Volpi Cup for Best Actor

Volpi Cup for Best Actor
Coppa Volpi per la migliore interpretazione maschile (Italian)
The 2024 recipient: Vincent Lindon
Awarded for	Best Performance by an Actor
Country	Italy
Presented by	Venice Film Festival
First awarded	1932
Currently held by	Vincent Lindon The Quiet Son (2024)
Website	labiennale.org/en/cinema

The Volpi Cup for Best Actor (Italian: Coppa Volpi per la migliore interpretazione maschile) is the principal award given to actors at the Venice Film Festival and is named in honor of Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata, the founder of the Venice Film Festival. The name and number of prizes have been changed several times since their introduction, ranging from two to four awards per edition and sometimes acknowledging both leading and supporting performances.

As of 2024, Vincent Lindon is the most recent winner in this category for his role in The Quiet Son.^[1]

History

The festival was officially competitive for the first time in 1934. The acting award was named Grande medaglia d'oro dell'Associazione Nazionale Fascista dello Spettacolo per il migliore attore (Great Gold Medal of the National Fascist Association for Entertainment for the Best Actor). After a four-year hiatus caused by the war, the festival was once again competitive in 1947. The acting award in the immediate post-war period was named Premio Internazionale per il migliore attore (International Award for the Best Actor).^[2][3][4][5] The festival was again competitive in 1980 but the acting awards given by the competition jury were not reinstated until 1983: the prizes were no longer called Coppa Volpi (Volpi Cup) but were simply referred to as Premio per il migliore attore (Best Actor Award). The winners did not receive cup-shaped awards but were instead given rectangular plaques. In 1988, for the first time in 20 years, the most recognizable prizes of the festival were re-established. The two acting award was officially named Coppa Volpi per la migliore interpretazione maschile (Volpi Cup for the Best Actor).^[6]

Winners

The following actors received the Volpi Cup or other major Best Actor Award:^[7][8]

