Movies Who is the 4 best male lead Oscar winning performances in the past 40 years?

What's your picks?


  • Total voters
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F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus) and Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood) were the only ones that jumped off the list at me as shoo-ins without looking further.

Last 40 years starts us at 1980. Might help to link these at the top of your OP:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Academy_Award_Best_Actor_winners_by_age

Based on critical acclaim and the betting odds at the time of the ceremony I'd say the biggest omission from the shortlist in the poll is Colin Firth for The King's Speech. His betting odds were ~1/33 at the time (that's 1/33, not 33/1, which means his chances of winning were predicted to be 97%).
https://www.forbes.com/sites/doroth...ar-odds-are-on-the-kings-speech/#b0acf4426620

For the remaining two spots it's really tough, but only because of roles before 2000. Robert De Niro for Raging Bull, Ben Kingsley for Gandhi, Anthony Hopkins for Silence of the Lambs, Tom Hanks for Philadelphia, Nicholas Cage for Leaving Las Vegas, Jack Nicholson for As Good as it Gets, Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman, Roberto Benigni for Life is Beautiful. They don't make it easy.

I think Sean Penn in Milk is probably my favorite performance post-2000. Forest Whitaker was unbelievable in The Last King of Scotland, but he's hamstrung by the fact the film itself was probably the worst of any winner's during this period. DDL was incredible in Lincoln, and Casey Affleck is probably the most underrated winner of the new century so far for Manchester by the Sea.
Affleck as Robert Ford was a crushing performance.
I think William Macy should’ve got the Oscar for Fargo.
 
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Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas and Denzel Washington in Training Day.
 
Peter Finch -- Network -- an iconic role. One of those rare times when A+ material is matched with an A+ performance. Similarly...

Anthony Hopkins -- Silence of the Lambs -- It's a testament to his genius that he did so much with so little material. A watch/rewatch of Manhunter, which is Lambs' predecessor, really hammer shome how brilliant Hopkins performance was.

Denzel Washington -- Training Day -- This was like Denzel's Home Run Derby. The script just served him fastball after fastball and Denzel just fucking crushed every minute of it. Love it when a great actor gets great material that they can just sink their teeth into.

Russell Crowe -- Gladiator -- i get the sense that some people are sleeping on this performance. Idk maybe some of y'all are younger but when this came out, nobody outside of Oz or the 10 people outside of Oz who'd seen Romper knew who the fuck Russel Crowe was. And he instantly, and i mean instantly, became an A-List movie star with this performance. Now don't get me wrong, Joaquin Phoenix was better, but Crowe's Maximus was a classic man's man 'movie star' role. The kind of masculine show stopping role that 99% of actors could only dream of carrying, and Crowe fucking killed it. The fact that he's become an embittered fat fuck doesn't change the fact that he was essentially on his way to becoming the next Steve McQueen.

DDL also laughably over the top. Phoenix is good and I enjoyed Denzel, even if he gets this 'honoury oscar' bs.

Exactly. Which is why i far preferred him in Gangs of New York, which he freaking carried and should've won his Oscar for. He was good in Their Will Be Blood but that was a makeup Oscar for the Gangs snub. Everyone in the building that night knew it.
 
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Leo in The Revenant and Crowe in Gladiator are both extremely mediocre performances.

Hell, neither were even the best performances in their movies. That would be Tom Hardy (Revenant) and Joaquin Phoenix (Gladiator). Leo is just a bad actor, and Crowe's role in Gladiator didn't call for much expression.

Of the list, PSH in Capote and Penn in Mystic River.
Leo is a fantastic actor
 
cant believe there is another human being hat doesnt buy the dicaprio hype.
he is not that good and people are kissing his ass because there's just a draught of talent around.
Nolan is my Leo. And Leo's not that horrible, just overrated by people.
 
