Robert De Niro won his second Oscar in 1981 for playing a boxing champ in Raging Bull. And now he has been chosen as the champ of all actors.
His performance for the Martin Scorsese film from 1980 has been voted the greatest Oscar Best Actor winner ever, according to a Gold Derby ballot cast by 21 of our film experts, critics, and editors, who ranked all 97 male leading actors.
Anthony Hopkins ranked second for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), with Marlon Brando following in third for The Godfather (1972). Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood (2007), and Gregory Peck for To Kill a Mockingbird (1961) rounded out the top five.
At the bottom of the list of the Best Actor winners is Warner Baxter for In Old Arizona (1928). Just above that film performance in the rankings are George Arliss in Disraeli (1929), Lionel Barrymore for A Free Soul (1930), Paul Lukas for Watch on the Rhine (1942), and Paul Muni for The Story of Louis Pasteur (1935).
Another recent Gold Derby poll of cinema experts declared The Godfather (1972) as the greatest Best Picture Oscar winner of all time (view the full rankings). Our recent poll for Best Actress Oscar winners had Meryl Streep for Sophie's Choice (view the full rankings).
The photo gallery above features the full top 10. Here is the complete rankings of all 97 performances.
1. Robert De Niro in Raging Bull (1980)
2. Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
3. Marlon Brando in The Godfather (1972)
4. Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood (2007)
5. Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
6. F. Murray Abraham in Amadeus (1984)
7. Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront (1953)
8. Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot (1989)
9. Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
10. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote (2005)
11. Peter Finch for Network (1976)
12. Gene Hackman for The French Connection (1971)
13. Ben Kingsley for Gandhi (1982)
14. George C. Scott for Patton (1970)
15. Adrien Brody for The Pianist (2002)
16. Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln (2012)
17. Anthony Hopkins for The Father (2020)
18. Clark Gable for It Happened One Night (1934)
19. Dustin Hoffman for Rain Man (1988)
20. Humphrey Bogart for The African Queen (1951)
21. Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer (2023)
22. Laurence Olivier for Hamlet (1948)
23. Dustin Hoffman for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
24. Sean Penn for Milk (2008)
25. Nicolas Cage for Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
26. Alec Guinness for The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
27. Gary Cooper for High Noon (1952)
28. Tom Hanks for Philadelphia (1993)
29. Henry Fonda for On Golden Pond (1981)
30. Rod Steiger for In the Heat of the Night (1967)
31. Jeremy Irons for Reversal of Fortune (1990)
32. Sidney Poitier for Lilies of the Field (1963)
33. Paul Scofield for A Man for All Seasons (1966)
34. Rex Harrison for My Fair Lady (1964)
35. Denzel Washington for Training Day (2001)
36. Fredric March for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
37. Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland (2006)
38. Robert Duvall for Tender Mercies (1983)
39. Tom Hanks for Forrest Gump (1994)
40. Jack Nicholson for As Good As It Gets (1997)
41. Ernest Borgnine for Marty (1955)
42. Charlton Heston for Ben-Hur (1959)
43. Michael Douglas for Wall Street (1987)
44. Jamie Foxx for Ray (2004)
45. Broderick Crawford for All the King's Men (1949)
46. Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything (2014)
47. James Stewart for The Philadelphia Story (1940)
48. Colin Firth for The King's Speech (2010)
49. Yul Brynner for The King and I (1956)
50. James Cagney for Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
51. William Hurt for Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
52. Burt Lancaster for Elmer Gantry (1960)
53. Geoffrey Rush for Shine (1996)
54. Joaquin Phoenix for Joker (20)
55. Casey Affleck for Manchester By the Sea (2019)
56. Russell Crowe for Gladiator (2000)
57. Maximilian Schell for Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
58. Fredric March for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
59. Ray Milland for The Lost Weekend (1945)
60. Paul Newman for The Color of Money (1986)
61. Gary Oldman for Darkest Hour (2017)
62. Jack Lemmon for Save the Tiger (1973)
63. Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart (2009)
64. Sean Penn for Mystic River (2003)
65. Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant (2015)
66. Jose Ferrer for Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)
67. Robert Donat for Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
68. Jon Voight for Coming Home (1978)
69. Art Carney for Harry and Tonto (1974)
70. William Holden for Stalag 17 (1953)
71. Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club (20)
72. Richard Dreyfuss for The Goodbye Girl (1977)
73. John Wayne for True Grit (1969)
74. Bing Crosby for Going My Way (1944)
75. Gary Cooper for Sergeant York (1941)
76. Brendan Fraser for The Whale (2022)
77. Ronald Colman for A Double Life (1947)
78. Charles Laughton for The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)
79. Kevin Spacey for American Beauty (1999)
80. Spencer Tracy for Boys Town (1938)
81. Al Pacino for Scent of a Woman (1992)
82. Spencer Tracy for Captains Courageous (1937)
83. Roberto Benigni for Life Is Beautiful (1998)
84. Jean Dujardin for The Artist (2011)
85. Victor McLaglen for The Informer (1935)
86. Cliff Robertson for Charly (1968)
87. David Niven for Separate Tables (1958)
88. Wallace Beery for The Champ (1931)
89. Lee Marvin for Cat Ballou (1965)
90. Rami Malek for Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
91. Will Smith for King Richard (2021)
92. Emil Jannings for The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh (1928)
93. Paul Muni for The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936)
94. Paul Lukas for Watch on the Rhine (1943)
95. Lionel Barrymore for A Free Soul (1931)
96. George Arliss for Disraeli (1929)
97. Warner Baxter for In Old Arizona (1928)
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1. ROBERT DE NIRO (RAGING BULL, 1980)
Image Credit: United Artists Robert De Niro won for Best Actor against:
Robert Duvall, The Great Santini
John Hurt, The Elephant Man
Jack Lemmon, Tribute
Peter O’Toole, The Stunt Man -
2. ANTHONY HOPKINS (THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, 1991)
Image Credit: MGM Anthony Hopkins won for Best Actor against:
Warren Beatty, Reds
Robert De Niro, Cape Fear
Nick Nolte, The Prince of Tides
Robin Williams, The Fisher King -
3. MARLON BRANDO (THE GODFATHER, 1972)
Image Credit: Courtesy Image Paramount Marlon Brando won for Best Actor against:
Michael Caine, Sleuth
Laurence Olivier, Sleuth
Peter O’Toole, The Ruling Class
Paul Winfield, Sounder -
4. DANIEL DAY-LEWIS (THERE WILL BE BLOOD, 2007)
Image Credit: Paramount Daniel Day-Lewis won for Best Actor against:
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises -
5. GREGORY PECK (TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, 1962)
Image Credit: Universal Gregory Peck won for Best Actor against:
Burt Lancaster, Birdman of Alcatraz
Jack Lemmon, Days of Wine and Roses
Marcello Mastroianni, Divorce Italian Style
Peter O’Toole, Lawrence of Arabia -
6. F. MURRAY ABRAHAM (AMADEUS, 1984)
Image Credit: Saul Zaentz Company F. Murray Abraham won for Best Actor against:
Jeff Bridges, Starman
Albert Finney, Under the Volcano
Tom Hulce, Amdadeus
Sam Waterston, The Killing Fields -
7. MARLON BRANDO (ON THE WATERFRONT, 1953)
Image Credit: Columbia Marlon Brando won for Best Actor against:
Humprehy Bogart, The Caine Mutiny
Bing Crosby, The Country Girl
James Mason, A Star Is Born
Dan O’Herlihy, Robinson Crusoe -
8. DANIEL DAY-LEWIS (MY LEFT FOOT, 1989)
Image Credit: ITV Daniel Day-Lewis won for Best Actor against:
Kenneth Branagh, Henry V
Tom Cruise, Born on the Fourth of July
Morgan Freeman, Driving Miss Daisy
Robin Williams, Dead Poets Society -
9. JACK NICHOLSON (ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST, 1975)
Image Credit: United Artists/Fantasy Films Jack Nicholson won for Best Actor against:
Walter Matthau, The Sunshine Boys
Al Pacino, Dog Day Afternoon
Maximlian Schell, The Man in the Glass Booth
James Whitmore, Give ’em Hell, Harry! -
10. PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN (CAPOTE, 2005)
Image Credit: Sony Pictures Classics Philip Seymour Hoffman won for Best Actor against:
Terrence Howard, Hustle and Flow
Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain
Joaquin Phoenix, Walk the Line
David Strathairn, Good Night, and Good Luck
Flip the Brando rankings. Waterfront was a much deeper performance. Clark Gable should be top 10…..but why would anyone ever give a comedy due respect in this day and age.
