| BAFTA Award for Best Actor | |
|---|---|
 The 2022 recipient Austin Butler | |
| Description | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role |
| Location | United Kingdom |
| Presented by | British Academy of Film and Television Arts |
| Currently held by | Austin Butler for Elvis (2022) |
| Website | http://www.bafta.org/ |
Best Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.
| Superlative | Best Actor | Best Supporting Actor | Overall | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actor with most awards | Peter Finch | 5 | Denholm Elliott | 3 | Peter Finch | 5 |
| Actor with most British Actor Awards (until 1967) | Peter Finch | 3 | — | — | Peter Finch | 3 |
| Actor with most Foreign Actor Awards (until 1967) | Marlon Brando | 3 | — | — | Marlon Brando | 3 |
| Actor with most nominations | Daniel Day-Lewis Dustin Hoffman |
7 | Denholm Elliott | 7 | Michael Caine Dustin Hoffman Laurence Olivier |
8 |
| Actor with most British Actor Award nominations (until 1967) | Laurence Olivier | 6 | — | — | Laurence Olivier | 6 |
| Actor with most Foreign Actor Award nominations (until 1967) | Jack Lemmon Sidney Poitier |
6 | — | — | Jack Lemmon Sidney Poitier |
6 |
Note: Dustin Hoffman's total of eight nominations, includes his 1968 Most Promising Newcomer nomination for The Graduate.
From 1952 to 1967, there were two Best Actor awards: one for a British actor and another for a foreign actor. In 1968, the two prizes of British and Foreign actor were combined to create a single Best Actor award. Its current title, for Best Actor in a Leading Role, has been used since 1995.
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| Year | Actor | Film | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | |||
| Anthony Hopkins | The Father | Anthony | |
| Riz Ahmed | Sound of Metal | Ruben Stone | |
| Chadwick Boseman (posthumous) | Ma Rainey's Black Bottom | Levee Green | |
| Adarsh Gourav | The White Tiger | Balram Halwai | |
| Mads Mikkelsen | Another Round | Martin | |
| Tahar Rahim | The Mauritanian | Mohamedou Ould Salahi | |
| 2021 | |||
| Will Smith | King Richard | Richard Williams | |
| Adeel Akhtar | Ali & Ava | Ali | |
| Mahershala Ali | Swan Song | Cameron Turner | |
| Benedict Cumberbatch | The Power of the Dog | Phil Burbank | |
| Leonardo DiCaprio | Don't Look Up | Dr. Randall Mindy | |
| Stephen Graham | Boiling Point | Andy Jones | |
| 2022 | |||
| Austin Butler | Elvis | Elvis Presley | |
| Colin Farrell | The Banshees of Inisherin | Pádraic Súilleabháin | |
| Brendan Fraser | The Whale | Charlie | |
| Daryl McCormack | Good Luck to You, Leo Grande | Leo Grande / Connor | |
| Paul Mescal | Aftersun | Calum Paterson | |
| Bill Nighy | Living | Mr. Williams |
Note: All nominations for multiple performances in a single year from the 1950s to the 1970s count as one nomination. The two mentions for Michael Caine (1983) and Anthony Hopkins (1993) count as two separate nominations.