Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
	The 2025 recipient: Kieran Culkin
Awarded for	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Country	United States
Presented by	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)
First award	March 4, 1937 (for films released in 1936)
Most recent winner	Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain (2024)
Most awards	Walter Brennan (3)
Most nominations	Walter Brennan, Jeff Bridges, Robert Duvall, Arthur Kennedy, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Claude Rains, and Mark Ruffalo (4)
Website	oscars.org

The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 9th Academy Awards to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role in a film released that year. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's Best Supporting Actress winner. However, in recent years, it has shifted towards being presented by previous years’ Best Supporting Actor winners instead. In lieu of the traditional Oscar statuette, supporting acting recipients were given plaques up until the 16th Academy Awards,^[1] when statuettes were awarded to each category instead.^[2]

The Best Supporting Actor award has been presented a total of 89 times, to 80 actors. The first winner was Walter Brennan for his role in Come and Get It (1936). The most recent winner is Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain (2024).^[3] The record for most wins is three, held by Brennan–who won every other year within a succession of the first five years. Seven other actors have won twice. Brennan is also tied for receiving the most nominations in the category (with four altogether) along with Jeff Bridges, Robert Duvall, Arthur Kennedy, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Claude Rains, and Mark Ruffalo. For his performance in The Dark Knight (2008), Heath Ledger became the first actor to win posthumously in this category—and second overall. Christopher Plummer is the oldest actor to receive a nomination in any category at age 88, for All the Money in the World (2017).

^ Kinn & Piazza 2014, p. 39-67
^ Dirks, Tim. "1943 Academy Awards Winners and History". Filmsite. Rainbow Media. Archived from the original on July 16, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
^ "Rule One: Award Definitions" (PDF). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 21, 2014. Retrieved August 30, 2013.

[Plaques-1] Kinn & Piazza 2014, p. 39-67

[2] Dirks, Tim. "1943 Academy Awards Winners and History". Filmsite. Rainbow Media. Archived from the original on July 16, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2023.

[3] "Rule One: Award Definitions" (PDF). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 21, 2014. Retrieved August 30, 2013.

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