Acting Up: Top 10 Performances At Cannes

New names will be added to the roll of honour on 27 May, as the 76th Cannes Film Festival selects its Best Actor and Best Actress from the 21 features competing for the Palme d'or. Cinema Paradiso looks back at the previous winners.

First presented in 1946, the prizes for Best Actor and Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival are among the most prestigious in world cinema. No one was been recognised on more than two occasions over the last 75 years and two-time Palme d'or-winning Swedish director Ruben Östlund and his jury will have their work cut out choosing between the performances on show during the 11 days of competition. Unlike Berlin, Cannes and Venice have resisted a switch to gender-neutral acting awards. But there's no knowing whether the names called in the Palais des Festivals on 27 May will be Cannes's latest or last Best Actor and Best Actress.

Beginners Please

Adolf Hitler ensured that no one won an acting prize at the inaugural Cannes Film Festival, as the 1939 event was abandoned after the signing of the Nazi-Soviet Pact on 23 August and the invasion of Poland on 1 September. Of the 30+ pictures programmed, only William Dieterle's The Hunchback of Notre Dame was actually screened.

Two attempts have since been made to stage commemorations. In 2002, the Cannes organisers assembled a jury to watch seven of the 24 films that had been selected for competition 63 years earlier and Cecil B. DeMille's Union Pacificwas proclaimed the winner of the Grand Prix. Seventeen years later, however, when the 1939 slate was re-curated in Orleans in memory of Jean Zay, the Cannes founder who had been murdered by three Vichy miliciens in June 1944, Frank Capra's Mr Smith Goes to Washington won out.

With a record 10 films in competition, several big Hollywood names would have been pitted against each other for the acting honours in 1939. It's tempting to speculate how Robert Donat's schoolmaster in Sam Wood's Goodbye, Mr Chips might have fared against James Stewart's junior senator or Cary Grant's pilot in Howard Hawks's Only Angels Have Wings and whether Judy Garland might have triumphed in Victor Fleming's The Wizard of Oz over Irene Dunne in Leo McCarey's Love Affair or Ginger Rogers in Garson Kanin's Bachelor Mother.

What is certain, however, is that the world was ready for a dash of glamour when the film community reconvened on the French Riviera in September 1946. Seven years after she had been a contender for Jacques Feyder's La Loi du nord (1939), Michèle Morgan became the first winner of the Best Actress prize for playing the blind Gertrude in Jean Delannoy's Symphonie pastorale (1946). Her male counterpart was Ray Milland, who had already won the Academy Award for his work as alcoholic Don Birnam in Billy Wilder's problem picture, The Lost Weekend (1945). This Cannes/Oscar double would remain unique for 15 years and only nine others have since matched it (although, as we shall see one Best Actor winner on the Croisette was deemed a Best Supporting Actor in Tinseltown).

As no acting awards were presented in 1947 and the festival itself was cancelled in 1948, the decade's last Best Actress was Isa Miranda, whose Genoese waitress offers fugitive Jean Gabin sanctuary in René Clément's neglected noir, The Walls of Malapaga. Best Actor went Edward G. Robinson, who ran the gamut of emotions as self-made immigrant banker, Gino Monetti, as he struggles to control his four sons in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's House of Strangers.

The Nifty Fifties

The 1950s proved a frustrating period for performers at Cannes, as the festival wasn't held in 1950, while there were no acting awards in 1953 or 1954. However, the decade witnessed some landmark displays, starting with Bette Davis, who followed her Oscar for stage diva Margo Channing with the Cannes prize in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's All About Eve (1950). Michael Redgrave was an equally worthy winner, as downtrodden public school teacher Andrew Crocker-Harris in Anthony Asquith's adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play, The Browning Version (1951).

The following year, Lee Grant became the first debutant to win Best Actress for her work as an unnamed shoplifter in William Wyler's Detective Story. The HUAC blacklist would prevent her from building on this flying start, with 12 years elapsing before she landed another significant role. At the time of writing, she's the earliest surviving Cannes victor, although no one's entirely sure whether she's 95 or 97 years old. The other winner in 1952 was Marlon Brando, who was also nominated for an Academy Award for a portrayal of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata in Elia Kazan's Viva Zapata! that would be frowned upon today for its whitewashing of a Latinx role.

