ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS

'The Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role' is one of the awards given to actresses working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. The winners are chosen by the Academy membership as a whole. Following the Academy's practice, the films below are listed by release year: for example, the Oscar for "Best Actress in 1999" was announced during the award ceremony held in 2000. Winners are listed first, followed by the other nominees.
In the first three years the awards existed, individuals such as actors, directors and cinematographers were nominated as the best in their category and then all of their work during the qualifying period (as many as three films in some cases) was listed after the award. However, for the 1929/30 awards, though each of the acting winners had had two films following their name on the ballots, only one of those films was cited in each winner's final award. The next year, this unwieldy and confusing system was replaced by the modern system in which an actor or other crew member is nominated for a single specific film.
Katharine Hepburn, with four wins, has more Best Actress Awards than any other actress. Eleven women have won two Best Actress Awards; in chronological order, they are Luise Rainer, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Vivien Leigh, Ingrid Bergman, Elizabeth Taylor, Glenda Jackson, Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Jodie Foster, and Hilary Swank.
Only two actresses have won this award in consecutive years: Luise Rainer (1936 and 1937) and Katharine Hepburn (1967 and 1968).
Katharine Hepburn holds the record in the Best Actress category with 12 nominations. Meryl Streep has been nominated 11 times for Best Actress as well as 3 times for Best Supporting Actress, which makes her the overall most nominated actress.
There has been only one tie in the history of this category. This occurred in 1968 when Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand were both given the award. Unlike the earlier 1932 "tie" for Best Actor, however, Hepburn and Streisand each received the exact same number of votes.
Only twice have siblings have been nominated for the Best Actress award during the same year: Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine in 1941; and Lynn Redgrave and Vanessa Redgrave in 1966.
Only two pairs of actresses have been nominated for Best Actress for the same role: Jeanne Eagels and Bette Davis as Leslie Crosby in ''The Letter'' (1929 and 1940), and Janet Gaynor and Judy Garland as Vicki Lester in ''A Star is Born'' (1937 and 1954). Judi Dench and Kate Winslet were both nominated for their portrayals of Iris Murdoch at different ages in 2001's ''Iris'', Winslet in the Best Supporting Actress category, and Winslet and Gloria Stuart were both nominated for their portrayals of Rose DeWitt Bukater in "Titanic", Stuart in the Best Supporting Actress category. The 1998 awards presented the unique case of actresses being nominated in the same year for the same role in ''different'' films, with Cate Blanchett being nominated for Best Actress and Judi Dench for Best Supporting Actress as Queen Elizabeth I in ''Elizabeth'' and ''Shakespeare in Love'' respectively.
Kate Winslet is the youngest actress to be nominated for five Academy Awards.
Halle Berry, who won in 2002 for her role in ''Monster's Ball'', is the only African-American winner of the Best Actress award. Only six other African-American actresses have been nominated: Dorothy Dandridge, Diana Ross, Cicely Tyson, Diahann Carroll, Whoopi Goldberg, and Angela Bassett. In addition, only three Hispanic actresses have been nominated for the Best Actress award: Salma Hayek, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and Penélope Cruz.
Helen Hayes, Ingrid Bergman, Maggie Smith, Meryl Streep, and Jessica Lange have each won both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress awards.
No Best Actress winning or nominated performance is lost, although ''Sadie Thompson'' (1928) is incomplete and missing portions have been reconstructed with stills.

Contents

Superlatives

1920s

1930s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Superlatives

'Category'	'Name'	'Superlative'	'Year'	'Notes'
Most Awards	Katharine Hepburn	4 awards	1981	Awards resulted from 12 nominations.
Most Nominations	Meryl Streep	14 nominations	2007	Nominations resulted in 2 awards.
Oldest Winner	Jessica Tandy	80 years old	1989	''Driving Miss Daisy''
Oldest Nominee	Jessica Tandy	80 years old	1989	''Driving Miss Daisy''
Youngest Winner	Marlee Matlin	21 years old	1986	''Children of a Lesser God''
Youngest Nominee	Keisha Castle-Hughes	13 years old	2003	''Whale Rider''

1920s

★ '1928 Janet Gaynor - ''Seventh Heaven''' as '"Diane"', '''Street Angel''' as '"Angela"', and '''Sunrise''' as '"The Wife (Indre)"'

★
★ Louise Dresser - ''A Ship Comes In'' as "Mrs. Pleznik"

★
★ Gloria Swanson - ''Sadie Thompson'' as "Sadie Thompson"

★ '1929 Mary Pickford - ''Coquette''' as '"Norma Besant"'

★
★ Ruth Chatterton - ''Madame X'' as "Jacqueline Floriot"

★
★ Betty Compson - ''The Barker'' as "Carrie"

★
★ Jeanne Eagels - ''The Letter'' as "Leslie Crosby"

★
★ Corinne Griffith - ''The Divine Lady'' as "Emma Hamilton"

★
★ Bessie Love - ''The Broadway Melody'' as "Hank Mahoney"