From the movies i have seen.
Anthony Hopkins - The Silence of the Lambs
Tom Hanks - Forrest Gump
Robert De Niro - Raging Bull
Joaquin Phoenix - Joker
 
Denzel Washington in Training Day is hardly holy grail material but he will always come up in threads like this for that performance. Now take counterpart Morgan Freeman in Se7en or Kiss The Girls and not only was he the better cop he's simply more believable, personable. Over time I became more appreciative of the Se7en scene in the library. The end of Se7en here he goes again he's just raw and real. Now fast forward a couple years later and he does Kiss The Girls which is not the best movie, I will admit. Reference the whole sequence where he stumbles upon the chamber/lair in the woods and tell me that was not raw, the way he acted was just like a proficient cop would do.

Training Day was so fking overrated it's essentially Denzel Washington running around like a carciture out of a comic book. Whenever I am watching it I cannot help but think to myself, god this man talks like an idiot.
Yeah, I don't get the love for Training Day. He just yelled a lot. Denzel's best performance is in Flight, IMO.
Peter Finch -- Network -- an iconic role. One of those rare times when A+ material is matched with an A+ performance. Similarly...

Anthony Hopkins -- Silence of the Lambs -- It's a testament to his genius that he did so much with so little material. A watch/rewatch of Manhunter, which is Lambs' predecessor, really hammer shome how brilliant Hopkins performance was.

Denzel Washington -- Training Day -- This was like Denzel's Home Run Derby. The script just served him fastball after fastball and Denzel just fucking crushed every minute of it. Love it when a great actor gets great material that they can just sink their teeth into.

Russell Crowe -- Gladiator -- i get the sense that some people are sleeping on this performance. Idk maybe some of y'all are younger but when this came out, nobody outside of Oz or the 10 people outside of Oz who'd seen Romper knew who the fuck Russel Crowe was. And he instantly, and i mean instantly, became an A-List movie star with this performance. Now don't get me wrong, Joaquin Phoenix was better, but Crowe's Maximus was a classic man's man 'movie star' role. The kind of masculine show stopping role that 99% of actors could only dream of carrying, and Crowe fucking killed it. The fact that he's become an embittered fat fuck doesn't change the fact that he was essentially on his way to becoming the next Steve McQueen.

Exactly. Which is why i far preferred him in Gangs of New York, which he freaking carried and should've won his Oscar for. He was good in Their Will Be Blood but that was a makeup Oscar for the Gangs snub. Everyone in the building that night knew it.
Crowe was better in The Insider.

Network was 1976.
Affleck as Robert Ford was a crushing performance.
Agreed, that's his best, but that was a Supporting role. Or did he just not win?

That was the year he got two, wasn't it. For that and Gone, Baby, Gone.
 
Yeah, I don't get the love for Training Day. He just yelled a lot. Denzel's best performance is in Flight, IMO.

Crowe was better in The Insider.

Network was 1976.
Holy shit... i have no idea why my mind went back to Network, lol. Maybe it's cause all the ones from 80 on up with exception to the aforementioned were either makeup Oscars, career Oscars, or have just plain not aged well.

And i liked Crowe in the Insider... but again. it's one thing to put on a great performance in a small fim and a whole nother to carry a huge tentpole and set the world alight. Crowe's performance in Gladiator is the best by any leading man in that type of film since.. probably charlton Heston in the Ten Commandments. While loads of actors have had really good-to-great performances in dramas. But whatever...

This is why Lame-o performances and films win oscars every year. Most people are easily impressed with 'drama,' and look past genre work unless it's a lifetime achievement award or make up win like it was for Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) or Guillermo Del Toro (Shape of Water). If awards voters would just award people based on actual merit regardless of genre or pretense we wouldn't have crap like Scorsese getting Best Picture for The Departed, a remake of a korean movie, over Pan's Labyrinth.
 
When you look at the winners around the decade of the 90's the genius of Tropic Thunder crystallizes.