Brando had won his Oscar for Kazan's On the Waterfront (1954) by the time Cannes started doling out prizes again. The principal male and female members of the ensemble were recognisied for their contribution to Iosif Kheifits's A Big Family (1954). However, Spencer Tracy was also named Best Actor for his steely depiction of one-armed avenger John J. Macreedy in John Sturges's latterday Western, Bad Day At Black Rock (1955).

This highly unusual tie came during a two-year period in which Cannes experimented with a gender-neutral acting category. This meant that Susan Hayward triumphed outright for playing legendary Broadway star Lillian Roth in Daniel Mann's I'll Cry Tomorro. Hayward also received an Oscar nomination, but was beaten by Ingrid Bergman on her emotional return to Hollywood in Anatole Litvak's Anastasia (both 1956).

John Kitzmiller became the first African American to win Best Actor at Cannes for playing a USAF pilot who is befriended by two children after being shot down over Yugoslavia in France Štiglic's Valley of Peace. Sharing the spotlight was the wonderful Giulietta Masina, who had excelled as luckless prostitute Maria Ceccarelli in husband Federico Fellini's bittersweet comedy, Nights of Cabiria (both 1957).

Paul Newman took the spoils as scheming drifter Ben Quick in Martin Ritt's The Long Hot Summer, which was inspired by the stories of William Faulkner. Orson Welles co-starred and he would take a share of the prize the following year for his performance as attorney Jonathan Wilk opposite Bradford Dillman's Artie Strauss and Dean Stockwell's Judd Steiner in Compulsion (1959), Richard Fleischer's retelling of the notorious Leopold-Loeb murder.

The previous year had seen an ensemble success in the Best Actress category, as Bibi Andersson, Eva Dahlbeck, Ingrid Thulin, and Barbro Hiort af Ornäs were commended for playing three expectant mothers and their nurse in Ingmar Bergman's So Close to Life (1958). Closing the decade, Simone Signoret became Cannes's first French acting winner, even though she spoke English, as Alice Aisgill in Jack Clayton's interpretation of John Braine's Room At the Top (1959), which helped launch the vogue for 'kitchen sink' realism in British cinema.

Crest of the Wave

With new waves breaking out across Europe, the focus in 1960 fell firmly on the Best Actress category, as no male counterpart was announced. Nouvelle vague icon Jeanne Moreau shared the prize, as the jury couldn't choose between her performance as Anne Desbarèdes in Marguerite Duras's Moderato Cantabile and Melina Mercouri's Oscar-nominated turn as Ilya the Athens streetwalker in husband and co-star Jules Dassin's Never on Sunday (both 1960).

Fresh from creeping out the cinemagoing public as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), Anthony Perkins took Best Actor for illicitly romancing Ingrid Bergman as lawyer Philip Van der Besh in Anatole Litvak's adaptation of Françoise Sagan's Goodbye Again. However, he was upstaged by Sophia Loren completing the Oscar-Cannes double for her harrowing display as single mother Cesira trying to protect her daughter in war-torn Italy in Vittorio De Sica's version of Alberto Moravia's Two Women (1960).

Things got a bit more complicated in 1962, as the usual categories were set aside so that the jury could reward Rita Tushingham and Murray Melvin for bonding as Jo and Geoffrey in Tony Richardson's take on Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey and Katharine Hepburn and male co-stars Ralph Richardson, Jason Robards, and Dean Stockwell as the feuding members of the Tyrone family in Sidney Lumet's interpretation of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night (both 1962). But the normal order was restored the following year, as Richard Harris cut a swathe as rugby league player Frank Machin in Lindsay Anderson's adaptation of David Storey's social realist classic, This Sporting Life (both 1963), while Marina Vlady won Best Actress as Regina, the brooding bride in Marco Ferreri's sex comedy, The Conjugal Bed.

Motherhood was also the theme of Jack Clayton's The Pumpkin Eater, which was adapted by Harold Pinter from a novel by Penelope Mortimer. But, good though Anne Bancroft was as the much-married Jo Armitage, she had to share the prize with Barbara Barrie, as Julie Cullen Richards in Larry Peerce's unjustly neglected study of an inter-racial marriage, One Potato, Two Potato (both 1964). Best Actor was also a tie, with Hungarian Antal Páger and Italian Saro Urzi inseparable for their respective contributions to László Ranódy's Drama of the Lark (1963) and Pietro Germi's Seduced and Abandoned (1964).

