The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has awarded Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Actress annually since 1928. The Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress Awards has been awarded annually since 1936. The Academy Award (nicknamed the "Oscar") is the most prestigious award that a film actor can receive.
Award | Winner | Honored | of Actor |
| 1927-28 | Emil Jannings | The Way of All Flesh; The Last Command | Nazi |
| 1928-29 | Warner Baxter | In Old Arizona | ? |
| 1929-30 | George Arliss | Disraeli | ? |
| 1930-31 | Lionel Barrymore | A Free Soul | Catholic |
| 1931-32 | Fredric March (tie) | Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | ? |
| 1931-32 | Wallace Beery (tie) | The Champ | ? |
| 1932-33 | Charles Laughton | The Private Life of Henry VIII | ? |
| 1934 | Clark Gable | It Happened One Night | Catholic |
| 1935 | Victor McLaglen | The Informer | Anglican |
| 1936 | Paul Muni | The Story of Louis Pasteur | Jewish |
| 1937 | Spencer Tracy | Captains Courageous | Catholic |
| 1938 | Spencer Tracy | Boys Town | Catholic |
| 1939 | Robert Donat | Goodbye, Mr. Chips | ? |
| 1940 | Jimmy Stewart | The Philadelphia Story | Presbyterian |
| 1941 | Gary Cooper | Sergeant York | Catholic (convert) |
| 1942 | James Cagney | Yankee Doodle Dandy | Catholic |
| 1943 | Paul Lukas | Watch on the Rhine | ? |
| 1944 | Bing Crosby | Going My Way | Catholic |
| 1945 | Ray Milland | The Lost Weekend | ? |
| 1946 | Fredric March | The Best Years of Our Lives | ? |
| 1947 | Ronald Colman | A Double Life | ? |
| 1948 | Laurence Olivier | Hamlet | Anglican |
| 1949 | Broderick Crawford | All the King's Men | ? |
| 1950 | Jose Ferrer | Cyrano de Bergerac | ? |
| 1951 | Humphrey Bogart | The African Queen | Episcopalian (lapsed) |
| 1952 | Gary Cooper | High Noon | Catholic (convert) |
| 1953 | William Holden | Stalag 17 | Congregationalist |
| 1954 | Marlon Brando | On The Waterfront | minimal Christian Science; Native American spirituality |
| 1955 | Ernest Borgnine | Marty | Jewish Catholic |
| 1956 | Yul Brynner | The King and I | ? |
| 1957 | Alec Guinness | The Bridge On The River Kwai | Catholic |
| 1958 | David Niven | Separate Tables | ? |
| 1959 | Charlton Heston | Ben-Hur | Protestant |
| 1960 | Burt Lancaster | Elmer Gantry | Church of the Son of Man ("non-denominational" Protestant); ACLU |
| 1961 | Maximillian Schell | Judgment at Nuremburg | ? |
| 1962 | Gregory Peck | To Kill a Mockingbird | Catholic |
| 1963 | Sidney Poitier | Lilies of the Field | Vodoun; Anglican; Catholic |
| 1964 | Rex Harrison | My Fair Lady | ? |
| 1965 | Lee Marvin | Cat Ballou | ? |
| 1966 | Paul Scofield | A Man for All Seasons | ? |
| 1967 | Rod Steiger | In the Heat of the Night | Jewish |
| 1968 | Cliff Robertson | Charly | ? |
| 1969 | John Wayne | True Grit | Presbyterian; Catholic |
| 1970 | George C. Scott | Patton | ? |
| 1971 | Gene Hackman | The French Connection | ? |
| 1972 | Marlon Brando | The Godfather | minimal Christian Science; Native American spirituality |
| 1973 | Jack Lemmon | Save the Tiger | Catholic |
| 1974 | Art Carney | Harry and Tonto | ? |
| 1975 | Jack Nicholson | One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest | Catholic; Reichian |
| 1976 | Peter Finch | Network | ? |
