British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
The British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress is a discontinued annual award given by the British Independent Film Awards to recognize the best supporting performance by an actress in a British independent film.
From 2003 to 2007, only one award was presented for supporting performances named Best Supporting Actor/Actress. Since 2008, two categories named Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress are presented.
Olivia Colman is the only actress who has won this award more than once since its creations in 2008 with two wins while Kristin Scott Thomas and Julie Walters hold the record of most nominations in this category with three each.
In July 2022, it was announced that the performance categories would be replaced with gender-neutral categories, with both Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress merging into the Best Lead Performance category. Additionally, a category named Best Joint Lead Performance was created for "two performances that are the joint focus of the film, especially where performances share a large number of scenes and screen time".
Winners and nominees
2000s
;Best Supporting Actor/Actress| Year | Actor/Actress | Film | Character |
| 2003 | Susan Lynch | 16 Years of Alcohol | Mary |
| 2003 | Shirley Henderson | Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself | Alice |
| 2003 | Sophie Okonedo | Dirty Pretty Things | Juliette |
| 2003 | Adrian Rawlins | Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself | Harbour |
| 2003 | Benedict Wong | Dirty Pretty Things | Guo Yi |
| 2004 | Eddie Marsan | Vera Drake | Reg |
| 2004 | Paddy Considine | My Summer of Love | Phil |
| 2004 | Romola Garai | Rory O'Shea Was Here | Siobhán |
| 2004 | Samantha Morton | Enduring Love | Claire |
| 2004 | Gary Stretch | Dead Man's Shoes | Sonny |
| 2005 | Rosamund Pike | The Libertine | Elizabeth Wilmot, Countess of Rochester |
| 2005 | Rob Brydon | A Cock and Bull Story | Captain Toby Shandy / Rob Brydon |
| 2005 | Tom Hollander | The Libertine | George Etherege |
| 2005 | Bill Nighy | The Constant Gardener | Sir Bernard Pellegrin |
| 2005 | Kelly Reilly | Mrs Henderson Presents | Maureen Ashford |
| 2006 | Leslie Phillips | Venus | Ian |
| 2006 | Martin Compston | Red Road | Stevie |
| 2006 | Joseph Gilgun | This Is England | Woody |
| 2006 | Stephen Graham | This Is England | Combo |
| 2006 | Vanessa Redgrave | Venus | Valerie |
| 2007 | Toby Kebbell | Control | Rob Gretton |
| 2007 | Cate Blanchett | Notes on a Scandal | Sheba Hart |
| 2007 | Colin Firth | And When Did You Last See Your Father? | Blake Morrison |
| 2007 | Samantha Morton | Control | Deborah Curtis |
| 2007 | Armin Mueller-Stahl | Eastern Promises | Vor Semyon |
;Best Supporting Actress
| Year | Actress | Film | Character |
| 2008 | Alexis Zegerman | Happy-Go-Lucky | Zoe |
| 2008 | Hayley Atwell | The Duchess | Elizabeth "Bess" Foster |
| 2008 | Sienna Miller | The Edge of Love | Caitlin Thomas |
| 2008 | Kristin Scott Thomas | Easy Virtue | Veronica Whittaker |
| 2008 | Emma Thompson | Brideshead Revisited | Lady Marchmain |
| 2009 | Anne-Marie Duff | Nowhere Boy | Julia Lennon |
| 2009 | Kerry Fox | Bright Star | Mrs. Brawne |
| 2009 | Rosamund Pike | An Education | Helen |
| 2009 | Kristin Scott Thomas | Nowhere Boy | Mimi Smith |
| 2009 | Kierston Wareing | Fish Tank | Joanne Williams |
2010s
2020s
Multiple nominations
;3 nominations- Kristin Scott Thomas
- Julie Walters
- Helena Bonham Carter
- Olivia Colman
- Anne-Marie Duff
- Sally Hawkins
- Sienna Miller
- Rosamund Pike
- Vanessa Redgrave
Multiple wins
- Olivia Colman