1930s

★ '1930 Norma Shearer - ''The Divorcee''' as '"Jerry Bernard Martin"'

★
★ Nancy Carroll - ''The Devil's Holiday'' as "Hallie Hobart"

★
★ Ruth Chatterton - ''Sarah and Son'' as "Sarah Storm"

★
★ Greta Garbo - ''Anna Christie'' as "Anna Christie" and ''Romance'' as "Madame Rita Cavallini"

★
★ Norma Shearer - ''Their Own Desire'' as "Lucia 'Liz' Marlett"

★
★ Gloria Swanson - ''The Trespasser'' as "Marion Donnell"

★ '1931 Marie Dressler - ''Min and Bill''' as '"Min Divot"'

★
★ Marlene Dietrich - ''Morocco'' as "Mademoiselle Amy Jolly"

★
★ Irene Dunne - ''Cimarron'' as "Sabra Cravat"

★
★ Ann Harding - ''Holiday'' as "Linda Seton"

★
★ Norma Shearer - ''A Free Soul'' as "Jan Ashe"

★ '1932 Helen Hayes - ''The Sin of Madelon Claudet''' as '"Madelon Claudet"'

★
★ Marie Dressler - ''Emma'' as "Emma Thatcher Smith"

★
★ Lynn Fontanne - ''The Guardsman'' as "The Actress"

★ '1933 Katharine Hepburn - ''Morning Glory''' as '"Eva Lovelace"'

★
★ May Robson - ''Lady for a Day'' as "Apple Annie"

★
★ Diana Wynyard - ''Cavalcade'' as "Jane Marryot"

★ '1934 Claudette Colbert - ''It Happened One Night''' as '"Ellie Andrews"'

★
★ Grace Moore - ''One Night of Love'' as "Mary Barrett"

★
★ Norma Shearer - ''The Barretts of Wimpole Street'' as "Elizabeth Barrett"

★ '1935 Bette Davis - ''Dangerous''' as '"Joyce Heath"'

★
★ Elisabeth Bergner - ''Escape Me Never'' as "Gemma Jones"

★
★ Claudette Colbert - ''Private Worlds'' as "Dr. Jane Everest"

★
★ Katharine Hepburn - ''Alice Adams'' as "Alice Adams"

★
★ Miriam Hopkins - ''Becky Sharp'' as "Becky Sharp"

★
★ Merle Oberon - ''The Dark Angel'' as "Kitty Vane"

★ '1936 Luise Rainer - ''The Great Ziegfeld''' as '"Anna Held"'

★
★ Irene Dunne - ''Theodora Goes Wild'' as "Theodora Lynn"

★
★ Gladys George - ''Valiant Is the Word for Carrie'' as "Carrie Snyder"

★
★ Carole Lombard - ''My Man Godfrey'' as "Irene Bullock"

★
★ Norma Shearer - ''Romeo and Juliet'' as "Juliet Capulet"

★ '1937 Luise Rainer - ''The Good Earth''' as '"O-Lan Lung"'

★
★ Irene Dunne - ''The Awful Truth'' as "Lucy Warriner"

★
★ Greta Garbo - ''Camille'' as "Marguerite Gautier"

★
★ Janet Gaynor - ''A Star Is Born'' as "Esther Victoria Blodgett, aka Vicki Lester"

★
★ Barbara Stanwyck - ''Stella Dallas'' as "Stella Dallas"

★ '1938 Bette Davis - ''Jezebel''' as '"Julie Marsden"'

★
★ Fay Bainter - ''White Banners'' as "Hannah Parmalee"

★
★ Wendy Hiller - ''Pygmalion'' as "Eliza Doolittle"

★
★ Norma Shearer - ''Marie Antoinette'' as "Marie Antoinette"

★
★ Margaret Sullavan - ''Three Comrades'' as "Patricia 'Pat' Hollmann"

★ '1939 Vivien Leigh - ''Gone with the Wind''' as '"Scarlett O'Hara"'

★
★ Bette Davis - ''Dark Victory'' as "Judith Traherne"

★
★ Irene Dunne - ''Love Affair'' as "Terry McKay"

★
★ Greta Garbo - ''Ninotchka'' as "Nina Ivanovna Yakushova, aka Ninotchka"

★
★ Greer Garson - ''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' as "Kathy Ellis"
==1940s==

★ '1940 Ginger Rogers - ''Kitty Foyle''' as '"Katherine 'Kitty' Foyle"'

★
★ Bette Davis - ''The Letter'' as "Leslie Crosbie"

★
★ Joan Fontaine - ''Rebecca'' as "The Second Mrs. de Winter"

★
★ Katharine Hepburn - ''The Philadelphia Story'' as "Tracy Lord"

★
★ Martha Scott - ''Our Town'' as "Emily Webb"

★ '1941 Joan Fontaine - ''Suspicion''' as '"Lina McLaidlaw Aysgarth"'

★
★ Bette Davis - ''The Little Foxes'' as "Regina Giddens"

