Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor

It is given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance and chosen by the jury from the films in official competition slate at the festival.

At the 1st Cannes Film Festival held in 1946, Ray Milland was the first winner of this award for his performance in The Lost Weekend, and Jesse Plemons is the most recent winner in this category for his role in Kinds of Kindness at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in 2024.

In 1968, no awards were given as the festival was called off mid-way due to the May 1968 events in France.

The jury also, on occasion, cites actors with a special citation that is separate from the main award.

Dean Stockwell, Jack Lemmon, and Marcello Mastroianni have won the most awards in this category, each winning twice.

Ray Milland won for The Lost Weekend (1946)
Edward G. Robinson won for House of Strangers (1947)
John Kitzmiller was the first Black winner, for Valley of Peace (1957)
Dean Stockwell won twice for Compulsion (1959), and Long Day's Journey into Night (1962)
Marcello Mastroianni won twice for The Pizza Triangle (1970) and Dark Eyes (1987)
Jack Lemmon won for The China Syndrome (1979) and Missing (1982)
Jack Nicholson won for The Last Detail (1974)
Samuel L. Jackson won for Jungle Fever (1991)
Tony Leung won for In the Mood for Love (2000)
Christoph Waltz won for Inglorious Basterds (2009)
Javier Bardem won for Biutiful (2010)
Joaquin Phoenix won for You Were Never Really Here (2017)
Antonio Banderas won for Pain and Glory (2019)
Yakusho Koji won for Perfect Days (2023)