1989: Dustin Hoffman, Rain Man
1992: Daniel Day-Lewis, My Left Foot
1995: Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump
1997: Geoffrey Rush, Shine

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How did Bill the butcher not win an Oscar?

He lost to Adrien Brody in The Pianist.

Robert De Niro in Raging Bull is one of the greatest performances. It's a shame that The Elephant Man came out in the same year, as John Hurt deserved an Oscar for his performance as Joseph Merrick. Both those films deserved best picture and De Niro and Hurt deserved to win an Oscar.
And Joaquin Phoenix in Joker is imo the best performance in recent memory.

John Hurt actually gave just about as equal performance in The Elephant Man. Really heart breaking performance. He would've won almost any other year. Unfortunately for him he was put up against De Niro.

Peter Finch -- Network -- an iconic role. One of those rare times when A+ material is matched with an A+ performance.

Peter Finch Oscar win for Network was about 44 years ago. That's why he's not on the poll. Excellent performance by him. His speech monologue is one of the greatest in screen history.
 
I don't get the love for Denzel. Training Day was a solid Hollywood Action movie and that's about it. His performance was good but greatest ever ...<{vega}>
 
DDL - There Will Be Blood
Denzel - Training Day
Hopkins - Hannibal Lecter
&
Cage - Leaving Las Vegas
 
De Niros performance in Raging Bull blows away everyone on that list. Most of that list is nothing special. DDL in TWBB is one of the most overrated performances ever. I can't take Hopkins seriously after watching NBC Hannibal. Mads Mikkelsen completely owns that character
 
De Niros performance in Raging Bull blows away everyone on that list. Most of that list is nothing special. DDL in TWBB is one of the most overrated performances ever. I can't take Hopkins seriously after watching NBC Hannibal. Mads Mikkelsen completely owns that character

The DDL performance is certainly very "mannered" which probably isn't to everyones taste but generally I tend to think the Oscars are often a bit of a popularity contest, De Niro winning for Raging Bull is a rare case of someone getting the nod for a peak performance.

If your limiting it to US/UK films rather than foreign releases then my picks would be...

1980 - De Niro - Raging Bull
1981 - James Caan - Thief
1982 - Harrison Ford - Blade Runner
1983 - Matt Dillion - Rumblefish
1984 - Harry Dean Stanton - Paris, Texas
1985 - Jonathan Pryce - Brazil
1986 - James Woods - Salvador
1987 - Mickey Rouke - Angel Heart
1988 - Daniel Day Lewis - Unbearable Lightness of Being
1989 - Michael Gambon - The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
1990 - Gabriel Byrne - Millers Crossing
1991 - Jeff Bridges - The Fisher King
1992 - Denzel Washington - Malcome X
1993 - Bill Murray - Groundhog Day
1994 - John Travolta - Pulp Fiction
1995 - Bruce WIllis - 12 Monkeys
1996 - Ewan McGregor - Trainspotitting
1997 - John Cusack - Grosse Pointe Blank
1998 - John Goodman - The Big Lebowski
1999 - Edward Norton - Fight Club
2000 - Ray Winston - Sexy Beast
2001 - Denzel Washington - Training Day
2002 - Ralph Fiennes - Spider
2003 - Bill Murray - Lost In Translation
2004 - Tom Cruise - Collateral
2005 - Nick Cage - Lord of War
2006 - Clive Owen - Children of Men
2007 - Daniel Day Lewis - There Will Be Blood
2008 - Philp Seymore Hoffman - Synecdoche, New York
2009 - Sam Rockwell - Moon
2010 - Jeff Bridges - True Grit
2011 - Gary Oldman - Tinker, Taylor, Solider, Spy.
2012 - Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
2013 - Joaquin Phoenix - Her
2014 - Brendan Gleeson - Calvary
2015 - Colin Farrell - The Lobster
2016 - Jake Gyllenhaal - Nocturnal Animals
2017 - Ryan Gosling - Blade Runner 2049
2018 - Woody Harrelson - Three Billboards
2019 - Leonardo DiCaprico - Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Yes I'm bord.
 
