Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor

The 2023 recipient: Cillian Murphy

The Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor is one of the annual awards given by the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association.

Winners and nominees

2000s

Year Actor Film Role
2002 Jack Nicholson About Schmidt Warren Schmidt
2003 Bill Murray Lost in Translation Bob Harris
Chiwetel Ejiofor Dirty Pretty Things Okwe
Ben Kingsley House of Sand and Fog Behrani
Sean Penn Mystic River Jimmy Markum
Johnny Depp Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl Captain Jack Sparrow
2004 Jamie Foxx Ray Ray Charles
2005 Philip Seymour Hoffman Capote Truman Capote
Heath Ledger Brokeback Mountain Ennis Del Mar
David Strathairn Good Night, and Good Luck. Edward R. Murrow
Terrence Howard Hustle & Flow DJay
Joaquin Phoenix Walk the Line Johnny Cash
2006 Forest Whitaker The Last King of Scotland Idi Amin
2007 George Clooney Michael Clayton Michael Clayton
2008 Mickey Rourke The Wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson
2009 George Clooney Up in the Air Ryan Bingham
Colin Firth A Single Man George Falconer
Morgan Freeman Invictus Nelson Mandela
Jeremy Renner The Hurt Locker SFC. William James
Viggo Mortensen The Road The Man

2010s

Year Actor Film Role
2010 Colin Firth The King's Speech George VI
Jeff Bridges True Grit U.S. Marshal Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn
Robert Duvall Get Low Felix Bush
Jesse Eisenberg The Social Network Mark Zuckerberg
James Franco 127 Hours Aron Ralston
2011 George Clooney The Descendants Matt King
Jean Dujardin The Artist George Valentin
Michael Fassbender Shame Brandon Sullivan
Brad Pitt Moneyball Billy Beane
Michael Shannon Take Shelter Curtis LaForche
2012 Daniel Day-Lewis Lincoln Abraham Lincoln
John Hawkes The Sessions Mark O'Brien
Hugh Jackman Les Misérables Jean Valjean
Joaquin Phoenix The Master Freddie Quell
Denzel Washington Flight William "Whip" Whitaker, Sr.
2013 Chiwetel Ejiofor 12 Years a Slave Solomon Northup
Leonardo DiCaprio The Wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belfort
Matthew McConaughey Dallas Buyers Club Ron Woodroof
Joaquin Phoenix Her Theodore Twombly
Robert Redford All Is Lost Our Man
2014 Michael Keaton Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) Riggan Thomson
Benedict Cumberbatch The Imitation Game Alan Turing
Oscar Isaac A Most Violent Year Abel Morales
David Oyelowo Selma Martin Luther King, Jr.
Eddie Redmayne The Theory of Everything Stephen Hawking
2015 Leonardo DiCaprio The Revenant Hugh Glass
Matt Damon The Martian Mark Watney
Johnny Depp Black Mass James "Whitey" Bulger
Michael Fassbender Steve Jobs Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne The Danish Girl Lili Elbe / Einar Wegener
2016 Casey Affleck Manchester by the Sea Lee Chandler
Joel Edgerton Loving Richard Loving
Andrew Garfield Hacksaw Ridge Desmond Doss
Ryan Gosling La La Land Sebastian Wilder
Denzel Washington Fences Troy Maxson
2017 Gary Oldman Darkest Hour Winston Churchill
Timothée Chalamet Call Me by Your Name Elio Perlman
Daniel Day-Lewis Phantom Thread Reynolds Woodcock
James Franco The Disaster Artist Tommy Wiseau
Daniel Kaluuya Get Out Chris Washington
2018 Bradley Cooper A Star Is Born Jackson Maine
Christian Bale Vice Dick Cheney
Ethan Hawke First Reformed Reverend Ernst Toller
Rami Malek Bohemian Rhapsody Freddie Mercury
Viggo Mortensen Green Book Tony Vallelonga
2019 Adam Driver Marriage Story Charlie Barber
Robert De Niro The Irishman Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran
Leonardo DiCaprio Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Rick Dalton
Joaquin Phoenix Joker Arthur Fleck / Joker
Adam Sandler Uncut Gems Howard Ratner

2020s

Year Actor Film Role
2020 Chadwick Boseman Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Levee Green
Riz Ahmed Sound of Metal Ruben Stone
Anthony Hopkins The Father Anthony
Delroy Lindo Da 5 Bloods Paul
Steven Yeun Minari Jacob Yi
2021 Andrew Garfield Tick, Tick... Boom Jonathan Larson
Nicolas Cage Pig Robin "Rob" Feld
Benedict Cumberbatch The Power of the Dog Phil Burbank
Will Smith King Richard Richard Williams
Denzel Washington The Tragedy of Macbeth Lord Macbeth
2022 Colin Farrell The Banshees of Inisherin Pádraic Súilleabháin
Austin Butler Elvis Elvis Presley
Tom Cruise Top Gun: Maverick Capt. Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell
Brendan Fraser The Whale Charlie
Paul Mescal Aftersun Calum
2023 Cillian Murphy Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer
Bradley Cooper Maestro Leonard Bernstein
Colman Domingo Rustin Bayard Rustin
Paul Giamatti The Holdovers Paul Hunham
Jeffrey Wright American Fiction Thelonious "Monk" Ellison
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Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor