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A visual history · Golden Globes

The winners who defined Supp. Actor (Film).

82 ceremonies, 1944–2025. 77 different winners. The longest run belongs to Richard Attenborough, with 2 straight wins.

Who won most recently?
Kieran Culkin in 2025 for A Real Pain.
Who has won the most?
Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Edmond O'Brien, Edmund Gwenn, Martin Landau and Richard Attenborough, tied on 2 wins each.
  1. A Real PainKieran Culkin
  2. OppenheimerRobert Downey Jr.
  3. Everything Everywhere All at OnceKe Huy Quan
  4. The Power of the DogKodi Smit-McPhee
  5. Judas and the Black MessiahDaniel Kaluuya
  6. Once Upon a Time in HollywoodBrad Pitt
Years explored
1944–2025
Different winners
77
Category leader
Brad Pitt · 2

2000–2025

26 ceremonies

19442025

01 / The reigns

25 winners shaped this category.

The timeline turns the 2000–2025 record into a sequence of reigns. Longer bands reveal sustained runs; color shows the credited network / distributor.

  1. 01
    Christoph Waltz2 wins
One band per year, because no winner has gone back-to-back in the years on record. Colored by network / distributor; scroll sideways for the full run.
Tom Cruise'00
Benicio del Toro'01
Jim Broadbent'02
Chris Cooper'03
Tim Robbins'04
Clive Owen'05
George Clooney'06
Eddie Murphy'07
Javier Bardem'08
Heath Ledger'09
Christoph Waltz'10
Christian Bale'11
Christopher Plummer'12
Christoph Waltz'13
Jared Leto'14
J. K. Simmons'15
Sylvester Stallone'16
Aaron Taylor-Johnson'17
Sam Rockwell'18
Mahershala Ali'19
Brad Pitt'20
Daniel Kaluuya'21
Kodi Smit-McPhee'22
Ke Huy Quan'23
Robert Downey Jr.'24
Kieran Culkin'25

02 / The power map

Who stood behind the winners?

Universal leads the recorded network / distributor credits with 6 wins, 2000–2025. The full distribution shows whether power was concentrated or shared.

Universal6 wins
Warner Bros.6 wins
Sony4 wins
Miramax2 wins
Searchlight2 wins
The Weinstein Company2 wins
Wins by network / distributor
  1. Universal623%
  2. Warner Bros.623%
  3. Sony415%
  4. Miramax28%
  5. Searchlight28%
  6. The Weinstein Company28%
  7. Other415%

03 / The near misses

The names that kept coming back without the ending they wanted.

Counting nominations in this category only, 2000–2025.

Most nominated, never won this award

  1. 01
    Philip Seymour Hoffman
    3 noms
  2. 02
    Willem Dafoe
    3 noms
  3. 03
    Albert Finney
    2 noms
  4. 04
    Ben Affleck
    2 noms
  5. 05
    Edward Norton
    2 noms
  6. 06
    Jeff Bridges
    2 noms

Most losses in this category

  1. 01
    Philip Seymour Hoffman
    3L · 0W
  2. 02
    Willem Dafoe
    3L · 0W
  3. 03
    Albert Finney
    2L · 0W
  4. 04
    Ben Affleck
    2L · 0W
  5. 05
    Brad Pitt
    2L · 1W
  6. 06
    Christopher Plummer
    2L · 1W

04 / The archive

Every year.
Every winner.

The complete reference behind the story, showing 2000–2025. Open any year to see the rest of the field when nominee records are available.

