| César Award for Best Actor | |
| Awarded For: | Best Actor in a Leading Role |
| Presenter: | Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma |
| Country: | France |
| Year: | 1976 |
| Holder: | Arieh Worthalter for The Goldman Case (2024) |
This is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Actor (French: César du meilleur acteur).
| Superlative | Best Actor | Best Supporting Actor | Overall (including Most Promising Actor) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actor with most awards | Michel Serrault | 3 | Niels Arestrup | 3 | Michel Serrault Niels Arestrup André Dussollier Mathieu Amalric | 3 | |
| Actor with most nominations | Gérard Depardieu | 17 | André Dussollier Fabrice Luchini Guy Marchand Jean-Pierre Marielle | 5 | Gérard Depardieu | 17 | |
| Actor with most nominations without ever winning | Patrick Dewaere | 5 | Jean-Pierre Marielle | 5 | Jean-Pierre Marielle | 7 | |
| Film with most nominations | Le Sucre Tandem Itinerary of a Spoiled Child Le Souper Les Visiteurs The Intouchables | 2 | Subway Polisse | 3 | Subway La Haine The Officers' Ward A Prophet | 4 | |
| Oldest winner | Jean-Louis Trintignant | 83 | Michael Lonsdale | 80 | Jean-Louis Trintignant | 83 | |
| Oldest nominee | Michel Bouquet | 89 | Jacques Dufilho | 86 | Michel Bouquet | 89 | |
| Youngest winner | Pierre Niney | 26 | Jacques Villeret | 28 | Pierre Niney | 26 | |
| Youngest nominee | Vincent Lacoste | 22 | Thomas Langmann | 23 | Milo Machado-Graner | 15 | |
| Year | Winner | English title | Original title | Role/Character |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 (1st) | Philippe Noiret | The Old Gun | Le Vieux Fusil | Julien Dandieu |
| Victor Lanoux | Cousin, Cousin | Cousin, cousine | Ludovic | |
| Jean-Pierre Marielle | Cookies | Les Galettes de Pont-Aven | Henri Serin | |
| Gérard Depardieu | Seven Deaths by Prescription | Sept morts sur ordonnance | Doctor Jean-Pierre Berg | |
| 1977 (2nd) | Michel Galabru | The Judge and the Assassin | Le Juge et l'assassin | Sgt. Joseph Bouvier |
| Alain Delon | Mr. Klein | Monsieur Klein | Mr. Klein | |
| Gérard Depardieu | The Last Woman | La Dernière Femme | Gérard | |
| Patrick Dewaere | The Best Way to Walk | La Meilleure Façon de marcher | Marc | |
| 1978 (3rd) | Jean Rochefort | Drummer-Crab | Le Crabe-tambour | Captain |
| Alain Delon | Death of a Corrupt Man | Mort d'un pourri | Xavier 'Xav' Maréchal | |
| Gérard Depardieu | This Sweet Sickness | Dites-lui que je l'aime | David Martinaud | |
| Patrick Dewaere | Judge Fayard Called the Sheriff | Le Juge Fayard dit le Shériff | Judge Fayard | |
| Charles Denner | The Man Who Loved Women | L'Homme qui aimait les femmes | Bertrand Morane | |
| 1979 (4th) | Michel Serrault | Birds of a Feather | La Cage aux folles | Albin Mougeotte/Zaza Napoli |
| Claude Brasseur | A Simple Story | Une histoire simple | Serge | |
| Jean Carmet | The Sugar | Le Sucre | Adrien Courtois | |
| Gérard Depardieu | Raoul-Renaud Homecourt | |||
| Year | Winner | English title | Original title | Role/Character |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 (5th) | Claude Brasseur | The Police War | La Guerre des polices | Jacques Fush |
| Patrick Dewaere | Série noire | Franck Poupart | ||
| Yves Montand | I as in Icarus | I... comme Icare | Henri Volney | |
| Jean Rochefort | Courage - Let's Run | Courage fuyons | Martin Belhomme / Adrien Belhomme | |
| 1981 (6th) | Gérard Depardieu | The Last Metro | Le Dernier Métro | Bernard Granger |
| Michel Serrault | La Cage aux Folles II | Albin Mougeotte/Zaza Napoli | ||
| Philippe Noiret | Heads or Tails | Pile ou face | Detective Louis Baroni | |
| Patrick Dewaere | A Bad Son | Un mauvais fils | Bruno Calgagni | |
| 1982 (7th) | Michel Serrault | Under Suspicion | Garde à vue | Jérôme Martinaud |
| Patrick Dewaere | Stepfather | Beau-père | Rémi | |
| Philippe Noiret | Clean Slate | Coup de torchon | Lucien Cordier | |
| Michel Piccoli | Strange Affair | Une étrange affaire | Bertrand Malair | |
| 1983 (8th) | Philippe Léotard | The Nark | La Balance | Dédé Laffont |
| Gérard Depardieu | Danton | Georges Danton | ||
| Gérard Lanvin | Tir groupé | Antoine Béranger | ||
| Lino Ventura | Les Misérables | Jean Valjean | ||
| 1984 (9th) | Michel "Coluche" Colucci | So Long, Stooge | Tchao pantin | Lambert |
| Gérard Depardieu | ComDads | Les Compères | Jean Lucas | |
