National Film Award for Best Actor
The National Film Award for Best Actor, officially known as the Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Actor, is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India instituted since 1967 to actors who have delivered the best performance in a leading role within the Indian film industry. Called the "State Awards for Films" when established in 1954, the National Film Awards ceremony is older than the Directorate of Film Festivals. The State Awards instituted the individual award in 1968 as the "Bharat Award for the Best Actor"; in 1975, it was renamed as the "Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Actor". Throughout the past 45 years, accounting for ties and repeat winners, the Government of India has presented a total of 52 "Best Actor" awards to 40 actors. Until 1974, winners of the National Film Award received a figurine and certificate; since 1975, they have been awarded with a "Rajat Kamal", certificate and a cash prize.
Although the Indian film industry produces films in around 20 languages and dialects, the actors whose performances have won awards have worked in seven major languages: Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada and English.
The first recipient was Uttam Kumar from Bengali cinema, who was honoured at the 15th National Film Awards in 1967 for his performances in Anthony Firingee and Chiriyakhana. He was also the first actor who won this award for two different films in the same year. As of 2020, Amitabh Bachchan and kamal hassan are the most honoured actors with four awards followed byMammootty with three awards, while six actors—Sanjeev Kumar, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Mithun Chakraborty, Mohanlal, and Ajay Devgn—have won the award two times. Two actors have achieved the honour for performing in two languagesMithun Chakraborty and Mammootty. Riddhi Sen is the youngest recipient of the award at the age of 19. The most recent recipients are Ayushmann Khurrana and Vicky Kaushal, who were honoured at the 66th National Film Awards for their performances in the Hindi films Andhadhun and , respectively.
Key
Recipients
| Year | Recipient | Role | Work | Language | |
| 1967 | Uttam Kumar | Anthony Firingee Byomkesh Bakshi | Antony Firingee Chiriyakhana | Bengali | |
| 1968 | Ashok Kumar | Shivnath "Joggi Thakur" Choudhary | Aashirwad | Hindi | |
| 1969 | Utpal Dutt | Bhuvan Shome | Bhuvan Shome | Hindi | |
| 1970 | Sanjeev Kumar | Hamid Ahmed | Dastak | Hindi | |
| 1971 | M. G. Ramachandran | Selvam | Rickshawkaran | Tamil | |
| 1972 | Sanjeev Kumar | Hari Charan Mathur | Koshish | Hindi | |
| 1973 | P. J. Antony | Velichapad | Nirmalyam | Malayalam | |
| 1974 | Sadhu Meher | Kishtaya | Ankur | Hindi | |
| 1975 | M. V. Vasudeva Rao | Choma | Chomana Dudi | Kannada | |
| 1976 | Mithun Chakraborty | Ghinua | Mrigayaa | Hindi | |
| 1977 | Bharath Gopi | Shankaran Kutty | Kodiyettam | Malayalam | |
| 1978 | Arun Mukherjee | Parasuram | Parasuram | Bengali | |
| 1979 | Naseeruddin Shah | Anirudh Parmar | Sparsh | Hindi | |
| 1980 | Balan K. Nair | Govindan | Oppol | Malayalam | |
| 1981 | Om Puri | Hari Mondal | Arohan | Hindi | |
| 1982 | Kamal Haasan | R. Srinivas | Moondram Pirai | Tamil | |
| 1983 | Om Puri | Anant Velankar | Ardh Satya | Hindi | |
| 1984 | Naseeruddin Shah | Naurangia | Paar | Hindi | |
| 1985 | Shashi Kapoor | Vikas Pande | New Delhi Times | Hindi | |
| 1986 | Charuhasan | Tabara Shetty | Tabarana Kathe | Kannada | |
| 1987 | Kamal Haasan | Sakthivelu Nayakar | Nayakan | Tamil | |
| 1988 | Premji | Raghava Chakyar | Piravi | Malayalam | |
| 1989 | Mammootty | Vaikom Muhammad Basheer Chandu Chekavar | Mathilukal Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha | Malayalam | |
| 1990 | Amitabh Bachchan | Vijay Deenanath Chauhan | Agneepath | Hindi | |
| 1991 | Mohanlal | Kalliyur Gopinathan | Bharatham | Malayalam | |
| 1992 | Mithun Chakraborty | Shibnath | Tahader Katha | Bengali | |
| 1993 | Mammootty | Ponthan Mada Bhaskara Patelar | Ponthan Mada Vidheyan | Malayalam | |
| 1994 | Nana Patekar | Pratap Narayan Tilak | Krantiveer | Hindi | |
| 1995 | Rajit Kapur | Mahatma Gandhi | The Making of the Mahatma | English | |
| 1996 | Kamal Haasan | Senapathy , Chandrabose | Indian | Tamil | |
| 1997 | Balachandra Menon | Ismail | Samaantharangal | Malayalam | |
| 1997 | Suresh Gopi | Kannan Perumalayan | Kaliyattam | Malayalam | |
| 1998 | Ajay Devgn | Ajay R. Desai | Zakhm | Hindi | |
| 1998 | Mammootty | B. R. Ambedkar | Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar | English | |
| 1999 | Mohanlal | Kunjikuttan | Vanaprastham | Malayalam | |
| 2000 | Anil Kapoor | Major Jaidev Rajvansh | Pukar | Hindi | |
| 2001 | Murali | Appa Mestry | Neythukaran | Malayalam | |
| 2002 | Ajay Devgn | Bhagat Singh | The Legend of Bhagat Singh | Hindi | |
| 2003 | Vikram | Chithan | Pithamagan | Tamil | |
| 2004 | Saif Ali Khan | Karan Kapoor | Hum Tum | Hindi | |
| 2005 | Amitabh Bachchan | Debraj Sahai | Black | Hindi | |
| 2006 | Soumitra Chatterjee | Shashanka Palit | Podokkhep | Bengali | |
| 2007 | Prakash Raj | Vengadam | Kanchivaram | Tamil | |
| 2008 | Upendra Limaye | Tayappa | Jogwa | Marathi | |
| 2009 | Amitabh Bachchan | Auro | Paa | Hindi | |
| 2010 | Dhanush | K. P. Karuppu | Aadukalam | Tamil | |
| 2010 | Salim Kumar | Abu | Adaminte Makan Abu | Malayalam | |
| 2011 | Girish Kulkarni | Keshya | Deool | Marathi | |
| 2012 | Irrfan Khan | Paan Singh Tomar | Paan Singh Tomar | Hindi | |
| 2012 | Vikram Gokhale | Ratnakar | Anumati | Marathi | |
| 2013 | Rajkummar Rao | Shahid Azmi | Shahid | Hindi | |
| 2013 | Suraj Venjaramoodu | Father | Perariyathavar | Malayalam | |
| 2014 | Sanchari Vijay | Madesha | Naanu Avanalla...Avalu | Kannada | |
| 2015 | Amitabh Bachchan | Bhashkor Banerjee | Piku | Hindi | |
| 2016 | Akshay Kumar | Commander Rustom Pavri | Rustom | Hindi | |
| 2017 | Riddhi Sen | Puti | Nagarkirtan | Bengali | |
| 2018 | Ayushmann Khurrana | Akash | Andhadhun | Hindi | |
| 2018 | Vicky Kaushal | Major Vihaan Singh Shergill | Hindi |