This is a list of the British Academy Television Awards for Best Actor. The Best Actor award was initially given as an "individual honour", without credit to a particular performance, until 1962, when Rupert Davies won for his performance in Maigret. Since 1970, nominees have been announced in addition to the winner. The Actor category was split into Leading Actor and Supporting Actor starting in 2010. Michael Gambon holds the record of most wins in this category with four, including three consecutive wins, followed by Robbie Coltrane with three, all of them also being consecutive. Benedict Cumberbatch has received the most nominations for this award, with six.

Winners and nominees

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Actors with multiple wins and nominations

Multiple wins

The following people have been awarded the British Academy Television Award for Actor multiple times: 4 wins 3 wins 2 wins

Multiple nominations

The following people have been nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Actor multiple times: 6 nominations 5 nominations 4 nominations 3 nominations 2 nominations