Best Actor nominees at the 2024 Oscars: the full list
All five Best Actor nominees at the 2024 Oscars, from winner Cillian Murphy to Paul Giamatti, Bradley Cooper, Colman Domingo and Jeffrey Wright.
Best Actor in 2024 brought together a physicist, a conductor, a civil rights organizer, a grumpy teacher and a frustrated novelist. Paul Giamatti was close, but Cillian Murphy won his first Oscar for Oppenheimer.
For each nominee we explain who the actor plays, what makes the performance memorable and what to watch for. Three of the five played real people, two played fictional characters, and the race came down to two very different roles.
How the 2024 Best Actor race played out
The 96th Academy Awards took place on March 10, 2024, in Los Angeles, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. Oppenheimer was the big favorite of the night and left with seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for Christopher Nolan.
During awards season, Best Actor looked like a duel. Cillian Murphy won the Golden Globe for drama, the BAFTA and the SAG Award, while Paul Giamatti won the Golden Globe for comedy or musical and the Critics' Choice Award. Murphy's wins at the BAFTA and the actors' guild made him the favorite on Oscar night.
The category mixed very different kinds of acting: a physicist carrying the weight of the atomic bomb, a conductor across four decades, an activist organizing a historic march, a strict teacher at Christmas and a writer who turns a joke into a bestseller. Seeing all five is a good way to compare biopic transformations with quieter, character-driven work.
The five Best Actor nominees of 2024
The nominees appear with the winner first, then in the order of the official list. Under each one you will find the role, what critics praised and a tip for watching.
1. Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer · Winner
J. Robert Oppenheimer leads the project that creates the atomic bomb and faces the consequences.
- Director: Christopher Nolan
- Genre: Biography, History
Why the performance stands out: Cillian Murphy plays J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who led the Manhattan Project, in a film based on the biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. After years of supporting roles for Nolan, from Batman Begins to Dunkirk, this was his first lead in one of the director's films.
Watch his eyes in the close-ups, especially after the Trinity test and in the security hearing scenes: much of the performance happens in silence, as pride turns into guilt. Nolan shot parts of the film on black-and-white IMAX stock, something that had never been done before.
Murphy became the first Irish-born actor to win Best Actor. It is a long, dense film with many characters, so it is best watched with full attention and on the biggest screen you can find.
Worth it if: you want a dense, gripping historical epic.
Oscars: Winner: Best Actor
2. Bradley Cooper, Maestro
The life of conductor Leonard Bernstein and his marriage to Felicia Montealegre.
- Director: Bradley Cooper
- Genre: Biography, Music
Why the performance stands out: Bradley Cooper directed, co-wrote and stars in Maestro, playing conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein. The film focuses less on his music career and more on his marriage to actress Felicia Montealegre, played by Carey Mulligan.
Cooper spent years studying conducting, and the recreation of Bernstein leading Mahler's Second Symphony at Ely Cathedral is the centerpiece of the film. The prosthetic nose he wore caused debate before the release, and Bernstein's children publicly defended it.
The film had seven Oscar nominations and won none. It is ideal for those who like portraits of artists and intimate marriage dramas, and the change from black and white to color follows the passing of the decades.
Worth it if: you enjoy portraits of artists and complex marriages.
Oscars: Nominated: Best Actor
3. Colman Domingo, Rustin
Bayard Rustin organizes the 1963 March on Washington.
- Director: George C. Wolfe
- Genre: Biography, History
Why the performance stands out: Colman Domingo plays Bayard Rustin, the activist and adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. who organized the 1963 March on Washington. Rustin was often kept in the background of the civil rights movement because he was openly gay.
Domingo plays him with energy, humor and impatience, carrying almost every scene. The film was produced by Higher Ground, the production company of Barack and Michelle Obama, and released by Netflix.
Domingo was the first openly gay Afro-Latino actor nominated for Best Actor, and he was nominated again the following year for Sing Sing. Ideal for those who want to learn a central but less told story of the civil rights movement.
Worth it if: you want to learn a key story of the civil rights movement.
Oscars: Nominated: Best Actor
4. Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
A grumpy teacher is stuck at a boarding school over Christmas 1970 with a student and the cook.
- Director: Alexander Payne
- Genre: Comedy, Drama
Why the performance stands out: Paul Giamatti plays Paul Hunham, a strict and unpopular classics teacher at a New England boarding school who has to stay over the 1970 Christmas break with a rebellious student and the school cook, who is grieving her son.
Director Alexander Payne reunited with Giamatti for the first time since Sideways (2004). Watch how the grumpy humor slowly reveals a lonely man, and the chemistry with newcomer Dominic Sessa. Da'Vine Joy Randolph won Best Supporting Actress for her role as the cook.
It was Giamatti's first Best Actor nomination. The film imitates the look of a movie from the seventies, and it is ideal for a winter night when you want something funny and moving at the same time.
Worth it if: you want a warm, bittersweet Christmas story.
Oscars: Nominated: Best Actor
5. Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction
A frustrated Black novelist writes a book full of stereotypes as a joke, and it becomes a hit.
- Director: Cord Jefferson
- Genre: Comedy, Drama
Why the performance stands out: Jeffrey Wright plays Thelonious "Monk" Ellison, a novelist and professor tired of being told his books are not "Black enough". Out of frustration he writes a parody full of stereotypes under a pseudonym, and the book becomes a huge hit.
The film is the directing debut of Cord Jefferson and is based on the novel Erasure by Percival Everett. Wright balances the publishing satire with a delicate family drama about his mother, his siblings and his own loneliness.
The film won Best Adapted Screenplay and the People's Choice Award at the Toronto festival, and it was Wright's first Oscar nomination. Ideal for those who like sharp comedy about culture and the book world.
Worth it if: you like sharp satire about the publishing world.
Oscars: Nominated: Best Actor
Where to start
Pick by the kind of night you want:
- A big historical epic: Oppenheimer.
- Funny and moving: The Holdovers or American Fiction.
- Music and marriage: Maestro.
- Real history, shorter and direct: Rustin.
If you only watch one, choose Oppenheimer to see the winning performance and the film that dominated the night. Then watch The Holdovers to understand why so many people were rooting for Paul Giamatti.
Rustin and American Fiction are shorter and lighter, good choices for a weeknight. Watching all five and ranking them yourself is the best way to decide if the Academy got it right.
Who won Best Actor at the 2024 Oscars?
Cillian Murphy won Best Actor at the 2024 Oscars for playing J. Robert Oppenheimer.
How many Oscars did Oppenheimer win?
Seven, including Best Picture, Best Director for Christopher Nolan, Best Actor for Cillian Murphy and Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr.
Who won Best Actress at the 2024 Oscars?
Emma Stone won Best Actress for Poor Things, her second Oscar.
Which one is your favorite?
Pick your favorite on Rankiew: rate every film, write reviews, build lists and start clubs to talk movies with friends.
More from the series: Oscars 2024: every nominee and winner, category by category