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For me its Daniel Day Lewis
 
The DDL performance is certainly very "mannered" which probably isn't to everyones taste but generally I tend to think the Oscars are often a bit of a popularity contest, De Niro winning for Raging Bull is a rare case of someone getting the nod for a peak performance.

If your limiting it to US/UK films rather than foreign releases then my picks would be...

1980 - De Niro - Raging Bull
1981 - James Caan - Thief
1982 - Harrison Ford - Blade Runner
1983 - Matt Dillion - Rumblefish
1984 - Harry Dean Stanton - Paris, Texas
1985 - Jonathan Pryce - Brazil
1986 - James Woods - Salvador
1987 - Mickey Rouke - Angel Heart
1988 - Daniel Day Lewis - Unbearable Lightness of Being
1989 - Michael Gambon - The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
1990 - Gabriel Byrne - Millers Crossing
1991 - Jeff Bridges - The Fisher King
1992 - Denzel Washington - Malcome X
1993 - Bill Murray - Groundhog Day
1994 - John Travolta - Pulp Fiction
1995 - Bruce WIllis - 12 Monkeys
1996 - Ewan McGregor - Trainspotitting
1997 - John Cusack - Grosse Pointe Blank
1998 - John Goodman - The Big Lebowski
1999 - Edward Norton - Fight Club
2000 - Ray Winston - Sexy Beast
2001 - Denzel Washington - Training Day
2002 - Ralph Fiennes - Spider
2003 - Bill Murray - Lost In Translation
2004 - Tom Cruise - Collateral
2005 - Nick Cage - Lord of War
2006 - Clive Owen - Children of Men
2007 - Daniel Day Lewis - There Will Be Blood
2008 - Philp Seymore Hoffman - Synecdoche, New York
2009 - Sam Rockwell - Moon
2010 - Jeff Bridges - True Grit
2011 - Gary Oldman - Tinker, Taylor, Solider, Spy.
2012 - Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
2013 - Joaquin Phoenix - Her
2014 - Brendan Gleeson - Calvary
2015 - Colin Farrell - The Lobster
2016 - Jake Gyllenhaal - Nocturnal Animals
2017 - Ryan Gosling - Blade Runner 2049
2018 - Woody Harrelson - Three Billboards
2019 - Leonardo De Caprico - Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Yes I'm bord.

It's okay if you were bored, you compiled a great list there. Thanks for sharing.
 
Casey Affleck- Manchester by the Sea
Robert De Niro - Raging Bull
Daniel Day Lewis - There Will Be Blood

Everything else ranges from severe overracting (Pacino, Denzel, Whittaker Penn, Redmayne), your time has come even though your performance isn’t even top 5 in your career (Di Caprio, Pacino, Phoenix, Bridges, Oldman) to truly awful (Rami Malek).

How Casey Affleck won for a such a subtle performance against the kicking and screaming of Denzel, is a minor miracle.
 
The DDL performance is certainly very "mannered" which probably isn't to everyones taste but generally I tend to think the Oscars are often a bit of a popularity contest, De Niro winning for Raging Bull is a rare case of someone getting the nod for a peak performance.

If your limiting it to US/UK films rather than foreign releases then my picks would be...

