A list of actors, television series, and films that won and were nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.
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1980s
- 1980note : Powers Boothe for Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones as Jim Jones
- Tony Curtis for The Scarlett O'Hara War as David O. Selznick
- Henry Fonda for Gideon's Trumpet as Clarence Earl Gideon
- Jason Robards for F.D.R.: The Last Year as President Franklin D. Roosevelt
- 1981note : Anthony Hopkins for The Bunker as Adolf Hitler
- Richard Chamberlain for Shogun as John Blackthorne / Anjin-san
- Toshiro Mifune for Shōgun as Lord Yoshi Toranaga
- Peter O'Toole for Masada as General Cornelius Flavius Silva
- Peter Strauss for Masada as Eleazar ben Ya'ir
- 1982note : Mickey Rooney for Bill as Bill Sackter
- Anthony Andrews for Brideshead Revisited as Lord Sebastian Flyte
- Philip Anglim for The Elephant Man as John Merrick
- Anthony Hopkins for The Hunchback of Notre Dame as Quasimodo
- Jeremy Irons for Brideshead Revisited as Charles Ryder
- 1983note : Tommy Lee Jones for The Executioner's Song as Gary Gilmore
- Robert Blake for Blood Feud as Jimmy Hoffa
- Richard Chamberlain for The Thorn Birds as Ralph de Bricassart
- Alec Guinness for Smiley's People as George Smiley
- Roger Rees for The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby as Nicholas Nickleby
- 1984note : Laurence Olivier for King Lear as King Lear
- Ted Danson for Something About Amelia as Steven Bennett
- Louis Gossett Jr. for Sadat as Anwar al-Sadat
- Mickey Rooney for Bill: On His Own as Bill Sackter
- Daniel J. Travanti for Adam as John Walsh
- 1985note : Richard Crenna for The Rape of Richard Beck as Richard Beck
- Richard Chamberlain for Wallenberg: A Hero's Story as Raoul Wallenberg
- James Garner for Heartsounds as Harold Lear
- Richard Kiley for Do You Remember Love as George Hollis
- George C. Scott for A Christmas Carol as Ebenezer Scrooge
- 1986note : Dustin Hoffman for Death of a Salesman as William "Willy" Loman
- Kirk Douglas for Amos as Amos Lasher
- Ben Gazzara for An Early Frost as Nick Pierson
- John Lithgow for Resting Place as Major Kendall Laird
- Aidan Quinn for An Early Frost as Michael Pierson
- 1987note : James Woods for Promise as D.J. Beuhler
- Alan Arkin for Escape from Sobibór as Leon Feldhendler
- James Garner for Promise as Bob Beuhler
- Louis Gossett Jr. for A Gathering of Old Men as Mathu
- Randy Quaid for LBJ: The Early Years as Lyndon B. Johnson
- 1988note : Jason Robards for Inherit the Wind as Henry Drummond
- Hume Cronyn for Foxfire as Hector Nations
- Danny Glover for Mandela as President Nelson Mandela
- Stacy Keach for Hemingway as Ernest Hemingway
- Jack Lemmon for The Murder of Mary Phagan as Governor John M. Slaton
- 1989note : James Woods for My Name Is Bill W. as Bill Wilson
- Robert Duvall for Lonesome Dove as Captain Augustus "Gus" McCrae
- John Gielgud for War and Remembrance as Aaron Jastrow
- Tommy Lee Jones for Lonesome Dove as Captain Woodrow Call
- Ben Kingsley for Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story as Simon Wiesenthal
1990s
- 1990note : Hume Cronyn for Age-Old Friends as John Cooper
- Michael Caine for Jekyll and Hyde as Dr. Henry Jekyll / Harry Hyde
- Art Carney for Where Pigeons Go to Die as the Father
- Albert Finney for The Image as Jason Cromwell
- Tom Hulce for Murder in Mississippi as Michael "Mickey" Schwerner
- 1991note : John Gielgud for Summer's Lease as Haverford Downs
- James Garner for Decoration Day as Albert Sidney Finch
