Australian Film Institute Award for Best Lead Actor in Television Drama

The Australian Film Institute Award for Best Lead Actor in Television Drama is awarded annually by the Australian Film Institute

Australian Film Institute

The Australian Film Institute was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry...

as part of the awards

Australian Film Institute Awards

The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award, known as the AACTA Award , is an accolade presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts . The awards recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry and television industry, including directors,...

in television

Australian Film Institute Television Awards

The Australian Film Institute Television Awards are annual awards presented for excellence in Australian television annually as part of the AFI Awards by the Australian Film Institute. The AFI Awards cover non-feature films, films, television, and special awards...

for excellence in acting

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

in television drama by an actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

.

Prior to 1990, two awards existed and were called Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini Series and Best Lead Actor in a Telefeature. The awards were merged in 1990 to become Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Telefeature or Mini Series which in 1991 was renamed Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Television Drama. In 2000, the Awards were again awarded in two categories, called Best Performance by an Actor in a Telefeature or Mini Series and Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Television Drama. In 2002, the Awards were again combined under the title Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Television Drama and two years later, in 2004, the Award was named Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Television Drama or Comedy. A separate comedy Award was established in 2006, and this Award became Best Lead Actor in Television Drama.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini Series

Year	Winner	Mini Series	Network
1986	Simon Chilvers	The Dunera Boys	ABC TV
1987	Nicholas Eadie Nicholas Eadie Nicholas Eadie is an Australian television actor.Born in Sydney, New South Wales to actor and Australian Broadcasting Commission radio announcer Mervyn Eadie, he attended Waverley College from 1968 to 1976, studied Arts at University of New England for one year in 1977, and studied at the National...	Vietnam
1988	Ed Devereaux Ed Devereaux Ed Devereaux was an Australian actor, who lived in the UK for many years. He was best known for playing the part of "Matt Hammond" in the Australian children's television series Skippy. He was also involved in the series behind the scenes: Devereaux directed The Veteran , for which he received...	The True Believers
1989	Peter Kowitz Peter Kowitz Peter Kowitz is an Australian actor.His television credits include: Prime Time, Richmond Hill, Chances, Pacific Drive, Water Rats, Wildside, Farscape, Murder Call, Grass Roots, All Saints and Supernova....	Bodysurfer

Best Lead Actor in a Telefeature

Year	Winner	Telefeature
1986	Peter Kowitz	The Long Way Home
1987	Steven Jacob	A single life
1988	Ernie Dingo Ernie Dingo Ernie Dingo AM is an Indigenous Australian actor and television presenter originating from the Yamatji people of the Murchison region of Western Australia.-Background:...	A Waltz Through The Hills
1989	Bill Hunter Bill Hunter (actor) William John "Bill" Hunter was an Australian actor of film, stage and television. He appeared in more than 60 films and won two Australian Film Institute Awards.-Early life:Hunter was a son of William and Francie Hunter...	Police State

Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Telefeature or Mini Series

Year	Winner	Telefeature or Mini Series	Network	Other nominees
1990	Frankie J Holden	Police Crop

Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Television Drama

Year	Winner	Television Drama	Episode	Network
1991	Gary Sweet Gary Sweet Gary Sweet is an Australian film and television actor known for his roles in Alexandra's Project , Police Rescue, Cody, Big Sky, The Battlers, Bodyline and Stingers....	Police Rescue Police Rescue Police Rescue was an Australian television series which originally aired on ABC TV between 1989 and 1996. It was produced by ABC and Southern Star Xanadu in association with the BBC....	"Mates"	ABC TV
1992	Gary Sweet	Police Rescue	"Off The Track"	ABC TV
1993	Peter Phelps Peter Phelps Peter Phelps is an Australian actor, singer and writer. He is notable for his role of Peter Church in the television drama, Stingers and Trevor Cole, in Baywatch...	G.P.	"Exposed"	ABC TV
1994	Aaron Blabey Aaron Blabey Aaron Blabey is an Australian actor, artist and children's writer. He played the title role in the 1995 television drama The Damnation of Harvey McHugh for which he won an Australian Film Institute Award.-History:...	The Damnation of Harvey McHugh The Damnation of Harvey McHugh The Damnation of Harvey McHugh is a television miniseries made by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The series consists of 12 episodes and was first broadcast on the ABC in 1994.-Cast and crew:...	"Spay Misty for me"	ABC TV
1995	Colin Friels Colin Friels -Background and training:Friels was born in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland. His mother was a mill worker and his father a joiner. He lived in Kilbirnie until 1963, when his family moved to Australia, arriving in Darwin, Northern Territory before settling in the Melbourne suburb of Broadmeadows...	Frontline Frontline (TV series) FRONTLINE is a public affairs television program that produces and broadcasts in-depth documentaries about various subjects. Produced at WGBH-TV in Boston, Massachusetts and distributed through the Public Broadcasting Service in the United States, the program has been critically acclaimed and...	"The siege"	ABC TV
1995	Steve Vidler		"The siege"	ABC TV
1996	Tony Martin Tony Martin (actor) Tony Martin is an Australian actor. He married Rachael Blake on 21 December 2003. His son, Justin, is also an actor, with appearances in Somersault and Blue Water High to his credit....	Blue Murder Blue Murder (mini-series) Blue Murder is a two-part Australian television miniseries produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1995, and is based on true events. Given its confronting content, the DVD release was classified MA 15+...		ABC TV
1997	David Wenham David Wenham David Wenham is an Australian actor who has appeared in movies, television series and theatre productions. He is known in Hollywood for his roles as Faramir in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Carl in Van Helsing and Dilios in 300 and Neil Fletcher in Australia...	Simone de Beauvoir's Babies
1998	Stephen Dillane Stephen Dillane Stephen J. Dillane is an English actor. He won a Tony Award for his lead performance in Tom Stoppard's play The Real Thing.-Early life:...	Kings in Grass Castles		ABC TV
1999	Jeremy Sims Jeremy Sims -Personal life:He was educated at Wesley College, Perth, 1977–83. Sims was married to film director Samantha Lang. They have two daughters, Frederique and Evelyn Rose.-Career:...	Aftershocks
2000	Geoff Morrell	Grass Roots	"The whole year"	ABC TV
2001	Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...	The Secret Life of Us The Secret Life of Us The Secret Life of Us was a television drama series set in the beachside suburb of St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia. The series was produced by Southern Star Entertainment and screened in Australia from 2001 to 2005 on Network Ten and on Channel 4 in the UK...		ABC TV
2002	Joel Edgerton Joel Edgerton Joel Edgerton is an Australian film and television actor.-Early life:Edgerton was born in Blacktown, Sydney, to a homemaker mother and a solicitor/property developer father, Michael. His brother, Nash Edgerton, is a stuntman and filmmaker...	The Secret Life of Us		ABC TV
2003	Shane Bourne Shane Bourne Shane Bourne is an Australian stand-up comedian, actor and a television host.-1980's / 1990's:...	MDA MDA (TV series) MDA is an Australian television series that aired between 2002 and 2005 on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . It concerned the day-to-day operation of legal firm MDA, which specialised in medical defence.-Synopsis:...		ABC TV

Best Performance by an Actor in a Telefeature or Mini Series

Year	Winner	Telefeature or Mini Series	Episode	Network	Other nominees
2000	Andy Anderson Andy Anderson (actor) Andy Anderson is an actor best known for his roles on both Australian and New Zealand television.-Career:...	Halifax f.p. Halifax f.p. Halifax f.p. is an Australian television drama series produced by Nine Network from 1994 to 2001. The series stars Rebecca Gibney as Doctor Jane Halifax, a forensic psychiatrist investigating cases involving the mental state of suspects or victims...	"A person of interest"	Nine Network
2001	David Field David Field (actor) David Field is an Australian actor who has appeared on television and in films. Some of the films he appeared in include Chopper, Two Hands and Gettin' Square. His most notable roles are as Keithy in Chopper and as Acko in Two Hands...	My Husband, My Killer

Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Television Drama or Comedy

Year	Winner	Television Drama or Comedy	Episode	Network	Other nominees
2004	Abe Forsythe Abe Forsythe Abe Forsythe is an Australian film and television actor, director, writer and producer. He is the son of actor and comedian Drew Forsythe.-Career:He first appeared on the TV series The Miraculous Mellops...	Marking Time
2005	Shane Bourne	MDA		ABC TV

