BIFA Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film

1990s

• 1998 – Ray Winstone as Raymond in Nil by Mouth
• * John Hurt as Giles De'Ath in Love and Death on Long Island
• * Peter Mullan as Joe Kavanagh in My Name Is Joe
• * Jonathan Pryce as William Rivers in Regeneration
• * David Thewlis as Dan Starkey in Divorcing Jack
• 1999 – Ian McKellen as James Whale in Gods and Monsters
• * Daniel Auteuil as Xavier Lombard in The Lost Son
• * Michael Caine as Ray Say in Little Voice
• * Daniel Craig as Sgt. Telford Winter in The Trench
• * Ray Winstone as Dad in The War Zone

  2000s

• 2000 – Daniel Craig as Ray in Some Voices
• * Paul Bettany as Young Gangster in Gangster No. 1
• * Jim Broadbent as W. S. Gilbert in Topsy-Turvy
• * Adrian Lester as Dumaine in Love's Labour's Lost
• * Peter Mullan as Jean in Miss Julie
• 2001 – Ben Kingsley as Don Logan in Sexy Beast
• * Ian Hart as Dad in Liam
• * Timothy Spall as Cliff Gumbell in Lucky Break
• * Ray Winstone as Gary "Gal" Dove in Sexy Beast
• 2002 – James Nesbitt as Ivan Cooper in Bloody Sunday
• * Timothy Spall as Phil in All or Nothing
• * Richard Harris as Sandeman in My Kingdom
• * Bill Nighy as Dan in Lawless Heart
• 2003 – Chiwetel Ejiofor as Okwe in Dirty Pretty Things
• * Paddy Considine as Johnny Sullivan in In America
• * Ewan McGregor as Joe Taylor in Young Adam
• * Kevin McKidd as Frankie in 16 Years of Alcohol
• * Joaquin Phoenix as Spc. Ray Elwood in Buffalo Soldiers
• 2004 – Phil Davis as Stanley Drake in Vera Drake
• * Paddy Considine as Richard in Dead Man's Shoes
• * Daniel Craig as Joe Rose in Enduring Love
• * Ian Hart as Brian Keenan in Blind Flight
• * Geoffrey Rush as Peter Sellers in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
• 2005 – Ralph Fiennes as Justin Quayle in The Constant Gardener
• * Johnny Depp as John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester in The Libertine
• * Chiwetel Ejiofor as Lola in Kinky Boots
• * Bob Hoskins as Vivian Van Damm in Mrs Henderson Presents
• * Matthew Macfadyen as Paul Prior in In My Father's Den
• 2006 – Tony Curran as Clyde Henderson in Red Road
• * James McAvoy as Nicholas Garrigan in The Last King of Scotland
• * Cillian Murphy as Damien O'Donovan in The Wind That Shakes the Barley
• * Peter O'Toole as Maurice Russell in Venus
• * Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland
• 2007 – Viggo Mortensen as Nikolai Luzhin in Eastern Promises
• * Jamie Bell as Hallam Foe in Hallam Foe
• * Jim Broadbent as Arthur Morrison in And When Did You Last See Your Father?
• * Cillian Murphy as Robert Capa in Sunshine
• * Sam Riley as Ian Curtis in Control
• 2008 – Michael Fassbender as Bobby Sands in Hunger
• * Riz Ahmed as Shifty in Shifty
• * Colin Farrell as Ray in In Bruges
• * Brendan Gleeson as Ken in In Bruges
• * Thomas Turgoose as Tomo in Somers Town
• 2009 – Tom Hardy as Charles Bronson in Bronson
• * Peter Capaldi as Malcolm Tucker in In the Loop
• * Aaron Taylor-Johnson as John Lennon in Nowhere Boy
• * Sam Rockwell as Sam Bell in Moon
• * Andy Serkis as Ian Dury in Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

  2010s

• 2010 – Colin Firth as King George VI in The King's Speech
• * Riz Ahmed as Omar in Four Lions
• * Jim Broadbent as Tom Hepple in Another Year
• * Aidan Gillen as Aidan in Treacle Jr.
• * Scoot McNairy as Andrew Kaulder in Monsters
• 2011 – Michael Fassbender as Brandon Sullivan in Shame
• * Brendan Gleeson as Sergeant Gerry Boyle in The Guard
• * Neil Maskell as Jay in Kill List
• * Gary Oldman as George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• * Peter Mullan as Joseph in Tyrannosaur
• 2012 – Toby Jones as Gilderoy in Berberian Sound Studio
• * Tim Roth as Archie Cunningham in Broken
• * Terence Stamp as Arthur in Song for Marion
• * Steve Oram as Chris in Sightseers
• * Riz Ahmed as Aaron in Ill Manors
• 2013 – James McAvoy as Bruce Robertson in Filth
• * Tom Hardy as Ivan Locke in Locke
• * Steve Coogan as Martin Sixsmith in Philomena
• * Jim Broadbent as Nick Burrows in Le Week-End
• * Jack O'Connell as Eric Love in Starred Up
• 2014 – Brendan Gleeson as Father James Lavelle in Calvary
• * Asa Butterfield as Nathan Ellis in X+Y
• * Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game
• * Jack O'Connell as Gary Hook in 71
• * Timothy Spall as J. M. W. Turner in Mr. Turner
• 2015 – Tom Hardy as Ronnie Kray and Reggie Kray in Legend
• * Tom Courtenay as Geoff Mercer in 45 Years
• * Colin Farrell as David in The Lobster
• * Michael Fassbender as Macbeth in Macbeth
• * Tom Hiddleston as Dr. Robert Laing in High-Rise
• 2016 – Dave Johns as Daniel Blake in I, Daniel Blake
• * Steve Brandon as Luke in My Feral Heart
• * Michael Fassbender as Chad Cutler in Trespass Against Us
• * Shia LaBeouf as Jake in American Honey
• * Max Records as John Wayne Cleaver in I Am Not a Serial Killer
• 2017 – Josh O'Connor as Johnny Saxby in God's Own Country
• * Alec Secăreanu as Gheorghe Ionescu in God's Own Country
• * Jamie Bell as Peter Turner in Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool
• * Paddy Considine as Matty Burton in Journeyman
• * Johnny Harris as Jimmy McCabe in Jawbone
• 2018 – Joe Cole as Billy Moore in A Prayer Before Dawn
• * Steve Coogan as Stan Laurel in Stan & Ollie
• * Rupert Everett as Oscar Wilde in The Happy Prince
• * Joaquin Phoenix as Joe in You Were Never Really Here
• * Charlie Plummer as Charley Thompson in Lean on Pete
• 2019 – Josh O'Connor as Jake in Only You'
• * Sam Adewunmi as Femi in The Last Tree
• * Tom Burke as Anthony in The Souvenir
• * Kris Hitchen as Ricky Turner in Sorry We Missed You
• * Dev Patel as David Copperfield in The Personal History of David Copperfield