- Dennis Hopper for Paris Trout as Paris Trout
- Sidney Poitier for Separate but Equal as Thurgood Marshall
- Christopher Walken for Sarah, Plain and Tall as Jacob Witting
- 1992note : Beau Bridges for Without Warning: The James Brady Story as James Brady
- Rubén Blades for Crazy from the Heart as Ernesto Ontiveros
- Hume Cronyn for Christmas on Division Street as Cleveland Merriweather
- Brian Dennehy for To Catch a Killer as John Wayne Gacy
- Maximilian Schell for Miss Rose White as Mordecai Weiss
- 1993note : Robert Morse for Tru as Truman Capote
- Robert Blake for Judgment Day: The John List Story as John List
- Robert Duvall for Stalin as Josef Stalin
- James Garner for Barbarians at the Gate as F. Ross Johnson
- James Woods for Citizen Cohn as Roy Cohn
- 1994note : Hume Cronyn for To Dance with the White Dog as Sam Peek
- Michael Caine for World War II: When Lions Roared as Josef Stalin
- James Garner for Breathing Lessons as Ira Moran
- Matthew Modine for And the Band Played On as Dr. Donald "Don" Francis
- Sam Waterston for I'll Fly Away: Then and Now as Forrest Bedford
- 1995note : Raúl Juliá for The Burning Season as Francisco "Chico" Mendes
- Charles S. Dutton for The Piano Lesson as Boy Willie Charles
- John Goodman for Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long as Governor Huey Long
- John Lithgow for My Brother's Keeper as Tom Bradley / Bob Bradley
- James Woods for Indictment: The McMartin Trial as Danny Davis
- 1996note : Alan Rickman for Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny as Grigori Rasputin
- Alec Baldwin for A Streetcar Named Desire as Stanley Kowalski
- Beau Bridges for Kissinger and Nixon as President Richard Nixon
- Laurence Fishburne for The Tuskegee Airmen as Captain Hannibal "Iowa" Lee
- Gary Sinise for Truman as President Harry S. Truman
- 1997note : Armand Assante for Gotti as John Gotti
- Beau Bridges for Hidden in America as Bill Januson
- Robert Duvall for The Man Who Captured Eichmann as Adolf Eichmann
- Laurence Fishburne for Miss Evers' Boys as Caleb Humphries
- Sidney Poitier for Mandela and de Klerk as President Nelson Mandela
- 1998note : Gary Sinise for George Wallace as Governor George Wallace
- Jack Lemmon for 12 Angry Men as Juror #8
- Sam Neill for Merlin as Merlin
- Ving Rhames for Don King: Only in America as Don King
- Patrick Stewart for Moby-Dick as Captain Ahab
- 1999note : Stanley Tucci for Winchell as Walter Winchell
- Don Cheadle for A Lesson Before Dying as Grant Wiggins
- Ian Holm for King Lear as King Lear
- Jack Lemmon for Inherit the Wind as Henry Drummond
- Sam Shepard for Dash and Lilly as Dashiell Hammett
2000s
- 2000note : Jack Lemmon for Tuesdays with Morrie as Morrie Schwartz
- Beau Bridges for P.T. Barnum as P.T. Barnum
- William H. Macy for A Slight Case of Murder as Terry Thorpe
- Liev Schreiber for RKO 281 as Orson Welles
- Brian Dennehy for Death of a Salesman as William "Willy" Loman
- 2001note : Kenneth Branagh for Conspiracy as SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich
- Ben Kingsley for Anne Frank: The Whole Story as Otto Frank
- Barry Pepper for 61* as Roger Maris
- Andy García for For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Scandal as Arturo Sandoval
- Gregory Hines for Bojangles as Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
- 2002note : Albert Finney for The Gathering Storm as Prime Minister Winston Churchill
- Kenneth Branagh for Shackleton as Ernest Shackleton
- Beau Bridges for We Were the Mulvaneys as Michael Mulvaney
- James Franco for James Dean as James Dean