By now, the Sixties were in full swing and there was something modish about William Wyler's adaptation of John Fowles's The Collector (1965), which saw Terence Stamp and Samantha Eggar take Cannes by storm as the possessive Freddie Clegg and his abducted victim, Miranda Grey. London also provided the backdrop for Vanessa Redgrave's exasperated bourgeois wife, Leonie Delt, in Karel Reisz's Morgan - A Suitable Case For Treatment. Co-star David Warner was overlooked, however, in favour of Swede Per Oscarsson, who excelled as impoverished 1890s writer Pontus in Dane Henning Carlsen's adaptation of Norwegian Nobel laureate Knut Hamsun's masterpiece, Hunger (both 1966).

This really should be available on disc in the UK. But Cinema Paradiso users can enjoy another Scandinavian classic, Bo Widerberg's Elvira Madigan, which earned Pia Degermark the Best Actress prize for playing a doomed heroine based on circus acrobat Hedvig Jensen. Her companion on the podium in 1967 was Oded Kotler, who played Eli, the unreliable Jerusalem babysitter in Uri Zohar's new wave saga, Three Days and a Child, which is regrettably little known outside Israeli cineaste circles.

As Emmanuel Laurent shows in his profile of François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, Two in the Wave (2010), Cannes was abandoned in 1968, as May Days politics took over the Croisette. Grace Kelly had presided over the opening ceremony, but the organisers bowed to pressure after Czech New Waver Miloš Forman withdrew The Fireman's Ball from competition and Spaniard Carlos Saura and star Geraldine Chaplin tried to prevent the curtains from opening on a screening of Peppermint Frappé (both 1967).

The 1969 edition passed off without incident, however, as Vanessa Redgrave became the first dual winner of the Best Actress prize after having been Oscar nominated for her performance as dancer Isadora Duncan in Karel Reisz's biopic, Isadora (1968). Sharing the spotlight was Jean-Louis Trintignant, who became the first home winner of Best Actor for his display at the magistrate seeking the killers of a pacifist deputy in Costa-Gavras's Z (1969), which had become the first title to be nominated for the Oscars for both Best Picture and Best Foreign Film.

Bucking 70s Trends

Cinema has not been the same since the 1970s. The decade ushered in the blockbuster that changed how Hollywood films were made and marketed. Like the majority of international film festivals, Cannes resisted following suit and continued to celebrate what has become known as 'arthouse' cinema. In fairness, the Academy Awards have also fought shy of crowdpleasers during the current comic-book era. But, while there's no problem finding these CGI behemoths in Cinema Paradiso's 100,000-strong catalogue, too many Palme d'or contenders have been allowed to drift into relative obscurity.

As a consequence, we can't offer you Marcello Mastrioanni in Ettore Scola's The Pizza Triangle (1970), Riccardo Cucciolla in Giuliano Montaldo's Sacco & Vanzetti (1971), Jean Yanne in Maurice Pialat's We Won't Grow Old Together (1972), Giancarlo Giannini in Lina Wertmüller's Love and Anarch (1973), Vittorio Gassman in Dino Risi's Scent of a Woman (1974; won 1975), José Luis Gómez in Ricardo Franco's Pascual Duarte (1976), or Fernando Rey in Carlos Saura's Elisa, vida mía (1977). Also missing are the prize-winning performances of Ottavia Piccolo in Mauro Bolognini's Metello (1970), Marie-José Nat in Michel Drach's Les Violins du Bal (1974), Dominique Sanda in Bolognini's The Inheritance, and Mari Törocsik in Gyula Maár'sMrs Déry, Where Are You? (both 1976).

America held sway in the Best Actress category for much of the decade. The debuting Kitty Win took the honour as heroin addict Helen Reeves opposite Al Pacino in Jerry Schatzburg's The Panic in Needle Park (1971), while Joanna Woodward landed the prize two years later for her also Oscar-nominated work as widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer alongside daughter Nell Potts in husband Paul Newman's translation of Paul Zindel's play, The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972). In between, Britain's Susannah York was rewarded for her fine performance as Cathryn, a children's author experiencing hallucinations in a remote cottage in Robert Altman's Images (1972).