Table key

‡	Indicates the Best Supporting Actor winner

Year	Actor	Role	English Title	Original Title
1930s
Awarded as "Best Actor"
1932 (1st)	Fredric March ^[A]	Dr. Henry Jekyll / Mr. Edward Hyde	Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Awarded as "Great Gold Medal of the National Fascist Association for Entertainment for Best Actor"
1934 (2nd)	Wallace Beery	Pancho Villa	Viva Villa!
Awarded as "Volpi Cup for Best Actor"
1935 (3rd)	Pierre Blanchar	Rodion Raskolnikov	Crime and Punishment	Crime et châtiment
1936 (4th)	Paul Muni	Louis Pasteur	The Story of Louis Pasteur
1937 (5th)	Emil Jannings	Matthias Clausen	Der Herrscher
1938 (6th)	Leslie Howard	Professor Henry Higgins	Pygmalion
1940s
1941 (9th)	Ermete Zacconi	Don Geronimo Buonaparte	Don Buonaparte
1942 (10th)	Fosco Giachetti	Captain Enrico Berti	Bengasi
Awarded as "International Award for Best Actor"
1947 (8th)	Pierre Fresnay	Vincent de Paul	Monsieur Vincent
1948 (9th)	Ernst Deutsch	Scharf	The Trial	Der Prozeß
1949 (10th)	Joseph Cotten	Eben Adams	Portrait of Jennie
1950s
1950 (11th)	Sam Jaffe	Erwin "Doc" Riedenschneider	The Asphalt Jungle
Awarded as "Volpi Cup for Best Actor"
1951 (12th)	Jean Gabin	Raymond Pinsard	The Night Is My Kingdom	La nuit est mon royaume
1952 (13th)	Fredric March	Willy Loman	Death of a Salesman
1953 (14th)	Henri Vilbert	François Dupont	Good Lord Without Confession
1954 (15th)	Jean Gabin ^[B]	Victor Le Garrec	The Air of Paris	L'Air de Paris
		Max	Touchez pas au grisbi
1955 (16th)	Curd Jürgens	Wolf Gerke	Les héros sont fatigués	Les héros sont fatigués
	Kenneth More	Freddie Page	The Deep Blue Sea
1956 (17th)	Bourvil	Marcel Martin	La Traversée de Paris
1957 (18th)	Anthony Franciosa	Polo Pope	A Hatful of Rain
1958 (19th)	Alec Guinness	Gulley Jimson	The Horse's Mouth
1959 (20th)	James Stewart	Paul Biegler	Anatomy of a Murder
1960s
1960 (21st)	John Mills	Lt. Col. Basil Barrow	Tunes of Glory
1961 (22nd)	Toshiro Mifune	Sanjuro	Yojimbo	用心棒
1962 (23rd)	Burt Lancaster	Robert Stroud	Birdman of Alcatraz
1963 (24th)	Albert Finney	Tom Jones	Tom Jones
1964 (25th)	Tom Courtenay	Private Arthur Hamp	King and Country
1965 (26th)	Toshiro Mifune	Dr. Kyojō Niide	Red Beard	赤ひげ
1966 (27th)	Jacques Perrin	Michele	Un uomo a metà
1967 (28th)	Ljubiša Samardžić	Mali	The Morning	Jutro
1968 (29th)	John Marley	Richard Forst	Faces
1980s
Awarded as "Best Actor Award"
1983 (40th)	Guy Boyd	Rooney	Streamers
	George Dzundza	Cokes
	David Alan Grier	Roger
	Mitchell Lichtenstein	Richie
	Matthew Modine	Billy
	Michael Wright	Carlyle
1984 (41st)	Naseeruddin Shah	Naurangia	Paar
1985 (42nd)	Gérard Depardieu	Louis Vincent Mangin	Police
1986 (43rd)	Carlo Delle Piane	Antonio Sant'Elia	Christmas Present	Regalo di Natale
1987 (44th)	Hugh Grant	Clive Durham	Maurice
	James Wilby	Maurice Hall
Awarded as "Volpi Cup for Best Actor"
1988 (45th)	Don Ameche	Gino	Things Change
	Joe Mantegna	Jerry
1989 (46th)	Marcello Mastroianni	Marcello	What Time Is It?	Che ora è?
	Massimo Troisi	Michele
1990s
1990 (47th)	Oleg Borisov	Christo Panov / Svidetel	The Only Witness	Edinstveniyat svidetel
1991 (48th)	River Phoenix	Mikey Waters	My Own Private Idaho
1992 (49th)	Jack Lemmon	Shelley "The Machine" Levene	Glengarry Glen Ross
1993 (50th)	Fabrizio Bentivoglio	Pietro De Leo	A Soul Split in Two	Un'anima divisa in due
	Marcello Mastroianni ‡	Constantin Laspada	1, 2, 3, Sun	Un, deux, trois, soleil
1994 (51st)	Xia Yu	Ma Xiaojun	In the Heat of the Sun	陽光燦爛的日子
	Roberto Citran ‡	Loris	The Bull
1995 (52nd)	Götz George	Fritz Haarmann	Deathmaker	Der Totmacher
	Ian Hart ‡	Ginger	Nothing Personal
1996 (53rd)	Liam Neeson	Michael Collins	Michael Collins
	Chris Penn ‡	Cesarian "Chez" Tempio	The Funeral
1997 (54th)	Wesley Snipes	Max Carlyle	One Night Stand
1998 (55th)	Sean Penn	Eddie	Hurlyburly
1999 (56th)	Jim Broadbent	W. S. Gilbert	Topsy-Turvy
2000s
2000 (57th)	Javier Bardem	Reinaldo Arenas	Before Night Falls
2001 (58th)	Luigi Lo Cascio	Antonio	Light of My Eyes	Luce dei miei occhi
2002 (59th)	Stefano Accorsi	Dino Campana	A Journey Called Love	Un viaggio chiamato amore
2003 (60th)	Sean Penn	Paul Rivers	21 Grams
2004 (61st)	Javier Bardem	Ramón Sampedro	The Sea Inside	Mar adentro
2005 (62nd)	David Strathairn	Edward R. Murrow	Good Night, and Good Luck
2006 (63rd)	Ben Affleck	George Reeves	Hollywoodland
2007 (64th)	Brad Pitt	Jesse James	The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
2008 (65th)	Silvio Orlando	Michele Casali	Giovanna's Father	Il papà di Giovanna
2009 (66th)	Colin Firth	George Falconer	A Single Man
2010s
2010 (67th)	Vincent Gallo	Mohammed	Essential Killing
2011 (68th)	Michael Fassbender	Brandon Sullivan	Shame
2012 (69th)	Philip Seymour Hoffman	Lancaster Dodd	The Master
	Joaquin Phoenix	Freddie Quell
2013 (70th)	Themis Panou	Father	Miss Violence
2014 (71st)	Adam Driver	Jude	Hungry Hearts
2015 (72nd)	Fabrice Luchini	Michel Racine	Courted	L'Hermine
2016 (73rd)	Oscar Martínez	Daniel Mantovani	The Distinguished Citizen	El Ciudadano Ilustre
2017 (74th)	Kamel El Basha	Yasser Abdallah Salameh	The Insult	L'insulte
2018 (75th)	Willem Dafoe	Vincent van Gogh	At Eternity's Gate
2019 (76th)	Luca Marinelli	Martin Eden	Martin Eden
2020s
2020 (77th)	Pierfrancesco Favino	Alfonso	Padrenostro
2021 (78th)	John Arcilla	Sisoy Salas	On the Job: The Missing 8
2022 (79th)	Colin Farrell	Pádraic Súilleabháin	The Banshees of Inisherin
2023 (80th)	Peter Sarsgaard	Saul	Memory
2024 (81st)	Vincent Lindon	Pierre	The Quiet Son	Jouer avec le feu