| 1977 | Richard Dreyfuss | The Goodbye Girl | Judaism |
| 1978 | Jon Voight | Coming Home | Catholic |
| 1979 | Dustin Hoffman | Kramer vs. Kramer | Jewish |
| 1980 | Robert De Niro | Raging Bull | Catholic (non-practicing) |
| 1981 | Henry Fonda | On Golden Pond | Christian Science (lapsed) |
| 1982 | Ben Kingsley | Gandhi | Jewish Hindu Quaker |
| 1983 | Robert Duvall | Tender Mercies | Christian Science |
| 1984 | F. Murray Abraham | Amadeus | ? |
| 1985 | William Hurt | Kiss of the Spider Woman | Lutheran |
| 1986 | Paul Newman | The Color of Money | father was Jewish |
| 1987 | Michael Douglas | Wall Street | half-Jewish |
| 1988 | Dustin Hoffman | Rain Man | Jewish |
| 1989 | Daniel Day-Lewis | My Left Foot | ? |
| 1990 | Jeremy Irons | Reversal of Fortune | ? |
| 1991 | Anthony Hopkins | The Silence of the Lambs | ? |
| 1992 | Al Pacino | Scent of a Woman | Catholic |
| 1993 | Tom Hanks | Philadelphia | Greek Orthodox |
| 1994 | Tom Hanks | Forrest Gump | Greek Orthodox |
| 1995 | Nicolas Cage | Leaving Las Vegas | Catholic |
| 1996 | Geoffrey Rush | Shine | ? |
| 1997 | Jack Nicholson | As Good as It Gets | Catholic; Reichian |
| 1998 | Roberto Benigni | Life is Beautiful | ? |
| 1999 | Kevin Spacey | American Beauty | ? |
| 2000 | Russell Crowe | Gladiator | Seventh-day Adventist? |
| 2001 | Denzel Washington | Training Day | Church of God in Christ (Pentecostal) |
| 2002 | Adrien Brody | The Pianist | Jewish |
| 2003 | Sean Penn | Mystic River | Jewish Catholic |
| 2004 | Jamie Foxx | Ray | Protestant |
Award | Winner | Honored | of Actress |
| 1927-28 | Janet Gaynor | Seventh Heaven; Street Angel; Sunrise | ? |
| 1928-29 | Mary Pickford | Coquette | Catholic; Christian Science (convert) |
| 1929-30 | Norma Shearer | The Divorcee | Judaism (convert) |
| 1930-31 | Marie Dressler | Min and Bill | Anglican |
| 1931-32 | Helen Hayes | The Sin of Madelon Claudet | Catholic |
| 1932-33 | Katharine Hepburn | Morning Glory | nominal Episcopalian background; atheist |
| 1934 | Claudette Colbert | It Happened One Night | Catholic |
| 1935 | Bette Davis | Dangerous | Baptist/Episcopalian family background; Christian Science (temporary) |
| 1936 | Luise Rainer | The Great Ziegfeld | Jewish |
| 1937 | Luise Rainer | The Good Earth | Jewish |
| 1938 | Bette Davis | Jezebel | Baptist/Episcopalian family background; Christian Science (temporary) |
| 1939 | Vivien Leigh | Gone With the Wind | Catholic |
| 1940 | Ginger Rogers | Kitty Foyle | Christian Science |
| 1941 | Joan Fontaine | Suspicion | ? |
| 1942 | Greer Garson | Mrs. Miniver | Presbyterian |
| 1943 | Jennifer Jones | The Song of Bernadette | ? |
| 1944 | Ingrid Bergman | Gaslight | Lutheran |
| 1945 | Joan Crawford | Mildred Pierce | raised Catholic; Christian Science (convert) |
| 1946 | Olivia de Havilland | To Each His Own | Anglican |
| 1947 | Loretta Young | The Farmer's Daughter | Catholic from Utah |
| 1948 | Jane Wyman | Johnny Belinda | ? |
| 1949 | Olivia de Havilland | The Heiress | Anglican |
| 1950 | Judy Holliday | Born Yesterday | Jewish |
| 1951 | Vivien Leigh | A Streetcar Named Desire | Catholic |
| 1952 | Shirley Booth | Come Back, Little Sheba | ? |
| 1953 | Audrey Hepburn | Roman Holiday | Christian Science |
| 1954 | Grace Kelly | The Country Girl | Catholic |
| 1955 | Anna Magnani | The Rose Tattoo | Catholic |
