The only two actors to have won three consecutive Bafta Awards
As the most esteemed ceremony on the United Kingdom’s awards season calendar, winning a Bafta is a special achievement for homegrown talent. Doing it more than once isn’t entirely unheard of, but achieving consecutive victories becomes even rarer still.
In fact, only four actors in the history of the Baftas, dating back to its inception in 1949, have been rewarded with three consecutive victories for their on-screen achievement, and in a further indication of the franchise’s seismic impact on British cinema, three of them were recurring fixtures of Harry Potter.
Ironically, though, the first person to achieve it hasn’t set foot in the Wizarding World unless hosting a quiz series, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses, counts. In 1991, 1992, and 1993, Helen Mirren scooped the ‘Television Award for Best Actress’ for starring as Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect and secured further nominations for the next three series as well.
Robbie Coltrane was the second, and his own run kicked off the year after Mirren had completed her own hat-trick. In 1994, 1995, and 1996, his role as Fitz in the acclaimed procedural Cracker nabbed him back-to-back-to-back statues, the latter of which marked his last-ever time being nominated for a Bafta despite the regular presence he would continue to be on-screen in the ensuing decades.
It would be a decade and a half before the three-peat club welcomed in a new member, although Michael Gambon had yet to replace Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter saga when he gained ‘Television Award for Best Actor’ for Wives and Daughters, Longitude, and Perfect Strangers in 2000, 2001, and 2002, which additionally made him not only the first to ever win consecutive Baftas for three different productions, but the first – and still only – four-time winner in that category’s history.
Julie Walters rounded out the quartet in 2002, 2003, and 2004 to follow hot on Gambon’s heels after emerging victorious thanks to her phenomenal performances in My Beautiful Son, Murder, and The Canterbury Tales. Based on history, then, the quickest way to make history at the Baftas looks to be a connection to Harry Potter in one way or another.
Even when it extends to film, no on-camera performer has won more than five Baftas. Alongside Peter Finch and Judi Dench, the third member of that exclusive trio is Maggie Smith, tying yet another one of the ceremony’s all time records directly to J.K. Rowling’s literary creation.
No feature director has ever won more than two, either, and Prisoner of Azkaban helmer Alfonso Cuarón is among that number. Essentially, whenever records are made or broken at the Baftas, there’s a distinct possibility somebody associated with Harry Potter will find a way to be involved.
