Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film
The Young Artist Award for Best Performance by a Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film is one of the Young Artist Awards presented annually by the Young Artist Association to recognize a young actor under the age of 21, who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role while working within the film industry. In its early years, the award was also known as the Youth in Film Award for Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture, as well as by numerous other variations to its title over the years, however, the spirit of the award has remained essentially the same since its inception. Winners are selected by secret ballot of the 125 members of the Young Artist Association as well as former Youth in Film Award/Young Artist Award winners.
History
Throughout the past 34 years, accounting for ties, category splits, and repeat winners, the Young Artist Association has presented a total of 43 "Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film" awards to 40 different actors. Winners of the award receive the traditional Young Artist Award statuette; a gilded figure of a man displaying a star above its head, reminiscent of a miniature child-sized Oscar. The first recipient was Dennis Christopher, who was honored at the 1st Youth in Film Awards ceremony for his performance in Breaking Away. The most recent recipient was Tom Holland, who was honored at the 34th Young Artist Awards ceremony for his performance in The Impossible.Throughout the history of the award, the "Best Young Actor in a Feature Film" category has been "split" several times. Until the 3rd Youth in Film Awards ceremony, nominations for the "Best Young Actor in a Feature Film" award included all actors, regardless of whether the performance could be perceived to be in either a leading or supporting role. At the 4th Youth in Film Awards ceremony, however, the "Best Supporting Young Actor in a Feature Film" category was specifically introduced as a separate award.
In the late 1980s, the category was split for three ceremonies; the 9th Youth In Film Awards ceremony, the 10th Youth in Film Awards ceremony, and the 15th Youth in Film Awards ceremony. During these three years, the Young Artist Association split the category into a total of four sub-categories; "Best Young Male Superstar in a Motion Picture", "Best Young Actor in a Motion Picture: Drama", "Best Young Actor in a Motion Picture: Comedy or Fantasy", and "Best Young Actor in a Motion Picture: Horror or Mystery". However, the association would once again "merge" these various sub-categories back together after the 15th Youth in Film Awards.
Beginning with the 14th Youth in Film Awards, the association once again split the category, this time creating a new category to recognize young film actors age 10 and under in their own separate category. The "Best Young Actor Age 10 and Under in a Feature Film" category would become a permanent fixture of the Young Artist Awards and, as of 2012, is still awarded annually. Despite the creation of the "10 and Under" category, some "leading" young actors under the age of 10 have continued to be nominated as "Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film".
Superlatives
Although today the Young Artist Association has strict age requirements regarding which nominees are eligible for a Young Artist Award nomination, the association did not originally have such specific age restrictions. Today, candidates eligible for a Young Artist Award nomination must be between the ages of 5 and 21 at the time of principal production of the project for which they are nominated. However, the eldest winner of the "Best Young Actor in a Feature Film" award is Dennis Christopher, who was 23 years old the night he won for his performance in Breaking Away at the 1st Youth in Film Awards ceremony. The youngest winner of a "Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film" award is Mason Gamble, who was 8 years old the night he won for his performance in Dennis the Menace at the 15th Youth in Film Awards ceremony.The following list of superlatives is of winners/nominees in the "Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film" category. Wins/nominations in other Young Artist Award feature film categories, such as "Best Supporting Young Actor in a Feature Film", "Best Young Actor Age 10 and Under in a Feature Film", and "Best Leading Young Actor in an International Feature Film", are not included.
Superlative winners/nominees are listed alphabetically.
| Superlative | Actor | Wins | Nominations |
| Actors with most "Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film" wins | Sean Astin | 2 wins | 2 nominations |
| Actors with most "Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film" wins | Corey Feldman | 2 wins | 2 nominations |
| Actors with most "Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film" wins | Josh Hutcherson | 2 wins | 4 nominations |
| Actors with most "Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film" nominations | Josh Hutcherson | 2 wins | 4 nominations |
| Actors with most "Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film" nominations | Haley Joel Osment | 1 win | 4 nominations |
| Actors with most "Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film" nominations | Elijah Wood | 1 win | 4 nominations |
| Actor with most "Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film" nominations | Freddie Highmore | 0 wins | 4 nominations |
Winners and nominees
For the first twenty-three ceremonies, due to the numerous "Television" awards also presented by the Young Artist Association, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years to recognize the traditional television season. For example, the 1st Youth in Film Awards, presented in October 1979, recognized performers who appeared on television shows and in feature films that were released between September 1, 1978 and August 31, 1979. Starting with the 24th Young Artist Awards, presented in March 2003, the period of eligibility became the full previous calendar year, from January 1 to December 31, similar to the eligibility requirement used by the Academy Awards.Following the Young Artist Association's practice, the films below are listed by year of their qualifying run, which is the year the film was released in the United States, and not by the date of the ceremony, which has traditionally taken place the following calendar year beginning with the 10th Youth in Film Awards ceremony which recognized performances during the 1987/1988 season and took place in 1989.
★ Winners are listed first and highlighted in gold, followed by the other nominees in the category for that year.