Silver Bear for Best Actor

Discontinued award presented by the Berlin International Film Festival From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Silver Bear for Best Actor (German: Silberner Bär/Bester Darsteller) was an award presented at the Berlin International Film Festival from 1956 to 2020. It was given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance and was chosen by the International Jury from the films in the Competition slate at the festival. Beginning with the 71st Berlin International Film Festival, the award was replaced with two gender-neutral categories: the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance and the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance.

Awarded forBest Performance by an Actor
CountryGermany
First award1956
Quick facts Awarded for, Country ...
Silver Bear for Best Actor
Silberner Bär/Bester Darsteller (German)
Sidney Poitier was the first actor to win the award twice
Awarded forBest Performance by an Actor
CountryGermany
Presented byBerlin International Film Festival
First award1956
Final award2020; 6 years ago (2020)
Currently held byElio Germano
Hidden Away (2020)
Websitewww.berlinale.de
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At the 6th Berlin International Film Festival held in 1956, Burt Lancaster was the first winner of this award for his performance in Trapeze, and Elio Germano was the last winner in this category, for his role in Hidden Away at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival in 2020.

History

The award was first presented in 1956 and can be for lead or supporting roles. The prize was not awarded on three occasions (1969, 1973, and 1974). In 1970, no awards were given as the festival was called off mid-way due to the controversy over the official selection film, o.k. by Michael Verhoeven, which led to the resignation of the international jury. In 2011, the entire male cast of A Separation received the award. Sidney Poitier, Jean Gabin, Fernando Fernán Gómez, and Denzel Washington have won the most awards in this category, each winning twice.

The last of this award was given out in 2020, after which it was replaced with two gender-neutral categories, Best Leading Performance and Best Supporting Performance, the following year.

Winners

photo of Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster, the first winner of the Berlin Film Festival Award for Best Actor
Sidney Poitier won twice for The Defiant Ones (1958) and Lilies of the Field (1963)
James Stewart won for Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962)
Denzel Washington won twice for Malcolm X (1993) and The Hurricane (2000)
Tom Hanks won for Philadelphia (1993)
Sean Penn won for Dead Man Walking (1995)
Leonardo DiCaprio won for Romeo + Juliet (1996)
Samuel L. Jackson won for Jackie Brown (1998)
Tom Courtenay and his co-star Charlotte Rampling won for 45 Years (2015)
photo of Elio Germano
Elio Germano, the last winner of the Berlin Film Festival Award for Best Actor

1950s

More information Year, Actor ...
Year Actor Role(s) Title Ref.
1956 Burt Lancaster Mike Ribble Trapeze [1]
1957 Pedro Infante Tizoc Tizoc [2]
1958 Sidney Poitier Noah Cullen The Defiant Ones [3]
1959 Jean Gabin Joseph Hughes Guillamume Boutier-Blainville / Archimède Archimède le clochard [4]
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1960s

More information Year, Actor ...
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1970s

More information Year, Actor ...
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1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

More information Year, Actor ...
Year Actor Role(s) Title Ref.
2010 Grigoriy Dobrygin Pavel Danilov How I Ended This Summer [51]
Sergei Puskepalis Sergei Gulybin
2011 Payman Maadi [A] Nader A Separation [52]
Shahab Hosseini [A] Hodjat
Ali-Asghar Shahbazi [A] Nader's Father
Babak Karimi [A] Judge
2012 Mikkel Boe Følsgaard King Christian VII of Denmark A Royal Affair [53]
2013 Nazif Mujić Nazif An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker [54]
2014 Liao Fan Zhang Zili Black Coal, Thin Ice [55]
2015 Tom Courtenay Geoff Mercer 45 Years [56]
2016 Majd Mastoura Hedi Hedi [57]
2017 Georg Friedrich Michael Bright Nights [58]
2018 Anthony Bajon Thomas The Prayer [59]
2019 Wang Jingchun Liu Yaojun So Long, My Son [60]
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2020s

More information Year, Actor ...
Year Actor Role(s) Title Ref.
2020 Elio Germano Antonio Ligabue Hidden Away [61]
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Multiple winners

The following individuals have received multiple Best Actor awards:

More information Wins, Actor ...
Wins Actor Nationality Films
2 Sidney Poitier United States The Defiant Ones (1958),
Lilies of the Field (1963)
Jean Gabin France Archimède le clochard (1959),
Le Chat (1971)
Fernando Fernán Gómez Spain The Anchorite (1977),
Stico (1985)
Denzel Washington United States Malcolm X (1993),
The Hurricane (2000)
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See also

Notes

A^: The entire male and female cast of A Separation (جدایی نادر از سیمین) was recipient of this award.

References

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