List of Big Four film critics awards

This is a list of the winners of awards from the four most prestigious American film critics associations, the so-called "Big Four":

• New York Film Critics' Circle (NYFCC)
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA)
• National Society of Film Critics (NSFC)
• National Board of Review (NBR)

Best Film

Best Director

Best Actor

Best Actress

Best Supporting Actor

Best Supporting Actress

Best Screenplay

National Board of Review for Best Screenplay began in 1998.

Best Documentary or Non-fiction Film

Incomplete winners with three

These films won three out of four awards from the "Big Four" American film critics.

Best Film

Best Director

Best Actor

Best Actress

Best Supporting Actor

Best Supporting Actress

Best Screenplay

Best Foreign Language Film

Best Documentary / Non-fiction Film

Best Cinematography

The National Board of Review Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography was introduced in 2019, won by Roger Deakins for 1917.

Three critics' awards

Awards in the categories of Best Animated Film, Best Cinematography, and Best Screenplay are each only awarded by three of the four groups.

Best Animated Film

This lists the winners of all three of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Animated Film, National Board of Review Award for Best Animated Film, and New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Animated Film. In 2000, the National Board of Review Award for Best Animated Film was announced, won that year by Chicken Run from Aardman Animations. National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Animated Film has yet to be introduced.

Spirited Away (2002), The Incredibles (2004) and Flow (2024) are the only three animated films to have won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Best Cinematography (formerly)

This lists the winners of all three of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography, National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography, and New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cinematography from 1980 to 2018. The National Board of Review Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography was introduced in 2019.

Best Screenplay (formerly)

This lists the winners of all three of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay, National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay, and New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay from 1980 to 2018. The National Board of Review Award for Best Original and Adapted Screenplays were introduced in 2000 and 2002, respectively.

Milestone

Only three films have won all four, all based on novels: Schindler's List, L.A. Confidential, and The Social Network. Schindler's List is the only film also to have won the Academy Award for Best Picture, in addition of Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Producers Guild of America Award; all those for Best Picture category except the Critics' Choice.

Only nine people have won all four and of the three most prestigious annual awards (Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA) for a single film: Emma Thompson (1992's Howards End), Holly Hunter (1993's The Piano), Quentin Tarantino (1994's Pulp Fiction), Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor (2004's Sideways), Forest Whitaker (2006's The Last King of Scotland), Helen Mirren (2006's The Queen), Da'Vine Joy Randolph (2023's The Holdovers), and Kieran Culkin (2024's A Real Pain); Whitaker, Mirren, Culkin, Randolph, Payne and Taylor are the only people in respective categories to swept all major award ceremonies in each, including Critic's Choice and Guild Awards.

Steven Soderbergh is the only director to have won all four while receiving the Academy Award for Best Director nominations in two films, Erin Brockovich and Traffic, which the latter won.

Man on Wire, for those one of six films have swept the critics' awards, is the only documentary film to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Goodfellas, Schindler's List, L. A. Confidential, The Hurt Locker, The Social Network, Drive My Car, and Tár are the seven films in history selected the Best Film by the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the National Society of Film Critics, named as such from the nation's top critics' groups, the so-called "trifecta". Schindler's List and The Hurt Locker are also won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Drive My Car became the first Japanese and non-English-language film to be also selected.

See also

• Trifecta (film awards)
• Big Four (American film guilds awards)
• List of Big Five Academy Award winners and nominees

Notes

• ≈ Oscar winner
• ≠ Oscar nominee