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Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Prior to the 49th Academy Awards...
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Milk
Milk is a 2008 American biographical film on the life of LGBT rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, and one of the first three in the United States as a whole, as a...
There Will Be Blood
There Will Be Blood is a 2007 American drama film directed, written and co-produced by Paul Thomas Anderson. The film is loosely based on the Upton Sinclair novel Oil! (1927). It tells the story of a silver-miner-turned-oil-man on a ruthless quest...
The Last King of Scotland
The Last King of Scotland is a 2006 British drama film based on Giles Foden's novel of the same name. It was adapted by screenwriters Peter Morgan and Jeremy Brock and directed by Kevin Macdonald. The film was a co-production between companies from...
Capote
Capote is a 2005 biographical film about Truman Capote, following the events during the writing of Capote's non-fiction book In Cold Blood. Philip Seymour Hoffman won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his critically...
Ray
Ray is a 2004 biographical film focusing on thirty years of the life of rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles. The independently produced film was directed by Taylor Hackford and starred Jamie Foxx in the title role; Foxx received an Academy Award...
Mystic River
Mystic River is a 2003 American drama film directed, co-produced and scored by Clint Eastwood, starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney and Emmy Rossum. The film was written by Brian Helgeland...
The Pianist
The Pianist is a 2002 film directed by Roman Polanski, starring Adrien Brody. It is an adaptation of the autobiography of the same name by Jewish-Polish musician Władysław Szpilman. The film is a co-production between Polish, French, German, and...
Training Day
Training Day is a 2001 police drama directed by Antoine Fuqua, written by David Ayer and starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. The film follows two LAPD narcotics detectives over a 24-hour period in the gang neighborhoods of South Los Angeles....
Gladiator
Gladiator is a 2000 American/British and epic film directed by Ridley Scott, starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi, and Richard Harris.
Released in the United States on May 5, 2000, it was...
American Beauty
American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film, directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. The film stars Kevin Spacey as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged office worker who has a midlife crisis and becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's...
Life Is Beautiful
Life Is Beautiful (Italian: La vita è bella) is a 1997 Italian language film which tells the story of a Jewish Italian, Guido Orefice (played by Roberto Benigni, who also directed and co-wrote the film), who must employ his fertile imagination to...
As Good as It Gets
As Good as It Gets is a 1997 comedy film directed by James L. Brooks starring Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture and won for Best Actor and Best Actress. It portrays an obsessive-compulsive,...
Shine
Shine is a 1996 Australian film based on the life of pianist David Helfgott, who suffered a mental breakdown and spent years in institutions. It stars Geoffrey Rush, Lynn Redgrave, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Noah Taylor, John Gielgud, Googie Withers,...
Leaving Las Vegas
Leaving Las Vegas is a 1995 romantic drama film about a relationship between a suicidal alcoholic and a prostitute from Las Vegas, starring Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue. Ben Sanderson is a late-stage alcoholic who has hit rock bottom. Trashing...
Syriana
Syriana is a 2005 geopolitical thriller film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, and executive produced by George Clooney, who also stars in the film with an ensemble cast. Gaghan's screenplay is loosely adapted from Robert Baer's memoir See No...
Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump is a 1994 American comedy-drama film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film, directed by Robert Zemeckis, stars Tom Hanks, Robin Wright Penn, Jim Npatulia and Gary Sinise. The story is of Forrest Gump, a...
Philadelphia
Philadelphia is a 1993 film. It was one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to acknowledge HIV/AIDS, homosexuality and homophobia. It was written by Ron Nyswaner and directed by Jonathan Demme. The film stars Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Joanne...
Scent of a Woman
Scent of a Woman is a 1992 film which tells the story of a preparatory school student who takes a job as an assistant to an irascible, blind, medically retired Army officer. It stars Al Pacino, Chris O'Donnell, James Rebhorn, Gabrielle Anwar, and...
The Silence of the Lambs
The Silence of the Lambs is a 1991 psychological crime/horror thriller directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine, Anthony Heald and Brooke Smith. It is based on the novel of the same name by...
Reversal of Fortune
Reversal of Fortune (1990) is the cinematic adaptation of the 1985 book, Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case, written by law professor Alan Dershowitz. It recounts the true story of the unexplained coma of socialite Sunny von Bülow, the...
My Left Foot
My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown is a 1989 drama film directed by Jim Sheridan and starring Daniel Day-Lewis. It tells the true story of Christy Brown, an Irishman born with cerebral palsy, who could control only his left foot. Christy Brown...