| 1956 | Ingrid Bergman | Anastasia | Lutheran |
| 1957 | Joanne Woodward | The Three Faces of Eve | ? |
| 1958 | Susan Hayward | I Want to Live! | Catholic |
| 1959 | Simone Signoret | Room at the Top | part Jewish |
| 1960 | Elizabeth Taylor | Butterfield 8 | Christian Scientist; convert to Reform Judaism |
| 1961 | Sophia Loren | Two Women | Catholic |
| 1962 | Anne Bancroft | The Miracle Worker | Catholic |
| 1963 | Patricia Neal | Hud | Catholic; Methodist |
| 1964 | Julie Andrews | Mary Poppins | Freudian psychoanalysis |
| 1965 | Julie Christie | Darling | ? |
| 1966 | Elizabeth Taylor | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | Christian Scientist; convert to Reform Judaism |
| 1967 | Katharine Hepburn | Guess Who's Coming to Dinner | nominal Episcopalian background; atheist |
| 1968 | Katharine Hepburn (tie) | The Lion in Winter | nominal Episcopalian background; atheist |
| 1968 | Barbra Streisand (tie) | Funny Girl | Jewish |
| 1969 | Maggie Smith | The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie | ? |
| 1970 | Glenda Jackson | Women in Love | ? |
| 1971 | Jane Fonda | Klute | born-again Christian |
| 1972 | Liza Minnelli | Cabaret | ? |
| 1973 | Glenda Jackson | A Touch of Class | ? |
| 1974 | Ellen Burstyn | Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore | ? |
| 1975 | Louise Fletcher | One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest | ? |
| 1976 | Faye Dunaway | Network | Catholic |
| 1977 | Diane Keaton | Annie Hall | ? |
| 1978 | Jane Fonda | Coming Home | born-again Christian |
| 1979 | Sally Field | Norma Rae | ? |
| 1980 | Sissy Spacek | Coal Miner's Daughter | ? |
| 1981 | Katharine Hepburn | On Golden Pond | nominal Episcopalian background; atheist |
| 1982 | Meryl Streep | Sophie's Choice | ? |
| 1983 | Shirley MacLaine | Terms of Endearment | Baptist; New Age; eclectic |
| 1984 | Sally Field | Places in the Heart | ? |
| 1985 | Geraldine Page | The Trip to Bountiful | ? |
| 1986 | Marlee Matlin | Children of a Lesser God | Jewish |
| 1987 | Cher | Moonstruck | ? |
| 1988 | Jodie Foster | The Accused | ? |
| 1989 | Jessica Tandy | Driving Miss Daisy | ? |
| 1990 | Kathy Bates | Misery | ? |
| 1991 | Jodie Foster | The Silence of the Lambs | ? |
| 1992 | Emma Thompson | Howards End | ? |
| 1993 | Holly Hunter | The Piano | ? |
| 1994 | Jessica Lange | Blue Sky | ? |
| 1995 | Susan Sarandon | Dead Man Walking | Catholic |
| 1996 | Frances McDormand | Fargo | Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) |
| 1997 | Helen Hunt | As Good As It Gets | Jewish father |
| 1998 | Gwyneth Paltrow | Shakespeare in Love | Jewish father |
| 1999 | Hilary Swank | Boys Don't Cry | ? |
| 2000 | Julia Roberts | Erin Brockovich | ? |
| 2001 | Halle Berry | Monster's Ball | ? |
| 2002 | Nicole Kidman | The Hours | Catholic |
| 2003 | Charlize Theron | Monster | ? |
| 2004 | Hilary Swank | Million Dollar Baby | ? |
Award | Actor Winner | Honored | of Actor |
| 1936 | Walter Brennan | Come and Get It | |
| 1937 | Joseph Schildkraut | The Life of Emile Zola | Jewish |
| 1938 | Walter Brennan | Kentucky | |
| 1939 | Thomas Mitchell | Stagecoach | |
| 1940 | Walter Brennan | The Westerner | |
| 1941 | Donald Crisp | How Green Was My Valley | |
| 1942 | Van Heflin | Johnny Eager | |
| 1943 | Charles Coburn | The More the Merrier | |
