Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film

Winners and nominees

1990s

Year	Winners and nominees	Film or Series	Role
1996	Alan Rickman	Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny	Grigori Rasputin
	Beau Bridges	Hidden in America	Bill Januson
	Ted Danson	Gulliver's Travels	Lemuel Gulliver
	Eric Roberts	In Cold Blood	Perry Smith
	James Woods	The Summer of Ben Tyler	Temple Rayburn
1997	Gary Sinise	George Wallace	George C. Wallace
	Armand Assante	The Odyssey	Odysseus
	Gabriel Byrne	Weapons of Mass Distraction	Lionel Powers
	Sidney Poitier	Mandela and de Klerk	Nelson Mandela
	Ving Rhames	Don King: Only in America	Don King
1998	Delroy Lindo	Glory & Honor	Mathew Henson
	Cary Elwes	The Pentagon Wars	Lt. Colonel James Burton
	Laurence Fishburne	Always Outnumbered	Socrates Fortlow
	Kevin Pollak	From the Earth to the Moon	Joseph Francis Shea
	Patrick Stewart	Moby Dick	Captain Ahab
1999	William H. Macy	A Slight Case of Murder	Terry Thorpe
	Beau Bridges	P. T. Barnum	P. T. Barnum
	Don Cheadle	A Lesson Before Dying	Grant Wiggins
	Delroy Lindo	Strange Justice	Clarence Thomas
	Brent Spiner	Introducing Dorothy Dandridge	Earl Mills

2000s

Year	Winners and nominees	Film or Series	Role
2000	James Woods	Dirty Pictures	Dennis Barrie
	Andy García	For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story	Arturo Sandoval
	Louis Gossett, Jr.	The Color of Love: Jacey's Story	Lou Hastings
	Bob Hoskins	Noriega: God's Favorite	Manuel Noriega
	Matthew Modine	Flowers for Algernon	Charlie Gordon
2001	Richard Dreyfuss	The Day Reagan Was Shot	Alexander Haig
	William Hurt	Varian's War	Varian Fry
	Ben Kingsley	Anne Frank: The Whole Story	Otto Frank
	Damian Lewis	Band of Brothers	Major Richard "Dick" Winters
	Jeffrey Wright	Boycott	Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
2002	William H. Macy	Door to Door	Bill Porter
	Ted Danson	Living with the Dead	James Van Praagh
	Albert Finney	The Gathering Storm	Winston Churchill
	Harry J. Lennix	Keep the Faith, Baby	Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
	Patrick Stewart	King of Texas	John Lear
2003	James Woods	Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story	Rudy Giuliani
	Robert Carlyle	Hitler: The Rise of Evil	Adolf Hitler
	Troy Garity	Soldier's Girl	Barry Winchell
	Lee Pace	Soldier's Girl	Scottie / Calpernia Addams
	Al Pacino	Angels in America	Roy Cohn
	Tom Wilkinson	Normal	Roy Applewood
2004	Jamie Foxx	Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story	Stan "Tookie" Williams
	Keith Carradine	Deadwood	Wild Bill Hickok
	Mos Def	Something the Lord Made	Vivien Thomas
	Alan Rickman	Something the Lord Made	Dr. Alfred Blalock
	Geoffrey Rush	The Life and Death of Peter Sellers	Peter Sellers
2005	Jonathan Rhys Meyers	Elvis	Elvis Presley
	Ted Danson	Our Fathers	Mitchell Garabedian
	Kenneth Branagh	Warm Springs	Franklin D. Roosevelt
	Ed Harris	Empire Falls	Miles Roby
	Christian Campbell	Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical	Jimmy Harper
	Rupert Everett	Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking	Sherlock Holmes
2006	Bill Nighy	Gideon's Daughter	Gideon Warner
	Andre Braugher	Thief	Nick Atwater
	Charles Dance	Bleak House	Mr. Tulkinghorn
	Hugh Dancy	Elizabeth I	Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex
	Ben Kingsley	Mrs. Harris	Herman Tarnower
2007	David Oyelowo	Five Days	Matt Wellings
	Jim Broadbent	Longford	Frank Pakenham, Earl of Longford
	Robert Lindsay	The Trial of Tony Blair	Tony Blair
	Aidan Quinn	Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee	Henry L. Dawes
	Tom Selleck	Jesse Stone: Sea Change	Det. Jesse Stone
	Toby Stephens	Jane Eyre	Edward Fairfax Rochester
2008	Paul Giamatti	John Adams	John Adams
	Benedict Cumberbatch	The Last Enemy	Stephen Ezard
	Ralph Fiennes	Bernard and Doris	Bernard Lafferty
	Stellan Skarsgård	God on Trial	Baumgarten
	Kevin Spacey	Recount	Ron Klain
	Tom Wilkinson	Recount	James Baker
2009	Brendan Gleeson	Into the Storm	Winston Churchill
	Kevin Bacon	Taking Chance	Michael Strobl
	Kenneth Branagh	Wallander	Kurt Wallander
	William Hurt	Endgame	Will Esterhuyse
	Jeremy Irons	Georgia O'Keeffe	Alfred Stieglitz
	Ian McKellen	The Prisoner	Number Two / Curtis