Best Lead Actor in Television Drama

Year	Winner	Television Drama	Network	Other nominees
2006	David Wenham	Answered by fire Answered by Fire Answered by Fire is a two-part mini-series based on the 1999 East Timor conflicts that led to East Timor's independence. The mini-series was based on "Dancing with the Devil, A personal Account of Policing the East Timor Vote for Independence", which was written by David Savage, an Australian...	ABC TV
2007	Stephen Curry	The King
2008	Gyton Grantley Gyton Grantley Gyton Grantley is a Logie Award and AFI Award-winning Australian actor, best known for his portrayal of convicted murderer and drug trafficker Carl Williams in the hit Australian television show Underbelly, for which he was nominated for both Most Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series and Most...	Underbelly Underbelly (TV series) Underbelly is a 13-part Australian television mini-series that retells the real events of the 1995–2004 gangland war in Melbourne, and is the first series in the larger Underbelly Franchise. It depicts the key players in Melbourne's criminal underworld, including the Carlton Crew and their rival,...	Nine Network	Don Hany Don Hany Don Hany is an Australian award-winning actor. He is best known for his role in the series White Collar Blue, the film Lucky Miles and in the mini-series East West 101.-Biography:... - East West 101 East West 101 East West 101 is a critically acclaimed and award-winning drama series airing on the SBS network. The series was produced and created by Steven Knapman & Kris Wyld, the team behind other drama series such as Wildside and White Collar Blue.... (SBS TV) William McInnes William McInnes William McInnes is an Australian film and television actor and writer.-Television:After a recurring role on A Country Practice in 1990, McInnes appeared in series such as Bligh, Ocean Girl, and Snowy before making his name as Senior Constable Nick Schultz on Blue Heelers in 1994... - East West 101 (SBS TV) Callan Mulvey Callan Mulvey Callan Francis Mulvey is an Australian actor.-Biography:Mulvey was born in New Zealand and is of Maori heritage. His family moved to Sydney, Australia when he was eight years old... - Rush Rush (2008 TV series) -DVD releases:-Achievements:-International distribution:-External links:... (Network Ten)
2009	Roy Billing Roy Billing Roy Billing is a New Zealand television actor, now based in Sydney, Australia.-Career:Billing has starred in many television shows and had main roles on Bad Cop, Bad Cop, Dossa and Joe and Hell Has Harbour Views...	Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities is a 13-part Australian television mini-series loosely based on real events that stemmed from the marijuana trade centred around the New South Wales town of Griffith. The timeline of the series is the years between 1976 and 1987. Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities...	Nine Network	Robert Menzies Robert Menzies (actor) Robert Menzies, an Australian television actor, has starred in productions such as 3 Acts of Murder, Three Dollars and Monash and The Anzac Legend.... - 3 Acts of Murder (ABC TV) Don Hany - East West 101 (SBS TV) Dougray Scott Dougray Scott -Early life:The son of Elma, a nurse, and Alan Scott, an actor and salesperson, Stephen Dougray Scott was born in Glenrothes, Fife and attended Auchmuty High School... - False Witness False Witness False Witness is an Australian television mini-series produced by Screentime Australia for the Australian subscription television channel UK.TV... (UKTV UKTV UKTV is a digital cable and satellite television network, formed through a joint venture between BBC Worldwide, a commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and Scripps Networks Interactive, spun off from The E.W Scripps Company in 2008... )
2010	Richard Roxburgh Richard Roxburgh Richard Roxburgh is an Australian actor who has starred in many Australian films and has appeared in supporting roles in a number of Hollywood productions, usually as villains.-Early life:...	Hawke	Network Ten	Garry McDonald Garry McDonald Garry George McDonald, AO is an Australian stage and screen actor.-Early life and career:McDonald was born in Sydney and was educated at Cranbrook School and National Institute of Dramatic Art.... - A Model Daughter: "The Killing Of Caroline Byrne" (Network Ten) Corey McKernan Corey McKernan Corey McKernan is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the North Melbourne Kangaroos and Carlton Blues in the Australian Football League... - Lockie Leonard (Nine Network) Aaron Pedersen Aaron Pedersen Aaron Pedersen is an Australian television and film actor of Arrente/Arabana Australian Aboriginal descent.-Career:Prior to Aaron's acting career, Aaron plied his trade as a journalist with ABC2 at Elsternwick studios in Melbourne.... - The Circuit The Circuit (TV series) The Circuit is an Australian television drama series. The six part first season screened on SBS TV, premiering on 8 July 2007 at , and concluding on 12 August 2007. Season 2 began airing on December 1, 2009.... (SBS TV)