Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor

1990s

1990: Jeremy Irons as Sunny von Bülow – Reversal of Fortune

• Gerard Depardieu – Cyrano de Bergerac as Cyrano de Bergerac
• Richard Harris – The Field as Bull McCabe

1991: Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter – The Silence of the Lambs

1992: Denzel Washington as Malcolm X – Malcolm X

1993: Anthony Hopkins as Mr. James Stevens – The Remains of the Day

1994: Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump – Forrest Gump

1995: Nicolas Cage as Ben Sanderson – Leaving Las Vegas

1996: Geoffrey Rush as David Helfgott – Shine

1997: Peter Fonda as Ulysses "Ulee" Jackson – Ulee's Gold

1998: Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank – The Truman Show

1999: Kevin Spacey as Lester Burnham – American Beauty

2000s

2000: Russell Crowe – Gladiator as Maximus Decimus Meridius

• Sean Connery – Finding Forrester as William Forrester
• Michael Douglas – Wonder Boys as Professor Grady Tripp
• Tom Hanks – Cast Away as Chuck Noland
• Geoffrey Rush – Quills as Marquis de Sade

2001: Russell Crowe – A Beautiful Mind as John Nash

• Will Smith – Ali as Muhammad Ali
• Billy Bob Thornton – The Man Who Wasn't There as Ed Crane
• Denzel Washington – Training Day as Detective Alonzo Harris
• Tom Wilkinson – In the Bedroom as Matt Fowler

2002: Jack Nicholson – About Schmidt as Warren Schmidt

• Daniel Day-Lewis – Gangs of New York as William “Bill the Butcher” Cutting
• Adrien Brody – The Pianist as Władysław Szpilman
• Nicolas Cage – Adaptation. as Charlie and Donald Kaufman
• Robin Williams – One Hour Photo as Seymour “Sy” Parrish

2003: Sean Penn – Mystic River as Jimmy Markum

• Johnny Depp – Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl as Captain Jack Sparrow
• Paul Giamatti – American Splendor as Harvey Pekar
• Ben Kingsley – House of Sand and Fog as Colonel Massoud Amir Behrani
• Bill Murray – Lost in Translation as Bob Harris

2004: Paul Giamatti – Sideways as Miles Raymond

• Don Cheadle – Hotel Rwanda as Paul Rusesabagina
• Johnny Depp – Finding Neverland as J. M. Barrie
• Leonardo DiCaprio – The Aviator as Howard Hughes
• Jamie Foxx – Ray as Ray Charles

2005: Philip Seymour Hoffman – Capote as Truman Capote

• Russell Crowe – Cinderella Man as James Braddock
• Heath Ledger – Brokeback Mountain as Ennis Del Mar
• Joaquin Phoenix – Walk the Line as Johnny Cash
• David Strathairn – Good Night, and Good Luck. as Edward R. Murrow

2006: Forest Whitaker – The Last King of Scotland as Idi Amin

• Leonardo DiCaprio – Blood Diamond as Danny Archer
• Leonardo DiCaprio – The Departed as William “Billy” Costigan, Jr.
• Ryan Gosling – Half Nelson as Dan Dunne
• Peter O'Toole – Venus as Maurice

2007: Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood as Daniel Plainview

• George Clooney – Michael Clayton as Michael Clayton
• Frank Langella – Starting Out in the Evening as Leonard Schiller
• Tommy Lee Jones – In the Valley of Elah as Hank Deerfield
• Emile Hirsch – Into the Wild as Chris McCandless

2008: Sean Penn – Milk as Harvey Milk

• Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler as Randy Robinson
• Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon as Richard Nixon
• Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as Benjamin Button
• Richard Jenkins – The Visitor as Walter Vale

2009: George Clooney – Up in the Air as Ryan Bingham

• Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart as Otis “Bad” Blake
• Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker as SFC. William James
• Colin Firth – A Single Man as George Falconer
• Morgan Freeman – Invictus as Nelson Mandela

2010s

2010: James Franco – 127 Hours as Aron Ralston

• Colin Firth – The King's Speech as King George VI
• Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network as Mark Zuckerberg
• Robert Duvall – Get Low as Felix Bush
• Michael Douglas – Solitary Man as Ben Kalmen

2011: George Clooney – The Descendants as Matt King

• Jean Dujardin – The Artist as George Valentin
• Michael Fassbender – Shame as Brandon Sullivan
• Brad Pitt – Moneyball as Billy Beane
• Michael Shannon – Take Shelter as Curtis LaForche

2012: Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln as Abraham Lincoln

• Joaquin Phoenix – The Master as Freddie Quell
• John Hawkes – The Sessions as Mark O'Brien
• Hugh Jackman – Les Misérables as Jean Valjean
• Denzel Washington – Flight as William “Whip” Whitaker, Sr.

2013: Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club as Ron Woodroof

• Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave as Solomon Northup
• Bruce Dern – Nebraska as Woody Grant
• Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips as Captain Richard Phillips
• Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street as Jordan Belfort

2014: Michael Keaton – Birdman as Riggan Thomson

• Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything as Stephen Hawking
• Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game as Alan Turing
• Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler as Louis “Lou” Bloom
• Timothy Spall – Mr. Turner as J. M. W. Turner

2015: Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant as Hugh Glass

• Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs as Steve Jobs
• Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl as Lili Elbe / Einar Wegener
• Matt Damon – The Martian as Mark Watney
• Johnny Depp – Black Mass as James “Whitey” Bulger

2016: Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea as Lee Chandler

• Denzel Washington – Fences as Troy Maxson
• Joel Edgerton – Loving as Richard Loving
• Ryan Gosling – La La Land as Sebastian Wilder
• Tom Hanks – Sully as Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger

2017: Gary Oldman – Darkest Hour as Winston Churchill

• Daniel Day-Lewis – Phantom Thread as Reynolds Woodcock
• James Franco – The Disaster Artist as Tommy Wiseau
• Timothée Chalamet – Call Me by Your Name as Elio Perlman
• Tom Hanks – The Post as Ben Bradlee