Saturn Award for Best Actress
The Saturn Award for Best Actress is one of the annual Saturn Awards given by the American professional organization, the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The Saturn Awards are the oldest film-specialized reward of achievements in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. The Saturn Award included the Best Actress category for the first time in the 1974 film year.
The Saturn Award for Best Actress is the oldest prize to reward actresses in science fiction, fantasy, and horror films: other awards such as the Academy and Golden Globe Awards, despite supposedly disregarding the genre, gave little recognition to acting quality at the time. In 1996 the Saturns began to reward both film and television acting, and created the Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television. For the first two years it was awarded there were no nominees announced.
The actresses with the most nominations are Jamie Lee Curtis, Jodie Foster, Natalie Portman, Naomi Watts and Sigourney Weaver, who are all tied with five. Curtis, Foster, Portman, Watts, Sandra Bullock and Demi Moore are the only actresses to have won it twice. Portman and Michelle Yeoh are the only actresses to win both the Saturn Award and the Academy Award for Best Actress for the same film, while Weaver holds the record for most nominations for playing the same character with four. Foster is the youngest winner in this category, winning her first award in 1977 at age 13.
Winners and nominees
Legend:1970s
| Year | Actress | Film | Character |
| 1974/1975 | Katharine Ross | The Stepford Wives | Joanna Eberhart |
| 1976 | Blythe Danner | Futureworld | Tracy Ballad |
| 1977 | Jodie Foster | The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane | Rynn Jacobs |
| 1977 | Julie Christie | Demon Seed | Susan Harris |
| 1977 | Joan Collins | Empire of the Ants | Marilyn Fryser |
| 1977 | Melinda Dillon | Close Encounters of the Third Kind | Jillian Guiler |
| 1977 | Carrie Fisher | Star Wars | Princess Leia Organa |
| 1978 | Margot Kidder | Superman | Lois Lane |
| 1978 | Brooke Adams | Invasion of the Body Snatchers | Elizabeth Driscoll |
| 1978 | Ann-Margret | Magic | Peggy Ann Snow |
| 1978 | Geneviève Bujold | Coma | Dr. Susan Wheeler |
| 1978 | Diana Ross | The Wiz | Dorothy Gale |
| 1979 | Mary Steenburgen | Time After Time | Amy Robbins |
| 1979 | Susan Saint James | Love at First Bite | Cindy Sondheim |
| 1979 | Persis Khambatta | Star Trek: The Motion Picture | Lt. Ilia |
| 1979 | Margot Kidder | The Amityville Horror | Kathy Lutz |
| 1979 | Sigourney Weaver | Alien | Ripley |
1980s
| Year | Actress | Film | Character |
| 1980 | Angie Dickinson | Dressed to Kill | Kate Miller |
| 1980 | Ellen Burstyn | Resurrection | Edna |
| 1980 | Jamie Lee Curtis | Terror Train | Alana Maxwell |
| 1980 | Louanne | Oh, God! Book II | Tracy Richards |
| 1980 | Jane Seymour | Somewhere in Time | Elise McKenna |
| 1981 | Karen Allen | Raiders of the Lost Ark | Marion Ravenwood |
| 1981 | Jenny Agutter | An American Werewolf in London | Nurse Alex Price |
| 1981 | Margot Kidder | Superman II | Lois Lane |
| 1981 | Angela Lansbury | The Mirror Crack'd | Miss Jane Marple |
| 1981 | Lily Tomlin | The Incredible Shrinking Woman | Pat Kramer / Judith Beasley |
| 1982 | Sandahl Bergman | Conan the Barbarian | Valeria |
| 1982 | Susan George | The House Where Evil Dwells | Laura Fletcher |
| 1982 | Nastassja Kinski | Cat People | Irena Gallier |
| 1982 | JoBeth Williams | Poltergeist | Diane Freeling |
| 1982 | Mary Woronov | Eating Raoul | Mary Bland |
| 1983 | Louise Fletcher | Brainstorm | Dr. Lillian Reynolds |
| 1983 | Bess Armstrong | High Road to China | Eve "Evie" Tozer |
| 1983 | Bobbie Bresee | Mausoleum | Susan Walker Farrell |
| 1983 | Carrie Fisher | Return of the Jedi | Princess Leia Organa |
| 1983 | Ally Sheedy | WarGames | Jennifer Mack |
| 1984 | Daryl Hannah | Splash | Madison |
| 1984 | Karen Allen | Starman | Jenny Hayden |
| 1984 | Nancy Allen | The Philadelphia Experiment | Allison Hayes |
| 1984 | Linda Hamilton | The Terminator | Sarah Connor |
| 1984 | Helen Slater | Supergirl | Supergirl / Kara Zor-El / Linda Lee |
| 1985 | Coral Browne | Dreamchild | Alice Hargreaves |
| 1985 | Glenn Close | Maxie | Jan / Maxie |
| 1985 | Mia Farrow | The Purple Rose of Cairo | Cecilia |
| 1985 | Michelle Pfeiffer | Ladyhawke | Isabeau d'Anjou |
| 1985 | Jessica Tandy | Cocoon | Alma Finley |
| 1986 | Sigourney Weaver | Aliens | Ellen Ripley |
| 1986 | Barbara Crampton | From Beyond | Dr. Katherine McMichaels |
| 1986 | Geena Davis | The Fly | Veronica Quaife |
| 1986 | Elisabeth Shue | Link | Jane Chase |
| 1986 | Kathleen Turner | Peggy Sue Got Married | Peggy Sue Bodell |
| 1987 | Jessica Tandy | *batteries not included | Faye Riley |
| 1987 | Nancy Allen | RoboCop | Officer Anne Lewis |
| 1987 | Melinda Dillon | Harry and the Hendersons | Nancy Henderson |
| 1987 | Lorraine Gary | Jaws: The Revenge | Ellen Brody |
| 1987 | Susan Sarandon | The Witches of Eastwick | Jane Spofford |
| 1987 | Robin Wright | The Princess Bride | Buttercup |
| 1988 | Catherine Hicks | Child's Play | Karen Barclay |
| 1988 | Kim Basinger | My Stepmother Is an Alien | Celeste Martin |
| 1988 | Amanda Donohoe | The Lair of the White Worm | Lady Sylvia Marsh |
| 1988 | Joanna Pacuła | The Kiss | Felice Dunbar |
| 1988 | Cassandra Peterson | Elvira: Mistress of the Dark | Elvira / Aunt Morgana Talbot |
| 1988 | Jessica Tandy | Cocoon: The Return | Alma Finley |
| 1989/1990 | Demi Moore | Ghost | Molly Jensen |
| 1989/1990 | Julie Carmen | Fright Night Part 2 | Regine Dandrige |
| 1989/1990 | Blanca Guerra | Santa Sangre | Concha |
| 1989/1990 | Anjelica Huston | The Witches | Miss Eva Ernst / Grand High Witch |
| 1989/1990 | Nicole Kidman | Dead Calm | Rae Ingram |
| 1989/1990 | Madonna | Dick Tracy | Breathless Mahoney |
| 1989/1990 | Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio | The Abyss | Dr. Lindsey Brigman |
| 1989/1990 | Ally Sheedy | Fear | Cayce Bridges |
| 1989/1990 | Jenny Wright | I, Madman | Virginia |
1990s
| Year | Actress | Film | Character |
| 1991 | Linda Hamilton | Terminator 2: Judgment Day | Sarah Connor |
| 1991 | Kathy Bates | Misery | Annie Wilkes |
| 1991 | Jodie Foster | The Silence of the Lambs | Clarice Starling |
| 1991 | Julia Roberts | Sleeping with the Enemy | Laura Burney |
| 1991 | Winona Ryder | Edward Scissorhands | Kim Boggs |
