Academy Award for Best Actress

The Academy Awards are awarded the year after the film's release; the films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 went to the best actor in 1999.

• 1928 Janet Gaynor - Seventh Heaven Street Angel and Sunrise
  • Louise Dresser - A Ship Comes In
  • Gloria Swanson - Sadie Thompson
• 1929 Mary Pickford - Coquette
  • Ruth Chatterton - Madame X
  • Betty Compson - The Barker
  • Jeanne Eagels - The Letter
  • Corinne Griffith - The Divine Lady
  • Bessie Love - The Broadway Melody
• 1930 Norma Shearer - The Divorcee
  • Nancy Carroll - The Devil's Holiday
  • Ruth Chatterton - Sarah and Son
  • Greta Garbo - Anna Christie and Romance
  • Norma Shearer - Their Own Desire
  • Gloria Swanson - The Trespasser
• 1931 Marie Dressler - Min and Bill
  • Marlene Dietrich - Morocco
  • Irene Dunne - Cimarron
  • Ann Harding - Holiday
  • Norma Shearer - A Free Soul
• 1932 Helen Hayes - The Sin of Madelon Claudet
  • Marie Dressler - Emma
  • Lynn Fontanne - The Guardsman
• 1933 Katharine Hepburn - Morning Glory
  • May Robson - Lady for a Day
  • Diana Wynyard - Cavalcade
• 1934 Claudette Colbert - It Happened One Night
  • Grace Moore - One Night of Love
  • Norma Shearer - The Barretts of Wimpole Street
• 1935 Bette Davis - Dangerous
  • Elisabeth Bergner - Escape Me Never
  • Claudette Colbert - Private Worlds
  • Katharine Hepburn - Alice Adams
  • Miriam Hopkins - Becky Sharp
  • Merle Oberon - The Dark Angel
• 1936 Luise Rainer - The Great Ziegfeld
  • Irene Dunne - Theodora Goes Wild
  • Gladys George - Valiant Is the Word for Carrie
  • Carole Lombard - My Man Godfrey
  • Norma Shearer - Romeo and Juliet
• 1937 Luise Rainer - The Good Earth
  • Irene Dunne - The Awful Truth
  • Greta Garbo - Camille
  • Janet Gaynor - A Star Is Born
  • Barbara Stanwyck - Stella Dallas
• 1938 Bette Davis - Jezebel
  • Fay Bainter - White Banners
  • Wendy Hiller - Pygmalion
  • Norma Shearer - Marie Antoinette
  • Margaret Sullavan - Three Comrades
• 1939 Vivien Leigh - Gone With the Wind
  • Bette Davis - Dark Victory
  • Irene Dunne - Love Affair
  • Greta Garbo - Ninotchka
  • Greer Garson - Goodbye, Mr. Chips
• 1940 Ginger Rogers - Kitty Foyle
  • Bette Davis - The Letter
  • Joan Fontaine - Rebecca
  • Katharine Hepburn - The Philadelphia Story
  • Martha Scott - Our Town
• 1941 Joan Fontaine - Suspicion
  • Bette Davis - The Little Foxes
  • Olivia de Havilland - Hold Back the Dawn
  • Greer Garson - Blossoms in the Dust
  • Barbara Stanwyck - Ball of Fire
• 1942 Greer Garson- Mrs. Miniver
  • Bette Davis - Now, Voyager
  • Katharine Hepburn - Woman of the Year
  • Rosalind Russell - My Sister Eileen
  • Teresa Wright - The Pride of the Yankees
• 1943 Jennifer Jones - The Song of Bernadette
  • Jean Arthur - The More the Merrier
  • Ingrid Bergman - For Whom the Bell Tolls
  • Joan Fontaine - The Constant Nymph
  • Greer Garson - Madame Curie
• 1944 Ingrid Bergman - Gaslight
  • Claudette Colbert - Since You Went Away
  • Bette Davis - Mr. Skeffington
  • Greer Garson - Mrs. Parkington
  • Barbara Stanwyck - Double Indemnity
• 1945 Joan Crawford - Mildred Pierce
  • Ingrid Bergman - The Bells of St. Mary's
  • Greer Garson - The Valley of Decision
  • Jennifer Jones - Love Letters
  • Gene Tierney - Leave Her to Heaven
• 1946 Olivia de Havilland - To Each His Own
  • Celia Johnson - Brief Encounter
  • Jennifer Jones - Duel in the Sun
  • Rosalind Russell - Sister Kenny
  • Jane Wyman - The Yearling
• 1947 Loretta Young - The Farmer's Daughter
  • Joan Crawford - Possessed
  • Susan Hayward - Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman
  • Dorothy McGuire - Gentleman's Agreement
  • Rosalind Russell - Mourning Becomes Electra
