Independent Spirit Award / Best Actor
Award-winning and nominated actor for the Independent Spirit Award in the category Best Actor (Best Male Lead) .
In 2006, 2010, 2012 and 2014 and 2017, the award winner matched the Oscar winner in the Best Actor category .
| statistics | Surname | number | year |
| Most frequent awards | Jeff Bridges | 2 | 1994, 2010 |
| Philip Seymour Hoffman | 2 | 2006, 2008 | |
| Most frequent nominations (* = victory) |
Jeff Bridges | 3 | 1994 *, 2005, 2010 * |
| Ryan Gosling | 3 | 2002, 2007 *, 2012 | |
| Sean Penn | 3 | 1996 *, 1999, 2009 | |
| James Woods | 3 | 1987 *, 1988, 1989 | |
| Most frequent nominations without a win | Aaron Eckhart | 2 | 2007, 2011 |
| Jake Gyllenhaal | 2 | 2002, 2015 | |
| Jeremy Renner | 2 | 2003, 2009 | |
| David Strathairn | 2 | 2000, 2006 |
1980s
1986
M. Emmet Walsh - Blood Simple - A Murderous Night (Blood Simple)
- Rubén Blades - Fragile Dreams (Crossover Dreams)
- Tom Bower - Wild Rose
- Treat Williams - Menacing Whispers (Smooth Talk)
1987
- Roberto Benigni - Down by Law
- Willem Dafoe - Platoon
- Dennis Hopper - Blue Velvet
- Victor Love - Native Son
1988
Dennis Quaid - The Big Easy - The Big Easy (The Big Easy)
- Spalding Gray - After Cambodia swimming (Swimming to Cambodia)
- Terry O'Quinn - The Stepfather
- Mickey Rourke - Barfly
- James Woods - Best Seller
1989
Edward James Olmos - Stand and Deliver
- Eric Bogosian - Talk Radio
- Harvey Fierstein - Das Kuckucksei (Torch Song Trilogy)
- Chris Mulkey - Patti Rocks - Sex Is Fun (Patti Rocks)
- James Woods - The Price of Success (The Boost)
1990s
1990
Matt Dillon - Drugstore Cowboy
- Nicolas Cage - Vampire's Kiss
- Charles Lane - Sidewalk Stories
- Randy Quaid - Ugh Devil - Daddy is a Cannibal (Parents)
- James Spader - Sex, Lies, and Video (Sex, Lies, and Videotape)
1991
Danny Glover - Angry sleep (To Sleep with Anger)
- Martin Priest - The Plot Against Harry (The Plot Against Harry)
- Christopher Reid - House Party
- Michael Rooker - Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
- Christian Slater - Hart auf Sendung - Pump up the Volume (Pump Up the Volume)
1992
River Phoenix - My Private Idaho (My Own Private Idaho)
- Doug E. Doug - Hangin 'Out - 4 Homeboys on the move (Hangin' with the Homeboys)
- Robert Duvall - The Pleasure of the Beautiful Rose (Rambling Rose)
- Gary Oldman - Rosenkranz & Güldenstern (Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead)
- William Russ - His Last Game (Pastime)
1993
Harvey Keitel - Bad Lieutenant
- Craig Chester - Swoon
- Laurence Fishburne - Beyond the White Line (Deep Cover)
- Peter Greene - Laws of Gravity
- Michael Rapaport - Zebrahead
1994
Jeff Bridges - American Heart - The Second Chance (American Heart)
- Vincent D'Onofrio - A Normal Miracle (Household Saints)
- Mitchell Lichtenstein - The Wedding Banquet (喜宴, Hsi yen )
- Matthew Modine - Equinox
- Tyrin Turner - Menace II Society
1995
Samuel L. Jackson - Pulp Fiction
- Sihung Lung - Eat Drink Man Woman (飲食 男女, Yǐn Shí Nán Nǚ )
- William H. Macy - Oleanna
- Campbell Scott - Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
- Jon Seda - Life is Trouble (I Like It Like That)
1996
Sean Penn - Dead Man Walking - His Last Walk (Dead Man Walking)
- Nicolas Cage - Leaving Las Vegas
- Tim Roth - Little Odessa
- Jimmy Smits - My family (My Family)
- Kevin Spacey - Swimming with Sharks (Swimming with Sharks)
1997
- Chris Cooper - Lone Star
- Chris Penn - The Funeral (The Funeral)
- Tony Shalhoub - Big Night
- Stanley Tucci - Big Night
1998
Robert Duvall - Apostle! (The Apostle)
- Peter Fonda - Ulee's Gold
- Christopher Guest - Waiting for Guffman (Waiting for Guffman)
- Philip Baker Hall - Last Exit Reno (Sydney)
- John Turturro - Box of Moonlight (Box of Moon Light)
1999
Ian McKellen - Gods and Monsters
- Dylan Baker - Happiness
- Nick Nolte - The Hunted (Affliction)
- Sean Penn - Hurlyburly
- Courtney B. Vance - Blind Faith (Blind Faith)
2000s
2000
Richard Farnsworth - A True Story - The Straight Story (The Straight Story)
- John Cusack - Being John Malkovich
- Terence Stamp - The Limey
- David Strathairn - When the Fog Lifts - Limbo (Limbo)
- Noble Willingham - The Corndog Man
2001
