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

The British Independent Film Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film is an annual award given by the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) to recognize the best lead performance by an actor in a British independent film. The award was first presented in the 1998 ceremony with Ray Winstone being the first recipient of the award for his performance as Raymond in Nil by Mouth.

Actors Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy and Josh O'Connor are the only nominees who have won the award twice while Riz Ahmed holds the record of most nominations in this category with five nominations.

In July 2022, it was announced that the performance categories would be replaced with gender-neutral categories, with both Best Actor and Best Actress merging into the Best Lead Performance category. Additionally, a category named Best Joint Lead Performance was created for "two (or exceptionally three) performances that are the joint focus of the film, especially where performances share a large number of scenes and screen time".

Multiple nominations

 * 5 nominations
 * Riz Ahmed


 * 4 nominations
 * Jim Broadbent
 * Michael Fassbender


 * 3 nominations
 * Paddy Considine
 * Daniel Craig
 * Brendan Gleeson
 * Tom Hardy
 * Peter Mullan
 * Ray Winstone


 * 2 nominations
 * Jamie Bell
 * Steve Coogan
 * Colin Farrell
 * Chiwetel Ejiofor
 * James McAvoy
 * Josh O'Connor
 * Joaquin Phoenix

Multiple wins

 * 2 wins
 * Michael Fassbender
 * Tom Hardy
 * Josh O'Connor