Cannes International Film Festival / Best Actor

Honored in 1970 and 1987: the Italian Marcello Mastroianni

The prize for the best actor ( Prix ​​d'interprétation masculine ) honors the best acting performance of a leading or supporting actor in a competitive film (feature film) at the annual Cannes Film Festival . The award was first presented at the premiere of the film festival in 1946. The competition jury, which is mostly composed of international filmmakers, votes on the award of the prize, which is presented to the winner in the form of a miniature of the Golden Palm and a certificate.

Award winners

American film actors (22 victories) were most frequently awarded the actor's prize, followed by their colleagues from France and Italy (10 each) and Great Britain (8). The Americans Dean Stockwell (1959 and 1962) and Jack Lemmon (1979 and 1982), as well as the Italian Marcello Mastroianni (1970 and 1987) were able to triumph twice . The first African-American winner in the history of the Cannes Film Festival is the American John Kitzmiller , who was honored in 1957 for his performance in France Štiglic 's war drama The Valley of Peace . In 2003 the Turkish actor Mehmet Emin Toprak received a posthumous award, while a year later Yūya Yagira was successful as the youngest winner and first Japanese mime . Yagira, who won the competition jury's approval for Hirokazu Koreeda's Nobody Knows in 2004 , was fourteen years old when his victory was announced.

Several times in the past, the jury was unable to agree on a winner, while in 1955 and 2006 the entire male cast of a film was honored. An actor from German-speaking countries was able to prevail against the competition of foreign actors for the first time in 2009, when Christoph Waltz received the award for the English-language production Inglourious Basterds .