Javier Bardem - Before Night Falls
- Adrien Brody - Restaurant
- Billy Crudup - Jesus' Son
- Hill Harper - The Visit
- Mark Ruffalo - You Can Count on Me
2002
Tom Wilkinson - In the Bedroom
- Brian Cox - LIE - Long Island Expressway (LIE)
- Ryan Gosling - Inside a Skinhead
- Jake Gyllenhaal - Donnie Darko
- John Cameron Mitchell - Hedwig and the Angry Inch
2003
- Graham Greene - Skins
- Danny Huston - Ivansxtc
- Jeremy Renner - Dahmer
- Campbell Scott - Sex For Beginners (Roger Dodger)
2004
Bill Murray - Lost in Translation
- Peter Dinklage - Station Agent (The Station Agent)
- Paul Giamatti - American Splendor
- Ben Kingsley - House of Sand and Fog (House of Sand and Fog)
- Lee Pace - Soldier's Girl
2005
- Kevin Bacon - The Woodsman
- Jeff Bridges - The Door in the Floor - The Door in the Floor (The Door in the Floor)
- Jamie Foxx - Redemption - The Fruits of Wrath (Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story)
- Liam Neeson - Kinsey - The Truth About Sex (Kinsey)
2006
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote
- Jeff Daniels - The Squid and the Whale (The Squid and the Whale)
- Terrence Howard - Hustle & Flow
- Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain
- David Strathairn - Good Night, and Good Luck.
2007
- Aaron Eckhart - Thank You for Smoking
- Edward Norton - The Painted Veil (The Painted Veil)
- Ahmad Razvi - Man Push Cart
- Forest Whitaker - American Gun
2008
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Die Geschwister Savage (The Savages)
- Pedro Castaneda - August Evening
- Don Cheadle - Talk to Me
- Frank Langella - Starting Out in the Evening
- Tony Leung - Danger and Desire (色 ， 戒, Sè, jiè )
2009
- Javier Bardem - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
- Richard Jenkins - A Summer in New York - The Visitor (The Visitor)
- Sean Penn - Milk
- Jeremy Renner - Deadly Command - The Hurt Locker (The Hurt Locker)
2010s
2010
- Colin Firth - A Single Man
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt - (500) Days of Summer
- Souleymane Sy Savane - Goodbye Solo
- Adam Scott - The Vicious Child
2011
- Ronald Bronstein - Go Get Some Rosemary
- Aaron Eckhart - Rabbit Hole
- John C. Reilly - Cyrus
- Ben Stiller - Greenberg
2012
- Demián Bichir - A Better Life
- Ryan Gosling - Drive
- Woody Harrelson - Rampart - Cop Out of Control (Rampart)
- Michael Shannon - Take Shelter (Take Shelter)
2013
John Hawkes - The Sessions - When Words Touch (The Sessions)
- Jack Black - Bernie - corpses pave his way (Bernie)
- Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings (Silver Linings Playbook)
- Thure Lindhardt - Keep the Lights On
- Matthew McConaughey - Killer Joe
- Wendell Pierce - Four
2014
Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club
- Bruce Dern - Nebraska
- Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years a Slave
- Oscar Isaac - Inside Llewyn Davis
- Michael B. Jordan - Next Stop: Fruitvale Station (Fruitvale Station)
- Robert Redford - All Is Lost
2015
Michael Keaton - Birdman or ( The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance))
- André 3000 - Jimi: All Is by My Side
- Jake Gyllenhaal - Nightcrawler - Every night has its price (Nightcrawler)
- John Lithgow - Love Is Strange (Love Is Strange)
- David Oyelowo - Selma
2016
Abraham Attah - Beasts of No Nation
- Christopher Abbott - James White
- Ben Mendelsohn - Mississippi Grind
- Jason Segel - The End of the Tour
- Koudous Seihon - Mediterranea
2017
Casey Affleck - Manchester by the Sea
- David Harewood - Free In Deed
- Viggo Mortensen - Captain Fantastic - Once Wilderness and Back (Captain Fantastic)
- Jesse Plemons - Other People
- Tim Roth - Chronic
Timothée Chalamet - Call Me by Your Name
- Harris Dickinson - Beach Rats
- James Franco - The Disaster Artist
- Daniel Kaluuya - Get Out
- Robert Pattinson - Good Time
- Daveed Diggs - Blindspotting
- John Cho - Searching
- Christian Malheiros - Sócrates
- Joaquin Phoenix - A Beautiful Day ( You Were Never Really Here )
2020s
Adam Sandler - The Black Diamond (Uncut Gems)
- Chris Galust - Give Me Liberty
- Kelvin Harrison Jr. - Luce
- Robert Pattinson - The Lighthouse (The Lighthouse)
- Matthias Schoenaerts - The Mustang