Rain Man
Rain Man is a 1988 comedy-drama film written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass and directed by Barry Levinson. It tells the story of an abrasive yuppie, Charlie Babbitt, who discovers that his estranged father has died and bequeathed all of his...
Wall Street
Wall Street is a 1987 American drama film directed by Oliver Stone and features Michael Douglas as a wealthy, unscrupulous corporate raider and Charlie Sheen as a young stockbroker desperate to succeed.
Douglas won the Academy Award for Best Actor....
The Color of Money
The Color of Money is a 1984 novel by American writer Walter Tevis, and a 1986 film semi-adaptation by the same title, continuing the story of pool hustler and stakehorse Edward "Fast Eddie" Felson, with Paul Newman reprising his role from the The...
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Kiss of the Spider Woman
Kiss of the Spider Woman (Portuguese: O Beijo da Mulher Aranha) is a 1985 Brazilian-American drama film. It was directed by Argentine-born Brazilian director Héctor Babenco, and adapted by Leonard Schrader from the Manuel Puig novel of the same name...
Amadeus
Peter Shaffer's Amadeus is a 1984 musical film directed by Miloš Forman and written by Peter Shaffer. Adapted from Shaffer's stage play Amadeus, the story is based loosely on the lives of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, two composers...
Tender Mercies
Tender Mercies is a 1983 American film drama directed by Bruce Beresford. The screenplay by Horton Foote focuses on Mac Sledge, a recovering alcoholic country music singer who seeks to turn his life around through his relationship with a young widow...
Gandhi
Gandhi is a 1982 biographical film based on the life of Mahatma Gandhi, who led the nonviolent resistance movement against British colonial rule in India during the first half of the 20th century. The film was directed by Richard Attenborough and...
On Golden Pond
On Golden Pond is a 1981 American drama film directed by Mark Rydell. The screenplay by Ernest Thompson was adapted from his 1979 play of the same title.
The plot focuses on aging couple Ethel and Norman Thayer, who spend each summer at their home...
Raging Bull
Raging Bull is a 1980 American biographical film directed by Martin Scorsese, adapted by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin from the memoir Raging Bull: My Story. It stars Robert De Niro as Jake LaMotta, a middleweight boxer whose sadomasochistic rage,...
Kramer vs. Kramer
Kramer vs. Kramer is a 1979 film adapted by Robert Benton from the novel by Avery Corman, and directed by Benton. The film tells the story of a married couple's divorce and its impact on everyone involved, including the couple's young son. It...
Coming Home
Coming Home is a 1978 drama film which tells the story of an injured Vietnam War veteran's difficulty in re-entering civilian life after his return from the war. It stars Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern, Penelope Milford, Robert Carradine and...
The Goodbye Girl
The Goodbye Girl is a 1977 American comedy film. Directed by Herbert Ross, the film stars Richard Dreyfuss, Marsha Mason, Quinn Cummings, and Paul Benedict. The original screenplay by Neil Simon centers on an odd trio—an egotistical struggling actor...
Network
Network is a 1976 satirical film about a fictional television network, Union Broadcasting System (UBS), and its struggle with poor ratings. It was written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Sidney Lumet, and stars Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter...
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a 1975 American drama film directed by Miloš Forman. The film is an adaptation of the 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. The movie was the second to win all five major Academy Awards (Best...
Harry and Tonto
Harry and Tonto is a 1974 film directed by Paul Mazursky and starring Art Carney.
Harry Coombes is an elderly widower who is forced from his Upper West Side apartment in New York City when his building is condemned. He initially stays with his son's...
Save the Tiger
Save the Tiger is a 1973 film which tells a story of moral conflict in modern America. It stars Jack Lemmon, Jack Gilford, Laurie Heineman, Thayer David, Lara Parker and Liv Lindeland. The film is adapted from the novel of the same title by Steve...
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The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American thriller film based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola, and Robert Towne (uncredited). It stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James...
The French Connection
The French Connection is a 1971 American crime film directed by William Friedkin. The film was adapted and fictionalized by Ernest Tidyman from the non-fiction book by Robin Moore. It tells the story of New York Police Department detectives named ...
Patton
Patton (UK: Patton: Lust for Glory) is a 1970 biographical war film about U.S. General George S. Patton during World War II. It stars George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates, and Karl Michael Vogler. It was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner from...