• 1948 Jane Wyman - Johnny Belinda
  • Ingrid Bergman - Joan of Arc
  • Olivia de Havilland - The Snake Pit
  • Irene Dunne - I Remember Mama
  • Barbara Stanwyck - Sorry, Wrong Number
• 1949 Olivia de Havilland - The Heiress
  • Jeanne Crain - Pinky
  • Susan Hayward - My Foolish Heart
  • Deborah Kerr - Edward, My Son
  • Loretta Young - Come to the Stable
• 1950 Judy Holliday - Born Yesterday
  • Anne Baxter - All About Eve
  • Bette Davis - All About Eve
  • Eleanor Parker - Caged
  • Gloria Swanson - Sunset Boulevard
• 1951 Vivien Leigh - A Streetcar Named Desire
  • Katharine Hepburn - The African Queen
  • Eleanor Parker - Detective Story
  • Shelley Winters - A Place in the Sun
  • Jane Wyman - The Blue Veil
• 1952 Shirley Booth - Come Back, Little Sheba
  • Joan Crawford - Sudden Fear
  • Bette Davis - The Star
  • Julie Harris - The Member of the Wedding
  • Susan Hayward - With a Song in My Heart
• 1953 Audrey Hepburn - Roman Holiday
  • Leslie Caron - Lili
  • Ava Gardner - Mogambo
  • Deborah Kerr - From Here to Eternity
  • Maggie McNamara - The Moon Is Blue
• 1954 Grace Kelly - The Country Girl
  • Dorothy Dandridge - Carmen Jones
  • Judy Garland - A Star Is Born
  • Audrey Hepburn - Sabrina
  • Jane Wyman - Magnificent Obsession
• 1955 Anna Magnani - The Rose Tattoo
  • Susan Hayward - I'll Cry Tomorrow
  • Katharine Hepburn - Summertime
  • Jennifer Jones - Love is a Many-Splendored Thing
  • Eleanor Parker - Interrupted Melody
• 1956 Ingrid Bergman - Anastasia
  • Carroll Baker - Baby Doll
  • Katharine Hepburn - The Rainmaker

• • Nancy Kelly - The Bad Seed
  • Deborah Kerr - The King and I
• 1957 Joanne Woodward - The Three Faces of Eve
  • Deborah Kerr - Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison
  • Anna Magnani - Wild Is the Wind
  • Elizabeth Taylor - Raintree County
  • Lana Turner - Peyton Place
• 1958 Susan Hayward - I Want to Live!
  • Deborah Kerr - Separate Tables
  • Shirley MacLaine - Some Came Running
  • Rosalind Russell - Auntie Mame
  • Elizabeth Taylor - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
• 1959 Simone Signoret - Room at the Top
  • Doris Day - Pillow Talk
  • Audrey Hepburn - The Nun's Story
  • Katharine Hepburn - Suddenly, Last Summer
  • Elizabeth Taylor - Suddenly, Last Summer
• 1960 Elizabeth Taylor - BUtterfield 8
  • Greer Garson - Sunrise at Campobello
  • Deborah Kerr - The Sundowners
  • Shirley MacLaine - The Apartment
  • Melina Mercouri - Never on Sunday
• 1961 Sophia Loren - Two Women
  • Audrey Hepburn - Breakfast at Tiffany's
  • Piper Laurie - The Hustler
  • Geraldine Page - Summer and Smoke
  • Natalie Wood - Splendor in the Grass
• 1962 Anne Bancroft - The Miracle Worker
  • Bette Davis - What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
  • Katharine Hepburn - Long Day's Journey Into Night
  • Geraldine Page - Sweet Bird of Youth
  • Lee Remick - Days of Wine and Roses
• 1963 Patricia Neal - Hud
  • Leslie Caron - The L-Shaped Room
  • Shirley MacLaine - Irma la Douce
  • Rachel Roberts - This Sporting Life
  • Natalie Wood - Love with the Proper Stranger
• 1964 Julie Andrews - Mary Poppins
  • Anne Bancroft - The Pumpkin Eater
  • Sophia Loren - Marriage Italian Style
  • Debbie Reynolds - The Unsinkable Molly Brown
  • Kim Stanley - Seance on a Wet Afternoon
• 1965 Julie Christie - Darling
  • Julie Andrews - The Sound of Music
  • Samantha Eggar - The Collector
  • Elizabeth Hartman - A Patch of Blue
  • Simone Signoret - Ship of Fools
• 1966 Elizabeth Taylor - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
  • Anouk Aimée - A Man and a Woman
  • Ida Kaminska - The Shop on Main Street
  • Lynn Redgrave - Georgy Girl
  • Vanessa Redgrave - Morgan!