★
★ Olivia de Havilland - ''Hold Back the Dawn'' as "Emmy Brown"

★
★ Greer Garson - ''Blossoms in the Dust'' as "Edna Kahly Gladney"

★
★ Barbara Stanwyck - ''Ball of Fire'' as "Katherine 'Sugarpuss' O'Shea"

★ '1942 Greer Garson - ''Mrs. Miniver''' as '"Kay Miniver"'

★
★ Bette Davis - ''Now, Voyager'' as "Charlotte Vale"

★
★ Katharine Hepburn - ''Woman of the Year'' as "Tess Harding"

★
★ Rosalind Russell - ''My Sister Eileen'' as "Ruth Sherwood"

★
★ Teresa Wright - ''The Pride of the Yankees'' as "Eleanor Twitchell"

★ '1943 Jennifer Jones - ''The Song of Bernadette''' as '"Bernadette Soubirous"'

★
★ Jean Arthur - ''The More the Merrier'' as "Constance 'Connie' Milligan"

★
★ Ingrid Bergman - ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' as "Maria"

★
★ Joan Fontaine - ''The Constant Nymph'' as "Tessa Sanger"

★
★ Greer Garson - ''Madame Curie'' as "Marie Curie"

★ '1944 Ingrid Bergman - ''Gaslight''' as '"Paula Alquist Anton"'

★
★ Claudette Colbert - ''Since You Went Away'' as "Mrs. Anne Hilton"

★
★ Bette Davis - ''Mr. Skeffington'' as "Fanny Trellis"

★
★ Greer Garson - ''Mrs. Parkington'' as "Susie 'Sarah' Parkington"

★
★ Barbara Stanwyck - ''Double Indemnity'' as "Phyllis Dietrichson"

★ '1945 Joan Crawford - ''Mildred Pierce''' as '"Mildred Pierce"'

★
★ Ingrid Bergman - ''The Bells of St. Mary's'' as "Sister Mary Benedict"

★
★ Greer Garson - ''The Valley of Decision'' as "Mary Rafferty"

★
★ Jennifer Jones - ''Love Letters'' as "Singleton/Victoria Morland"

★
★ Gene Tierney - ''Leave Her to Heaven'' as "Ellen Berent Harland"

★ '1946 Olivia de Havilland - ''To Each His Own''' as '"Josephine Norris"'

★
★ Celia Johnson - ''Brief Encounter'' as "Laura Jesson"

★
★ Jennifer Jones - ''Duel in the Sun'' as "Pearl Chavez"

★
★ Rosalind Russell - ''Sister Kenny'' as "Sister Elizabeth Kenny"

★
★ Jane Wyman - ''The Yearling'' as "Ora Baxter"

★ '1947 Loretta Young - ''The Farmer's Daughter''' as '"Katrin Holstrom"'

★
★ Joan Crawford - ''Possessed'' as "Louise Howell Graham"

★
★ Susan Hayward - ''Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman'' as "Angelica 'Angie'/'Angel' Evans Conway"

★
★ Dorothy McGuire - ''Gentleman's Agreement'' as "Kathy Lacey"

★
★ Rosalind Russell - ''Mourning Becomes Electra'' as "Lavinia Mannon"

★ '1948 Jane Wyman - ''Johnny Belinda''' as '"Belinda McDonald"'

★
★ Ingrid Bergman - ''Joan of Arc'' as Joan of Arc

★
★ Olivia de Havilland - ''The Snake Pit'' as "Virginia Stuart Cunningham"

★
★ Irene Dunne - ''I Remember Mama'' as "Martha Hanson"

★
★ Barbara Stanwyck - ''Sorry, Wrong Number'' as "Leona Stevenson"

★ '1949 Olivia de Havilland - ''The Heiress''' as '"Catherine Sloper"'

★
★ Jeanne Crain - ''Pinky'' as "Patricia 'Pinky' Johnson"

★
★ Susan Hayward - ''My Foolish Heart'' as "Eloise Winters"

★
★ Deborah Kerr - ''Edward, My Son'' as "Evelyn Boult"

★
★ Loretta Young - ''Come to the Stable'' as "Sister Margaret"
==1950s==

★ '1950 Judy Holliday - ''Born Yesterday''' as '"Emma 'Billie' Dawn"'

★
★ Anne Baxter - ''All About Eve'' as "Eve Harrington"

★
★ Bette Davis - ''All About Eve'' as "Margo Channing"

★
★ Eleanor Parker - ''Caged'' as "Marie Allen"

★
★ Gloria Swanson - ''Sunset Boulevard'' as "Norma Desmond"

★ '1951 Vivien Leigh - ''A Streetcar Named Desire''' as '"Blanche DuBois"'

★
★ Katharine Hepburn - ''The African Queen'' as "Rose Sayer"

★
★ Eleanor Parker - ''Detective Story'' as "Mary McLeod"

★
★ Shelley Winters - ''A Place in the Sun'' as "Alice Tripp"

