The Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Play is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial London theatre. The awards were established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in 1976, and renamed in 1984 in honour of English actor and director Laurence Olivier. This award was introduced in 1985, as Actor of the Year, then retitled to its current name for the 1993 ceremony. Prior to this award, from 1976 to 1984 (and again in 1988), there was a pair of awards given each year for this general category, one for Actor of the Year in a New Play and the other for Actor of the Year in a Revival.

Winners and nominees

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Multiple awards and nominations for Best Actor

Note: The below awards and nominations include individuals awarded and nominated under the now-defunct categories Actor of the Year in a New Play and Actor of the Year in a Revival as well as the current combined Best Actor category.

Awards

Nominations

• Kenneth Branagh • Brian Cox • Henry Goodman • David Haig • Alan Howard • Jude Law • Alec McCowen • Warren Mitchell • Bob Peck • Jonathan Pryce • Paul Scofield • Andrew Scott • Michael Sheen • Patrick Stewart • David Tennant • Alun Armstrong • Michael Bryant • Tom Conti • Kenneth Cranham • Benedict Cumberbatch • Rupert Everett • Albert Finney • Iain Glen • Richard Griffiths • Alec Guinness • Nigel Hawthorne • Tom Hollander • Emrys James • Rory Kinnear • Adrian Lester • Daniel Massey • Peter McEnery • Michael Pennington • Donald Sinden • Rafe Spall • Ken Stott • John Wood

Multiple awards and nominations for a character

Awards

Nominations