The Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead was an award presented annually at the

Independent Spirit Awards The Independent Spirit Awards (abbreviated Spirit Awards and originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards), founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with Poly(methyl m ...

to honor an actor who has delivered an outstanding lead performance in an

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...

. It was first presented in 1985, with

M. Emmet Walsh Michael Emmet Walsh (born March 22, 1935) is an American actor who has appeared in over 200 films and television series, including small but important supporting roles in dozens of major studio features of the 1970s and 1980s. He starred in ''Bl ...

being the first recipient of the award for his role as Investigator Loren Visser in '' Blood Simple''. It was last presented in 2022 with Simon Rex being the final recipient of the award for his role in '' Red Rocket''. Jeff Bridges and Philip Seymour Hoffman are the only actors who have received this award more than once, with two wins each. In 2022, it was announced that the four acting categories would be retired and replaced with two gender neutral categories, with both Best Male Lead and Best Female Lead merging into the Best Lead Performance category.

Winners and nominees

M Emmet Walsh at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival

Matt Dillon at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival

Premios Goya 2018 - Javier Bardem (cropped 2)

Mickey Rourke 10 December 2010 (cropped)

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Multiple nominees

;2 nominations * Javier Bardem * Nicolas Cage * Robert Duvall * Aaron Eckhart * James Franco * Paul Giamatti * Jake Gyllenhaal * Philip Seymour Hoffman *

William H. Macy William Hall Macy Jr. (born March 13, 1950) is an American actor. His film career has been built on appearances in small, independent films, though he has also appeared in mainstream films. Some of his best known starring roles include those i ...

* Matthew McConaughey *

Robert Pattinson Robert Douglas Thomas Pattinson (born 13 May 1986) is an English actor. Known for starring in both big-budget and independent films, Pattinson has ranked among the world's highest-paid actors. In 2010, ''Time'' magazine named him one of the 1 ...

Jeremy Renner Jeremy Lee Renner (born January 7, 1971) is an American actor and musician. He began his career by appearing in independent films such as '' Dahmer'' (2002) and ''Neo Ned'' (2005), then supporting roles in bigger films, such as ''S.W.A.T.'' (2 ...

* Tim Roth * Mickey Rourke * Campbell Scott * David Strathairn ;3 nominations * Jeff Bridges *

Ryan Gosling Ryan Thomas Gosling (born November 12, 1980) is a Canadian actor. Prominent in independent film, he has also worked in blockbuster films of varying genres, and has accrued a worldwide box office gross of over 1.9 billion USD. He has received ...

* Sean Penn * James Woods

Multiple winners

;2 wins * Jeff Bridges * Philip Seymour Hoffman

References

External links

Every BEST MALE LEAD winner ever video on Film Independent's official YouTube channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Independent Spirit Award For Best Male Lead Male Film awards for lead actor