At a time when films didn't have to premiere at Cannes in order to qualify for the main competition, Jack Nicholson followed an Oscar nomination by winning the 1974 Best Actor prize for playing cursing sailor Billy L. Buddusky in Hal Ashby's The Last Detail (1973). Similarly, by the time she triumphed at Cannes, Valerie Perrine had won a BAFTA and received an Oscar nomination for her breakthrough turn as stripper Honey Bruce in Lenny (1974), Bob Fosse's biopic of controversial stand-up, Lenny Bruce.

Alignment had been restored by the time Shelley Duvall was chosen above co-stars Sissy Spacek and Janice Rule for her disconcerting depiction of health spa worker Mildred Lammoreaux in Robert Altman's 3 Women (1977). However, Duvall had to share the award with Monique Mercure, who was recognised for French-Canadian Jean Beaudin's little-seen period drama, J.A. Martin, Photographer. By contrast it's the Hollywood film that is unavailable from the 1978 tie between the Oscar-nominated Jill Clayburgh in Paul Mazursky's An Unmarried Woman and Isabelle Huppert as the eponymous 1930s teenage serial killer in Claude Chabrol's Violette Nozière (both 1978).

Clayburgh would be beaten at the Academy Awards by Jane Fonda, whose co-star, Jon Voight, did the Cannes-Oscar double as Vietnam veteran Luke Martin in Hal Ashby's Coming Home (1978). However, Dustin Hoffman in Robert Benton's Kramer vs Kramer would stop Jack Lemmon from repeating the feat after sharing Best Actor with Stefano Madia from Dino Risi's Dear Fatherfor his work alongside Fonda as nuclear power plant supervisor Jack Godell in James Bridges's The China Syndrome (both 1979).

Sally Field did double up as union leader Norma Rae Webster in Martin Ritt's gritty biopic, Norma Rae (1979). However, the jury decided that Eva Mattes was equally deserving for her work as Marie, the victim of Klaus Kinski's deranged jealousy in Werner Herzog's reworking of Georg Büchner's unfinished 1837 play, Woyzec.

The Elitish Eighties

Despite the fact that videotape could now bring films from around the world into people's homes, Hollywood's dominance saw to it that retail and rental outlets alike devoted the bulk of their shelf space to blockbusters. In a bid to show that they retained an independent spirit, festivals feted American superstars on the red carpet, but largely excluded them from the prize-giving.

Such is cinematic commerce that the ripple effects from four decades ago continue to impact upon arthouse availability on both disc and streaming services. Thus, Cinema Paradiso's hands are rather tied when it comes to Cannes selections like Michel Piccoli and Anouk Aimée's co-starring success in Marco Bellocchio's A Leap in the Dark (1980). Similarly unavailable are the performances of Ugo Tognazzi in Bernardo Bertolucci's Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man (1981), Gian Maria Volonté in Claude Goretta's The Death of Maria Ricci, Hanna Schygulla in Marco Ferreri's The Story of Piera (both 1983), Alfredo Landa and co-star Francisco Rabal in Mario Camus's The Holy Innocents (1984), and Marcello Mastroianni in Nikita Mikhalkov's Dark Eyes (1987).

Despair not, though, as Cinema Paradiso's unrivalled catalogue means users can access the remainder of Cannes' 1980s acting winners. First up is Isabelle Adjani, who was named Best Actress in 1981 for her combined efforts as Marya Zelli in James Ivory's Quartet and as Anna and Helen in Andrzej Zulawski's deeply disturbing psychological horror, Possession. The following year, Polish actress Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieslak took home the award for enacting the role of 1950s lesbian journalist Éva Szalánczky in Karóly Makk's Another Way (1983), even though she and compatriot co-star Grazyna Szapolowska had their dialogue respectively dubbed into Hungarian by Ildikó Bánsági and Judit Hernádi.

Meanwhile, Jack Lemmon drew his second Best Actor award as Edward Horman, the American father searching for his journalist son in Pinochet's Chile in Costa-Gavras's thriller, Missing (1982). He was also nominated at the Academy Awards, but lost out to Ben Kingsley in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi. William Hurt, however, became the latest to do the double for his performance as prisoner Luis Molina in Hector Babenco's adaptation of Manuel Puig's novel, Kiss of the Spiderwoman (1985). In between, Helen Mirren was named Best Actress for her role as Marcella, the widow of an IRA victim who falls for his killer in Pat O'Connor's take on Bernard MacLaverty's bestseller, Cal (1984).

