| British Academy Video Games Award for Performer in a Leading Role | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Best performance in a game |
| Presented by | BAFTA |
| First awarded | 2020 |
| Currently held by | Nadji Jeter |
| Most nominations | Laura Bailey |
| Website | www |
The British Academy Video Games Award for Performer in a Leading Role is an award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) in honour of the best leading performance featured in a game "from voice artistry through to motion capture".[1]
BAFTA has honoured video game performances since the 8th British Academy Video Games Awards ceremony in 2012, with Mark Hamill winning the inaugural award for his performance as the Joker in Batman: Arkham City.[2] From 2012 to 2019, performers in both leading and supporting roles were considered together in the merged category of British Academy Games Award for Performer but, as of the 16th British Academy Games Awards, during a reconfiguration of categories, BAFTA announced that the Performer award would be split into both Leading and Supporting categories.[3]
The inaugural winner in the Leading category was Gonzalo Martin for his role as Sean Diaz in Dontnod Entertainment's Life Is Strange 2.[4] Laura Bailey has received the most nominations with two, one for her role as Kait Diaz in Gears 5 and one for her portrayal of Abby in The Last of Us Part II, which she won.
The current holder of the award is Nadji Jeter for his role as Miles Morales in Spider-Man 2, who won at the 20th British Academy Games Awards in 2024.