★
★ Jane Wyman - ''The Blue Veil'' as "Louise Mason"

★ '1952 Shirley Booth - ''Come Back, Little Sheba''' as '"Lola Delaney"'

★
★ Joan Crawford - ''Sudden Fear'' as "Myra Hudson"

★
★ Bette Davis - ''The Star'' as "Margaret Elliot"

★
★ Julie Harris - ''The Member of the Wedding'' as "Frankie Addams"

★
★ Susan Hayward - ''With a Song in My Heart'' as "Jane Froman"

★ '1953 Audrey Hepburn - ''Roman Holiday''' as '"Princess Ann"'

★
★ Leslie Caron - ''Lili'' as "Lili Daurier"

★
★ Ava Gardner - ''Mogambo'' as "Eloise Y. 'Honey Bear' Kelly"

★
★ Deborah Kerr - ''From Here to Eternity'' as "Karen Holmes"

★
★ Maggie McNamara - ''The Moon Is Blue'' as "Patty O'Neill"

★ '1954 Grace Kelly - ''The Country Girl''' as '"Georgie Elgin"'

★
★ Dorothy Dandridge - ''Carmen Jones'' as "Carmen Jones"

★
★ Judy Garland - ''A Star Is Born'' as "Vicki Lester (Esther Blodgett)"

★
★ Audrey Hepburn - ''Sabrina'' as "Sabrina Fairchild"

★
★ Jane Wyman - ''Magnificent Obsession'' as "Helen Phillips"

★ '1955 Anna Magnani - ''The Rose Tattoo''' as '"Serafina Delle Rose"'

★
★ Susan Hayward - ''I'll Cry Tomorrow'' as "Lillian Roth"

★
★ Katharine Hepburn - ''Summertime'' as "Jane Hudson"

★
★ Jennifer Jones - ''Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing'' as "Dr. Han Suyin"

★
★ Eleanor Parker - ''Interrupted Melody'' as "Marjorie 'Margie' Lawrence"

★ '1956 Ingrid Bergman - ''Anastasia''' as '"The Woman" (aka "Anna Koreff" or "Anastasia")'

★
★ Carroll Baker - ''Baby Doll'' as "Baby Doll Meighan"

★
★ Katharine Hepburn - ''The Rainmaker'' as "Lizzie Curry"

★
★ Nancy Kelly - ''The Bad Seed'' as "Christine Penmark"

★
★ Deborah Kerr - ''The King and I'' as "Anna Leonowens"

★ '1957 Joanne Woodward - ''The Three Faces of Eve''' as '"Eve White/Eve Black/Jane"'

★
★ Deborah Kerr - ''Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison'' as "Sister Angela"

★
★ Anna Magnani - ''Wild Is the Wind'' as "Gioia"

★
★ Elizabeth Taylor - ''Raintree County'' as "Susanna Drake"

★
★ Lana Turner - ''Peyton Place'' as "Constance MacKenzie"

★ '1958 Susan Hayward - ''I Want to Live!''' as '"Barbara Graham"'

★
★ Deborah Kerr - ''Separate Tables'' as "Sibyl Railton-Bell"

★
★ Shirley MacLaine - ''Some Came Running'' as "Ginnie Moorehead"

★
★ Rosalind Russell - ''Auntie Mame'' as "Mame Dennis"

★
★ Elizabeth Taylor - ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' as "Maggie 'The Cat' Pollitt"

★ '1959 Simone Signoret - ''Room at the Top''' as '"Alice Aisgill"'

★
★ Doris Day - ''Pillow Talk'' as "Jan Morrow"

★
★ Audrey Hepburn - ''The Nun's Story'' as "Sister Luke"

★
★ Katharine Hepburn - ''Suddenly, Last Summer'' as "Violet Venable"

★
★ Elizabeth Taylor - ''Suddenly, Last Summer'' as "Catherine Holly"

1960s

★ '1960 Elizabeth Taylor - ''BUtterfield 8''' as '"Gloria Wandrous"'

★
★ Greer Garson - ''Sunrise at Campobello'' as "Eleanor Roosevelt"

★
★ Deborah Kerr - ''The Sundowners'' as "Ida Karmody"

★
★ Shirley MacLaine - ''The Apartment'' as "Fran Kubelik"

★
★ Melina Mercouri - ''Never on Sunday'' as "Ilya"

★ '1961 Sophia Loren - ''Two Women''' as '"Cesira"'

★
★ Audrey Hepburn - ''Breakfast at Tiffany's'' as "Holly Golightly"

★
★ Piper Laurie - ''The Hustler'' as "Sarah Packard"

★
★ Geraldine Page - ''Summer and Smoke'' as "Alma Winemiller"

★
★ Natalie Wood - ''Splendor in the Grass'' "Wilma Dean 'Deanie' Loomis"

★ '1962 Anne Bancroft - ''The Miracle Worker''' as '"Annie Sullivan"'

★
★ Bette Davis - ''What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?'' as "Baby Jane Hudson"