Multiple winners

The following individuals have received multiple Best Actor awards:

Number of Wins	Actor	Nationality	Films
2	Fredric March	United States	Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932), Death of a Salesman (1952)
	Jean Gabin[8]	France	The Night Is My Kingdom (1951), The Air of Paris & Touchez pas au grisbi (both 1954)
	Toshiro Mifune[8]	Japan	Yojimbo (1961), Red Beard (1965)
	Marcello Mastroianni	Italy	What Time Is It? (1989), 1, 2, 3, Sun (1993)
	Sean Penn[8]	United States	Hurlyburly (1998), 21 Grams (2003)
	Javier Bardem[8]	Spain	Before Night Falls (2000), The Sea Inside (2004)

See also

The following individuals have also received Best Actor award(s) at Cannes or Berlin Film Festival.

Winning Year at Venice	Actor	Nationality	Festival	Year	English Title
1932 1952	Fredric March	United States	Berlin	1960	Inherit The Wind
1951 1954	Jean Gabin	France	Berlin	1959	Archimède le clochard
				1971	Le Chat
1959	James Stewart	United States	Berlin	1962	Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation
1962	Burt Lancaster	United States	Berlin	1956	Trapeze
1963	Albert Finney	England	Berlin	1984	The Dresser
1964	Tom Courtenay	England	Berlin	2015	45 Years
1985	Gérard Depardieu	France	Cannes	1990	Cyrano de Bergerac
1989 1993	Marcello Mastroianni	Italy	Cannes	1970	The Pizza Triangle
				1987	Dark Eyes
1992	Jack Lemmon	United States	Cannes	1979	The China Syndrome
			Berlin	1981	Tribute
			Cannes	1982	Missing
1998 2003	Sean Penn	United States	Berlin	1996	Dead Man Walking
			Cannes	1997	She's So Lovely
2000 2004	Javier Bardem	Spain	Cannes	2010	Biutiful
2012	Joaquin Phoenix	United States	Cannes	2017	You Were Never Really Here
2024	Vincent Lindon	France	Cannes	2015	The Measure of a Man

Notes

A^ : Winner of the award was chosen by public voting.

B^ : Performer to receive a single award which honor the outstanding work in multiple different films in the same official competition slate.

References

1. Tartaglione, Andreas Wiseman,Nancy (2024-09-07). "Venice Winners: Pedro Almodóvar's 'The Room Next Door' Wins The Golden Lion; Also Wins For Nicole Kidman, Brady Corbet, 'I'm Still Here' & More". Deadline. Retrieved 2024-09-07.
2. "La Magnani premiata come miglior attrice". La Stampa. 16 September 1947. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
3. "Il Gran Premio ad "Amleto" di Olivier". La Stampa. 5 September 1948. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
4. "L'assegnazione dei diciassette premi". L'Unità. 2 September 1949. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
5. "L'assegnazione dei premi". La Stampa. 11 September 1950. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
6. "Tutti i premiati". La Stampa. 10 September 1988. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
7. "Coppa Volpi for best actors since 1935". labiennale.org. Archived from the original on 7 July 2013. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
8. "Volpi Cup for Best Actor 1934 to 2012". carnivalofvenice.com. 19 April 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2018.

External links

• Venice Film Festival on IMDb
• Enrico Lancia, I premi del cinema, Gremese Editore, 1998
• Coppa Volpi for best actors since 1935 from "La Biennale" website