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Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

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Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 9th Academy Awards to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role in a film released that year. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's Best Supporting Actress winner. However, in recent years, it has shifted towards being presented by previous years' Best Supporting Actor winners instead. In lieu of the traditional Oscar statuette, supporting acting recipients were given plaques up until the 16th Academy Awards, when statuettes were awarded to each category instead. The Best Supporting Actor award has been presented a total of 90 times, to 81 actors. The first winner was Walter Brennan for his role in Come and Get It (1936). The most recent winner is Sean Penn for One Battle After Another (2025). The record for most wins is three, held by Brennan–who won every other year within a succession of the first five years. Seven other actors have won twice. Brennan is also tied for receiving the most nominations in the category (with four altogether) along with Jeff Bridges, Robert Duvall, Arthur Kennedy, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Claude Rains, and Mark Ruffalo. For his performance in The Dark Knight (2008), Heath Ledger became the first actor to win posthumously in this category—and second overall. Christopher Plummer is the oldest actor to receive a nomination in any category at age 88, for All the Money in the World (2017).

Infobox

Awarded for
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Country
United States
Presented by
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)
First award
March 4, 1937 (1937-03-04) (for films released in 1936)
Most recent winner
Sean Penn, One Battle After Another (2025)
Most awards
Walter Brennan (3)
Most nominations
Walter Brennan, Jeff Bridges, Robert Duvall, Arthur Kennedy, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Claude Rains, and Mark Ruffalo (4)
Website
oscars