| 1944 | Barry Fitzgerald | Going My Way | |
| 1945 | James Dunn | A Tree Grows in Brooklyn | |
| 1946 | Harold Russell | The Best Years of Our Lives | |
| 1947 | Edmund Gwenn | Miracle on 34th Street | |
| 1948 | Walter Huston | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre | Episcopalian |
| 1949 | Dean Jagger | Twelve O'Clock High | Latter-day Saint |
| 1950 | George Sanders | All About Eve | |
| 1951 | Karl Malden | A Streetcar Named Desire | |
| 1952 | Anthony Quinn | Viva Zapata | Catholic; International Church of the Foursquare Gospel |
| 1953 | Frank Sinatra | From Here to Eternity | |
| 1954 | Edmond O'Brien | The Barefoot Contessa | Catholic |
| 1955 | Jack Lemmon | Mister Roberts | |
| 1956 | Anthony Quinn | Lust for Life | Catholic; International Church of the Foursquare Gospel |
| 1957 | Red Buttons | Sayonara | Jewish |
| 1958 | Burl Ives | The Big Country | |
| 1959 | Hugh Griffith | Ben-Hur | |
| 1960 | Peter Ustinov | Spartacus | |
| 1961 | George Chakiris | West Side Story | |
| 1962 | Ed Begley | Sweet Bird of Youth | |
| 1963 | Melvyn Douglas | Hud | Jewish |
| 1964 | Peter Ustinov | Topkapi | |
| 1965 | Martin Balsam | A Thousand Clowns | Jewish |
| 1966 | Walter Matthau | The Fortune Cookie | Jewish |
| 1967 | George Kennedy | Cool Hand Luke | |
| 1968 | Jack Albertson | The Subject Was Roses | Jewish |
| 1969 | Gig Young | They Shoot Horses, Don't They? | |
| 1970 | John Mills | Ryan's Daughter | |
| 1971 | Ben Johnson | The Last Picture Show | |
| 1972 | Joel Gray | Cabaret | |
| 1973 | John Houseman | The Paper Chase | Jewish |
| 1974 | Robert De Niro | The Godfather, Part 2 | Catholic (non-practicing) |
| 1975 | George Burns | The Sunshine Boys | Orthodox Judaism (lapsed) |
| 1976 | Jason Robards | All the President's Men | |
| 1977 | Jason Robards | Julia | |
| 1978 | Christopher Walken | The Deer Hunter | Methodist |
| 1979 | Melvyn Douglas | Being There | Jewish |
| 1980 | Timothy Hutton | Ordinary People | |
| 1981 | John Gielgud | Arthur | |
| 1982 | Louis Gossett, Jr. | An Officer and a Gentleman | |
| 1983 | Jack Nicholson | Terms of Endearment | Catholic; Reichian |
| 1984 | Haing S. Ngor | The Killing Fields | Buddhist |
| 1985 | Don Ameche | Cocoon | Catholic |
| 1986 | Michael Caine | Hannah and Her Sisters | |
| 1987 | Sean Connery | The Untouchables | Catholic |
| 1988 | Kevin Kline | A Fish Called Wanda | Catholic |
| 1989 | Denzel Washington | Glory | Church of God in Christ (Pentecostal) |
| 1990 | Joe Pesci | GoodFellas | |
| 1991 | Jack Palance | City Slickers | |
| 1992 | Gene Hackman | Unforgiven | |
| 1993 | Tommy Lee Jones | The Fugitive | |
| 1994 | Martin Landau | Ed Wood | Jewish |
| 1995 | Kevin Spacey | The Usual Suspects | |
| 1996 | Cuba Gooding, Jr. | Jerry Maguire | |
| 1997 | Robin Williams | Good Will Hunting | Christian Science; Episcopalian |
| 1998 | James Coburn | Affliction | |
| 1999 | Michael Caine | The Cider House Rules | |
| 2000 | Benicio Del Toro | Traffic | |
| 2001 | Jim Broadbent | Iris | |
| 2002 | Chris Cooper | Adaptation | |
| 2003 | Tim Robbins | Mystic River | |
| 2004 | Morgan Freeman | Million Dollar Baby |
Award | Actress Winner | Honored | of Actress |
| 1936 | Gale Sondergaard | Anthony Adverse | |
| 1937 | Alice Brady | In Old Chicago | |
| 1938 | Fay Bainter | Jezebel | |