It was four for the price of two in the middle of the decade, as there were ties in each category. Norma Aleandro was deeply moving as Buenos Aires teacher Alicia Maquet, who discovers that her adopted child is the daughter of a desparecida in Luis Puenzo's The Official Story, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. However, it was hard to deny the claims of Cher's poignant turn as Rusty Dennis, the mother whose son has lionitis in Peter Bogdanovich's Mask (both 1985). The following year, Michel Blanc's transvestite turn in Bertrand Blier's Tenue de soirée was judged the equal of Bob Hoskins's Oscar-nominated display as George, the minder keeping an eye on Cathy Tyson's call girl in Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa (1986).

Also in 1986, Barbara Sukowa was recognised for her potent depiction of the title character in Rosa Luxemburg, Margarethe von Trotta's biopic of the Polish revolutionary who sought to seize power in the 1919 Spartacist uprising in Weimar Germany. Sukowa shared her triumph with Fernanda Torres, who became the first Brazilian winner for playing an estranged wife looking back over her marriage in Arnaldo Jabor's Love Me Forever or Never. Twelve years later, Torres's mother, Fernanda Montenegro, would receive an Oscar nomination as Dora, the old woman who writes letters for street kids in Walter Salles's Central Station (1998).

Only one person has ever retained the Best Actress award at Cannes and that is Barbara Hershey. Having won outright for playing Ruth in Andrei Konchalovsky's Shy People (1987), she was acclaimed as South African Communist Diana Roth alongside co-stars Jodhi May and Linda Mvusi in Chris Menges's A World Apart (1988). Frustratingly, neither film is currently on disc, but Cinema Paradiso users can consider the Australian accent that Meryl Streep perfected to play Lindy Chamberlain in A Cry in the Dark, Fred Schepisi's re-creation of the so-called 'dingo baby case'.

Rounding off the decade are the contrasting performances of Forest Whitaker as jazz legend Charlie Parker in Clint Eastwood's Bird (1988) and James Spader as camera-wielding voyeur Graham Dutton in Steven Soderbergh's sex, lies and videotape (1989). In addition to making the 26 year-old the youngest winner of the Palme d'or and earning him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, this provocative drama also kickstarted the indie boom that changed the cinematic landscape in the United States.

The No-Nonsense Nineties

The 1990s opened with one of the most striking contrasts between the tone of the performances rewarded at Cannes. Gérard Depardieu revelled in the flamboyance of the title character in Jean-Paul Rappeneau's revival of Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), while Krystyna Janda exuded the anguish of a nation as cabaret singer Tonia Dziwisz, who is subjected to brutal police harassment in 1950s Poland in Ryszard Bugajski's harrowing Interrogation, which had been made in 1982 during the Solidarity protests and had been banned by the Communist authorities.

The Polish connection continued when Swiss actress Irène Jacob was hailed for playing Polish chorister Weronika and her French counterpart in Krzysztof Kieslowski's The Double Life of Véronique. John Turturro's tormented 1930s Hollywood screenwriter went on his own emotional journey in Joel and Ethan Coen's comic classic, Barton Fink (both 1991). And the film business retained the focus of attention, as Tim Robbins took Best Actor for his masterclass in devious charm as murderous studio executive Griffin Mill in Robert Altman's The Player (1992).

The films of Ingmar Bergman would never have happened had parents Erik and Karin not stuck together during the early difficulties in their marriage, as the Swedish maestro reflects in his script for Bille August's The Best Intentions (1992), which fictionalised the travails of Henrik Bergman (Samuel Fröler) and Anna Åkerblom and earned Pernilla August the Best Actress prize. Set around the turn of the century, this refined drama was the first of four consecutive period piece to claim the award. Holly Hunter also won an Oscar for her performance as Ada McGrath, the mid-19th-century Scottish elective mute who is sold into marriage in New Zealand in Jane Campion's Palme d'or winner, The Piano (1993). Dynastic concerns respectively brought Catherine de' Medici and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz to the thrones of France and Britain and they were played to imperious perfection by Virna Lisi in Patrice Chéreau's La Reine Margot (1994) and Nicholas Hytner's The Madness of King George (1995).