Tables

Table key · Winners and nominees
Indicates the winner
Indicates a posthumous winner
Indicates the winner
Indicates a posthumous nominee
§
§
§
Indicates the winner
Indicates actor who refused the nomination
Indicates the winner
Indicates a posthumous winner
Indicates a posthumous nominee
§
Indicates actor who refused the nomination
· Winners and nominees › 1930s
Year
Actor
Role(s)
Film
Ref.
1936 (9th)
Walter Brennan ‡
Swan Bostrom
Come and Get It
Mischa Auer
Carlo
My Man Godfrey
Stuart Erwin
Amos Dodd
Pigskin Parade
Basil Rathbone
Tybalt
Romeo and Juliet
Akim Tamiroff
General Yang
The General Died at Dawn
1937 (10th)
Joseph Schildkraut ‡
Captain Alfred Dreyfus
The Life of Emile Zola
Ralph Bellamy
Dan Leeson
The Awful Truth
Thomas Mitchell
Dr. Kersaint
The Hurricane
H. B. Warner
Chang
Lost Horizon
Roland Young
Cosmo Topper
Topper
1938 (11th)
Walter Brennan ‡
Peter Goodwin
Kentucky
John Garfield
Mickey Borden
Four Daughters
Gene Lockhart
Regis
Algiers
Robert Morley
King Louis XVI
Marie Antoinette
Basil Rathbone
King Louis XI
If I Were King
1939 (12th)
Thomas Mitchell ‡
Dr. Josiah Boone
Stagecoach
Brian Aherne
Emperor Maximilian von Habsburg
Juarez
Harry Carey Sr.
President of the Senate
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Brian Donlevy
Sgt. Markoff
Beau Geste
Claude Rains
Sen. Joseph Harrison Paine
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
· Winners and nominees › 1940s
Year
Actor
Role(s)
Film
Ref.
1940 (13th)
Walter Brennan ‡
Judge Roy Bean
The Westerner
Albert Bassermann
Van Meer
Foreign Correspondent
William Gargan
Joe
They Knew What They Wanted
Jack Oakie
Benzino Napaloni (Dictator of Bacteria)
The Great Dictator
James Stephenson
Howard Joyce
The Letter
1941 (14th)
Donald Crisp ‡
Gwilym Morgan
How Green Was My Valley
Walter Brennan
Pastor Rosier Pile
Sergeant York
Charles Coburn
John P. Merrick
The Devil and Miss Jones
James Gleason
Max Corkle
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
Sydney Greenstreet
Kasper Gutman
The Maltese Falcon
1942 (15th)
Van Heflin ‡
Jeff Hartnett
Johnny Eager
William Bendix
Pvt. Aloysius "Smacksie" Randall
Wake Island
Walter Huston
Jerry Cohan
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Frank Morgan
The Pirate
Tortilla Flat
Henry Travers
James Ballard
Mrs. Miniver
1943 (16th)
Charles Coburn ‡
Benjamin Dingle
The More the Merrier
Charles Bickford
Father Peyramale
The Song of Bernadette
J. Carrol Naish
Giuseppe
Sahara
Claude Rains
Capt. Louis Renault
Casablanca
Akim Tamiroff
Pablo
For Whom the Bell Tolls
1944 (17th)
Barry Fitzgerald ‡
Father Fitzgibbon
Going My Way
Hume Cronyn
Paul Roeder
The Seventh Cross
Claude Rains
Job Skeffington
Mr. Skeffington
Clifton Webb
Waldo Lydecker
Laura
Monty Woolley
Colonel William G. Smollett
Since You Went Away
1945 (18th)
James Dunn ‡
Johnny Nolan
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Michael Chekhov
Dr. Alexander "Alex" Brulov
Spellbound
John Dall
Morgan Evans
The Corn Is Green
Robert Mitchum
Lt. Capt. Bill Walker
The Story of G . Joe
J. Carrol Naish
Charley Martin
A Medal for Benny
1946 (19th)
Harold Russell ‡
Homer Parrish
The Best Years of Our Lives
Charles Coburn
Alexander Gow
The Green Years
William Demarest
Steve Martin
The Jolson Story
Claude Rains
Alexander Sebastian
Notorious
Clifton Webb
Elliott Templeton
The Razor's Edge
1947 (20th)
Edmund Gwenn ‡
Kris Kringle
Miracle on 34th Street
Charles Bickford
Joseph Clancy
The Farmer's Daughter
Thomas Gomez
Pancho
Ride the Pink Horse
Robert Ryan
Montgomery
Crossfire
Richard Widmark
Tommy Udo
Kiss of Death
1948 (21st)
Walter Huston ‡
Howard
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Charles Bickford
Black McDonald
Johnny Belinda
José Ferrer
The Dauphin – Charles VII, later King of France
Joan of Arc
Oskar Homolka
Uncle Chris Halverson
I Remember Mama
Cecil Kellaway
Horace (A Leprechaun)
The Luck of the Irish
1949 (22nd)
Dean Jagger ‡
Major Harvey Stovall
Twelve O'Clock High
John Ireland
Jack Burden
All the King's Men
Arthur Kennedy
Connie Kelly
Champion
Ralph Richardson
Dr. Austin Sloper
The Heiress
· Winners and nominees › 1950s
Year
Actor
Role(s)
Film
Ref.
1950 (23rd)
George Sanders ‡
Addison DeWitt
All About Eve
Jeff Chandler
Cochise
Broken Arrow
Edmund Gwenn
"Skipper" Miller
Mister 880
Sam Jaffe
Dr. Erwin Riedenschneider
The Asphalt Jungle
Erich von Stroheim
Max von Meyerling
Sunset Boulevard
1951 (24th)
Karl Malden ‡
Harold "Mitch" Mitchell
A Streetcar Named Desire
Leo Genn
Petronius
Quo Vadis
Kevin McCarthy
Biff Loman
Death of a Salesman
Peter Ustinov
Nero
Quo Vadis
Gig Young
Boyd Copeland
Come Fill the Cup
1952 (25th)
Anthony Quinn ‡
Eufemio Zapata
Viva Zapata!
Richard Burton
Philip Ashley
My Cousin Rachel
Arthur Hunnicutt
Zeb Calloway Narrator
The Big Sky
Victor McLaglen
Will "Red" Danaher
The Quiet Man
Jack Palance
Lester Blaine
Sudden Fear
1953 (26th)
Frank Sinatra ‡
Pvt. Angelo Maggio
From Here to Eternity
Eddie Albert
Irving Radovich
Roman Holiday
Brandon deWilde
Joey Starrett
Shane
Jack Palance
Jack Wilson
Robert Strauss
Sgt. Stanislas "Animal" Kasava
Stalag 17
1954 (27th)
Edmond O'Brien ‡
Oscar Muldoon
The Barefoot Contessa
Lee J. Cobb
Johnny Friendly
On the Waterfront
Karl Malden
Father Barry
Rod Steiger
Charley "The Gent" Malloy
Tom Tully
Commander DeVriess
The Caine Mutiny
1955 (28th)
Jack Lemmon ‡
Ensign Frank Thurlowe Pulver
Mister Roberts
Arthur Kennedy
Barney Castle
Trial
Joe Mantell
Angie
Marty
Sal Mineo
John "Plato" Crawford
Rebel Without a Cause
Arthur O'Connell
Howard Bevans
Picnic
1956 (29th)
Anthony Quinn ‡
Paul Gauguin
Lust for Life
Don Murray
Beauregard "Bo" Decker
Bus Stop
Anthony Perkins
Josh Birdwell
Friendly Persuasion
Mickey Rooney
Dooley
The Bold and the Brave
Robert Stack
Kyle Hadley
Written on the Wind
1957 (30th)
Red Buttons ‡
Airman Joe Kelly
Sayonara
Vittorio De Sica
Major Alessandro Rinaldi
A Farewell to Arms
Sessue Hayakawa
Colonel Saito
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Arthur Kennedy
Lucas Cross
Peyton Place
Russ Tamblyn
Norman Page
1958 (31st)
Burl Ives ‡
Rufus Hannassey
The Big Country
Theodore Bikel
Sheriff Max Muller
The Defiant Ones
Lee J. Cobb
Fyodor Karamazov
The Brothers Karamazov
Arthur Kennedy
Frank Hirsh
Some Came Running
Gig Young
Dr. Hugo Pine
Teacher's Pet
1959 (32nd)
Hugh Griffith ‡
Sheik Ilderim
Ben-Hur
Arthur O'Connell
Parnell Emmett McCarthy
Anatomy of a Murder
George C. Scott
Asst. State Atty. Gen. Claude Dancer
Robert Vaughn
Chester "Chet" Gwynn
The Young Philadelphians
· Winners and nominees › 1960s
Year
Actor
Role(s)
Film
Ref.
1960 (33rd)
Peter Ustinov ‡
Lentulus Batiatus
Spartacus
Peter Falk
Abe "Kid Twist" Reles
Murder, Inc.
Jack Kruschen
Dr. David Dreyfuss
The Apartment
Sal Mineo
Dov Landau
Exodus
Chill Wills
Beekeeper
The Alamo
1961 (34th)
George Chakiris ‡
Bernardo Nuñez
West Side Story
Montgomery Clift
Rudolph Petersen
Judgment at Nuremberg
Peter Falk
Joy Boy
Pocketful of Miracles
Jackie Gleason
Minnesota Fats
The Hustler
George C. Scott §
Bert Gordon
1962 (35th)
Ed Begley ‡
Tom "Boss" Finley
Sweet Bird of Youth
Victor Buono
Edwin Flagg
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Telly Savalas
Feto Gomez
Birdman of Alcatraz
Omar Sharif
Sherif Ali ibn el Kharish
Lawrence of Arabia
Terence Stamp
Billy Budd
Billy Budd
1963 (36th)
Melvyn Douglas ‡
Homer Bannon
Hud
Nick Adams
Ben Brown
Twilight of Honor
Bobby Darin
Corporal Jim Tompkins
Captain Newman, M .
Hugh Griffith
Squire Western
Tom Jones
John Huston
Cardinal Glennon
The Cardinal
1964 (37th)
Peter Ustinov ‡
Arthur Simon Simpson
Topkapi
John Gielgud
King Louis VII
Becket
Stanley Holloway
Alfred Doolittle
My Fair Lady
Edmond O'Brien
Senator Raymond Clark
Seven Days in May
Lee Tracy
President Art Hockstader
The Best Man
1965 (38th)
Martin Balsam ‡
Arnold Burns
A Thousand Clowns
Ian Bannen
"Ratbags" Crow
The Flight of the Phoenix
Tom Courtenay
Pavel "Pasha" Antipov / Strelnikov
Doctor Zhivago
Michael Dunn
Carl Glocken
Ship of Fools
Frank Finlay
Iago
Othello
1966 (39th)
Walter Matthau ‡
"Whiplash Willie" Gingrich
The Fortune Cookie
Mako
Po-han
The Sand Pebbles
James Mason
James Leamington
Georgy Girl
George Segal
Nick
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Robert Shaw
King Henry VIII
A Man for All Seasons
1967 (40th)
George Kennedy ‡
Dragline
Cool Hand Luke
John Cassavetes
Victor R. Franko
The Dirty Dozen
Gene Hackman
Buck Barrow
Bonnie and Clyde
Cecil Kellaway
Monsignor Mike Ryan
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Michael J. Pollard
C . Moss
Bonnie and Clyde
1968 (41st)
Jack Albertson ‡
John Cleary
The Subject Was Roses
Seymour Cassel
Chet
Faces
Daniel Massey
Noël Coward
Star!
Jack Wild
The Artful Dodger
Oliver!
Gene Wilder
Leo Bloom
The Producers
1969 (42nd)
Gig Young ‡
Rocky Graver
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Rupert Crosse
Ned McCaslin
The Reivers
Elliott Gould
Ted Henderson
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Jack Nicholson
George Hanson
Easy Rider

