BIFA Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film explained

British Independent Film Award for Best Actor
Awarded For:	Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film
Presenter:	BIFA
Country:	United Kingdom
Year:	1998
Year2:	2021
Holder:	Adeel Akhtar – Ali & Ava (2021)

The British Independent Film Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film is an annual award given by the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) to recognize the best lead performance by an actor in a British independent film. The award was first presented in the 1998 ceremony with Ray Winstone being the first recipient of the award for his performance as Raymond in Nil by Mouth.

Actors Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy and Josh O'Connor are the only nominees who have won the award twice while Riz Ahmed holds the record of most nominations in this category with five nominations.

In July 2022, it was announced that the performance categories would be replaced with gender-neutral categories, with both Best Actor and Best Actress merging into the Best Lead Performance category. Additionally, a category named Best Joint Lead Performance was created for "two (or exceptionally three) performances that are the joint focus of the film, especially where performances share a large number of scenes and screen time".^[1]

Winners and nominees

1990s

Year	Actor	Film	Character
1998 ^[2]	Ray Winstone	Nil by Mouth	Raymond
		Love and Death on Long Island	Giles De'Ath
	Peter Mullan	My Name Is Joe	Joe Kavanagh
		Regeneration
		Divorcing Jack	Dan Starkey
1999 ^[3]	Ian McKellen	Gods and Monsters	James Whale
		The Lost Son	Xavier Lombard
		Little Voice	Ray Say
		The Trench	Sgt. Telford Winter
		The War Zone	Dad

2000s

Year	Actor	Film	Character
2000 ^[4]	Daniel Craig	Some Voices	Ray
		Gangster No. 1	Young Gangster
		Topsy-Turvy	W. S. Gilbert
		Love's Labour's Lost	Dumaine
		Miss Julie	Jean
2001 ^[5]	Ben Kingsley	Sexy Beast	Don Logan
		Liam	Dad
		Lucky Break	Cliff Gumbell
		Sexy Beast	Gary "Gal" Dove
2002 ^[6] ^[7]	James Nesbitt	Bloody Sunday	Ivan Cooper
	Timothy Spall	All or Nothing	Phil
		My Kingdom	Sandeman
	Bill Nighy	Lawless Heart	Dan
2003 ^[8] ^[9]	Chiwetel Ejiofor	Dirty Pretty Things	Okwe
		In America	Johnny Sullivan
		Young Adam	Joe Taylor
	Kevin McKidd	16 Years of Alcohol	Frankie
		Buffalo Soldiers	Spc. Ray Elwood
2004 ^[10]	Phil Davis	Vera Drake	Stanley Drake
		Dead Man's Shoes	Richard
		Enduring Love	Joe Rose
		Blind Flight	Brian Keenan
		The Life and Death of Peter Sellers	Peter Sellers
2005 ^[11]	Ralph Fiennes	The Constant Gardener	Justin Quayle
		The Libertine
		Kinky Boots	Lola
		Mrs Henderson Presents
		In My Father's Den	Paul Prior
2006 ^[12] ^[13]	Tony Curran	Red Road	Clyde Henderson
		The Last King of Scotland	Nicholas Garrigan
		The Wind That Shakes the Barley	Damien O'Donovan
		Venus	Maurice Russell
2007 ^[14] ^[15]	Viggo Mortensen	Eastern Promises	Nikolai Luzhin
		Hallam Foe	Hallam Foe
		And When Did You Last See Your Father?	Arthur Morrison
		Sunshine	Robert Capa
		Control
2008 ^[16] ^[17]	Michael Fassbender	Hunger	Bobby Sands
		Shifty	Shifty
		In Bruges	Ray
			Ken
		Somers Town	Tomo
2009 ^[18] ^[19]	Tom Hardy	Bronson	Charles Bronson
		In the Loop
		Nowhere Boy
		Moon	Sam Bell
		Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

