insider (1999), Gladiator (2000), A Beautiful Mind (2001), Cinderella Man (2005))
• Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump (1994), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Cast Away (2000), Captain Phillips (2013))
• Sean Penn (Dead Man Walking (1995), I Am Sam (2001), Mystic River (2003), Milk (2008))

Five nominations

• Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator (2004), Blood Diamond (2006), J. Edgar (2011), The Revenant (2015), Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019))

Six nominations

• Denzel Washington (The Hurricane (1999), Training Day (2001), Flight (2012), Fences (2016), Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017), The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021))

See also

• Academy Award for Best Actor
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
• BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
• Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor
• Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead

References

External links

• SAG Awards official site