YearWinnerNetwork / Distributor
2025Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)
beat 5 others
  • Yura Borisov (Anora)
  • Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown)
  • Guy Pearce (The Brutalist)
  • Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice)
  • Denzel Washington (Gladiator II)
Searchlight Pictures
2024Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer)
beat 5 others
  • Willem Dafoe (Poor Things)
  • Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon)
  • Ryan Gosling (Barbie)
  • Charles Melton (May December)
  • Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things)
Universal
2023Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
beat 4 others
  • Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin)
  • Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin)
  • Brad Pitt (Babylon)
  • Eddie Redmayne (The Good Nurse)
A24
2022Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog)
beat 4 others
  • Ben Affleck (The Tender Bar)
  • Jamie Dornan (Belfast)
  • Ciarán Hinds (Belfast)
  • Troy Kotsur (CODA)
Netflix
2021Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah)
beat 4 others
  • Sacha Baron Cohen (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
  • Jared Leto (The Little Things)
  • Bill Murray (On the Rocks)
  • Leslie Odom Jr. (One Night in Miami...)
Warner Bros.
2020Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)
beat 4 others
  • Al Pacino (The Irishman)
  • Joe Pesci (The Irishman)
  • Tom Hanks (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood)
  • Anthony Hopkins (The Two Popes)
Columbia/Sony
2019Mahershala Ali (Green Book)
beat 4 others
  • Timothée Chalamet (Beautiful Boy)
  • Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman)
  • Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
  • Sam Rockwell (Vice)
Universal
2018Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
beat 4 others
  • Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project)
  • Armie Hammer (Call Me by Your Name)
  • Richard Jenkins (The Shape of Water)
  • Christopher Plummer (All the Money in the World)
Fox Searchlight
2017Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Nocturnal Animals)
beat 4 others
  • Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
  • Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)
  • Simon Helberg (Florence Foster Jenkins)
  • Dev Patel (Lion)
Focus Features
2016Sylvester Stallone (Creed)
beat 4 others
  • Paul Dano (Love & Mercy)
  • Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation)
  • Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies)
  • Michael Shannon (99 Homes)
Warner Bros.
2015J. K. Simmons (Whiplash)
beat 4 others
  • Edward Norton (Birdman)
  • Robert Duvall (The Judge)
  • Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)
  • Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)
Sony Pictures Classics
2014Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
beat 4 others
  • Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)
  • Daniel Brühl (Rush)
  • Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)
  • Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)
Focus Features
2013Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)
beat 4 others
  • Alan Arkin (Argo)
  • Leonardo DiCaprio (Django Unchained)
  • Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)
  • Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln)
The Weinstein Company
2012Christopher Plummer (Beginners)
beat 4 others
  • Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn)
  • Albert Brooks (Drive)
  • Jonah Hill (Moneyball)
  • Viggo Mortensen (A Dangerous Method)
Focus Features
2011Christian Bale (The Fighter)
beat 4 others
  • Michael Douglas (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps)
  • Andrew Garfield (The Social Network)
  • Jeremy Renner (The Town)
  • Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech)
Paramount
2010Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)
beat 4 others
  • Matt Damon (Invictus)
  • Woody Harrelson (The Messenger)
  • Christopher Plummer (The Last Station)
  • Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones)
The Weinstein Company
2009Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
beat 4 others
  • Tom Cruise (Tropic Thunder)
  • Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder)
  • Ralph Fiennes (The Duchess)
  • Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt)
Warner Bros.
2008Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men)
beat 4 others
  • Casey Affleck (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford)
  • Philip Seymour Hoffman (Charlie Wilson's War)
  • John Travolta (Hairspray)
  • Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton)
Miramax
2007Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls)
beat 4 others
  • Jack Nicholson (The Departed)
  • Mark Wahlberg (The Departed)
  • Ben Affleck (Hollywoodland)
  • Brad Pitt (Babel)
DreamWorks/Paramount
2006George Clooney (Syriana)
beat 4 others
  • Matt Dillon (Crash)
  • Will Ferrell (The Producers)
  • Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man)
  • Bob Hoskins (Mrs Henderson Presents)
Warner Bros.
2005Clive Owen (Closer)
beat 4 others
  • David Carradine (Kill Bill: Volume 2)
  • Jamie Foxx (Collateral)
  • Thomas Haden Church (Sideways)
  • Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby)
Columbia/Sony
2004Tim Robbins (Mystic River)
beat 5 others
  • Alec Baldwin (The Cooler)
  • Albert Finney (Big Fish)
  • William H. Macy (Seabiscuit)
  • Peter Sarsgaard (Shattered Glass)
  • Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai)
Warner Bros.
2003Chris Cooper (Adaptation.)
beat 4 others
  • Ed Harris (The Hours)
  • Paul Newman (Road to Perdition)
  • Dennis Quaid (Far from Heaven)
  • John C. Reilly (Chicago)
Columbia/Sony
2002Jim Broadbent (Iris)
beat 5 others
  • Steve Buscemi (Ghost World)
  • Hayden Christensen (Life as a House)
  • Ben Kingsley (Sexy Beast)
  • Jude Law (A.I. Artificial Intelligence)
  • Jon Voight (Ali)
Miramax
2001Benicio del Toro (Traffic)
beat 4 others
  • Jeff Bridges (The Contender)
  • Willem Dafoe (Shadow of the Vampire)
  • Albert Finney (Erin Brockovich)
  • Joaquin Phoenix (Gladiator)
USA Films
2000Tom Cruise (Magnolia)
beat 4 others
  • Michael Caine (The Cider House Rules)
  • Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile)
  • Jude Law (The Talented Mr. Ripley)
  • Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense)
New Line Cinema