Daniel Day-Lewis won the Oscar for Best Actor for playing Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s 2012 film Lincoln.
Day-Lewis portrayed the American president during the final months of the Civil War, focusing especially on Lincoln’s effort to secure congressional passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. The performance emphasized Lincoln’s voice, physical mannerisms, humor, fatigue, and political persistence rather than presenting him as a purely monumental figure.
The film was adapted from Doris Kearns Goodwin’s 2005 historical book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. Tony Kushner wrote the screenplay, and Spielberg directed the production.
Day-Lewis’s win was his third Academy Award for Best Actor at that time. He had previously won for My Left Foot and There Will Be Blood. Lincoln received 12 Oscar nominations and won two, including Best Actor and Best Production Design.