Oscars 2025 Best Actor Nominees & Predicted Winner

Oscars 2025 Best Actor Nominees & Predicted Winner

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Oscars 2025 Best Actor Nominees & Predicted Winner

The Best Actor nominees for the Oscars 2025 make up an elite group of contenders hoping to win their first or second Academy Award. The Academy Award for the best lead male actor is one of the biggest awards each year, which is no different in 2025. Following in the footsteps of Cillian Murphy’s breakthrough win for Oppenheimer in 2024, there is an entirely new crop of performers among the nominees in all Oscars 2025 categories. The official nominees are Adrien Brody (The Brutalist), Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown), Colman Domingo (Sing Sing), Ralph Fiennes (Conclave), and Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice).

There is usually plenty of overlap between the actors who are nominated for Best Actor and the selection of films contending for Best Picture. Since those ten movies are deemed the best of the best, it’s understandable that some of the best performances of the year are included in them. This year, the 2025 Oscars Best Picture nominated movies are responsible for only three of the Best Actor nominees. And thanks to how the awards season has played out so far, predicting the Best Actor Oscar winner this year is a close call to make.

Actor

Movie

1

Timothée Chalamet

A Complete Unknown

2

Adrien Brody

The Brutalist

3

Ralph Fiennes

Conclave

4

Sebastian Stan

The Apprentice

5

Colman Domingo

Sing Sing

5

Colman Domingo – Sing Sing

Domingo Got His First Oscar Nomination Last Year

Colman Domingo is back in awards contention yet again, and he’s still chasing the Best Actor win. He had a breakthrough role as far as the Oscars are concerned in 2023 with Rustin. Domingo’s powerful performance in the biopic drew strong support from voters as he received his first Best Actor Oscar nomination. While he ultimately did not win the category, it suggested that it would only take another great performance for him to be back in the race.

Domingo is an Oscar nominee for Best Actor in back-to-back years

Thanks to Sing Sing‘s debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2023, Domingo was in a good spot for another nomination before officially losing at the 2024 Oscars. A24 held off on releasing Sing Sing until 2024 so it would be a contender for the Oscars 2025, likely partially due to the support Domingo already had for a nomination for Rustin. While the film’s rollout could be questioned, the strategy ultimately worked. Domingo is an Oscar nominee for Best Actor in back-to-back years.

Colman Domingo has already earned some recognition for his Sing Sing performance thanks to early awards season success. He notably won the Gotham Awards’ Best Actor, giving him his first major win of the season. He’s since secured nominations from the Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice Awards, SAG Awards, and Independent Spirit Awards. With a Golden Globes loss already secured, Domingo will need to find wins elsewhere to build his momentum further. But with Sing Sing not doing quite as well as expected at the Oscars overall, his standing in this race has arguably slipped.

4

Sebastian Stan – The Apprentice

His First Oscar Nomination

Sebastian Stan has continued to find favor throughout awards season thanks to his performances in The Apprentice, and that’s now put him among the Best Actor nominees. The recognition for his portrayal of Donald Trump comes after Stan won Best Actor – Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes for A Different Man. Instead of recognizing that performance again, the Academy voters put the spotlight on The Apprentice, which Stan was also nominated for at the Golden Globes.

Stan has already proven he’s a capable dramatic actor who can deliver performances worthy of awards recognition on TV with Pam & Tommy. Now, he’s in a position where he could do the same with The Apprentice. The odds are not in Stan’s favor that he’ll win the Oscar, but it would be a mistake to overlook his nomination and how well The Apprentice did. It’s a clear hit with the actor’s branch of the Academy, as Jeremy Strong also got a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Stan’s portrayal of the now-re-elected President could ultimately work in his favor perhaps.

The biggest mark against Sebastian Stan’s case to win is that he’s missed out on a few opportunities to win for this performance and strengthen his case. He lost the Golden Globe in Best Actor – Drama, and he was not nominated by his peers at SAG. His biggest remaining chances to win rest with BAFTA and the Independent Spirit Awards. If he can’t win at either of those places, it would be a real shock for him to win the Oscar.

