The Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Actor was one of the annual Gotham Independent Film Awards awarded between 2013 and 2020. In 2021, it was replaced by the gender neutral awards for Outstanding Lead Performance and Outstanding Supporting Performance.[1]

Winners and nominees

2010s

Year Winner and nominees Film Role Ref.
2013 Matthew McConaughey Dallas Buyers Club Ron Woodroof [2]
Chiwetel Ejiofor 12 Years a Slave Solomon Northup
Oscar Isaac Inside Llewyn Davis Llewyn Davis
Robert Redford All Is Lost Our Man
Isaiah Washington Blue Caprice John Muhammad
2014 Michael Keaton Birdman Riggan Thomson [3]
Bill Hader The Skeleton Twins Milo Dean
Ethan Hawke Boyhood Mason Evans Sr.
Oscar Isaac A Most Violent Year Abel Morales
Miles Teller Whiplash Andrew Neiman
2015 Paul Dano Love & Mercy Brian Wilson - Past [4]
Christopher Abbott James White James White
Kevin Corrigan Results Danny Flynn
Peter Sarsgaard Experimenter Stanley Milgram
Michael Shannon 99 Homes Rick Carver
2016 Casey Affleck Manchester by the Sea Lee Chandler [5]
Jeff Bridges Hell or High Water Marcus Hamilton
Adam Driver Paterson Paterson
Joel Edgerton Loving Richard Loving
Craig Robinson Morris from America Curtis Gentry
2017 James Franco The Disaster Artist Tommy Wiseau [6]
Willem Dafoe The Florida Project Bobby Hicks
Daniel Kaluuya Get Out Chris Washington
Robert Pattinson Good Time Constantine "Connie" Nikas
Adam Sandler The Meyerowitz Stories Danny Meyerowitz
Harry Dean Stanton Lucky Lucky
2018 Ethan Hawke First Reformed Ernst Toller [7]
Adam Driver BlacKkKlansman Detective Flip Zimmerman
Ben Foster Leave No Trace Will
Richard E. Grant Can You Ever Forgive Me? Jack Hock
Lakeith Stanfield Sorry to Bother You Cassius "Cash" Green
2019 Adam Driver Marriage Story Charlie Barber [8]
Willem Dafoe The Lighthouse Thomas Wake
Aldis Hodge Clemency Anthony Woods
André Holland High Flying Bird Ray Burke
Adam Sandler Uncut Gems Howard Ratner

2020s

Year Winner and nominees Film Role Ref.
2020 Riz Ahmed Sound of Metal Ruben Stone [9]
Chadwick Boseman (posthumous) Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Levee
Jude Law The Nest Rory O'Hara
John Magaro First Cow Otis "Cookie" Figowitz
Jesse Plemons I'm Thinking of Ending Things Jake

Multiple nominees

Categories