2010s

Year	Winners and nominees	Film or Series	Role
2010	Al Pacino	You Don't Know Jack	Dr. Jack Kevorkian
	Benedict Cumberbatch	Sherlock	Sherlock Holmes
	Idris Elba	Luther	Det. John Luther
	Ian McShane	The Pillars of the Earth	Waleran Bigod
	Barry Pepper	When Love Is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story	Bill Wilson
	Dennis Quaid	The Special Relationship	Bill Clinton
	David Suchet	Agatha Christie's Poirot: Murder on the Orient Express	Hercule Poirot
2011	Jason Isaacs	Case Histories	Jackson Brodie
	Hugh Bonneville	Downton Abbey	Robert Crawly, Earl of Grantham
	Idris Elba	Luther	Det. John Luther
	Laurence Fishburne	Thurgood	Thurgood Marshall
	William Hurt	Too Big to Fail	Henry Paulson
	Bill Nighy	Page Eight	Johnny Worricker
2012	Benedict Cumberbatch	Sherlock	Sherlock Holmes
	Kenneth Branagh	Wallander	Kurt Wallander
	Kevin Costner	Hatfields & McCoys	Devil Anse Hatfield
	Idris Elba	Luther	Det. John Luther
	Woody Harrelson	Game Change	Steve Schmidt
	Clive Owen	Hemingway & Gellhorn	Ernest Hemingway
2013	Michael Douglas	Behind the Candelabra	Liberace
	Matt Damon	Behind the Candelabra	Scott Thorson
	Benedict Cumberbatch	Parade's End	Christopher Tietjens
	Chiwetel Ejiofor	Dancing on the Edge	Louis Lester
	Matthew Goode		Stanley Mitchell
	Peter Mullan	Top of the Lake	Matt Mitcham
	Al Pacino	Phil Spector	Phil Spector
	Dominic West	Burton & Taylor	Richard Burton
2014	Mark Ruffalo	The Normal Heart	Ned Weeks
	Dominic Cooper	Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond	Ian Fleming
	Richard Jenkins	Olive Kitteridge	Henry Kitteridge
	Stephen Rea	The Honourable Woman	Sir Hugh Hayden-Hoyle
	David Suchet	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Hercule Poirot
	Kiefer Sutherland	24: Live Another Day	Jack Bauer
2015	Mark Rylance	Wolf Hall	Thomas Cromwell
	Martin Clunes	Arthur & George	Arthur Conan Doyle
	Michael Gambon	The Casual Vacancy	Howard Mollison
	Oscar Isaac	Show Me a Hero	Nick Wasicsko
	Damian Lewis	Wolf Hall	Henry VIII of England
	Ben Mendelsohn	Bloodline	Danny Rayburn
	David Oyelowo	Nightingale	Peter Snowden
2016	Bryan Cranston	All the Way	Lyndon B. Johnson
	Cuba Gooding Jr.	The People v. O.J. Simpson	O.J. Simpson
	Tom Hiddleston	The Night Manager	Jonathan Pine
	Anthony Hopkins	The Dresser	Sir
	Wendell Pierce	Confirmation	Clarence Thomas
	Courtney B. Vance	The People v. O.J. Simpson	Johnnie Cochran