2000s

2007: Javier Bardem - "No Country for Old Men"
2006: Alan Arkin - "Little Miss Sunshine"
2005: George Clooney - "Syriana"
2004: Morgan Freeman - "Million Dollar Baby"
2003: Tim Robbins - "Mystic River"
2002: Chris Cooper - "Adaptation"
2001: Jim Broadbent - "Iris"
2000: Benicio Del Toro - "Traffic"

1990s

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"

1980s

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"

1970s

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"

1960s

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"

1950s

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 About Eve"

1940s

1949: Dean Jagger - "12 O'Clock High"
1948: Walter Huston - "Treasure of Sierra Madre"
1947: Edmund Gwenn - "Miracle on 34th St."
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"

1930s

1939: Thomas Mitchell - "Stagecoach"
1938: Walter Brennan - "Kentucky"
1937: Josepth Schildkraut - "The Life of Emile Zola"
1936: Walter Brennan - "Come and Get It"