★
★ Katharine Hepburn - ''Long Day's Journey Into Night'' as "Mary Tyrone"

★
★ Geraldine Page - ''Sweet Bird of Youth'' as "Alexandra Del Lago (Princess Cosmonopolous)"

★
★ Lee Remick - ''Days of Wine and Roses'' as "Kirsten Arnesen"

★ '1963 Patricia Neal - ''Hud''' as '"Alma Brown"'

★
★ Leslie Caron - ''The L-Shaped Room'' as "Jane Fossett"

★
★ Shirley MacLaine - ''Irma la Douce'' as "Irma la Douce"

★
★ Rachel Roberts - ''This Sporting Life'' as "Mrs. Margaret Hammond"

★
★ Natalie Wood - ''Love with the Proper Stranger'' as "Angie Rossini"

★ '1964 Julie Andrews - ''Mary Poppins''' as '"Mary Poppins"'

★
★ Anne Bancroft - ''The Pumpkin Eater'' as "Jo Armitage"

★
★ Sophia Loren - ''Marriage Italian Style'' as "Filumena Marturano"

★
★ Debbie Reynolds - ''The Unsinkable Molly Brown'' as "Margaret Brown"

★
★ Kim Stanley - ''Séance on a Wet Afternoon'' as "Myra"

★ '1965 Julie Christie - ''Darling''' as '"Diana Scott"'

★
★ Julie Andrews - ''The Sound of Music'' as "Maria von Trapp"

★
★ Samantha Eggar - ''The Collector'' as "Miranda Grey"

★
★ Elizabeth Hartman - ''A Patch of Blue'' as "Selina D'Arcy"

★
★ Simone Signoret - ''Ship of Fools'' as "La Contessa"

★ '1966 Elizabeth Taylor - ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?''' as '"Martha"'

★
★ Anouk Aimée - ''A Man and a Woman'' as "Anne Gauthier"

★
★ Ida Kaminska - ''The Shop on Main Street'' as "Rozalie Lautmann"

★
★ Lynn Redgrave - ''Georgy Girl'' as "Georgina (Georgy)"

★
★ Vanessa Redgrave - ''Morgan!'' as "Leonie Delt"

★ '1967 Katharine Hepburn - ''Guess Who's Coming to Dinner''' as '"Christina Drayton"'

★
★ Anne Bancroft - ''The Graduate'' as "Mrs. Robinson"

★
★ Faye Dunaway - ''Bonnie and Clyde'' as "Bonnie Parker"

★
★ Edith Evans - ''The Whisperers'' as "Mrs. Ross"

★
★ Audrey Hepburn - ''Wait Until Dark'' as "Suzy Hendrix"

★ '1968 Katharine Hepburn - ''The Lion in Winter''' as '"Eleanor of Aquitaine"' and 'Barbra Streisand - ''Funny Girl''' as '"Fanny Brice"'

★
★ Patricia Neal - ''The Subject Was Roses'' as "Nettie Cleary"

★
★ Vanessa Redgrave - ''Isadora'' as "Isadora Duncan"

★
★ Joanne Woodward - ''Rachel, Rachel'' as "Rachel Cameron"

★ '1969 Maggie Smith - ''The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie''' as '"Jean Brodie"'

★
★ Geneviève Bujold - ''Anne of the Thousand Days'' as "Anne Boleyn"

★
★ Jane Fonda - ''They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'' as "Gloria Beatty"

★
★ Liza Minnelli - ''The Sterile Cuckoo'' as "Mary Ann 'Pookie' Adams"

★
★ Jean Simmons - ''The Happy Ending'' as "Mary Wilson"

1970s

★ '1970 Glenda Jackson - ''Women in Love''' as '"Gudrun Brangwen"'

★
★ Jane Alexander - ''The Great White Hope'' as "Eleanor Backman"

★
★ Ali MacGraw - ''Love Story'' as "Jennifer Cavalleri"

★
★ Sarah Miles - ''Ryan's Daughter'' as "Rosy Ryan"

★
★ Carrie Snodgress - ''Diary of a Mad Housewife'' as "Tina Balser"

★ '1971 Jane Fonda - ''Klute''' as '"Bree Daniels"'

★
★ Julie Christie - ''McCabe & Mrs. Miller'' as "Constance Miller"

★
★ Glenda Jackson - ''Sunday Bloody Sunday'' as "Alex Greville"

★
★ Vanessa Redgrave - ''Mary, Queen of Scots'' as "Mary, Queen of Scots"

★
★ Janet Suzman - ''Nicholas and Alexandra'' as "Empress Alexandra"

★ '1972 Liza Minnelli - ''Cabaret''' as '"Sally Bowles"'

★
★ Diana Ross - ''Lady Sings the Blues'' as "Billie Holiday"

★
★ Maggie Smith - ''Travels with My Aunt'' as "Aunt Augusta Bertram"

★
★ Cicely Tyson - ''Sounder'' as "Rebecca Morgan"

★
★ Liv Ullmann - ''The Emigrants'' as "Kristina"