2010s

Year	Actor	Film	Character
2010 ^[20] ^[21]	Colin Firth	The King's Speech	King George VI
		Four Lions	Omar
		Another Year	Tom Hepple
		Treacle Jr.	Aidan
		Monsters	Andrew Kaulder
2011 ^[22] ^[23]	Michael Fassbender	Shame	Brandon Sullivan
		The Guard	Sergeant Gerry Boyle
		Kill List	Jay
		Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
		Tyrannosaur	Joseph
2012 ^[24] ^[25]	Toby Jones	Berberian Sound Studio	Gilderoy
		Broken	Archie Cunningham
		Song for Marion	Arthur
		Sightseers	Chris
		Ill Manors	Aaron
2013 ^[26] ^[27]	James McAvoy	Filth	Bruce Robertson
		Locke	Ivan Locke
		Philomena	Martin Sixsmith
		Le Week-End	Nick Burrows
		Starred Up	Eric Love
2014 ^[28] ^[29]	Brendan Gleeson	Calvary	Father James Lavelle
		X+Y	Nathan Ellis
		The Imitation Game
		'71	Gary Hook
		Mr. Turner
2015 ^[30] ^[31]	Tom Hardy	Legend	Ronnie Kray and Reggie Kray
		45 Years	Geoff Mercer
		The Lobster	David
		Macbeth
		High-Rise	Dr. Robert Laing
2016 ^[32] ^[33]	Dave Johns	I, Daniel Blake	Daniel Blake
	Steven Brandon	My Feral Heart	Luke
		Trespass Against Us	Chad Cutler
		American Honey	Jake
		I Am Not a Serial Killer	John Wayne Cleaver
2017 ^[34] ^[35]	Josh O'Connor	God's Own Country	Johnny Saxby
		Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool	Peter Turner
		God's Own Country	Gheorghe Ionescu
		Journeyman	Matty Burton
		Jawbone	Jimmy McCabe
2018 ^[36] ^[37]	Joe Cole	A Prayer Before Dawn	Billy Moore
		Stan & Ollie
		The Happy Prince
		You Were Never Really Here	Joe
		Lean on Pete	Charley Thompson
2019 ^[38] ^[39]	Josh O'Connor	Only You	Jake
	Sam Adewunmi	The Last Tree	Femi
		The Souvenir	Anthony
	Kris Hitchen	Sorry We Missed You	Ricky Turner
		The Personal History of David Copperfield

2020s

Year	Actor	Film	Character
2020 ^[40] ^[41]	Anthony Hopkins	The Father	Anthony
		Mogul Mowgli	Zed
		His House	Bol
	Amir El-Masry	Limbo	Omarr
		Calm with Horses	Douglas
2021 ^[42]	Adeel Akhtar	Ali & Ava	Ali
		Encounter	Malik Kahn
		Boiling Point	Andy Jones
		The Nest	Rory O'Hara
		Nowhere Special	John

Multiple nominations

5 nominations

• Riz Ahmed

4 nominations

• Jim Broadbent
• Michael Fassbender

3 nominations

• Paddy Considine
• Daniel Craig
• Brendan Gleeson
• Tom Hardy
• Peter Mullan
• Ray Winstone

2 nominations

• Jamie Bell
• Steve Coogan
• Colin Farrell
• Chiwetel Ejiofor
• James McAvoy
• Josh O'Connor
• Joaquin Phoenix

Multiple wins

2 wins

• Michael Fassbender
• Tom Hardy
• Josh O'Connor

See also

• Academy Award for Best Actor
• Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor
• BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
• Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