True Grit
True Grit is a 1969 Western film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring John Wayne as U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn. The film is adapted from the 1968 novel, True Grit, by Charles Portis.
After Frank Ross (John Pickard) is killed by his hired-hand,...
Charly
Charly is a 1968 film which tells the fictional story of a mentally challenged bakery worker who is the subject of an experiment to increase human intelligence. The film stars Cliff Robertson, Claire Bloom, Lilia Skala, Leon Janney and Dick Van...
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In the Heat of the Night
In the Heat of the Night is a 1967 film based on the John Ball novel published in 1965, which tells the story of an African-American police detective from Philadelphia who becomes involved in a murder investigation in a racist small town in...
A Man for All Seasons
A Man for All Seasons is a 1966 film based on Robert Bolt's play of the same name about Sir Thomas More. Paul Scofield, who had played More in the West End stage premiere, also took the role in the film. It was directed by Fred Zinnemann, who had...
Cat Ballou
Cat Ballou is a 1965 comedy-western film which tells the story of a woman who hires a famous gunman to protect her father's ranch, and later to avenge his murder, but finds that the man she hires is not what she expected. The movie stars Jane Fonda,...
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a 1964 musical film adaptation of the Lerner and Loewe stage musical, My Fair Lady, based on the film adaptation of the stage play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. The ending and the ballroom scene are from the 1938 film Pygmalion...
Lilies of the Field
Lilies of the Field is a 1962 book by William Edmund Barrett which was made into a 1963 film and adapted for the musical stage with the title Look to the Lilies. It tells the story of a Black-American itinerant worker who encounters a group of East...
To Kill a Mockingbird
To Kill A Mockingbird is a 1962 American drama film adaptation of Harper Lee's novel of the same name. It was directed by Robert Mulligan and stars Mary Badham in the role of Scout and Gregory Peck in the role of Atticus Finch.
In 1995, the film was...
Judgment at Nuremberg
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) is a fictionalized film account of the post-World War II Nuremberg Trials, written by Abby Mann and directed by Stanley Kramer, starring Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich, Maximilian Schell...
Elmer Gantry
Elmer Gantry is a 1960 drama film about a con man and a female evangelist selling religion to small town America. Adapted by director Richard Brooks, the film is based on the 1927 novel by Sinclair Lewis and stars Burt Lancaster and Jean Simmons....
Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur (or Benhur) is a 1959 epic film directed by William Wyler, the third film version of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. It premiered at Loew's State Theatre in New York City on November 18, 1959. The film went on to win...
Separate Tables
Separate Tables is a 1958 American drama film based on two one-act plays by Terence Rattigan that were collectively known by this name. It was directed by Delbert Mann, and adapted by Rattigan, John Gay and an uncredited John Michael Hayes.
The film...
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Bridge on the River Kwai is a 1957 British World War II film by David Lean based on the novel The Bridge over the River Kwai by French writer Pierre Boulle. The film is a work of fiction but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942...
The King and I
The King and I is a 1956 musical film made by 20th Century Fox, directed by Walter Lang and produced by Charles Brackett and Darryl F. Zanuck. The screenplay by Ernest Lehman is based on the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II musical The King...
Marty
Marty is a teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky which was telecast live May 24, 1953, on The Goodyear Television Playhouse with Rod Steiger in the title role. The 1955 film adaptation was directed by Delbert Mann, and starred Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair....
On the Waterfront
On the Waterfront is a 1954 American drama film about mob violence and corruption among longshoremen. The film was directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. It stars Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Rod Steiger, Karl Malden and Lee J....
Stalag 17
Stalag 17 is a 1953 war film which tells the story of a group of American airmen held in a German World War II prisoner of war camp, who come to suspect that one of their number is a traitor. It was adapted from a Broadway play.
Produced and...
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High Noon
High Noon is an American 1952 western film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. The film tells in real time the story of a town marshal forced to face a gang of killers by himself. The screenplay was written by Carl...
The African Queen
The African Queen is an American 1951 drama film adapted from the 1935 novel by C. S. Forester. The film was directed by John Huston and produced by Sam Spiegel and John Woolf. The screenplay was adapted by James Agee, John Huston, John Collier and...
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Cyrano de Bergerac
Cyrano de Bergerac (1950) is a black-and-white feature film based on the 1897 French Alexandrine verse drama Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. It uses poet Brian Hooker's 1923 English blank verse translation as the basis for its screenplay. The...
