Best Actor may refer to:

Edward John David "Eddie" Redmayne (born 6 January 1982) is an English actor and model. Redmayne won the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in the West End and Broadway productions of the play Red. He also received the Critics Circle Award for Best Shakespearean Performance for his portrayal of Richard II at London's Donmar Warehouse.

Redmayne was born in London, England. He attended Eton College and studied History of Art at Trinity College, Cambridge, whence he graduated with a 2:1 in 2003.

Redmayne made his professional stage debut for Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in Twelfth Night at the Middle Temple Hall in 2002. He won the award for Outstanding Newcomer at the 50th Evening Standard Theatre Awards (2004) for his performance in Edward Albee's The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, and the award for Best Newcomer at the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards in 2005. Later stage credits include Now or Later by Christopher Shinn at the Royal Court Theatre. The show ran from 3 September to 18 October 2008. In 2009 Redmayne appeared in John Logan's new play Red at the Donmar Warehouse in London, for which he won the 2010 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. He reprised his role in Red at the John Golden Theatre on Broadway in a 15-week run from 11 March to 27 June 2010 and won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play. He portrayed King Richard II in Richard II directed by Michael Grandage at Donmar Warehouse from 6 December 2011 to 4 February 2012.

Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his left-wing political and social activism (including humanitarian work). He is a two-time Academy Award winner for his roles in Mystic River (2003) and Milk (2008), as well as the recipient of a Golden Globe Award for the former and a Screen Actors Guild Award for the latter.

Penn began his acting career in television with a brief appearance in a 1974 episode of Little House on the Prairie, directed by his father Leo Penn. Following his film debut in 1981's Taps and a diverse range of film roles in the 1980s, Penn emerged as a prominent leading actor with the 1995 drama film Dead Man Walking, for which he earned his first Academy Award nomination and the Best Actor Award at the Berlin Film Festival. Penn received another two Oscar nominations for Sweet and Lowdown (1999) and I Am Sam (2001), before winning his first Academy Award for Best Actor in 2003 for Mystic River and a second one in 2008 for Milk. He has also won a Best Actor Award of the Cannes Film Festival for She's So Lovely (1997), and two Best Actor Awards at the Venice Film Festival for Hurlyburly (1998) and 21 Grams (2003).