Volpi Cup for Best Actor

The Volpi Cup for Best Actor (Italian: Coppa Volpi per la migliore interpretazione maschile) is the principal award given to actors at the Venice Film Festival and is named in honor of Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata, the founder of the Venice Film Festival.

The name and number of prizes have been changed several times since their introduction, ranging from two to four awards per edition and sometimes acknowledging both leading and supporting performances.

As of 2024, Vincent Lindon is the most recent winner in this category for his role in The Quiet Son.

The acting award was named Grande medaglia d'oro dell'Associazione Nazionale Fascista dello Spettacolo per il migliore attore (Great Gold Medal of the National Fascist Association for Entertainment for the Best Actor).

[2][3][4][5] The festival was again competitive in 1980 but the acting awards given by the competition jury were not reinstated until 1983: the prizes were no longer called Coppa Volpi (Volpi Cup) but were simply referred to as Premio per il migliore attore (Best Actor Award).

Fredric March won twice for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932), and Death of a Salesman (1952)
Jean Gabin won for twice for The Night Is My Kingdom (1951) and both The Air of Paris & Honour Among Theives (1954)
James Stewart won for Anatomy of a Murder (1958)
Toshiro Mifune won twice for Yojimbo (1961) and Red Beard (1965)
Burt Lancaster won for Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Hugh Grant won for Maurice (1987)
Marcello Mastroianni won twice for What Time Is It? (1989) and 1, 2, 3, Sun (1993)
Liam Neeson won for Michael Collins (1996)
Sean Penn won twice for Hurlyburly (1998) and 21 Grams (2003)
Javier Bardem won twice for Before Night Falls (2000), and The Sea Inside (2004)
Michael Fassbender won for Shame (2011)
Joaquin Phoenix won for The Master (2012)
Adam Driver won for Hungry Hearts (2014)
Colin Farrell won for The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)