Academy Award for Best Actor (1990-2008)

1990s

• 1990 Jeremy Irons - Reversal of Fortune as Claus von Bülow
  • Kevin Costner - Dances with Wolves as Lt. John J. Dunbar
  • Robert De Niro - Awakenings as Leonard Lowe
  • Gérard Depardieu - Cyrano de Bergerac as Cyrano De Bergerac
  • Richard Harris - The Field as 'Bull' McCabe

• 1991 Anthony Hopkins - The Silence of the Lambs as Dr. Hannibal Lecter
  • Warren Beatty - Bugsy as Bugsy Siegel
  • Robert De Niro - Cape Fear as Max Cady
  • Nick Nolte - The Prince of Tides as Tom Wingo
  • Robin Williams - The Fisher King as Parry

• 1992 Al Pacino - Scent of a Woman as Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade
  • Robert Downey, Jr. - Chaplin as Charlie Chaplin
  • Clint Eastwood - Unforgiven as William 'Bill' Munny
  • Stephen Rea - The Crying Game as Fergus
  • Denzel Washington - Malcolm X as Malcolm X

• 1993 Tom Hanks - Philadelphia as Andrew Beckett
  • Laurence Fishburne - What's Love Got to Do with It as Ike Turner
  • Anthony Hopkins - The Remains of the Day as James Stevens
  • Daniel Day-Lewis - In the Name of the Father as Gerry Conlon
  • Liam Neeson - Schindler's List as Oskar Schindler

• 1994 Tom Hanks - Forrest Gump as Forrest Gump
  • Morgan Freeman - The Shawshank Redemption as Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding
  • Nigel Hawthorne - The Madness of King George as George III
  • Paul Newman - Nobody's Fool as Sully Sullivan
  • John Travolta - Pulp Fiction as Vincent Vega

• 1995 Nicolas Cage - Leaving Las Vegas as Ben Sanderson
  • Richard Dreyfuss - Mr. Holland's Opus as Glenn Holland
  • Anthony Hopkins - Nixon as Richard Nixon
  • Sean Penn - Dead Man Walking as Matthew Poncelet
  • Massimo Troisi - Il Postino as Mario Ruoppolo (posthumous nomination)

• 1996 Geoffrey Rush - Shine as David Helfgott
  • Tom Cruise - Jerry Maguire as Jerry Maguire
  • Ralph Fiennes - The English Patient as Count Laszlo de Almásy
  • Woody Harrelson - The People vs. Larry Flynt as Larry Flynt
  • Billy Bob Thornton - Sling Blade as Karl Childers

• 1997 Jack Nicholson - As Good as It Gets as Melvin Udall
  • Matt Damon - Good Will Hunting as Will Hunting
  • Robert Duvall - The Apostle as Euliss 'Sonny' Dewey - The Apostle E.F.
  • Peter Fonda - Ulee's Gold as Ulee Jackson
  • Dustin Hoffman - Wag the Dog as Stanley Motss

• 1998 Roberto Benigni - Life Is Beautiful as Guido Orefice
  • Tom Hanks - Saving Private Ryan as Captain John Miller
  • Ian McKellen - Gods and Monsters as James Whale
  • Nick Nolte - Affliction as Wade Whitehouse
  • Edward Norton - American History X as Derek Vinyard

• 1999 Kevin Spacey - American Beauty as Lester Burnham
  • Russell Crowe - The Insider as Jeffrey Wigand
  • Richard Farnsworth - The Straight Story as Alvin Straight
  • Sean Penn - Sweet and Lowdown as Emmet Ray
  • Denzel Washington -The Hurricane as Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter

[edit] 2000s

• 2000 Russell Crowe - Gladiator as Maximus Decimus Meridius
  • Javier Bardem - Before Night Falls as Reinaldo Arenas
  • Tom Hanks - Cast Away as Chuck Noland
  • Ed Harris - Pollock as Jackson Pollock
  • Geoffrey Rush - Quills as The Marquis de Sade

• 2001 Denzel Washington - Training Day as Alonzo Harris
  • Russell Crowe - A Beautiful Mind as John Nash
  • Sean Penn - I Am Sam as Sam Dawson
  • Will Smith - Ali as Muhammad Ali
  • Tom Wilkinson - In the Bedroom as Matt Fowler

• 2002 Adrien Brody - The Pianist as Wladyslaw Szpilman
  • Nicolas Cage - Adaptation. as Charlie Kaufman / Donald Kaufman
  • Michael Caine - The Quiet American as Thomas Fowler
  • Daniel Day-Lewis - Gangs of New York as William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting
  • Jack Nicholson - About Schmidt as Warren R. Schmidt

• 2003 Sean Penn - Mystic River as Jimmy Markum
  • Johnny Depp - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl as Jack Sparrow
  • Ben Kingsley - House of Sand and Fog as Behrani
  • Jude Law - Cold Mountain as Inman
  • Bill Murray - Lost in Translation as Bob Harris

• 2004 Jamie Foxx - Ray as Ray Charles
  • Don Cheadle - Hotel Rwanda as Paul Rusesabagina
  • Johnny Depp - Finding Neverland as Sir James Matthew Barrie
  • Leonardo DiCaprio - The Aviator as Howard Hughes
  • Clint Eastwood - Million Dollar Baby as Frankie Dunn

• 2005 Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote as Truman Capote
  • Terrence Howard - Hustle & Flow as Djay
  • Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain as Ennis Del Mar
  • Joaquin Phoenix - Walk the Line as Johnny Cash
  • David Strathairn - Good Night, and Good Luck. as Edward R. Murrow

• 2006 Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland as Idi Amin
  • Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond as Danny Archer
  • Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson as Dan Dunne
  • Peter O'Toole - Venus as Maurice
  • Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness as Chris Gardner

• 2007 Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood as Daniel Plainview
  • George Clooney - Michael Clayton as Michael Clayton
  • Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street as Sweeney Todd
  • Tommy Lee Jones - In the Valley of Elah as Hank Deerfield
  • Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises as Nikolai Luzhin

• 2008 Sean Penn - Milk as Harvey Milk
  • Richard Jenkins - The Visitor as Walter Vale
  • Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon as Richard Nixon
  • Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as Benjamin Button
  • Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler as Randy "The Ram" Robinson