★ '1973 Glenda Jackson - ''A Touch of Class''' as '"Vicki Allessio"'

★
★ Ellen Burstyn - ''The Exorcist'' as "Chris MacNeil"

★
★ Marsha Mason - ''Cinderella Liberty'' as "Maggie Paul"

★
★ Barbra Streisand - ''The Way We Were'' as "Katie Morosky"

★
★ Joanne Woodward - ''Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams'' as "Rita Walden"

★ '1974 Ellen Burstyn - ''Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore''' as '"Alice Hyatt"'

★
★ Diahann Carroll - ''Claudine'' as "Claudine Price"

★
★ Faye Dunaway - ''Chinatown'' as "Evelyn Mulwray"

★
★ Valerie Perrine - ''Lenny'' as "Honey Bruce"

★
★ Gena Rowlands - ''A Woman Under the Influence'' as "Mabel Longhetti"

★ '1975 Louise Fletcher - ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest''' as '"Nurse Ratched"'

★
★ Ann-Margret - ''Tommy'' as "Nora Walker Hobbs"

★
★ Isabelle Adjani - ''The Story of Adele H.'' as "Adèle Hugo"

★
★ Glenda Jackson - ''Hedda'' as "Hedda Gabler"

★
★ Carol Kane - ''Hester Street'' as "Gitl"

★ '1976 Faye Dunaway - ''Network''' as '"Diana Christiansen"'

★
★ Marie-Christine Barrault - ''Cousin, cousine'' as "Marthe"

★
★ Talia Shire - ''Rocky'' as "Adrianna 'Adrian' Pennino"

★
★ Sissy Spacek - ''Carrie'' as "Carrie White"

★
★ Liv Ullmann - ''Face to Face'' as "Dr. Jenny Isaksson"

★ '1977 Diane Keaton - ''Annie Hall''' as '"Annie Hall"'

★
★ Anne Bancroft - ''The Turning Point'' as "Emma Jacklin"

★
★ Jane Fonda - ''Julia'' as "Lillian Hellman"

★
★ Shirley MacLaine - ''The Turning Point'' as "Deedee Rodgers"

★
★ Marsha Mason - ''The Goodbye Girl'' as "Paula McFadden"

★ '1978 Jane Fonda - ''Coming Home''' as '"Sally Hyde"'

★
★ Ingrid Bergman - ''Autumn Sonata'' as "Charlotte Andergast"

★
★ Ellen Burstyn - ''Same Time, Next Year'' as "Doris"

★
★ Jill Clayburgh - ''An Unmarried Woman'' as "Erica"

★
★ Geraldine Page - ''Interiors'' as "Eve"

★ '1979 Sally Field - ''Norma Rae''' as '"Norma Rae Webster"'

★
★ Jill Clayburgh - ''Starting Over'' as "Marilyn Holmberg"

★
★ Jane Fonda - ''The China Syndrome'' as "Kimberly Wells"

★
★ Marsha Mason - ''Chapter Two'' as "Jennie MacLaine"

★
★ Bette Midler - ''The Rose'' as "Mary Rose Foster"

1980s

★ '1980 Sissy Spacek - ''Coal Miner's Daughter''' as 'Loretta Lynn'

★
★ Ellen Burstyn - ''Resurrection'' as Edna Mae McCauley

★
★ Goldie Hawn - ''Private Benjamin'' as Pvt. Judy Benjamin/Goodman

★
★ Mary Tyler Moore - ''Ordinary People'' as Beth Jarrett

★
★ Gena Rowlands - ''Gloria'' as Gloria Swenson

★ '1981 Katharine Hepburn - ''On Golden Pond''' as 'Ethel Thayer'

★
★ Diane Keaton - ''Reds'' as Louise Bryant

★
★ Marsha Mason - ''Only When I Laugh'' as Georgia

★
★ Susan Sarandon - ''Atlantic City'' as Sally Matthews

★
★ Meryl Streep - ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' as Sarah/Anna

★ '1982 Meryl Streep - ''Sophie's Choice''' as 'Sophie Zawistowska'

★
★ Julie Andrews - ''Victor/Victoria'' as Victoria Grant, aka Count Victor Grezhinski

★
★ Jessica Lange - ''Frances'' as Frances Farmer

★
★ Sissy Spacek - ''Missing'' as Beth Horman

★
★ Debra Winger - ''An Officer and a Gentleman'' as Paula Pokrifki

★ '1983 Shirley MacLaine - ''Terms of Endearment''' as 'Aurora Greenway'

★
★ Jane Alexander - ''Testament'' as Carol Wetherly

★
★ Meryl Streep - ''Silkwood'' as Karen Silkwood

★
★ Julie Walters - ''Educating Rita'' as Rita, aka Susan

★
★ Debra Winger - ''Terms of Endearment'' as Emma Greenway Horton

★ '1984 Sally Field - ''Places in the Heart''' as 'Edna Spalding' (Also see her memorable acceptance speech)