- Michael Gambon for Path to War as President Lyndon B. Johnson
- 2003note : William H. Macy for Door to Door as Bill Porter
- Brad Garrett for Gleason as Jackie Gleason
- Tom Wilkinson for Normal as Roy Applewood / Ruth Applewood
- James Woods for Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story as Rudy Giuliani
- Paul Newman for Our Town as the Stage Manager
- 2004note : Al Pacino for Angels in America as Roy Cohn
- Antonio Banderas for And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself as General Fransisco "Pancho" Villa
- James Brolin for The Reagans as President Ronald Reagan
- Mos Def for Something the Lord Made as Vivien Thomas
- Alan Rickman for Something the Lord Made as Dr. Alfred Blalock
- 2005note : Geoffrey Rush for The Life and Death of Peter Sellers as Peter Sellers
- Kenneth Branagh for Warm Springs as President Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Ed Harris for Empire Falls as Miles Roby
- William H. Macy for The Wool Cap as Charles Gigot
- Jonathan Rhys Meyers for Elvis as Elvis Presley
- 2006note : Andre Braugher for Thief as Nick Atwater
- Charles Dance for Bleak House as Mr. Tulkinghorn
- Ben Kingsley for Mrs. Harris as Dr. Herman Tarnower
- Donald Sutherland for Human Trafficking as Special Agent Bill Meehan
- Jon Voight for Pope John Paul II as Pope John Paul II
- 2007note : Robert Duvall for Broken Trail as Prentice "Prent" Ritter
- Jim Broadbent for Longford as Lord Longford
- William H. Macy for Nightmares & Dreamscapes: Umney's Last Case as Detective Clyde Umney / Sam Landry
- Matthew Perry for The Ron Clark Story as Ron Clark
- Tom Selleck for Jesse Stone: Sea Change as Jesse Stone
- 2008note : Paul Giamatti for John Adams as John Adams
- Ralph Fiennes for Bernard and Doris as Bernard Lafferty
- Ricky Gervais for Extras: The Extra Special Season Finale as Andy Millman
- Kevin Spacey for Recount as Ron Klain
- Tom Wilkinson for Recount as James Baker
- 2009note : Brendan Gleeson for Into the Storm as Prime Minister Winston Churchill
- Kevin Bacon for Taking Chance as Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl
- Kenneth Branagh for Wallander as Police Inspector Kurt Wallander
- Kevin Kline for Cyrano de Bergerac as Cyrano de Bergerac
- Ian McKellen for King Lear as King Lear
- Kiefer Sutherland for 24: Redemption as Jack Bauer
2010s
- 2010note : Al Pacino for You Don't Know Jack as Dr. Jack Kevorkian
- Jeff Bridges for A Dog Year as Jonathan "Jon" Katz
- Ian McKellen for The Prisoner as Two / Curtis
- Dennis Quaid for The Special Relationship as President Bill Clinton
- Michael Sheen for The Special Relationship as Prime Minister Tony Blair
- 2011note : Barry Pepper for The Kennedys as Robert F. "Bobby" Kennedy
- Idris Elba for Luther as DCI John Luther
- Laurence Fishburne for Thurgood as Thurgood Marshall
- William Hurt for Too Big to Fail as Henry Paulson
- Greg Kinnear for The Kennedys as President John F. Kennedy
- Édgar Ramírez for Carlos as Ilich Ramírez Sánchez / Carlos
- 2012note : Kevin Costner for Hatfields & McCoys as Devil Anse Hatfield
- Benedict Cumberbatch for Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia as Detective Sherlock Holmes
- Idris Elba for Luther as DCI John Luther
- Woody Harrelson for Game Change as Steve Schmidt
- Clive Owen for Hemingway & Gellhorn as Ernest Hemingway
- Bill Paxton for Hatfields & McCoys as Randolph McCoy
- 2013note : Michael Douglas for Behind the Candelabra as Liberace
- Benedict Cumberbatch for Parade's End as Christopher Tietjens
- Matt Damon for Behind the Candelabra as Scott Thorson
