Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It has been awarded since the 9th Academy Awards to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role in a film released that year. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's Best Supporting Actor winner. However, in recent years, it has shifted towards being presented by previous years' Best Supporting Actress winners instead. In lieu of the traditional Oscar statuette, supporting acting recipients were given plaques up until the 16th Academy Awards, when statuettes were awarded to each category instead.
The Best Supporting Actress award has been presented a total of 89 times, to 87 actresses. The first winner was Gale Sondergaard for her role in Anthony Adverse. The most recent winner is Zoe Saldaña for her role as Rita Mora Castro in Emilia Pérez. The record for most wins is two, held jointly by Dianne Wiest and Shelley Winters. Each other recipient has only won once, in this category. Thelma Ritter has received the most nominations in the category, with six, followed closely by Amy Adams with five, although neither has ever won—yet, in the latter's instance. Hattie McDaniel, whom the Academy sat in the back of the room, made history in 1940 when she became the first person of color to win an Oscar in any category, for her performance as Mammy in Gone with the Wind. Tatum O'Neal remains the youngest person to win a competitive acting Oscar at 10 years old, for her role in Paper Moon. With five minutes and two seconds of screentime, Beatrice Straight's performance in Network holds the record for the shortest to win an Oscar.
In 2026, Amy Madigan earned her second nomination in the category for Weapons ; the 40-year gap between this nomination and her previous one for Twice in a Lifetime set the record for longest gap between Oscar nominations for an actress.

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.

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 extended 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

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Year	Actress	Role	Film
2020/21	'	Soon-ja	Minari
2020/21			Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
2020/21			Hillbilly Elegy
2020/21		Anne
2020/21			Mank
2021	'	Anita	West Side Story
2021
2021		Granny	Belfast
2021
2021			King Richard
2022	'	'	Everything Everywhere All at Once
2022			Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
2022		Liz
2022
2022			Everything Everywhere All at Once
2023	'	'	'
2023			Oppenheimer
2023		Sofia
2023		Gloria	Barbie
2023			Nyad
2024	'	'	Emilia Pérez'
2024
2024			Wicked
2024
2024			Conclave
2025			Sentimental Value
2025			Sentimental Value
2025		Gladys	Weapons
2025			Sinners
2025			One Battle After Another

Multiple wins and nominations

The following individuals received two Best Supporting Actress awards:

Wins	Actress	Nominations
2	Dianne Wiest	3
2	Shelley Winters	3

The following individuals received two or more Best Supporting Actress nominations:

Nominations	Actress
6	Thelma Ritter
5	Amy Adams
4	Ethel Barrymore
4	Glenn Close
4	Lee Grant
4	Agnes Moorehead
4	Geraldine Page
4	Maggie Smith
4	Maureen Stapleton
4	Meryl Streep
3	Kathy Bates
3	Cate Blanchett
3	Gladys Cooper
3	Judi Dench
3	Celeste Holm
3	Diane Ladd
3	Angela Lansbury
3	Frances McDormand
3	Anne Revere
3	Octavia Spencer
3	Marisa Tomei
3	Claire Trevor
3	Dianne Wiest
3	Kate Winslet
3	Shelley Winters
2	Jane Alexander
2	Joan Allen
2	Fay Bainter
2	Beulah Bondi
2	Alice Brady
2	Dyan Cannon
2	Penélope Cruz
2	Joan Cusack
2	Viola Davis
2	Laura Dern
2	Melinda Dillon
2	Mildred Dunnock
2	Edith Evans
2	Jodie Foster
2	Ruth Gordon
2	Gloria Grahame
2	Marcia Gay Harden
2	Eileen Heckart
2	Wendy Hiller
2	Holly Hunter
2	Anjelica Huston
2	Madeline Kahn
2	Catherine Keener
2	Shirley Knight
2	Elsa Lanchester
2	Piper Laurie
2	Amy Madigan
2	Mercedes McCambridge
2	Sylvia Miles
2	Helen Mirren
2	Julianne Moore
2	Maria Ouspenskaya
2	Estelle Parsons
2	Marjorie Rambeau
2	Vanessa Redgrave
2	Joyce Redman
2	Julia Roberts
2	Gale Sondergaard
2	Emma Stone
2	Jacki Weaver
2	Rachel Weisz
2	May Whitty
2	Michelle Williams
2	Teresa Wright

Age superlatives

Record	Actress	Film	Age
Oldest Winner	Peggy Ashcroft	A Passage to India	77
Oldest Nominee	Gloria Stuart	Titanic	87
Youngest Winner	Tatum O'Neal	Paper Moon	10
Youngest Nominee	Tatum O'Neal	Paper Moon	10

Films with multiple Supporting Actress nominations

There have been 37 instances in which films have produced more than one nominee within this category. Tom Jones was the only film which garnered three nominations, while all others obtained two.
Winners are in bold.

Gone with the Wind – Olivia de Havilland and Hattie McDaniel
The Little Foxes – Patricia Collinge and Teresa Wright
Mrs. Miniver – May Whitty and Teresa Wright
The Song of Bernadette – Gladys Cooper and Anne Revere
Mildred Pierce – Eve Arden and Ann Blyth
Gentleman's Agreement – Celeste Holm and Anne Revere
I Remember Mama – Barbara Bel Geddes and Ellen Corby
Come to the Stable – Celeste Holm and Elsa Lanchester
Pinky – Ethel Barrymore and Ethel Waters
All About Eve – Celeste Holm and Thelma Ritter
The High and the Mighty – Jan Sterling and Claire Trevor
The Bad Seed – Eileen Heckart and Patty McCormack
Peyton Place – Hope Lange and Diane Varsi
Imitation of Life – Susan Kohner and Juanita Moore
Tom Jones – Diane Cilento, Edith Evans, and Joyce Redman
Othello – Joyce Redman and Maggie Smith
Airport – Helen Hayes and Maureen Stapleton
The Last Picture Show – Ellen Burstyn and Cloris Leachman
Paper Moon – Madeline Kahn and Tatum O'Neal
Nashville – Ronee Blakley and Lily Tomlin
Kramer vs. Kramer – Jane Alexander and Meryl Streep
Tootsie – Teri Garr and Jessica Lange
The Color Purple – Margaret Avery and Oprah Winfrey
Working Girl – Joan Cusack and Sigourney Weaver
Enemies, A Love Story – Anjelica Huston and Lena Olin
Bullets Over Broadway – Jennifer Tilly and Dianne Wiest
Almost Famous – Kate Hudson and Frances McDormand
Gosford Park – Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith
Chicago – Queen Latifah and Catherine Zeta-Jones
Babel – Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi
Doubt – Amy Adams and Viola Davis
Up in the Air – Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick
The Fighter – Amy Adams and Melissa Leo
The Help – Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer
The Favourite – Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz
Everything Everywhere All at Once – Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu
Sentimental Value – Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas