Who is considered the greatest actor in American film by the American Film Institute?

Part of the AFI 100 Years... series, AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars is a list of the top 50 greatest screen legends in American film history, which included 25 male and 25 female stars. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute on June 15, 1999, in a CBS special hosted by Shirley Temple, with 50 current actors making the presentations.

The American Film Institute defined an "American screen legend" as an actor or a team of actors during the classic film era with a significant screen presence in American feature-length (40 min) films whose screen debut occurred in or before 1950, or whose screen debut occurred after 1950 but whose death has marked a completed body of work.

The top stars of their respective sexes are Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. They starred together in the classic adventure film The African Queen, for which Bogart won his only Oscar.

All actors and actresses are from the "Golden era of Hollywood" film production. As of 2016, only Kirk Douglas, Sidney Poitier and Sophia Loren are still living.