Type State Instituted 1969 First awardee(s) Sathyan
(Kadalpalam) First awarded 1969 Total awarded 50 | Category Malayalam cinema Last awarded 2016 Established 1969 Cash award 100,000 INR | |
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Description Best performance by an actor in a leading role Awarded by Kerala State Chalachitra Academy People also search for Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress | ||
The Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor is an honour, begun in 1969, presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India to an actor for the best performance in a leading role in the Malayalam cinema. Until 1997, the awards were managed directly by the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Government of Kerala. Since 1998, the awards have been controlled by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, an autonomous, non-profit institution functioning under the Department of Cultural Affairs. The awardees are decided by an independent jury constituted every year by the Academy. They are announced by the Minister for Cinema and are presented by the Chief Minister.
Throughout the years, accounting for ties and repeat winners, the Government of Kerala has presented a total of 50 Best Actor awards to 28 different actors. The recipients receive a figurine, a certificate, and a cash prize of ₹100,000 (US$1,500). Several actors have won the honour for more than one film in a given year. As of 2016, the only actor to have won the prize in consecutive years is Bharath Gopi (1982, 1983).
The first Kerala State film Awards ceremony was held in 1970 with Sathyan receiving the award for Kadalpalam (1969). In 1981, Nedumudi Venu received the honour for his performance in various films released that year. As of 2016, Mohanlal is the most honoured actor with six awards, followed by Mammootty with five. Two actors—Bharath Gopi and Murali—have won the award four times. Prithviraj Sukumaran is the youngest recipient at age 24 for Vaasthavam (2006); he replaced Mohanlal, who held this distinction for twenty years from 1986. There were two years when there was a tie for the winner—Fahadh Faasil and Lal shared the honour in 2013 and Nivin Pauly and Sudev Nair in 2014. Vinayakan is the most recent winner in this category for his role in Kammatipaadam (2016).