• 1967 Katharine Hepburn - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
  • Anne Bancroft - The Graduate
  • Faye Dunaway - Bonnie and Clyde
  • Edith Evans - The Whisperers
  • Audrey Hepburn - Wait Until Dark
• 1968 Katharine Hepburn - The Lion in Winter and Barbra Streisand - Funny Girl
  • Patricia Neal - The Subject Was Roses
  • Vanessa Redgrave - Isadora
  • Joanne Woodward - Rachel, Rachel
• 1969 Maggie Smith - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
  • Geneviève Bujold - Anne of the Thousand Days
  • Jane Fonda - They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
  • Liza Minnelli - The Sterile Cuckoo
  • Jean Simmons - The Happy Ending
• 1970 Glenda Jackson - Women in Love
  • Jane Alexander - The Great White Hope
  • Ali MacGraw - Love Story
  • Sarah Miles - Ryan's Daughter
  • Carrie Snodgress - Diary of a Mad Housewife
• 1971 Jane Fonda - Klute
  • Julie Christie - McCabe & Mrs. Miller
  • Glenda Jackson - Sunday Bloody Sunday
  • Vanessa Redgrave - Mary, Queen of Scots
  • Janet Suzman - Nicholas and Alexandra
• 1972 Liza Minnelli - Cabaret
  • Diana Ross - Lady Sings the Blues
  • Maggie Smith - Travels with My Aunt
  • Cicely Tyson - Sounder
  • Liv Ullmann - The Emigrants
• 1973 Glenda Jackson - A Touch of Class
  • Ellen Burstyn - The Exorcist
  • Marsha Mason - Cinderella Liberty
  • Barbra Streisand - The Way We Were
  • Joanne Woodward - Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams
• 1974 Ellen Burstyn - Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
  • Diahann Carroll - Claudine
  • Faye Dunaway - Chinatown
  • Valerie Perrine - Lenny
  • Gena Rowlands - A Woman Under the Influence
• 1975 Louise Fletcher - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
  • Ann-Margret - Tommy
  • Isabelle Adjani - The Story of Adele H.
  • Glenda Jackson - Hedda
  • Carol Kane - Hester Street
• 1976 Faye Dunaway - Network
  • Marie-Christine Barrault - Cousin, cousine
  • Talia Shire - Rocky
  • Sissy Spacek - Carrie
  • Liv Ullmann - Face to Face[?]
• 1977 Diane Keaton - Annie Hall
  • Anne Bancroft - The Turning Point
  • Jane Fonda - Julia
  • Shirley MacLaine - The Turning Point
  • Marsha Mason - The Goodbye Girl
• 1978 Jane Fonda - Coming Home
  • Ingrid Bergman - Autumn Sonata
  • Ellen Burstyn - Same Time, Next Year
  • Jill Clayburgh - An Unmarried Woman
  • Geraldine Page - Interiors
• 1979 Sally Field - Norma Rae
  • Jill Clayburgh - Starting Over
  • Jane Fonda - The China Syndrome
  • Marsha Mason - Chapter Two
  • Bette Midler - The Rose
• 1980 Sissy Spacek - Coal Miner's Daughter
  • Ellen Burstyn - Resurrection
  • Goldie Hawn - Private Benjamin
  • Mary Tyler Moore - Ordinary People
  • Gena Rowlands - Gloria
• 1981 Katharine Hepburn - On Golden Pond
  • Diane Keaton - Reds
  • Marsha Mason - Only When I Laugh
  • Susan Sarandon - Atlantic City
  • Meryl Streep - The French Lieutenant's Woman
• 1982 Meryl Streep - Sophie's Choice
  • Julie Andrews - Victor/Victoria
  • Jessica Lange - Frances
  • Sissy Spacek - Missing
  • Debra Winger - An Officer and a Gentleman
• 1983 Shirley MacLaine - Terms of Endearment
  • Jane Alexander - Testament
  • Meryl Streep - Silkwood
  • Julie Walters - Educating Rita
  • Debra Winger - Terms of Endearment
• 1984 Sally Field - Places in the Heart
  • Judy Davis - A Passage to India
  • Jessica Lange - Country
  • Vanessa Redgrave - A Passage to India
  • Sissy Spacek - The River
• 1985 Geraldine Page - The Trip to Bountiful
  • Anne Bancroft - Agnes of God
  • Whoopi Goldberg - The Color Purple
  • Jessica Lange - Sweet Dreams
  • Meryl Streep - Out of Africa
• 1986 Marlee Matlin - Children of a Lesser God
  • Jane Fonda - The Morning After
  • Sissy Spacek - Crimes of the Heart
  • Kathleen Turner - Peggy Sue Got Married
  • Sigourney Weaver - Aliens
• 1987 Cher - Moonstruck
  • Glenn Close - Fatal Attraction
  • Holly Hunter - Broadcast News
  • Sally Kirkland - Anna[?]
  • Meryl Streep - Ironweed
• 1988 Jodie Foster - The Accused[?]
  • Glenn Close - Dangerous Liasions[?]
  • Melanie Griffith[?] - Working Girl
  • Meryl Streep - A Cry in the Dark[?]
  • Sigourney Weaver - Gorillas in the Mist[?]
• 1989 Jessica Tandy - Driving Miss Daisy
  • Isabelle Adjani - Camille Claudel
  • Pauline Collins[?] - Shirley Valentine[?]
  • Jessica Lange - Music Box[?]
  • Michelle Pfeiffer - The Fabulous Baker Boys[?]
• 1990 Kathy Bates[?] - Misery[?]
  • Anjelica Huston - The Grifters[?]
  • Julia Roberts - Pretty Woman
  • Meryl Streep - Postcards from the Edge[?]
  • Joanne Woodward - Mr. and Mrs. Bridge[?]
• 1991 Jodie Foster - The Silence of the Lambs
  • Geena Davis - Thelma and Louise
  • Laura Dern[?] - Rambling Rose[?]
  • Bette Midler - For the Boys[?]
  • Susan Sarandon - Thelma and Louise
• 1992 Emma Thompson - Howards End
  • Catherine Deneuve - Indochina
  • Mary McDonnell[?] - Passion Fish[?]
  • Michelle Pfeiffer - Love Field[?]
  • Susan Sarandon - Lorenzo's Oil[?]
• 1993 Holly Hunter - The Piano
  • Angela Bassett[?] - What's Love Got to Do with It[?]
  • Stockard Channing[?] - Six Degrees of Separation
  • Emma Thompson - Remains of the Day[?]
  • Debra Winger - Shadowlands[?]
• 1994 Jessica Lange - Blue Sky[?]
  • Jodie Foster - Nell
  • Miranda Richardson - Tom and Viv[?]
  • Winona Ryder - Little Women
  • Susan Sarandon - The Client[?]
• 1995 Susan Sarandon - Dead Man Walking
  • Elisabeth Shue[?] - Leaving Las Vegas
  • Sharon Stone - Casino
  • Meryl Streep - The Bridges of Madison County[?]
  • Emma Thompson - Sense and Sensibility
• 1996 Frances McDormand[?] - Fargo
  • Brenda Blethyn[?] - Secrets and Lies
  • Diane Keaton - Marvin's Room[?]
  • Kristin Scott Thomas[?] - The English Patient
  • Emily Watson[?] - Breaking the Waves[?]
• 1997 Helen Hunt - As Good As It Gets
  • Helena Bonham Carter - The Wings of the Dove[?]
  • Julie Christie - Afterglow
  • Judi Dench - Mrs. Brown
  • Kate Winslet - Titanic
• 1998 Gwyneth Paltrow - Shakespeare in Love
  • Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth
  • Fernanda Montenegro[?] - Central do Brasil[?]
  • Meryl Streep - One True Thing[?]
  • Emily Watson[?] - Hilary and Jackie[?]
• 1999 Hilary Swank[?] - Boys Don't Cry
  • Annette Bening[?] - American Beauty
  • Julianne Moore - The End of the Affair[?]
  • Meryl Streep - Music of the Heart[?]
  • Janet McTeer[?] - Tumbleweeds[?]
• 2000 Julia Roberts - Erin Brockovich
  • Juliette Binoche - Chocolat
  • Joan Allen[?] - The Contender[?]
  • Ellen Burstyn - Requiem for a Dream
  • Laura Linney[?] - You Can Count on Me[?]
• 2001 Halle Berry - Monster's Ball[?]
  • Renée Zellweger - Bridget Jones's Diary
  • Sissy Spacek - In the Bedroom
  • Judi Dench - Iris
  • Nicole Kidman - Moulin Rouge!
• 2002 Nicole Kidman -The Hours[?]
  • Renée Zellweger - Chicago
  • Julianne Moore - Far from Heaven[?]
  • Salma Hayek - Frida[?]
  • Diane Lane[?] - Unfaithful[?]

See also: Academy Awards