Academy Award for Best Actress

Nominees are currently determined by single transferable vote within the actors branch of AMPAS; winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy.^[1]

In the first three years of the awards, actors and actresses were nominated as the best individuals in their categories. At that time, all of their work during the qualifying period (as many as three films, in some cases) was listed after the award.^[2] Despite this, at the 3rd Academy Awards, held in 1930, only one film was cited in each winner's award regardless of how many they were eligible to be considered for during that span.^[3] The current system, in which an actress is nominated for a specific performance in a single film, was introduced for the 4th Academy Awards.^[2] Starting with the 9th Academy Awards, held in 1937, the category was limited to a maximum five nominations per year.^[2]

Janet Gaynor was the inaugural winner, for three films: 7th Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1928), and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927).

Mary Pickford won for Coquette (1929).

Norma Shearer won for The Divorcee (1930).

Marie Dressler won for Min and Bill (1930).

Helen Hayes won for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931); first actress to complete the EGOT.

Katharine Hepburn won four times, for: Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), and On Golden Pond (1981).

Claudette Colbert won for It Happened One Night (1934).

Bette Davis won twice, for Dangerous (1935) and Jezebel (1938).

Luise Rainer was the first to win twice consecutively, for The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937).

Vivien Leigh won twice, for Gone with the Wind (1939) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).

Ginger Rogers won for Kitty Foyle (1940).

Joan Fontaine won for Suspicion (1941).

Greer Garson won for Mrs. Miniver (1942).

Jennifer Jones won for The Song of Bernadette (1943).

Ingrid Bergman won twice, for Gaslight (1944) and Anastasia (1956).

Joan Crawford won for Mildred Pierce (1945).

Olivia de Havilland won twice, for To Each His Own (1946) and The Heiress (1949).

Loretta Young won for The Farmer's Daughter (1947).

Jane Wyman won for Johnny Belinda (1948); first winner to utilize ASL.

Judy Holliday won for Born Yesterday (1950).

Shirley Booth won for Come Back, Little Sheba (1952); won Tony for the same role—first actress to accomplish this.

Audrey Hepburn won for Roman Holiday (1953).

Grace Kelly won for The Country Girl (1954).

Anna Magnani won for The Rose Tattoo (1955).

Joanne Woodward won for The Three Faces of Eve (1957).

Susan Hayward won for I Want to Live! (1958).

Simone Signoret won for Room at the Top (1959).

Elizabeth Taylor won twice, for BUtterfield 8 (1960) and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966).

Sophia Loren won for Two Women (1960); first for a non-English (Italian) dialogue role.

Anne Bancroft won for The Miracle Worker (1962).

Patricia Neal won for Hud (1963).

Julie Andrews won for Mary Poppins (1964).

Julie Christie won Darling (1965).

Barbra Streisand won for Funny Girl (1968), in a tie with Katharine Hepburn.

Maggie Smith won for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969).

Glenda Jackson won twice, for Women in Love (1970) and A Touch of Class (1973).

Jane Fonda won twice, for Klute (1971) and Coming Home (1978).

Liza Minnelli won for Cabaret (1972).

Ellen Burstyn won for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974).

Louise Fletcher won for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975).

Faye Dunaway won for Network (1976).

Diane Keaton won for Annie Hall (1977).

Sally Field won twice, for Norma Rae (1979) and Places in the Heart (1984).

Sissy Spacek won for Coal Miner's Daughter (1980).

Meryl Streep won twice, for Sophie's Choice (1982) and The Iron Lady (2011).

Shirley MacLaine won for Terms of Endearment (1983).

Geraldine Page won for The Trip to Bountiful (1985).

Marlee Matlin won for Children of a Lesser God (1986); first deaf, and at age 21, this category's youngest winner.

Cher won for Moonstruck (1987).

Jodie Foster won twice, for The Accused (1988) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).

Jessica Tandy won for Driving Miss Daisy (1989); this category's oldest winner, at age 80.

Kathy Bates won for Misery (1990).

Emma Thompson won for Howards End (1992).

Holly Hunter won for The Piano (1993).

Jessica Lange won for Blue Sky (1994).

Susan Sarandon won for Dead Man Walking (1995).

Frances McDormand won thrice, for Fargo (1996), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), and Nomadland (2020).

Helen Hunt won for As Good as It Gets (1997).

Gwyneth Paltrow won for Shakespeare in Love (1998).

Hilary Swank won twice, for Boys Don't Cry (1999) and Million Dollar Baby (2004).

Julia Roberts won for Erin Brockovich (2000).

Halle Berry won for Monster's Ball (2001); first black winner in this category.

Nicole Kidman won for The Hours (2002).

Charlize Theron won for Monster (2003).

Reese Witherspoon won for Walk the Line (2005).

Helen Mirren won for The Queen (2006).

Marion Cotillard won for La Vie en Rose (2007); first French-language performance winner.

Kate Winslet won for The Reader (2008).

Sandra Bullock won for The Blind Side (2009).

Natalie Portman won for Black Swan (2010).

Jennifer Lawrence won for Silver Linings Playbook (2012).

Cate Blanchett won for Blue Jasmine (2013).

Julianne Moore won for Still Alice (2014).

Brie Larson won for Room (2015).

Emma Stone won twice, for La La Land (2016) and Poor Things (2023).

Olivia Colman won for The Favourite (2018).

Renée Zellweger won for Judy (2019).

Jessica Chastain won for The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021).

Michelle Yeoh won for Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022); first Southeast Asian winner in this category.

In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of film release in Los Angeles County; the ceremonies are always held the following year.^[4] For the first five ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned twelve months, from August 1 to July 31.^[5] For the 6th ceremony held in 1934, the eligibility period lasted from August 1, 1932, to December 31, 1933.^[5] Since the 7th ceremony held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full previous calendar year from January 1 to December 31.^[5]

The following individuals won two or more Academy Awards for Best Actress:

The following individuals received three or more Best Actress nominations:

Winners are in bold.

• All About Eve (1950) – Anne Baxter and Bette Davis
• Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) – Katharine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor
• The Turning Point (1977) – Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine
• Terms of Endearment (1983) – Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger
• Thelma & Louise (1991) – Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon

The following were nominated for their portrayals of the same fictional or non-fictional character in separate films (including variations of the original).

• Billie Holiday from Lady Sings the Blues (Diana Ross, 1972) and The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Andra Day, 2021)
• Josephine "Jo" March from Little Women (Winona Ryder, 1994) and Little Women (Saoirse Ronan, 2019)
• Leslie Crosbie from The Letter (Jeanne Eagels, 1929) and The Letter (Bette Davis, 1940)
• Marilyn Monroe from My Week with Marilyn (Michelle Williams, 2011) and Blonde (Ana de Armas, 2022)
• Queen Elizabeth I from Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett, 1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (Cate Blanchett, 2007)
• Vicki Lester (née Esther (Victoria) Blodgett) from A Star Is Born (Janet Gaynor, 1937) and A Star Is Born (Judy Garland, 1954)
  • Ally Maine (née Campano) from A Star Is Born (Lady Gaga, 2018)

• Academy Award for Best Actor
• All Academy Award acting nominees
• List of actors with more than one Academy Award nomination in the acting categories
• List of actors with two or more Academy Awards in acting categories
• BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
• César Award for Best Actress
• Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical
• Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead
• Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
• List of Academy Award–nominated films