Phillip Semour Hoffman wasn’t even the best Truman Compote that year.
You said it, Man. I prefer the second actor who played Truman Capote besides looking exactly like the real actor and writer, was a much better actor .
Jamie Foxx not being Top 10 or at least 20 is insane
I don’t think you should be on the list at all he’s just a good mimic not a great actor
Ray was great and collateral
Best Actor rankings
1. .Marlon Brando – Godfather
2. Jack Nicholson – One Flews
3. Marlon Brando – Streetcar Named Desire
4. Robert DeNiro – Raging Bull
5. Anthony Hopkins – Silence Lambs
DeNiro#1 is correct Brando OVERRATED and missing in top 5 brvause of POLITICS Val Kilmer Tombstone, Kurt Russell Tombstone Al Pacino Scarface, Al Pacino Dick Tracy Jimmy Stewart Its a wonderful llife!!!
I’m not sure why this ranking is so hard to understand for so many. These are all the Oscar winners for Best Actor. From there, they are ranked, subjectively, by their performance. All of your examples never won for those performances and a couple weren’t even nominated. Is comprehension that difficult?
You’re awesome 👏🏾
Brando was nominated for A Street Named Desire but didn’t win. He was the only one of the main cast members – Vivian Leigh (Best Actress), Karl Malden (Best Supporting Actor) and Kim Hunter (Best Supporting Actress) being the others, not to win an Oscar for the film.
Clark Gable hands down the ultimate best.
I think number one is Gregory Peck. The concluding argument in that movie is an absolute acting clinic. And where is Robert Shaw for Jaws?? Ah, but what to do with lists?! It’s an opinion in the end.
OMG!!! Jonny Depp in ANYTHING! The only actor that truly disolves into whatever character he’s playing. Not just
remembering lines
Absolutely…
Johnny Depp absolutely, this guy can transform into anybody !!! The hell he was even a chameleon call Rango…
And he was amazing at that! Luckily for a big Depp fan, my kids love Rango!
Tom Cruise should have won for Born on the Fourth of July instead of Daniel Day Lewis for My Left Foot
Warren Beatty was nominated in 1991 for Bugsy not Reds. He was nominated for Reds a decade earlier
Absolutely…
George C. Scott as Patton is still my personal all-time performance from an actor.
And Meryl Streep in Sophie’s Choice as Actress.
Oscar’s always get it wrong when it comes to actors winning awards for the wrong movies.Denzel should’ve won for Malcolm X or Hurricane.Al Pacino should’ve won for one of the Godfather movies or Scarface.And Leonardo DiCaprio should’ve won for Wolf of Wall Street.
Peter O’Toole was nominated 3 times in the Top 5 here. He never won one not even for The Lion in Winter or Lawerence of – Arabia. That doesn’t seem possible.
The Oscars are political. Peck well loved while Peter O’Toole well known alcoholic.
warren beatty did lose to anthony hopkins, but reds is the wrong movie. it was bugsy that he was nominated for that year
Uh…Al Pacino, James Cagney, Christopher Walken, Lawrence Olivier, Peter O Toole, Denzel, George C. Scott…..and a few others…in my opinion are rated too low. Robert Deniro is a great actor…but not a resounding numero one.
Brando not overrated. He started the method acting approach of becoming the character both emotionally and physically. That’s why he was regarded so highly in the acting community.
Morgan Freeman was subtly astounding in
Driving Miss Daisy, but Daniel Day Lewis was
awarded because he rose to the challenge of
portraying a highly challenged character. Freeman was as close to perfect as an actor can
be, but Lewis brilliantly worked the obvious hyperbole of his role.