Best Actor Oscar Winners of the 21st Century, Ranked Worst to Best

From French comics to Method-acting chameleons, our updated list on the gentlemen who have taken home the 21st-century gold Gold Rush Best Actor Oscar Winners of the 21st Century, Ranked Worst to Best From French comics to Method-acting chameleons, our updated list on the gentlemen who have taken home the 21st-century gold By Tim Grierson Tim Grierson Catherine O’Hara, a Comedy Great From ‘SCTV’ to ‘Schitt’s Creek,’ Dead at 71 Bela Tarr, Revered ‘Sátántangó’ Director, Dead at 70 Brigitte Bardot, French Actress Who Embodied the Sexual Revolution, Dead at 91 View all posts by Tim Grierson February 16, 2026 On March 15th, five men will square off at the Academy Awards for Best Actor — only one of them is walking away with the gold. The past quarter of a century has seen a wide variety of performers claim this particular prize, everyone from French comic actors to veteran American stars, newcomers to established Hollywood names resurrecting their careers. Some of those performances already seem guaranteed to stand the test of time. Others … well, nobody’s perfect, especially Oscar voters, who often pick their winners for reasons that are unfathomable to the rest of us. So in honor of the 98th annual Academy Awards, we wanted to look back at the Best Actor champs of the 21st century to date, ranking them in order of greatness. A couple things we learned in the process: 1) Playing a real person (or being mauled by a bear) helps your chances of nabbing an Oscar; and 2) Your odds go up immeasurably if you happen to be Sean Penn, Adrien Brody or Daniel Day-Lewis (they’ve each won two Oscars this century). Related: Best Actress Oscar Winners of the 21st Century, Ranked Worst to Best Jean Dujardin, ‘The Artist’ Image Credit: Mark J Terrill/AP/Shutterstock Jean Dujardin had already worked twice with director Michel Hazanavicius, making the wry James Bond spoofs OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies and OSS 117: Lost in Rio — so why not team up for another loving send-up of an outdated movie genre? In The Artist, Dujardin once again used his sly handsomeness as a weapon, mocking smug Hollywood self-absorption in the role of a preening 1920s silent-movie star who discovers he’s ill-equipped for the sound revolution. It’s a charming performance in a charming film, but its pleasantness starts to feel one-note. Like the movie itself, Dujardin’s portrayal is very enjoyable in small doses, but its concentrated cutesiness can be overwhelming at feature length.