Top 5 Academy Awards Best Actor Winners of All Time

Looking back on history of the Academy Awards and all of its various Oscar winners, we have compiled our top 5 Best Actor winners of all time. Some of the previous Best Actor winners at the Academy Awards have won an Oscar for their roles in movies we have never heard of to this day. The top 5 Best Actor Oscar winners on this list, are very well-known as well as the movies they played in that got them the award. These amazing Best Actor winners are listed in order from oldest to most recent.

5. Marlon Brando - The Godfather (1972)

The Godfather is one of the best movies of all time. Marlon Brando won the Oscar for Best Actor at the Academy Awards for his role as the Godfather. He played this role better than anyone else could have. Brando played Vito Corleone, a strategic Mafia boss of the Corleone family, who always kept his business first. The character of Vito never really lost his cool in the movie, and even though he got shot, he did survive and was able to pass the torch of Mafia boss, over to his son Michael Corleone. The reason Marlon Brando won Best Actor for his role in this movie is due to a great performance as a mob boss. I think after this movie was released, bosses of all sorts had a great example, for how a true boss is supposed to carry himself.

4. Anthony Hopkins - Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar for Best Actor for his role as Dr. Hannibal "the cannibal" Lector in the classic horror, Silence of the Lambs. Hannibal Lector was a well-respected, brilliant psychiatrist turned murderous cannibal. In this movie he assisted a young FBI agent with capturing another serial killer Buffalo Bill, who was on the loose. The FBI agent figured that it would take one psychopathic killer to know another, which is why she went to Hannibal Lector for help. Anthony Hopkins deserved to win this Academy Award for his brilliant portrayal of a terrifying, mental mastermind.

3. Tom Hanks - Forrest Gump (1994)

None of the other Oscar nominees for Best Actor came close to Tom Hanks' role in Forrest Gump. Forrest Gump was awesome. As the character Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks perfectly portrayed a very smart but somewhat slow individual who had a huge heart, and accomplished many big things during the '70s. Usually, we are not into fiction films, but when Tom Hanks is the leading actor, all bets are off. Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump took his viewers on an emotional roller coaster in this movie, which is why he won the Oscar for Best Actor.

2. Denzel Washington - Training Day (2001)

Before this movie, we have never seen Denzel play a role where he was not the hero of the movie. In this movie we couldn't really tell at first, whether he was a good guy or a bad guy. The further into the movie we got, the more we realize that he is actually the villain of the movie. He played the leader of a special unit of police who did not do their jobs by the book. Denzel took his special unit's new recruit out for his training day, where the rookie learned rather quickly that things do not work the same way with the unit, that they do for patrolmen. Denzel Washington's performance in this movie was spectacular. He played an awesome villain and more than deserved to win the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in this movie.

1. Jamie Foxx - Ray (2004)

This movie was an excellent recap of life of the late legendary singer Ray Charles Robinson. Jamie Foxx, who is also a singer, amazed everyone at how well he played the role of Ray Charles. This movie depicted Ray Charles as a gifted blind man, who was very intelligent and was the very best at what he did. Foxx took his viewers on an emotional roller coaster with this role that we did not want to end. The recap of Ray Charles' life included everything from his childhood before he lost his vision, to when he first started performing, to him meeting his wife, to his growing drug problem, etc. Jamie Foxx played this role so well and with so much passion that none of the other nominees had a chance. This is obviously the reason why he won Best Actor at the Academy Awards for his role in Ray.

These are our top 5 Best Actor Oscar winners in the history of the Academy Awards. There have been other notable winners, but these five are the best of all. Realizing that there can only be one best actor winner each year, it is good that the Academy Awards also has a best supporting actor category. Hopefully, similar these legendary actors' performances, the 2009 Academy Awards will give the Oscar of Best Actor to someone who without a doubt, deserves to win it.