Meanwhile, the Best Actor award had gone to three very different performances. David Thewlis had fizzed with venomous energy as fugitive Mancunian rapist Johnny Fletcher in Mike Leigh's Naked (1993), which also snagged the Best Director prize. Zhang Yimou's To Live (1994) went one better by adding the Grand Prix and the Ecumenical Jury Prize to Ge You's Best Actor win for his performance alongside Gong Li, as Xu Fugui and wife Jiazhen endure the violent changes that shaped China between the 1940s civil war and the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. Completing this unlikely triumvirate is Jonathan Pryce, who caught the mannerisms of Bloomsbury author Lytton Strachey opposite Emma Thompson's free-spirited artist in Christopher Hampton's Carrington (1995).

The inspired pairing of Daniel Auteuil and newcomer Pascal Duquenne proved irresistible, as divorced businessman Harry befriends George, an asylum escapee with Down Syndrome, in Jaco Van Dormael's The Eighth Day. There was no room for feel-good sentimentality in Mike Leigh's Secrets & Lies (both 1996), however, as Cynthia Rose Purley meets Hortense Cumberbatch, the biracial daughter she had given up for adoption. In addition to her Best Actress win at Cannes, Brenda Blethyn would also land a Golden Globe and receive Oscar and BAFTA nominations.

The social realism was even more uncompromising in Gary Oldman's directorial debut, Nil By Mouth, as Kathy Burke took Best Actress for her performance as Valerie, the battered London wife who breaks free from short-fused husband Ray Winstone. He lost out for the Best Actor prize to Sean Penn for his portrayal of Eddie Quinn, another husband who suspects his wife of infidelity in Nick Cassavetes's She's So Lovely (both 1997), which drew on a screenplay by the director's lamented father, John.

Scot Peter Mullan succeeded Penn, as Joe Kavanagh, the recovering alcoholic who coaches an addicts' football team in Ken Loach's My Name Is Joe (1998). Mullan remains one of this country's most respected actors. But Emmanuel Schotté has never acted again, since winning on debut in Bruno Dumont's L'Humanité (1999), as Pharaon De Winter, a cop investigating the rape and murder of an 11 year-old girl in the northern commune of Bailleul.

A small town near Lille provided the backdrop for Eric Zonca's The Dream Life of Angels (1998), which saw Élodie Bouchez and Natacha Régnier share Best Actress for playing working-class friends Isabelle Tostin and Marie Thomas, who cling to each other against an often cruel world. The following year brought another tie, as the debuting Séverine Caneele, who played Pharaon's concerned neighbour, Domino, in L'Humanité was recognised alongside fellow Belgian first-timer, Émilie Dequenne, who was outstanding as the caravan park teenager trying to support her dysfunctional mother in Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's Palme d'or-winning drama, Rosetta (1999).

Merited Millennials

Icelandic singing sensation Björk proved herself a more than capable actress in taking Cannes by storm, as migrant Czech factory worker Selma Jezková battles a degenerative eye condition in Dane Lars von Trier's musical drama, Dancer in the Dark, which also took the Palme d'or. Tony Leung Chiu-wei was presented with the Best Actor award for his elegant display as Hong Kong cuckold Chow Mo-wan opposite Maggie Cheung in Wong Kar-wei's In the Mood For Love (both 2000).

Co-stars Isabelle Huppert and Benoît Magimel triumphed as Erika Kohut and Walter Klemmer in Michael Haneke's potent adaptation of Elfriede Jelinek's novel, The Piano Teacher (2001). Kati Outinen and Markku Peltola could easily have repeated the feat, as a Salvation Army officer and an amnesiac in Aki Kaurismäki's The Man Without a Past, which followed its Grand Prix success at Cannes by becoming the first Finnish feature to be nominated for Best Foreign Film. Peltola was pipped, however, by Olivier Gourmet, as the carpenter who makes the youth who murdered his son an apprentice in the doughty Dardenne drama, The Son (both 2002).

Playing an Istanbul photographer and the barely literate cousin who crashes in his apartment, Muzaffer Özdemir and Mehmet Emin Toprak shared the Best Actor award for Turk Nuri Bilge Ceylan's culture clash drama, Uzak. The year's Best Actress award went to

Marie-Josée Croze, as the drug-addicted Nathalie in The Barbarian Invasions (2003), Denys Arcand's sequel to The Decline of the American Empire (1986) that became the first French-Canadian offering to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

Having missed out four years earlier, Maggie Cheung got her moment in the Cannes spotlight for her performance as Emily Wang, the reformed junkie who seeks to reconnect with her lost son in Olivier Assayas's Clean. Yuya Yagiri made it the first Asian sweep in becoming the youngest Cannes winner for his work as Akira Fukushima, the 12 year-old who cares for his three younger siblings in Hirokazu Kore-eda's Nobody Knows (both 2004).