year	Award winners	Original title	German title
1946	Ray Milland	The Lost Weekend	The lost weekend
1947	Prize not awarded
1948	Film festival not organized
1949	Edward G. Robinson	House of Strangers	Enmity
1950	Film festival not organized
1951	Michael Redgrave	The Browning Version	Conflict of heart
1952	Marlon Brando	Viva Zapata!	Viva Zapata!
1953 - 1954	Prize not awarded ¹
1955 ²	Spencer Tracy	Bad Day at Black Rock	City in fear
	Boris Andreyev	Большая семья (Bolshaya semja)	A big family
	Alexei Batalow
	Boris Bityukov
	Nikolai Gritsenko
	Pavel Kadochnikov
	Boris Kokowkin
	Sergei Kurilov
	Sergei Lukyanov
	Vadim Medvedev
	Nikolai Sergeyev
1956	Prize not awarded
1957	John Kitzmiller	Dolina miru	The valley of peace
1958	Paul Newman	The long, hot summer	The long, hot summer
1959	Bradford Dillman	Compulsion	The compulsion to evil
	Dean Stockwell
	Orson Welles
1960	Prize not awarded
1961	Anthony Perkins	Goodbye again	Do you love Brahms?
1962	Murray Melvin	A taste of honey	Bitter honey
	Dean Stockwell	Long Day's Journey Into Night	not known
	Ralph Richardson
	Jason Robards
1963	Richard Harris	This Sporting Life	Alluring laurel
1964	Antal Páger	Pacsirta	The Lark
	Saro Urzì	Sedotta e Abbandonata	Seduction in Italian
1965	Terence Stamp	The Collector	The catcher
1966	Per Oscarsson	Sult	hunger
1967	Oded Kotler	Shlosha Yamim Veyeled	not known
1968	Film festival canceled due to the May riots .
1969	Jean-Louis Trintignant	Z	Z
1970	Marcello Mastroianni	Dramma della gelosia - tutti i particolari in cronaca	Jealousy in Italian
1971	Riccardo Cucciolla	Sacco e Vanzetti	Sacco and Vanzetti
1972	Jean Yanne	Nous ne vieillirons pas ensemble	We don't grow old together
1973	Giancarlo Giannini	Film d'amore e d'anarchia	Love and anarchy
1974	Jack Nicholson	The last detail	The last command
1975	Vittorio Gassman	Profumo di donna	The fragrance of women
1976	José Luis Gómez	Pascual Duarte	Life and death of Pascual Duarte
1977	Fernando Rey	Elisa, vida mía	Elisa, my life
1978	Jon Voight	Coming home	Coming Home - you are coming home
1979	Jack Lemmon	The China Syndrome	The China Syndrome
1980	Michel Piccoli	Salto nel vuoto	The leap into the void
1981	Ugo Tognazzi	La Tragedia di un uomo ridicolo	The tragedy of a ridiculous man
1982	Jack Lemmon	Missing	Missing
1983	Gian Maria Volontè	La Mort de Mario Ricci	The death of Mario Ricci
1984	Alfredo Landa	Los santos inocentes	The holy fools
	Francisco Rabal
1985	William Hurt	Kiss of the Spider Woman	Kiss the spider woman
1986	Michel Blanc	Tenue de soirée	Evening suit
	Bob Hoskins	Mona Lisa	Mona Lisa
1987	Marcello Mastroianni	Oci ciornie	Black eyes
1988	Forest Whitaker	Bird	Bird
1989	James Spader	Sex, Lies, and Videotape	Sex, lies and video
1990	Gérard Depardieu	Cyrano de Bergerac	Cyrano from Bergerac
1991	John Turturro	Barton Fink	Barton Fink
1992	Tim Robbins	The Player	The Player
1993	David Thewlis	Naked	Naked
1994	Ge You	活 き る を 編 集中 (Huozhe)	Life!
1995	Jonathan Pryce	Carrington	Carrington
1996	Daniel Auteuil	Le huitième jour	On the eighth day
	Pascal Duquenne
1997	Sean Penn	She's so lovely	All out of love
1998	Peter Mullan	My name is Joe	My name is joe
1999	Emmanuel Schotté	L'Humanité	L'Humanité
2000	Tony Leung Chiu Wai	花样 年华 (Fa yeung nin wa)	In the mood for love
2001	Benoît Magimel	La Pianiste	The piano player
2002	Olivier Gourmet	Le Fils	The son
2003	Muzaffer Özdemir	Uzak	Uzak - Far
	Mehmet Emin Toprak
2004	Yūya Yagira	誰 も 知 ら な い (Dare mo shiranai)	Nobody Knows
2005	Tommy Lee Jones	The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada	Three Burials - The three burials of Melquiades Estrada
2006 ³	Bernard Blancan	Indigenous	Days of fame
	Sami Bouajila
	Jamel Debbouze
	Samy Naceri
	Roschdy Zem
2007	Konstantin Lavronenko	Изгнание (Isgnanije)	The banishment
2008	Benicio del Toro	Che	Che - Revolución
			Che - guerrilla
2009	Christoph Waltz	Inglourious Basterds	Inglourious Basterds
2010	Javier Bardem	Biutiful	Biutiful
	Elio Germano	La nostra vita	La nostra vita
2011	Jean Dujardin	The Artist	The Artist
2012	Mads Mikkelsen	Hunted	The hunt
2013	Bruce Dern	Nebraska	Nebraska
2014	Timothy Spall	Mr. Turner	Mr. Turner - Master of Light
2015	Vincent Lindon	La loi du marché	The worth of man
2016	Shahab Hosseini	فروشنده (Forushande)	The Salesman
2017	Joaquin Phoenix	You Were Never Really Here	A beautiful day
2018	Marcello Fonte	Dogman	Dogman
2019	Antonio Banderas	Dolor y gloria	Sorrow and glory
2020	Film festival not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic .

¹ = In 1953 the French actor Charles Vanel received an “Honorable Mention” for reward of fear .
² = In 1955, the entire cast of the film A Big Family was honored with an actor's prize.
³ = In 2006 the male acting ensemble of the film Days of Fame was awarded the Actor Award.

Award for the best supporting actor

From 1979 to 1981 a prize was awarded separately for the best supporting actor (1979: Meilleur rôle de composition masculin au Festival International du Film , from 1980: Prix ​​du meilleur second rôle masculin au Festival International du Film ) in a competition film :

year	Award winners	Original title	German title
1979	Stefano Madia	Caro papa	Caro papa
1980	Jack Thompson	Breaker Morant	The case of Lieutnant Morant
1981	Ian Holm	Chariots of Fire	The hour of the victor