Oscars 2027 Best Actor Predictions: Nominees, Contenders, & Winner

The Oscars 2027 are approaching, and Best Actor is as stacked a category as they come. Here are the actors in the mix and the predicted winner.

Published Oct 7, 2026, 11:50 AM EDT

Cooper Hood is the Associate Editor for all new movie releases, in theaters and on streaming. In addition to writing articles about these titles and upcoming releases, he also oversees content planning for each, ensuring that ScreenRant continues to cover major releases for months after their release.

He has written various reviews for ScreenRant that appear on Rotten Tomatoes, coordinated Oscars and San Diego Comic-Con coverage, appeared on CNN to talk about Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, and done select interviews with talent over the years.

Best Actor is tapped as one of the most star-studded and competitive categories for the Oscars 2027. Last year, Michael B. Jordan won the category after a very tight race where his Actor Awards win vaulted him above presumed frontrunner Timothée Chalamet.

Jordan isn't back in contention this year, but there is a slew of new performances worthy of Oscar recognition. Everyone from Tom Cruise to Matt Damon to Ryan Gosling to Robert Pattinson to Brad Pitt is hoping to hear their names called when the 99th Academy Awards nominations are unveiled on January 21, 2027.

With months to go until that point, and even more time until the 2027 Oscars ceremony names the winner on March 14, this race is evolving on a nearly weekly basis. Presumed favorites can falter, and dark horse contenders can rise as awards campaigns take shape.

For the fourth consecutive year, I'm thrilled to be at the forefront of ScreenRant's Oscars coverage, and this is how Best Actor currently looks. But stay tuned as I'll update this article with fresh analysis and predicted nominees and winners as the season unfolds.

The Best Actor Nomination Frontrunners

The frontrunners for Best Actor can be put into two groups, essentially. Some have already seen their movies come out and receive high praise for their work. Others have earned acclaim for their performances through festival debuts and screenings that are entrenching them as contenders before their film's official release.

Matt Damon and Ryan Gosling slot into the first category. The Odyssey and Project Hail Mary are two of the biggest movies of 2026, and each actor takes on a huge burden to make them work. Damon's emotional, strong, and reflective performance helps sell Christopher Nolan's epic. Gosling's funny, vulnerable, and on-screen chemistry with a rock helps the sci-fi movie reach new heights.

Damon feels like more of a lock at this stage than Gosling, but both are very much in the top group of contenders. John Malkovich, Andrew Scott, and John Turturro belong in this tier too based on the strength of their performances in movies that have played very well on the festival circuit.

Malkovich's work in Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine has been labeled as a career-best performance, including in George Bates' 7/10 star review for ScreenRant. Scott's efforts as Ian Charleson in Elsinore were praised following the film's Telluride debut. Reviews out of Sundance for Turturro's performance in The Only Living Pickpocket in New York were so great that the film has become a festival darling.

The latter three are all awaiting their theatrical releases to bring more attention. The Only Living Pickpocket in New York releases on October 23, Wild Horse Nine comes out November 6, and Elsinore debuts on November 20. They'll need to maintain strong reception to hold off a lengthy batch of competitors. But as of now, these five actors are in the best positions to be Best Actor nominees this year.

Others In The Mix For Best Actor

Headlining the list of actors in the mix is Tom Cruise. His bold performance in Digger is a refreshing change from what he's done for most of the last decade, but the film's mixed reviews could sink him. The same could be said to a lesser degree of Sebastian Stan, as Fjord has received a bit of pushback after winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes.

Robert Pattinson (Primetime), Seth Rogen (The Invite), Mahershala Ali (Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother), and Jaafar Jackson (Michael) remain in the race thanks to how well their performances were received upon their films' official releases. Of that group, Pattinson has a compelling case, as Primetime could be how he's rewarded for a stellar year overall, one that includes The Drama, The Odyssey, and the forthcoming Dune: Part Three.

Elsewhere, newcomers Anthony Ippolito (I Play Rocky) and Jordan Firstman (Club Kid) could ride strong festival launches to awards recognition. Pedro Pascal has been praised for a career-best performance in Behemoth!, too. Anora breakout Yura Borisov may even earn another Oscar nomination based on Artificial's first reactions following its New York Film Festival debut.

In terms of performances that are sight unseen, Brad Pitt is hoping to gain Oscar consideration for The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, after winning Best Supporting Actor for Quentin Tarantino's 2019 original film. Timothée Chalamet is also worth mentioning with Dune: Part Three still to come, considering the recognition he's received from Academy voters in recent years for his non-Paul Atreides roles.

Predicted Best Actor Winner

Five months out from the 2027 Oscars, my predicted Best Actor winner is John Malkovich. The reception to Wild Horse Nine and the reactions to his performance in particular make it quite realistic that he will win based on the merit of his work alone. But as we know, there are many other aspects of an awards campaign that can tilt voters' favor in specific directions.

One of the strongest is a great narrative, and Malkovich has that. The soon-to-be 73-year-old actor has never won an Oscar before. He has two nominations under his belt (for Places in the Heart in 1984 and In the Line of Fire in 1993; both in Best Supporting Actor), but both of those came decades ago. Despite continuing to deliver fantastic performances over the years, the Academy voters have failed to recognize him with additional nominations, much less a win.

Malkovich has an overdue narrative that makes him ripe for a long-awaited Oscar win. Granted, he'll have to fend off a plethora of actors searching for their first Oscar, too, such as Damon, Gosling, Turturro, Cruise, and Pattinson.

The good news for Malkovich is he's already started earning some recognition for Wild Horse Nine, taking home Venice's Best Actor prize and Outstanding Performer of the Year Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. More accolades should follow. And given the history of Martin McDonagh's movies netting performers Oscar nominations (4 for The Banshees of Inisherin, 3 for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - including 2 wins), he is a strong candidate.

If Malkovich manages to hear his name called as the Best Actor winner in March 2027, he'll go down as the third-oldest winner in the category: behind Anthony Hopkins (83.3 years old) and Henry Fonda (76.9 years old).

It's too early to label Malkovich as a lock, as a lot could still change as awards season continues and Wild Horse Nine officially releases. The Odyssey could become a sweeping sensation to carry Damon across the finish line, Cruise could effectively campaign to turn the tide in his favor, Turturro could get a boost in position through critics' groups, and so on. But at this juncture, Malkovich is my Best Actor Oscars 2027 predicted winner.