| Independent Spirit Award for Best Breakthrough Performance | |
| Presenter: | Independent Spirit Awards |
| Year: | Sean Nelson Fresh (1995) |
| Holder: | Dominic Sessa The Holdovers (2023) |
The Independent Spirit Award for Best Breakthrough Performance is an award presented annually at the Independent Spirit Awards to honor outstanding performances given by a new talent in an independent film. It was first presented in 1995 at the 10th Independent Spirit Awards as Best Debut Performance, which was won by Sean Nelson for his performance in the film Fresh.[1]
The category was then discontinued in 2005, but it was later re-introduced as Best Breakthrough Performance at the 2023 ceremony.[2]
| Year | Winner and nominees | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Sean Nelson | Fresh | Fresh |
| Clerks | Randal Graves | ||
| Spanking the Monkey | Ray Aibelli | ||
| Fun | Bonnie | ||
| Love and a .45 | Starlene Cheatham | ||
| 1996 | Justin Pierce | Kids | Casper |
| Jason Andrews | Rhythm Thief | Simon | |
| Lisa Donaldson | River of Grass | Cozy | |
| New Jersey Drive | Kyle "Midget" | ||
| The Doom Generation | Amy Blue | ||
| 1997 | Heather Matarazzo | Welcome to the Dollhouse | Dawn Wiener |
| Bastard Out of Carolina | Ruth Anne "Bone" Boatwright | ||
| Welcome to the Dollhouse | Brandon McCarthy | ||
| Caught | Nick | ||
| Basquiat | Jean-Michel Basquiat | ||
| 1998 | Aaron Eckhart | In the Company of Men | Chad |
| Tyrone D. Burton, Eddie Cutanda and Phuong Duong | Squeeze | Tyson, Hector and Bao | |
| Lysa Flores | Star Maps | Maria | |
| Darling Narita | Bang | The Girl | |
| Star Maps | Carlos | ||
| 1999 | Evan Adams | Smoke Signals | Thomas Builds-the-Fire |
| A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries | Francis Fortescue | ||
| Andrea Hart | Miss Monday | Gloria | |
| Slam | Lauren Bell | ||
| Ray Joshua | |||
| Year | Winner and nominees | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Kimberly J. Brown | Tumbleweeds | Mary Jo Walker |
| Election | Tammy Metzler | ||
| Jade Gordon | Sugar Town | Gwen | |
| Toby Smith | Drylongso | Pica Sullivan | |
| Edge of Seventeen | Eric Hunter | ||
| 2001 | Michelle Rodriguez | Girlfight | Diana Guzman |
| Curtis Cotton III, Candace Evanofski, Rachael Handy, Donald Holden and Damian Jewan Lee | George Washington | Buddy, Nasia, Sonya, George Richardson and Vernon | |
| You Can Count on Me | Rudy | ||
| Songcatcher | Deladis Slocumb | ||
| Chuck & Buck | Buck O'Brien | ||
| 2002 | Paul Dano | L.I.E. | Howie Blitzer |
| Hilary Howard, Anthony Leslie and Mitchell Riggs | Kaaterskill Falls | Ren, Lyle and Mitchell | |
| Clint Jordan | Virgil Bliss | Virgil Bliss | |
| Ana Reeder | Acts of Worship | Alix | |
| Stranger Inside | Treasure | ||
| 2003 | Nia Vardalos | My Big Fat Greek Wedding | Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos |
| Bob Burrus | Tully | Tully Russell Coates Sr. | |
| Real Women Have Curves | Ana García | ||
| Lovely & Amazing | Annie Marks | ||
| Dahmer | Rodney | ||
| 2004 | Nikki Reed | Thirteen | Evie Zamora |
| Camp | Fritzi Wagner | ||
| Raising Victor Vargas | Judy | ||
| Victor | |||
| Janice Richardson | Anne B. Real | Cynthia Gimenez | |
| 2005 | Rodrigo de la Serna | The Motorcycle Diaries | Alberto Granado |
| Brother to Brother | Perry | ||
| Robbing Peter | Pedro | ||
| Hannah Pilkes | The Woodsman | Robin | |
| Primer | Abe |
| Year | Winner and nominees | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 [3] | Stephanie Hsu | Everything Everywhere All at Once | Joy Wang / Jobu Tupaki |
| Aftersun | Sophie | ||
| Gracija Filipović | Murina | Julija | |
| Palm Trees and Power Lines | Lea | ||
| Funny Pages | Robert | ||
| 2023 [4] | Dominic Sessa | The Holdovers | Angus Tully |
| Bottoms | Mr. G | ||
| Atibon Nazaire | Mountains | Xavier | |
| Earth Mama | Gia | ||
| Anaita Wali Zada | Fremont | Donya | |