Israel received its second Cannes acting prize the following year, as Hana Laslo shone as Hanna, the Jerusalem cabby who takes American new arrival, Rebecca (Natalie Portman), on a journey of discovery in Amos Gitai's Free Zone. The 2005 festival also saw Tommy Lee Jones become the first self-directed Best Actor winner, as he essayed Pete Perkins, the Texas rancher seeking justice for a murdered Mexican cowboy, in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (both 2005). By comparison with 2006, however, the podium was comparatively empty. Thanks to the success of Pedro Almodóvar's Volver, Penélope Cruz (Raimunda), Carmen Maura (Irene), Lola Dueñas (Soledad), Blanca Portillo (Agustina), Yohana Cobo (Paula), and Chus Lampreave (Tía Paula) got to share the Best Actress prize. And co-stars Roschdy Zem (Messaoud Souni), Bernard Blancan (Roger Martinez), Jamel Debbouze (Saïd Otmari), Samy Naceri (Yassir), and Sami Bouajila (Abdelkader) also had reason to celebrate after being jointly named Best Actor for Days of Glory (both 2006), Rachid Bouchareb's tribute to the maghrebi soldiers who had fought with the Free French during the Second World War.

Things were a little quieter at the closing ceremony in 2007, as South Korean Jeon Do-yeon took Best Actress for Lee Chang-dong's sadly unavailable Secret Sunshine, while Konstantin Lavronenko prevailed as Best Actor for playing reluctant father-to-be Alex in Alexei Zvyagintsev's The Banishment (both 2007), which was loosely based on William Saroyan's 1953 novel, The Laughing Matter. Parenthood was even more to the fore in Walter Salles's Linha de Passe, which saw Sandra Corveloni acclaimed for her debut performance as Cleuza, the São Paulo woman who is mother to four sons with different fathers. Latin America also provided the setting for Steven Soderbergh's two-part biopic, Che (both 2008), which earned the Best Actor prize for Benecio del Toro, as Argentine revolutionary Ernesto Guevara.

Ending the decade on the Croisette, rabble-rousers Lars von Trier and Quentin Tarantino were responsible for the prize-winning turns in 2009. Charlotte Gaisbourg won Best Actress opposite Willem Dafoe as the unnamed Seattle parents mourning the accidental death of their toddler son in Antichrist, while Christolph Waltz completed a unique Cannes Best Actor and Oscar Best Supporting Actor double for his swaggering display as Colonel Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds (both 2009).

Coming Up to Date

In 2010, Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz followed Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward by becoming married Cannes winners after the Spaniard's performance as Uxbal in Alejandro González Iñárritu's Biutiful was named best in festival alongside Elio Germano's Claudio in Daniele Luchetti's La nostra vita. Juliette Binoche had the floor to herself, however, having delighted as an unnamed antique dealer in Iranian genius Abbas Kiarostami's teasing study of authenticity, Certified Copy (both 2010).

Kirsten Dunst took the plaudits the following year, as newlywed Justine in Lars von Trier's apocalyptic saga, Melancholia. Cheering things up considerably, Jean Dujardin took the first step towards the Cannes-Oscar double for his silent turn as Hollywood star George Valentin in Michel Hazanavicius's The Artist (both 2011). Dane Mads Mikkelsen was next feted as Lucas, the kindergarten teacher wrongfully accused of abusing a pupil in Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt. Equally sobering was Romanian Cristian Mungiu's Beyond the Hills (both 2012), which earned Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan a share of the Best Actress prize for playing Alina and Voichita, who have very different experiences at an Eastern Orthodox convent.

Having co-starred in her husband's silent comedy, Argentine Bérénice Bejo got her hands on the Best Actress prize for her work as Marie Brisson, a French woman about to be divorced by her Iranian husband in Asghar Farhadi's The Past. By contrast, Bruce Dern excelled as Woody Grant, the elderly Montana man convinced he's won a million dollars on a sweepstake in Alexander Payne's monochrome road movie, Nebraska (both 2013), which went on to draw six Oscar nominations, including Best Actor.