| 1991 | Meryl Streep | Defending Your Life | Julia |
| 1992 | Virginia Madsen | Candyman | Helen Lyle |
| 1992 | Rebecca De Mornay | The Hand That Rocks the Cradle | Peyton Flanders / Mrs. Mott |
| 1992 | Sheryl Lee | Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me | Laura Palmer |
| 1992 | Winona Ryder | Bram Stoker's Dracula | Mina Harker / Elisabeta |
| 1992 | Sharon Stone | Basic Instinct | Catherine Tramell |
| 1992 | Meryl Streep | Death Becomes Her | Madeline Ashton |
| 1992 | Sigourney Weaver | Alien 3 | Ellen Ripley |
| 1993 | Andie MacDowell | Groundhog Day | Rita |
| 1993 | Patricia Arquette | True Romance | Alabama Whitman |
| 1993 | Laura Dern | Jurassic Park | Dr. Ellie Sattler |
| 1993 | Michelle Forbes | Kalifornia | Carrie Laughlin |
| 1993 | Anjelica Huston | Addams Family Values | Morticia Addams |
| 1993 | Bette Midler | Hocus Pocus | Winifred "Winnie" Sanderson |
| 1993 | Ally Sheedy | Man's Best Friend | Lori Tanner |
| 1994 | Sandra Bullock | Speed | Annie Porter |
| 1994 | Jamie Lee Curtis | True Lies | Helen Tasker |
| 1994 | Mädchen Amick | Dream Lover | Lena Mathers |
| 1994 | Helena Bonham Carter | Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein | Elizabeth Frankenstein |
| 1994 | Penelope Ann Miller | The Shadow | Margo Lane |
| 1994 | Michelle Pfeiffer | Wolf | Laura Alden |
| 1995 | Angela Bassett | Strange Days | Lornette "Mace" Mason |
| 1995 | Kathy Bates | Dolores Claiborne | Dolores Claiborne |
| 1995 | Nicole Kidman | To Die For | Suzanne Stone-Maretto |
| 1995 | Sharon Stone | The Quick and the Dead | The Lady |
| 1995 | Madeleine Stowe | 12 Monkeys | Kathryn Railly |
| 1995 | Marina Zudina | Mute Witness | Billy |
| 1996 | Neve Campbell | Scream | Sidney Prescott |
| 1996 | Geena Davis | The Long Kiss Goodnight | Samantha Caine / Charlene Elizabeth "Charly" Baltimore |
| 1996 | Gina Gershon | Bound | Corky |
| 1996 | Helen Hunt | Twister | Dr. Jo Harding |
| 1996 | Frances McDormand | Fargo | Marge Gunderson |
| 1996 | Penelope Ann Miller | The Relic | Dr. Margo Green |
| 1997 | Jodie Foster | Contact | Dr. Eleanor "Ellie" Ann Arroway |
| 1997 | Neve Campbell | Scream 2 | Sidney Prescott |
| 1997 | Pam Grier | Jackie Brown | Jackie Brown |
| 1997 | Jennifer Lopez | Anaconda | Terri Flores |
| 1997 | Mira Sorvino | Mimic | Dr. Susan Tyler |
| 1997 | Sigourney Weaver | Alien: Resurrection | Ellen Ripley |
| 1998 | Drew Barrymore | Ever After | Danielle de Barbarac / Countess Nicole de Lancret |
| 1998 | Gillian Anderson | The X-Files | Dana Scully |
| 1998 | Jamie Lee Curtis | Halloween H20: 20 Years Later | Laurie Strode / Keri Tate |
| 1998 | Meg Ryan | City of Angels | Maggie Rice |
| 1998 | Jennifer Tilly | Bride of Chucky | Tiffany |
| 1998 | Catherine Zeta-Jones | The Mask of Zorro | Elena De La Vega |
| 1999 | Christina Ricci | Sleepy Hollow | Katrina Van Tassel |
| 1999 | Heather Graham | Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me | Felicity Shagwell |
| 1999 | Catherine Keener | Being John Malkovich | Maxine Lund |
| 1999 | Carrie-Anne Moss | The Matrix | Trinity |
| 1999 | Sigourney Weaver | Galaxy Quest | Gwen DeMarco / Lt. Tawny Madison |
| 1999 | Rachel Weisz | The Mummy | Evelyn "Evie" Carnahan O'Connell |