| Yves Montand | Waiter! | Garçon! | Alex | |
| Michel Serrault | Deadly Run | Mortelle randonnée | Beauvoir | |
| Alain Souchon | One Deadly Summer | L'Été meurtrier | Fiorimonto "Florimond" Montecciari | |
| 1985 (10th) | Alain Delon | Our Story | Notre histoire | Robert Avranches |
| Gérard Depardieu | Fort Saganne | Charles Saganne | ||
| Louis Ducreux | A Sunday in the Country | Un dimanche à la campagne | Mr. Ladmiral | |
| Philippe Noiret | My New Partner | Les Ripoux | René Boirond | |
| Michel Piccoli | Dangerous Moves | La Diagonale du fou | Akiva Liebskind | |
| 1986 (11th) | Christopher Lambert | Subway | Fred | |
| Gérard Depardieu | Police | Louis Vincent Mangin | ||
| Robin Renucci | Staircase C | Escalier C | Forster | |
| Michel Serrault | He Died with His Eyes Open | On ne meurt que 2 fois | Inspector Robert Staniland | |
| Lambert Wilson | Rendez-vous | Quentin | ||
| 1987 (12th) | Daniel Auteuil | Jean de Florette | Ugolin | |
| Jean de Florette II: Manon of the Spring | Manon des sources | |||
| Jean-Hugues Anglade | Betty Blue | 37°2 le matin | Zorg | |
| Michel Blanc | Ménage | Tenue de soirée | Antoine | |
| André Dussollier | Mélo | Marcel Blanc | ||
| Christophe Malavoy | The Woman of My Life | La Femme de ma vie | Simon | |
| 1988 (13th) | Richard Bohringer | The Grand Highway | Le Grand Chemin | Pelo |
| Jean Carmet | Miss Mona | Miss Mona | ||
| Gérard Depardieu | Under the Sun of Satan | Sous le soleil de Satan | Abbé Donissan | |
| Gérard Jugnot | Tandem | Rivetot | ||
| Christophe Malavoy | Engagements of the Heart | De guerre lasse | Charles Sambrat | |
| Jean Rochefort | Tandem | Michel Mortez | ||
| 1989 (14th) | Jean-Paul Belmondo | Itinerary of a Spoiled Child | Itinéraire d'un enfant gâté | Sam Lion |
| Richard Anconina | Itinerary of a Spoiled Child | Itinéraire d'un enfant gâté | Albert Duvivier | |
| Daniel Auteuil | A Few Days with Me | Quelques jours avec moi | Martial Pasquier | |
| Jean-Marc Barr | The Big Blue | Le Grand Bleu | Jacques Mayol | |
| Gérard Depardieu | Camille Claudel | Auguste Rodin | ||
| Year | Winner | English title | Original title | Role/Character |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 (45th) | Roschdy Zem | Oh Mercy! | Roubaix, une lumière | Daoud |
| Daniel Auteuil | La Belle Époque | Victor Drumond | ||
| Damien Bonnard | Les Misérables | Brigadier Stéphane Ruiz | ||
| Vincent Cassel | The Specials | Hors normes | Bruno Haroche | |
| Reda Kateb | Malik | |||
| Jean Dujardin | An Officer and a Spy | J'accuse | Colonel Georges Picquart | |
| Melvil Poupaud | By the Grace of God | Grâce à Dieu | Alexandre Guérin | |
| 2021 (46th) [2] | Sami Bouajila | A Son | Un fils | Fares Ben Youssef |
| Enorme | Énorme | Frédéric | ||
| Bye Bye Morons | Adieu les cons | JB | ||
| Love Affair(s) | Les Choses qu'on dit, les choses qu'on fait | Maxime | ||
| De Gaulle | Charles de Gaulle | |||
| 2022 (47th) [3] | Benoît Magimel | Peaceful | De son vivant | Benjamin Boltanski |
| The Restless | Les intranquilles | Damien | ||
| Annette | Henry McHenry | |||
| The Stronghold | BAC Nord | Greg Cerva | ||
| The Night Doctor | Médecin de nuit | Mickaël Kourtchine | ||
| The Divide | La fracture | Yann Caron | ||
| Black Box | Boîte noire | Mathieu Vasseur | ||
| 2023 (48th) [4] | Benoît Magimel | Pacifiction | Pacifiction – Tourment sur les îles | De Roller |
| November | Novembre | Fred | ||
| The Innocent | L'innocent | Abel | ||
| Diary of a Fleeting Affair | Chronique d'une liaison passagère | Simon | ||
| Peter von Kant | Peter Von Kant | |||
| 2024 (49th) [5] | Arieh Worthalter | The Goldman Case | Le procès Goldman | Pierre Goldman |
| The Animal Kingdom | Le règne animal | François | ||
| Abbé Pierre – A Century of Devotion | L'abbé Pierre | Abbé Pierre | ||
| Just the Two of Us | L'amour et les forêts | Grégoire | ||
| Yannick | Yannick | |||
The following individuals received two or more Best Actor awards:
| Wins | Actor |
|---|---|
| 3 | Michel Serrault |
| 2 | Mathieu Amalric |
| Daniel Auteuil | |
| Michel Bouquet | |
| Gérard Depardieu | |
| Benoît Magimel | |
| Philippe Noiret | |
The following individuals received three or more Best Actor nominations:
One actor has the record of most consecutive nominations with 4: Gerard Depardieu (1977, 1978, 1979, 1980/ 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986/ 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991)