★
★ Judy Davis - ''A Passage to India'' as Adela Quested

★
★ Jessica Lange - ''Country'' as Jewell Ivy

★
★ Vanessa Redgrave - ''The Bostonians'' as Olive Chancellor

★
★ Sissy Spacek - ''The River'' as Mae Garvey

★ '1985 Geraldine Page - ''The Trip to Bountiful''' as 'Carrie Watts'

★
★ Anne Bancroft - ''Agnes of God'' as Mother Miriam Ruth

★
★ Whoopi Goldberg - ''The Color Purple'' as Celie

★
★ Jessica Lange - ''Sweet Dreams'' as Patsy Cline

★
★ Meryl Streep - ''Out of Africa'' as Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke

★ '1986 Marlee Matlin - ''Children of a Lesser God''' as 'Sarah Norman'

★
★ Jane Fonda - ''The Morning After'' as Alex Sternbergen

★
★ Sissy Spacek - ''Crimes of the Heart'' as Rebecca 'Babe'/'Becky' Magrath Botrelle

★
★ Kathleen Turner - ''Peggy Sue Got Married'' as Peggy Sue Kelcher/Bodell

★
★ Sigourney Weaver - ''Aliens'' as Ellen Ripley

★ '1987 Cher - ''Moonstruck''' as 'Loretta Castorini'

★
★ Glenn Close - ''Fatal Attraction'' as Alex Forrest

★
★ Holly Hunter - ''Broadcast News'' as Jane Craig

★
★ Sally Kirkland - ''Anna'' as Anna

★
★ Meryl Streep - ''Ironweed'' as Helen Archer

★ '1988 Jodie Foster - ''The Accused''' as 'Sarah Tobias'

★
★ Glenn Close - ''Dangerous Liaisons'' as Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil

★
★ Melanie Griffith - ''Working Girl'' as Tess McGill

★
★ Meryl Streep - ''A Cry in the Dark'' as Lindy Chamberlain

★
★ Sigourney Weaver - ''Gorillas in the Mist'' as Dian Fossey

★ '1989 Jessica Tandy - ''Driving Miss Daisy''' as 'Daisy Werthan'

★
★ Isabelle Adjani - ''Camille Claudel'' as Camille Claudel

★
★ Pauline Collins - ''Shirley Valentine'' as Shirley Valentine

★
★ Jessica Lange - ''Music Box'' as Ann Talbot

★
★ Michelle Pfeiffer - ''The Fabulous Baker Boys'' as Susie Diamond

1990s

★ '1990 Kathy Bates - ''Misery''' as 'Annie Wilkes'

★
★ Anjelica Huston - ''The Grifters'' as Lilly Dillon

★
★ Julia Roberts - ''Pretty Woman'' as Vivian Ward

★
★ Meryl Streep - ''Postcards from the Edge'' as Suzanne Vale

★
★ Joanne Woodward - ''Mr. and Mrs. Bridge'' as India Bridge

★ '1991 Jodie Foster - ''The Silence of the Lambs''' as 'Clarice Starling'

★
★ Geena Davis - ''Thelma and Louise'' as Thelma Yvonne Dickinson

★
★ Laura Dern - ''Rambling Rose'' as Rose

★
★ Bette Midler - ''For the Boys'' as Dixie Leonard

★
★ Susan Sarandon - ''Thelma and Louise'' as Louise Elizabeth Sawyer

★ '1992 Emma Thompson - ''Howards End''' as 'Margaret Wilcox'

★
★ Catherine Deneuve - ''Indochine'' as Eliane

★
★ Mary McDonnell - ''Passion Fish'' as May-Alice Culhane

★
★ Michelle Pfeiffer - ''Love Field'' as Lurene Hallett

★
★ Susan Sarandon - ''Lorenzo's Oil'' as Michaela Odone

★ '1993 Holly Hunter - ''The Piano''' as 'Ada McGrath'

★
★ Angela Bassett - ''What's Love Got to Do with It?'' as Anne Mae Bullock/Tina Turner

★
★ Stockard Channing - ''Six Degrees of Separation'' as Louise 'Ouisa' Kittredge

★
★ Emma Thompson - ''The Remains of the Day'' as Mary Kenton

★
★ Debra Winger - ''Shadowlands'' as Joy Gresham

★ '1994 Jessica Lange - ''Blue Sky''' as 'Carly Marshall'

★
★ Jodie Foster - ''Nell'' as Nell Kellty

★
★ Miranda Richardson - ''Tom & Viv'' as Vivienne Haigh-Wood

★
★ Winona Ryder - ''Little Women'' as Jo March

★
★ Susan Sarandon - ''The Client'' as Regina 'Reggie' Love

★ '1995 Susan Sarandon - ''Dead Man Walking''' as 'Helen Prejean'