| 1939 | Hattie McDaniel | Gone With the Wind | |
| 1940 | Jane Darwell | The Grapes of Wrath | |
| 1941 | Mary Astor | The Great Lie | Catholic |
| 1942 | Teresa Wright | Mrs. Miniver | |
| 1943 | Katina Paxinou | For Whom the Bell Tolls | |
| 1944 | Ethel Barrymore | None But the Lonely Heart | Catholic |
| 1945 | Anne Revere | National Velvet | |
| 1946 | Anne Baxter | The Razor's Edge | |
| 1947 | Celeste Holm | Gentleman's Agreement | |
| 1948 | Claire Trevor | Key Largo | |
| 1949 | Mercedes McCambridge | All the King's Men | |
| 1950 | Josephine Hull | Harvey | |
| 1951 | Kim Hunter | A Streetcar Named Desire | |
| 1952 | Gloria Grahame | The Bad and the Beautiful | |
| 1953 | Donna Reed | From Here to Eternity | Methodist |
| 1954 | Eva Marie Saint | On the Waterfront | |
| 1955 | Jo Van Fleet | East of Eden | |
| 1956 | Dorothy Malone | Written on the Wind | |
| 1957 | Miyoshi Umeki | Sayonara | |
| 1958 | Wendy Hiller | Separate Tables | |
| 1959 | Shelley Winters | The Diary of Anne Frank | Jewish |
| 1960 | Shirley Jones | Elmer Gantry | Methodist |
| 1961 | Rita Moreno | West Side Story | |
| 1962 | Patty Duke | The Miracle Worker | Catholic |
| 1963 | Margaret Rutherford | The V.I.P.'s | |
| 1964 | Lila Kedrova | Zorba the Greek | |
| 1965 | Shelley Winters | A Patch of Blue | Jewish |
| 1966 | Sandy Dennis | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | |
| 1967 | Estelle Parsons | Bonnie and Clyde | Jewish |
| 1968 | Ruth Gordon | Rosemary's Baby | |
| 1969 | Goldie Hawn | Cactus Flower | Jewish mother; Buddhist |
| 1970 | Helen Hayes | Airport | Catholic |
| 1971 | Cloris Leachman | The Last Picture Show | Jewish |
| 1972 | Eileen Heckart | Butterflies Are Free | |
| 1973 | Tatum O'Neal | Paper Moon | Protestant (nominal) (mother: International Church of the Foursquare Gospel) |
| 1974 | Ingrid Bergman | Murder on the Orient Express | Lutheran |
| 1975 | Lee Grant | Shampoo | Jewish |
| 1976 | Beatrice Straight | Network | |
| 1977 | Vanessa Redgrave | Julia | |
| 1978 | Maggie Smith | California Suite | |
| 1979 | Meryl Streep | Kramer vs. Kramer | |
| 1980 | Mary Steenburgen | Melvin and Howard | |
| 1981 | Maureen Stapleton | Reds | Catholic |
| 1982 | Jessica Lange | Tootsie | |
| 1983 | Linda Hunt | The Year of Living Dangerously | |
| 1984 | Peggy Ashcroft | A Passage to India | agnostic |
| 1985 | Anjelica Huston | Prizzi's Honor | nominal Episcopalian family background |
| 1986 | Dianne West | Hannah and Her Sisters | |
| 1987 | Olympia Dukakis | Moonstruck | Greek Orthodox |
| 1988 | Geena Davis | The Accidental Tourist | |
| 1989 | Brenda Fricker | My Left Foot | |
| 1990 | Whoopi Goldberg | Ghost | |
| 1991 | Mercedes Ruehl | The Fisher King | Catholic |
| 1992 | Marisa Tomei | My Cousin Vinny | |
| 1993 | Anna Paquin | The Piano | |
| 1994 | Dianne West | Bullets Over Broadway | |
| 1995 | Mira Sorvino | Mighty Aphrodite | |
| 1996 | Juliette Binoche | The English Patient | |
| 1997 | Kim Basinger | L.A. Confidential | |
| 1998 | Judi Dench | Shakespeare in Love | Quaker |
| 1999 | Angelina Jolie | Girl, Interrupted | |
| 2000 | Marcia Gay Harden | Pollock | |
| 2001 | Jennifer Connelly | A Beautiful Mind | Jewish |
| 2002 | Catherine Zeta-Jones | Chicago | Catholic |
| 2003 | Renee Zellweger | Cold Mountain | |
| 2004 | Cate Blanchett | The Aviator |