1980 - De Niro - Raging Bull
1981 - James Caan - Thief
1982 - Harrison Ford - Blade Runner
1983 - Matt Dillion - Rumblefish
1984 - Harry Dean Stanton - Paris, Texas
1985 - Jonathan Pryce - Brazil
1986 - James Woods - Salvador
1987 - Mickey Rouke - Angel Heart
1988 - Daniel Day Lewis - Unbearable Lightness of Being
1989 - Michael Gambon - The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
1990 - Gabriel Byrne - Millers Crossing
1991 - Jeff Bridges - The Fisher King
1992 - Denzel Washington - Malcome X
1993 - Bill Murray - Groundhog Day
1994 - John Travolta - Pulp Fiction
1995 - Bruce WIllis - 12 Monkeys
1996 - Ewan McGregor - Trainspotitting
1997 - John Cusack - Grosse Pointe Blank
1998 - John Goodman - The Big Lebowski
1999 - Edward Norton - Fight Club
2000 - Ray Winston - Sexy Beast
2001 - Denzel Washington - Training Day
2002 - Ralph Fiennes - Spider
2003 - Bill Murray - Lost In Translation
2004 - Tom Cruise - Collateral
2005 - Nick Cage - Lord of War
2006 - Clive Owen - Children of Men
2007 - Daniel Day Lewis - There Will Be Blood
2008 - Philp Seymore Hoffman - Synecdoche, New York
2009 - Sam Rockwell - Moon
2010 - Jeff Bridges - True Grit
2011 - Gary Oldman - Tinker, Taylor, Solider, Spy.
2012 - Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
2013 - Joaquin Phoenix - Her
2014 - Brendan Gleeson - Calvary
2015 - Colin Farrell - The Lobster
2016 - Jake Gyllenhaal - Nocturnal Animals
2017 - Ryan Gosling - Blade Runner 2049
2018 - Woody Harrelson - Three Billboards
2019 - Leonardo DiCaprico - Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Yes I'm bord.

Hard to see Harrison Ford when he was outshined badly by Rutger. Wonder if there's a better lead

I'll start from 2000

Guy Pearce for Memento

01 I'll agree with Denzel. Can't even think of anyone special that year

02 Sandler in Punch Drunk Love. By far his best performance of his career and 2nd best film to Uncut Gems

Choi min sik in Oldboy easily over Murray in LIT. I don't care if it's Korean, Murray's performance there shouldn't be leading best of in a year

DDL wasn't even the best performance of that year. Hawke might've been the lead technically but everyone knows Barden as Anton was the show runner and a better performance and character than DDL as Plainview

Tahar for A Prophet 09, Stuhlburg Serious Man was better than Rockwell too

Gosling Blue Valentine for 2010

Agree with Oldman for Tinker.

dont have Phoenix for 2013 but he deserved it for Master. In 2013 Leo in WOWS, Gyllenhaal in Prisoners, Mcchaonahey in DBC, Hawke in Before Midnight and Isaac in ILD were all better performances

Gyllenhaal easily for Nightcrawler in 2014 very arguably the best performance of the decade. I'm taking Jake 1 and Phoenix 2 for Master

2015 prolly was Farrel. Prolly the lone shining light in an overhyped and B or C rate black comedy/satire film. Direction and script were severely lacking

Shannon outshined Jake in Nocturnal Animals. Can't have my lead winner being outshun by supporting actors

2018 was a bad year for Murrican film don't even know who to pick

Dafoe or Pattinson for Lighthouse last year for sure. Leo was great and had some tough scenes to pull off but he wasn't acting on a higher level than Dafoe or Pattinson
 
Casey Affleck- Manchester by the Sea
Robert De Niro - Raging Bull
Daniel Day Lewis - There Will Be Blood

Everything else ranges from severe overracting (Pacino, Denzel, Whittaker Penn, Redmayne), your time has come even though your performance isn’t even top 5 in your career (Di Caprio, Pacino, Phoenix, Bridges, Oldman) to truly awful (Rami Malek).

How Casey Affleck won for a such a subtle performance against the kicking and screaming of Denzel, is a minor miracle.

Severe overacting is DDLs speciality and why so many love his TWBB performance so it's curious why you'd use that reasoning and even out that performance anyone near the same breath as De Niro in Raging Bull (it isn't close BTW, De Niro in King of Comedy was a better performance as well, not to mention Heat, Taxi Driver, Godfather 2 altho not a lead). His prime acting performances are at a far greater level than DDL could muster. In reality he's more of a B rate Toshiro Mifune in his style of acting
 
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