| Year | Actor | Role | Film |
| 1940s |
| 1946 | Ray Milland (U.K.) | Don Birnam | The Lost Weekend |
| 1947 | No award this year |
| 1949 | Edward G. Robinson (USA) | Gino Monetti | House of Strangers |
| 1950s |
| 1951 | Michael Redgrave (U.K.) | Andrew Crocker-Harris | The Browning Version |
| 1952 | Marlon Brando (USA) | Emiliano Zapata | Viva Zapata! |
| 1953 | No award this year |
| 1954 | No award this year |
| 1955 | Spencer Tracy (USA) (Acting Award)[1] | John J. Macreedy | Bad Day at Black Rock |
| Whole cast (USSR) (Acting Award)[1] | A Big Family |
| 1956 |
(Acting Award / see Best Actress)[2] |
| 1957 | John Kitzmiller (USA) | Sgt. Jim | Valley of Peace |
| 1958 | Paul Newman (USA) | Ben Quick | The Long, Hot Summer |
| 1959 | Bradford Dillman (USA) | Artie Strauss | Compulsion |
| Dean Stockwell (USA) | Judd Steiner |
| Orson Welles (USA) | Jonathan Wilk |
| 1960s |
| 1960 | No award this year |
| 1961 | Anthony Perkins (USA) | Philip Van Der Besh | Goodbye Again |
| 1962 | Dean Stockwell (USA) | Edmund Tyrone | Long Day's Journey into Night |
| Jason Robards (USA) | James Tyrone Sr. |
| Ralph Richardson (U.K.) | James Tyrone Jr. |
| Murray Melvin (U.K.) | Geoffrey Inghman | A Taste of Honey |
| 1963 | Richard Harris (Ireland) | Frank Machin | This Sporting Life |
| 1964 | Antal Páger (Hungary) | Vajkay Ákos | Drama of the Lark |
| Saro Urzì (Italy) | Don Vincenzo Ascalone | Seduced and Abandoned |
| 1965 | Terence Stamp (U.K.) | Freddie Clegg | The Collector |
| 1966 | Per Oscarsson (Sweden) | Pontus | Sult |
| 1967 | Oded Kotler (Israel) | Eli | Three Days and a Child |
| 1968 | Festival interrupted, no awards this year |
| 1969 | Jean-Louis Trintignant (France) | The Examining Magistrate | Z |
| 1970s |
| 1970 | Marcello Mastroianni (Italy) | Oreste Nardi | The Pizza Triangle |
| 1971 | Riccardo Cucciolla (Italy) | Nicola Sacco | Sacco & Vanzetti |
| 1972 | Jean Yanne (France) | Jean | We Won't Grow Old Together |
| 1973 | Giancarlo Giannini (Italy) | Antonio Soffiantini | Love and Anarchy |
| 1974 | Jack Nicholson (USA) | Billy L. Buddusky | The Last Detail |
| 1975 | Vittorio Gassman (Italy) | Fausto Consolo | Scent of a Woman |
| 1976 | José Luis Gómez (Spain) | Pascual Duarte | Pascual Duarte |
| 1977 | Fernando Rey (Spain) | Luis | Elisa, vida mía |
| 1978 | Jon Voight (USA) | Luke Martin | Coming Home |
| 1979 | Jack Lemmon (USA) | Jack Godell | The China Syndrome |
| 1980s |
| 1980 | Michel Piccoli (France) | Mauro Ponticelli | A Leap in the Dark |
| 1981 | Ugo Tognazzi (Italy) | Primo Spaggiari | Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man |
| 1982 | Jack Lemmon (USA) | Edmund Horman | Missing |
| 1983 | Gian Maria Volontè (Italy) | Bernard Fontana | The Death of Mario Ricci |
| 1984 | Alfredo Landa (Spain)
| Paco el Bajo | The Holy Innocents |
| Francisco Rabal (Spain) | Azarías |
| 1985 | William Hurt (USA) | Luis Molina | Kiss of the Spider Woman |
| 1986 | Michel Blanc (France) | Antoine | Tenue de soirée |
| Bob Hoskins (U.K.) | George | Mona Lisa |
| 1987 | Marcello Mastroianni (Italy) | Romano | Dark Eyes |
| 1988 | Forest Whitaker (USA) | Charlie "Bird" Parker | Bird |
| 1989 | James Spader (USA) | Graham Dalton | Sex, Lies, and Videotape |
| 1990s |
| 1990 | Gérard Depardieu (France) | Cyrano de Bergerac | Cyrano de Bergerac |
| 1991 | John Turturro (USA) | Barton Fink | Barton Fink |
| 1992 | Tim Robbins (USA) | Griffin Mill | The Player |
| 1993 | David Thewlis (U.K.) | Johnny | Naked |
| 1994 | Ge You (China) | Xu Fugui | To Live |
| 1995 | Jonathan Pryce (U.K.) | Lytton Strachey | Carrington |
| 1996 | Pascal Duquenne (Belgium)
| Georges | The Eighth Day |
| Daniel Auteuil (France) | Harry |
| 1997 | Sean Penn (USA) | Eddie Quinn | She's So Lovely |
| 1998 | Peter Mullan (U.K.) | Joe Kavanagh | My Name Is Joe |
| 1999 | Emmanuel Schotté (France) | Pharaon de Winter | Humanité |
| 2000s |
| 2000 | Tony Leung Chiu-wai (Hong Kong) | Chow Mo-wan | In the Mood for Love |
| 2001 | Benoît Magimel (France) | Walter Klemmer | The Piano Teacher (La pianiste) |
| 2002 | Olivier Gourmet (Belgium) | Olivier | The Son (Le fils) |
| 2003 | Muzaffer Özdemir (Turkey) | Mahmut | Uzak |
| Mehmet Emin Toprak (Turkey) | Yusuf |
| 2004 | Yūya Yagira (Japan) | Akira Fukushima | Nobody Knows |
| 2005 | Tommy Lee Jones (USA) | Pete Perkins | The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada |
| 2006 | Jamel Debbouze (France / Morocco) | Saïd Otmari | Days of Glory (Indigènes) |
| Samy Naceri (France) | Yassir |
| Roschdy Zem (France) | Messaoud Souni |
| Sami Bouajila (France / Tunesia) | Abdelkader |
| Bernard Blancan (France) | Sergent Roger Martinez |
| 2007 | Konstantin Lavronenko (Russia) | Alex | The Banishment (Izgnanie) |
| 2008 | Benicio del Toro (Puerto Rico) | Ernesto "Che" Guevarra | Che |
| 2009 | Christoph Waltz (Austria) | Col. Hans Landa | Inglourious Basterds |
| 2010s |
| 2010 | Javier Bardem (Spain) | Uxbal | Biutiful |
| Elio Germano (Italy) | Claudio | La nostra vita |
| 2011 | Jean Dujardin (France) | George Valentin | The Artist |
| 2012 | Mads Mikkelsen (Denmark) | Lucas | The Hunt |
| 2013 | Bruce Dern (USA) | Woody Grant | Nebraska |
| 2014 | Timothy Spall (U.K.) | J. M. W. Turner | Mr. Turner |
| 2015 | Vincent Lindon (France) | Thierry Taugourdeau | The Measure of a Man (La Loi du marché) |
| 2016 | Shahab Hosseini (Iran) | Emad | The Salesman (Forushande) |
| 2017 | Joaquin Phoenix (USA) | Joe | You Were Never Really Here |
| 2018 | Marcello Fonte (Italy) | Marcello | Dogman |