3

Ralph Fiennes – Conclave

He’s A Two-Time Oscar Nominee

The 2025 Oscars Best Actor category could finally be the time for Ralph Fiennes to become an Oscar winner. Fiennes’ performance is one of the highlights of Conclave for just about everyone who sees it. His work has resonated with Academy voters and delivered a Best Actor Oscar nomination. He was even our predicted winner in the category previously. Although that is no longer the case, to no fault of his own, it would be a mistake to completely discount his chances.

He’s gone nearly thirty years since his last Oscar nomination

The narrative behind Ralph Fiennes winning the Best Actor Oscar is strong. He’s been nominated twice before by the Academy. His first Oscar nomination came in 1994 for Schindler’s List in Best Supporting Actor. He followed that up with a Best Actor nomination three years later for The English Patient. Despite the overall excellence of his career, it’s been nearly thirty years since his last Oscar nomination and a win has still eluded him. The 2025 Oscars can change that.

Conclave is also an Oscars contender in various categories, which helps Ralph Fiennes’ case. But the movie either needs to gain more momentum or shift its focus to just supporting him for a win to happen. He’s been a favorite among early critic circles doing end-of-the-year lists, and he’s found nominations from the Critics’ Choice Awards, Golden Globes, and SAG Awards. However, he’s only won one award for Conclave from the Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association. He needs wins elsewhere if he actually wants his first Oscar win.

2

Adrien Brody – The Brutalist

He’s Already A Best Actor Oscar Winner

Adrien Brody is back in the Best Actor race for the 2025 Oscars. His role in The Brutalist has put him strongly in contention to win the Academy Award once again. Adrien Brody won the Best Actor Oscar in 2003 for The Pianist, and he made history by becoming the youngest actor to win an Oscar. That would have seemingly positioned him as a frequent contender for more nominations and wins, but that has not happened. The Brutalist is Brody’s first Oscar nomination since winning the award over two decades earlier.

Adrien Brody was 29 years old when he set the record for the youngest Oscar-winning actor

The Brutalist is a strong Oscar contender in many categories, and it’s becoming a stronger predicted winner in many. That could give extra favor to Adrien Brody if The Brutalist becomes a film that sweeps through the Oscars. He could follow a similar route to victory as Cillian Murphy did last year with Oppenheimer, as being the star of the potential Best Picture winner helps a lot. His case is strengthened by his Golden Globes win for Best Actor – Drama, as the Oscars and Globes have matched winners in this category quite frequently in recent years.

The potential issue for Brody, now, is The Brutalist‘s AI controversy. The film used an AI program to change a few parts of Brody’s dialogue to make the Hungarian language sound authentic. While it’s a minor use in the grand scheme of the film, there has already been pushback to the idea of rewarding a performance that has any AI tweaking involved. The good news for Brody is that he and A24 have several weeks to smooth out the situation with voters. If they can, there’s a good shot he’ll wind up back as the predicted winner.

1

Timothée Chalamet – A Complete Unknown

Chalamet Already Has One Best Actor Nomination

Timothée Chalamet has earned his second Best Actor Oscar nomination thanks to A Complete Unknown. He plays iconic musician Bob Dylan in the movie, directed by James Mangold. The transformational performance by the young Hollywood star, as he puts his spin on Dylan’s talking and singing voice, helped him land a nomination. The Academy has a soft spot for biopics, especially when they involve a celebrity as famous as Bob Dylan, which is another point in Chalamet’s favor. That’s why we’re predicting Chalamet to win Best Actor.

A Complete Unknown is Chalamet’s first Oscar nomination since 2018, when he entered the race thanks to Call Me By Your Name. He’s only become a bigger star in the years since, with him balancing roles with more obvious Oscar potential like A Complete Unknown with his first franchise, Dune. Although his performance as Paul Atreides is great in Dune: Part Two, voters favored a more traditional Oscars movie to give Chalamet this nomination. This could still be seen as a chance for the Oscars to effectively acknowledge the overall work he did in 2024 between the two films.

Gary Oldman beat Timothée Chalamet for the Best Actor Oscar in 2018

Now with A Complete Unknown in theaters and viewers agreeing that Chalamet delivers a great performance, the awards recognition has started to come his way. He’s already got Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and Critics’ Choice Awards nominations under his belt, along with dozens of critics group nominations and a few wins. Chalamet is our predicted winner of Best Actor at the 2025 Oscars once more. If he does, he’ll break Adrien Brody’s record to be the youngest Best Actor Oscar winner in history.

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