Academy Award for Best Actress


The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It has been awarded since the 1st Academy Awards to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's Best Actor winner. However, in recent years, it has shifted towards being presented by previous years' Best Actress winners instead.
The Best Actress award has been presented 97 times, to 80 different actresses. The first winner was Janet Gaynor for her roles in 7th Heaven, Street Angel, and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, and the most recent winner is Mikey Madison for her role in Anora. The record for most wins is four, held by Katharine Hepburn; Frances McDormand has won three times, and thirteen other actresses have won the award twice. Meryl Streep has received the most nominations in the category—seventeen—and has won twice. At the 41st Academy Awards in 1969, Barbra Streisand and Katharine Hepburn received the same number of votes and so shared the award, the only time this has occurred.
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Nominations process

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.
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 was listed after the award. 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. The current system, in which an actress is nominated for a specific performance in a single film, was introduced for the 4th Academy Awards. Starting with the 9th Academy Awards, held in 1937, the category was limited to a maximum five nominations per year.

Winners and nominees

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. For the first five ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned twelve months, from August 1 to July 31. For the 6th ceremony held in 1934, the eligibility period lasted from August 1, 1932, to December 31, 1933. Since the 7th ceremony held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full previous calendar year from January 1 to December 31.
‡Indicates the winner
†Indicates a posthumous nominee

1990s

Multiple wins and nominations

The following individuals won two or more Academy Awards for Best Actress:
WinsActressNominationsYears won
4Katharine Hepburn121933, 1967, 1968, 1981
3Frances McDormand31996, 2017, 2020
2Meryl Streep171982, 2011
2Bette Davis111935, 1938
2Ingrid Bergman61944, 1956
2Jane Fonda61971, 1978
2Elizabeth Taylor51960, 1966
2Olivia de Havilland41946, 1949
2Glenda Jackson41970, 1973
2Jodie Foster31988, 1991
2Emma Stone32016, 2023
2Sally Field21979, 1984
2Vivien Leigh21939, 1951
2Luise Rainer21936, 1937
2Hilary Swank21999, 2004

The following individuals received three or more Best Actress nominations:
NominationsActress
17Meryl Streep
12Katharine Hepburn
11Bette Davis
7Greer Garson
6Ingrid Bergman
6Jane Fonda
6Deborah Kerr
6Sissy Spacek
5Anne Bancroft
5Cate Blanchett
5Ellen Burstyn
5Judi Dench
5Irene Dunne
5Susan Hayward
5Audrey Hepburn
5Jessica Lange
5Shirley MacLaine
5Susan Sarandon
5Norma Shearer
5Elizabeth Taylor
4Annette Bening
4Julie Christie
4Glenn Close
4Olivia de Havilland
4Glenda Jackson
4Jennifer Jones
4Diane Keaton
4Nicole Kidman
4Marsha Mason
4Geraldine Page
4Vanessa Redgrave
4Rosalind Russell
4Barbara Stanwyck
4Kate Winslet
4Joanne Woodward
4Jane Wyman
3Julie Andrews
3Claudette Colbert
3Joan Crawford
3Faye Dunaway
3Joan Fontaine
3Jodie Foster
3Greta Garbo
3Jennifer Lawrence
3Frances McDormand
3Julianne Moore
3Carey Mulligan
3Eleanor Parker
3Saoirse Ronan
3Emma Stone
3Gloria Swanson
3Charlize Theron
3Emma Thompson
3Michelle Williams
3Debra Winger
3Renée Zellweger

Age superlatives

RecordActorFilmYearAge
Oldest WinnerJessica TandyDriving Miss Daisy199080
Oldest NomineeEmmanuelle RivaAmour201385
Youngest WinnerMarlee MatlinChildren of a Lesser God 198721
Youngest NomineeQuvenzhané WallisBeasts of the Southern Wild20139

Films with multiple Leading Actress nominations

Winners are in bold.

Multiple character nominations

The following were nominated for their portrayals of the same fictional or non-fictional character in separate films.