Despite his Cannes triumph, Timothy Spall was overlooked by the Academy for his portrayal of artist Joseph Mallord William Turner in Mike Leigh's biopic Mr Turner. Julianne Moore similarly failed to make the Oscar cut, in spite of being hailed for her turn as fading Hollywood star Havana Segrand in David Cronenberg's dark celebrity satire, Maps to the Stars (both 2014). Moore's co-star would deny her consecutive wins, as Rooney Mara was selected for her display as lesbian shopgirl Therese Belivet in Todd Haynes's adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's Carol. That said, Mara shared the award with Emmanuelle Bercot, who had played abused wife Marie-Antoinette Jézéquel in Maïwenn's trenchant marital drama, Ma Roi (2016).

The 2015 Best Actor recipient was Vincent Lindon for his dignified display as Thierry Taugourdeau, the fiftysomething who ends a lengthy period of unemployment by becoming a supermarket security guard in Stéphane Brizé's The Measure of a Man. Iranian Shabab Hosseini proved equally excellent the following year, as Emad, an actor caught up in a case of mistaken identity in Asghar Farhadi's The Salesman. Unfortunately, it's not possible to see 2016's other winning performance, by Filipino star Jaclyn Jose, as Brilliante Mendoza's Ma' Rosa hasn't been released on disc. The same is true of Sergei Dvortsevoy's Ayka (2018), which earned Samal Yeslyamova the Best Actress prize, as a Kyrgyz woman struggling to find her feet in Moscow.

Access is easier to the 2017 twosome. Joaquin Phoenix was chosen for playing traumatised mercenary Joe in Lynne Ramsay's interpretation of Jonathan Ames's novella, You Were Never Really Here, while Diane Kruger deserved her selection as Katja Sekerci, who mourns the loss of her husband and child in a bomb blast in Fatih Akin's In the Fade. Cinema Paradiso can also offer the 2018 Best Actor performance, which came from the magnificent Marcello Fonte as the owner of a pet-grooming parlour in a rundown Roman suburb in Matteo Garrone's uncompromising fact-based saga, Dogman.

A reunion with Pedro Almodóvar paid dividends for Antonio Banderas, as he received the Best Actor award for his performance as ailing film director Salvador Mallo in Pain and Glory. Banderas would also land an Oscar nomination, but Emily Beecham would have to settle for Cannes acclaim for her work as plant breeder and single mother Alice Woodard in Jessica Hausner's botanical horror, Little Joe (both 2019).

The Coronavirus pandemic meant that there was no festival in 2020. But Cannes returned to brighten a benighted world the following spring, when Renate Reinsve took possession of the Croisette as Julie in Norwegian Joachim Trier's self-explanatory dramedy, The Worst Person in the Worl, which went on to land two Oscar nominations. Joining her on the dais was Caleb Landry Jones, who took the title role in Nitram (both 2021), Justin Kurzel's retelling of the 1996 Port Arthur massacre on the Australian island of Tasmania.

The question now is who will succeed the 2022 winners? Song Kang-ho was victorious for playing Ha Sang-hyeon, the laundry owner who puts babies stolen from the local church up for adoption, in Hirokazu Kore-eda's Broker. Iranian-French actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi was also garlanded for her depiction of Arezoo Rahimi, a journalist investigating the serial slaying of street prostitutes in the sacred city of Mashhad in Copenhagen-based director Ali Abassi's true story, Holy Spider.

One thing is for certain, the 2023 victors will come from the Palme d'or contenders. Nuri Bilge Ceylan (About Dry Grasses), Jessica Hausner (Club Zero), Aki Kaurismäki (Fallen Leaves), Marco Bellocchio (Kidnapped), Todd Haynes (May December), Hirokazu Kore-eda (Monster), and Ken Loach (The Old Oak) have all directed acting winners before. But don't rule out the rest of the field, which is comprised of Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall, Wes Anderson's Asteroid City, Ramata-Toulaye Sy's Banel & Adama, Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire's Black Flies, Nanni Moretti's A Brighter Tomorrow, Alice Rohrwacher's La Chimera, Karim Aïnouz's Firebrand, Kaouther Ben Hania's Four Daughters, Catherine Corsini's Homecoming, Catherine Breillat's Last Summer, Wim Wenders's Perfect Days, Tran Anh Hung's Le Pot-au-feu, Wang Bing's Youth (Spring) , and Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest. And keep checking your favourite disc rental outlet to see when these sure-to-be compelling pictures are released on high-quality DVD, Blu-ray, or 4K.