References

  1. Due to category confusion, Barry Fitzgerald received nominations in both lead actor and supporting for this same role, w
  2. George C. Scott refused his nomination.
  3. An anomaly occurred when both LaKeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya received nominations in the supporting category, desp
  4. Judas and the Black Messiah was not released in theaters until 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting theatrical
  5. Kinn & Piazza 2014, pp. 39–67
  6. Filmsite
    http://www.filmsite.org/aa43.html
  7. "Rule One: Award Definitions"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20141021054540/http://www.oscars.org/sites/default/files/87aa_rules.pdf
  8. "Rule Six: Special Rules for the Acting Awards"
    https://web.archive.org/web/20141021054540/http://www.oscars.org/sites/default/files/87aa_rules.pdf
  9. Crouse 2005, p. 257
  10. Levy 2003, p. 52
  11. "The 9th Academy Awards (1937) Nominees and Winners"
    http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1937
  12. "The 10th Academy Awards (1938) Nominees and Winners"
    http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1938
  13. "The 11th Academy Awards (1939) Nominees and Winners"
    http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1939
  14. "The 12th Academy Awards (1940) Nominees and Winners"
    http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1940
  15. "The 13th Academy Awards (1941) Nominees and Winners"
    http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1941
  16. Oscars | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
    http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1942
  17. "The 15th Academy Awards (1943) Nominees and Winners"
    http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1943
  18. "The 16th Academy Awards (1944) Nominees and Winners"
    http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1944
  19. Collider
    https://collider.com/barry-fitzgerald-going-my-way-oscar-nominations/#:~:text=Crosby%20may%20have%20played%20the,Paramount%20in%20an%20awkward%20spot.
  20. "The 17th Academy Awards (1945) Nominees and Winners"
    http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1945
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