External links

• Official website

Notes and References

1. Web site: BIFA ANNOUNCES NEW CATEGORIES FOR THE 2022 AWARDS. BIFA. July 5, 2022. October 13, 2022.
2. Web site: The Awards 1998. British Independent Film Awards. October 4, 2021.
3. Web site: The Awards 1999. British Independent Film Awards. October 4, 2021.
4. Web site: The Awards 2000. British Independent Film Awards. October 4, 2021.
5. Web site: Sexy Beast scores at British indie film awards. Screen Daily. Patrick. Frater. October 24, 2001. October 4, 2021.
6. Web site: Morvern Callar leads British Independent Film Awards nominations. Screen Daily. September 17, 2002. October 4, 2021.
7. Web site: Sweet Sixteen named best of the independents. The Guardian. Fiachra. Gibbons. October 31, 2002. October 4, 2021.
8. Web site: Dirty Pretty Things leads BIFA nominations. Screen Daily. Tim. Dams. September 22, 2003. October 4, 2021.
9. Web site: Dirty Pretty Things sweeps Brit indie awards. The Guardian. November 3, 2003. October 4, 2021.
10. Web site: 'Drake' takes the cake. Variety. Adam. Dawtrey. November 30, 2004. October 4, 2021.
11. Web site: Constant Gardener wins UK awards. BBC News. December 1, 2005. October 4, 2021.
12. Web site: 'Scotland' duo, 'Queen' pic among top BIFA nominees. The Hollywood Reporter. October 31, 2006. October 4, 2021.
13. Web site: "This is England" Takes Top Prize at British Independent Film Awards. Indiewire. November 30, 2006. October 4, 2021.
14. Web site: British Independent Film Awards nominations list. Variety. October 23, 2007. October 4, 2021.
15. Web site: Control takes over at British Independent Film Awards. CBC News. November 29, 2007. October 4, 2021.
16. Web site: Nominations for British Independent Film Awards announced. Screen Daily. Audrey. Ward. October 28, 2008. October 4, 2021.
17. Web site: 'Slumdog' wins big at British indie awards. The Hollywood Reporter. Stuart. Kemp. December 1, 2008. October 4, 2021.
18. Web site: "Fish Tank," "Moon" Lead British Indie Award Nods. IndieWire. Peter. Knegt. October 26, 2009. October 4, 2021.
19. Web site: British Independent Film Awards: Moon Wins Best Film. IndieWire. Anne. Thompson. December 6, 2009. October 4, 2021.
20. Web site: The King's Speech rings out in Bifa awards nominations. The Guardian. Ben. Child. November 2, 2010. October 4, 2021.
21. Web site: King's Speech reigns at British Independent Film awards. BBC News. Tim. Masters. December 6, 2010. October 4, 2021.
22. Web site: "Shame," "Tyrannosaur" and "Tinker Tailor" Lead British Independent Film Award Nominations. IndieWire. Peter. Knegt. October 31, 2011. October 4, 2021.
23. Web site: Tyrannosaur in triple win at British Independent Film Awards. BBC News. Tim. Masters. December 5, 2011. October 4, 2021.
24. Web site: Broken fixed up with nine British independent film award nominations. The Guardian. Ben. Child. November 6, 2012. October 4, 2021.
25. Web site: British Independent Film Awards: 'Broken' Takes Best Film, 'Berberian Sound Studio' and 'The Imposter' Big Winners. IndieWire. Matt. Mueller. December 9, 2012. October 4, 2021.
26. Web site: 'Metro Manila' gets 5 nominations in British film awards. ABS-CBN News. November 13, 2013. October 4, 2021.
27. Web site: 'Metro Manila' Wins Big at British Independent Film Awards. The Hollywood Reporter. Stuart. Kemp. December 8, 2013. October 4, 2021.
28. Web site: '71, Pride lead BIFA nominations. Screen Daily. Michael. Rosser. November 3, 2014. October 4, 2021.
29. Web site: Pride wins best film at British Independent Film Awards. BBC News. December 7, 2014. October 4, 2021.
30. Web site: 'The Lobster', '45 Years', 'Macbeth' Lead British Independent Film Award Nominations. Deadline. Nancy. Tartaglione. November 3, 2015. October 4, 2021.
31. Web site: Ex Machina triumphs at British independent film awards. The Guardian. Benjamin. Lee. December 7, 2015. October 4, 2021.
32. Web site: I, Daniel Blake leads British independent film award nominations. The Guardian. Alan. Evans. November 1, 2016. October 4, 2021.
33. Web site: 'American Honey' Triumphs at British Independent Film Awards. Variety. Leo. Barranclough. December 4, 2016. October 4, 2021.
34. Web site: 'Lady Macbeth' Tops Nominations for British Independent Film Awards. Variety. Stewart. Clarke. November 1, 2017. October 4, 2021.
35. Web site: British Independent Film Awards: 'God's Own Country' and 'Lady Macbeth' Win Top Prizes. IndieWire. Michael. Nordine. December 10, 2017. October 4, 2021.
36. Web site: The Favourite dominates British independent film award nominations. The Guardian. Mark. Brown. October 31, 2018. October 4, 2021.
37. Web site: 'The Favourite' Wins 10 British Independent Film Awards, Living Up to Its Title. IndieWire. Michael. Nordine. December 2, 2018. October 4, 2021.
38. Web site: 2019 British Indie Film Awards Nominations: 'David Copperfield,' Zellweger, and More. IndieWire. Zack. Sharf. October 30, 2019. October 4, 2021.
39. Web site: British Independent Film Awards: 'For Sama' Wins Top Prize. The Hollywood Reporter. Alex. Ritman. December 1, 2019. October 4, 2021.
40. Web site: 'Saint Maud,' 'His House,' 'Rocks' Lead British Independent Film Awards Nominations. Variety. Naman. Ramachandran. December 9, 2020. October 4, 2021.
41. Web site: 'Rocks' & 'His House' Win Big At British Independent Film Awards. Deadline. Tom. Grater. February 18, 2021. October 4, 2021.
42. Web site: ‘Belfast,’ ‘Boiling Point’ Lead BIFA Nominations. Variety. Naman. Ramachandran. November 3, 2021. November 3, 2021.