The Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead was an award presented annually at the Independent Spirit Awards to honor an actor who has delivered an outstanding lead performance in an independent film. It was first presented in 1985, with M. Emmet Walsh being the first recipient of the award for his role as Investigator Loren Visser in Blood Simple. It was last presented in 2022 with Simon Rex being the final recipient of the award for his role in Red Rocket. Jeff Bridges and Philip Seymour Hoffman are the only actors who have received this award more than once, with two wins each. In 2022, it was announced that the four acting categories would be retired and replaced with two gender neutral categories, with both Best Male Lead and Best Female Lead merging into the Best Lead Performance category.

Winners and nominees

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Multiple nominees

Multiple winners