- Toby Jones for The Girl as Alfred Hitchcock
- Al Pacino for Phil Spector as Phil Spector
- 2014note : Benedict Cumberbatch for Sherlock: His Last Vow as Detective Sherlock Holmes
- Idris Elba for Luther as DCI John Luther
- Chiwetel Ejiofor for Dancing on the Edge as Louis Lester
- Martin Freeman for Fargo as Lester Nygaard
- Mark Ruffalo for The Normal Heart as Ned Weeks
- Billy Bob Thornton for Fargo as Lorne Malvo
- 2015note : Richard Jenkins for Olive Kitteridge as Henry Kitteridge
- Adrien Brody for Houdini as Harry Houdini
- Ricky Gervais for Derek: The Special as Derek Noakes
- Timothy Hutton for American Crime as Russ Skokie
- David Oyelowo for Nightingale as Peter Snowden
- Mark Rylance for Wolf Hall as Thomas Cromwell
- 2016note : Courtney B. Vance for The People v. O. J. Simpson as Johnnie Cochran
- Bryan Cranston for All the Way as President Lyndon B. Johnson
- Benedict Cumberbatch for Sherlock: The Abominable Bride as Detective Sherlock Holmes
- Idris Elba for Luther as DCI John Luther
- Cuba Gooding Jr. for The People v. O.J. Simpson as O. J. Simpson
- Tom Hiddleston for The Night Manager as Jonathan Pine
- 2017note : Riz Ahmed for The Night Of as Nasir "Naz" Khan
- Benedict Cumberbatch for Sherlock: The Lying Detective as Detective Sherlock Holmes
- Robert De Niro for The Wizard of Lies as Bernie Madoff
- Ewan McGregor for Fargo as Ray Stussy / Emmit Stussy
- John Turturro for The Night Of as John Stone
- Geoffrey Rush for Genius as Albert Einstein
- 2018note : Darren Criss for The Assassination of Gianni Versace as Andrew Cunanan
- Antonio Banderas for Genius as Pablo Picasso
- Benedict Cumberbatch for Patrick Melrose as Patrick Melrose
- Jeff Daniels for The Looming Tower as Special Agent John O. Neill
- John Legend for Jesus Christ Superstar as Jesus Christ
- Jesse Plemons for Black Mirror: USS Callister as Captain Robert Daly
- 2019note : Jharrel Jerome for When They See Us as Korey Wise
- Mahershala Ali for True Detective as Detective Wayne Hays
- Benicio del Toro for Escape at Dannemora as Richard Matt
- Hugh Grant for A Very English Scandal as Jeremy Thorpe
- Jared Harris for Chernobyl as Valery Legasov
- Sam Rockwell for Fosse/Verdon as Bob Fosse
2020s
- 2020note : Mark Ruffalo for I Know This Much Is True as Dominick Birdsey / Thomas Birdsey
- Jeremy Irons for Watchmen as Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias
- Hugh Jackman for Bad Education as Frank Tassone
- Paul Mescal for Normal People as Connell Waldron
- Jeremy Pope for Hollywood as Archie Coleman
- 2021note : Ewan McGregor for Halston as Halston
- Paul Bettany for WandaVision as Vision
- Hugh Grant for The Undoing as Jonathan Fraser
- Lin-Manuel Miranda for Hamilton as Alexander Hamilton
- Leslie Odom Jr. for Hamilton as Aaron Burr
- 2022: Michael Keaton for Dopesick as Dr. Samuel Finnix
- Colin Firth for The Staircase as Michael Peterson
- Andrew Garfield for Under the Banner of Heaven as Detective Jeb Pyre
- Oscar Isaac for Scenes from a Marriage as Jonathan Levy
- Himesh Patel for Station Eleven as Jeevan Chaudhary
- Sebastian Stan for Pam & Tommy as Tommy Lee
- 2023: Steven Yeun for Beef as Daniel "Danny" Cho
- Taron Egerton for Black Bird as James "Jimmy" Keane
- Kumail Nanjiani for Welcome to Chippendales as Somen "Steve" Banerjee
- Evan Peters for Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story as Jeffrey Dahmer
- Daniel Radcliffe for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story as "Weird Al" Yankovic
- Michael Shannon for George & Tammy as George Jones