★
★ Elisabeth Shue - ''Leaving Las Vegas'' as Sera

★
★ Sharon Stone - ''Casino'' as Ginger McKenna

★
★ Meryl Streep - ''The Bridges of Madison County'' as Francesca Johnson

★
★ Emma Thompson - ''Sense and Sensibility'' as Elinor Dashwood

★ '1996 Frances McDormand - ''Fargo''' as 'Marge Gunderson'

★
★ Brenda Blethyn - ''Secrets & Lies'' as Cynthia Rose Purley

★
★ Diane Keaton - ''Marvin's Room'' as Bessie Greenfield

★
★ Kristin Scott Thomas - ''The English Patient'' as Katharine Clifton

★
★ Emily Watson - ''Breaking the Waves'' as Bess McNeill

★ '1997 Helen Hunt - ''As Good as It Gets''' as 'Carol Connelly'

★
★ Helena Bonham Carter - ''The Wings of the Dove'' as Kate Croy

★
★ Julie Christie - ''Afterglow'' as Phyllis Mann

★
★ Judi Dench - ''Mrs. Brown'' as Queen Victoria

★
★ Kate Winslet- ''Titanic'' as Rose DeWitt Bukater

★ '1998 Gwyneth Paltrow - ''Shakespeare in Love''' as 'Viola de Lesseps'

★
★ Cate Blanchett - ''Elizabeth'' as Queen Elizabeth I

★
★ Fernanda Montenegro - ''Central do Brasil'' as Dora

★
★ Meryl Streep - ''One True Thing'' as Kate Gulden

★
★ Emily Watson - ''Hilary and Jackie'' as Jacqueline du Pré

★ '1999 Hilary Swank - ''Boys Don't Cry''' as 'Brandon Teena'

★
★ Annette Bening - ''American Beauty'' as Carolyn Burnham

★
★ Janet McTeer - ''Tumbleweeds'' as Mary Jo Walker

★
★ Julianne Moore - ''The End of the Affair'' as Sarah Miles

★
★ Meryl Streep - ''Music of the Heart'' as Roberta Guaspari

2000s

★ '2000 (73rd) Julia Roberts - ''Erin Brockovich''' as 'Erin Brockovich'

★
★ Joan Allen - ''The Contender'' as Sen. Laine Hanson

★
★ Juliette Binoche - ''Chocolat'' as Vianne Rocher

★
★ Ellen Burstyn - ''Requiem for a Dream'' as Sara Goldfarb

★
★ Laura Linney - ''You Can Count on Me'' as Samantha 'Sammy' Prescott

★ '2001 (74th) Halle Berry - ''Monster's Ball''' as 'Leticia Musgrove'

★
★ Judi Dench - ''Iris'' as Iris Murdoch

★
★ Nicole Kidman - ''Moulin Rouge!'' as Satine

★
★ Sissy Spacek - ''In the Bedroom'' as Ruth Fowler

★
★ Renée Zellweger - ''Bridget Jones's Diary'' as Bridget Jones

★ '2002 (75th) Nicole Kidman - ''The Hours''' as Virginia Woolf

★
★ Salma Hayek - ''Frida'' as Frida Kahlo

★
★ Diane Lane - ''Unfaithful '' as Connie Sumner

★
★ Julianne Moore - ''Far From Heaven'' as Cathy Whitaker

★
★ Renée Zellweger - ''Chicago'' as Roxie Hart

★ '2003 (76th) Charlize Theron - ''Monster''' as 'Aileen Wuornos'

★
★ Keisha Castle-Hughes - ''Whale Rider'' as Paikea

★
★ Diane Keaton - ''Something's Gotta Give'' as Erica Jane Barry

★
★ Samantha Morton - ''In America'' as Sarah

★
★ Naomi Watts - ''21 Grams'' as Cristina Peck

★ '2004 (77th) Hilary Swank - ''Million Dollar Baby''' as 'Maggie Fitzgerald'

★
★ Annette Bening - ''Being Julia'' as Julia Lambert

★
★ Catalina Sandino Moreno - ''Maria Full of Grace'' as María Álvarez

★
★ Imelda Staunton - ''Vera Drake'' as Vera Drake

★
★ Kate Winslet - ''Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'' as Clementine Kruczynski

★ '2005 (78th) Reese Witherspoon - ''Walk the Line''' as 'June Carter'

★
★ Judi Dench - ''Mrs. Henderson Presents'' as Laura Henderson

★
★ Felicity Huffman - ''Transamerica'' as Bree Osbourne

★
★ Keira Knightley - ''Pride and Prejudice'' as Elizabeth Bennet

★
★ Charlize Theron - ''North Country'' as Josey Aimes

★ '2006 (79th) Helen Mirren - ''The Queen''' as 'Queen Elizabeth II'

★
★ Penélope Cruz - ''Volver'' as Raimunda

★
★ Judi Dench - ''Notes on a Scandal'' as Barbara Covett

★
★ Meryl Streep - ''The Devil Wears Prada'' as Miranda Priestly

★
★ Kate Winslet - ''Little Children'' as Sarah Pierce
List of movies - List of actors - List of directors - List of documentaries - List of Hollywood movie studios