| Academy Award for Best Actress | |
|---|---|
The 2023 recipient: Michelle Yeoh | |
| Awarded for | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) |
| First awarded | 1929 (for performance in films released during the 1927/1928 film season) |
| Most recent winner | Michelle Yeoh Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) |
| Most awards | Katharine Hepburn (4) |
| Most nominations | Meryl Streep (17) |
| Website | oscars |
The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given 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.
The 1st Academy Awards ceremony was held in 1929 with Janet Gaynor receiving the award for her roles in 7th Heaven, Street Angel, and Sunrise.[1] Currently, nominees are 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.[2] In the first three years of the awards, actresses were nominated as the best in their categories. At that time, all of their work during the qualifying period (as many as three films, in some cases) was listed after the award.[3] However, during the 3rd ceremony held in 1930, only one of those films was cited in each winner's final award, even though each of the acting winners had two films following their names on the ballots.[4] The following year, the current system was introduced in which an actress is nominated for a specific performance in a single film.[3] Starting with the 9th ceremony held in 1937, the category was officially limited to five nominations per year.[3]
Since its inception, the award has been given to 78 actresses. Katharine Hepburn has won the most awards in this category, with four, followed by Frances McDormand, with three. With 17 nominations, Meryl Streep is the most nominated in this category, resulting in two wins. Jeanne Eagels is the only actress to be posthumously nominated in the category for The Letter (1929).[5] Italian actress Sophia Loren was the first winner for a non-English language performance for Two Women (1961). At age 21, Marlee Matlin became the youngest actress to win this award for Children of a Lesser God (1986), and at age 80, Jessica Tandy became the oldest winner in this category for Driving Miss Daisy (1989). Halle Berry is the first woman of color to win in this category, for Monster's Ball (2001). Jodie Foster is the only openly LGBT woman to win in this category, for The Accused (1988), and The Silence of the Lambs (1991), although she was not publicly out until after both wins. As of the 2023 ceremony, Michelle Yeoh is the most recent winner for her role as Evelyn Quan Wang in Everything Everywhere All At Once, making her the first Asian and Malaysian actress and the second woman of color to win in this category.
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.[6] For the first five ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned twelve months from August 1 to July 31.[7] For the 6th ceremony held in 1934, the eligibility period lasted from August 1, 1932, to December 31, 1933.[7] Since the 7th ceremony held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full previous calendar year from January 1 to December 31.[7] Meryl Streep is the most nominated actress in this category with 17 nominations, winning in this category twice for Sophie's Choice (1982), and The Iron Lady (2011).[8] Katharine Hepburn holds the records for most wins with 12 nominations and 4 wins for Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), and On Golden Pond (1981).[9]
|
Indicates the winner |
| Year | Actress | Role(s) | Film | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1927/28 (1st) |
Janet Gaynor
|
Diane | 7th Heaven | [10] |
| Angela | Street Angel | |||
| The Wife | Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans | |||
| Louise Dresser | Mrs. Pleznik | A Ship Comes In | ||
| Gloria Swanson | Sadie Thompson | Sadie Thompson | ||
| 1928/29 (2nd) [note 1] |
Mary Pickford
|
Norma Besant | Coquette | [11] |
| Ruth Chatterton | Jacqueline Floriot | Madame X | ||
| Betty Compson | Carrie | The Barker | ||
| Jeanne Eagels (p.n.) | Leslie Crosbie | The Letter | ||
| Corinne Griffith | Emma Hamilton | The Divine Lady | ||
| Bessie Love | Hank Mahoney | The Broadway Melody |
| Year | Actress | Role(s) | Film | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020/21 (93rd)[103] |
Frances McDormand
|
Fern | Nomadland | [104] |
| Viola Davis | Gertrude "Ma" Rainey | Ma Rainey's Black Bottom | ||
| Andra Day | Billie Holiday | The United States vs. Billie Holiday | ||
| Vanessa Kirby | Martha Weiss | Pieces of a Woman | ||
| Carey Mulligan | Cassandra "Cassie" Thomas | Promising Young Woman | ||
| 2021 (94th) |
Jessica Chastain
|
Tammy Faye Bakker | The Eyes of Tammy Faye | [105] |
| Olivia Colman | Leda Caruso | The Lost Daughter | ||
| Penélope Cruz | Janis Martínez Moreno | Parallel Mothers | ||
| Nicole Kidman | Lucille Ball | Being the Ricardos | ||
| Kristen Stewart | Diana, Princess of Wales | Spencer | ||
| 2022 (95th) |
Michelle Yeoh
|
Evelyn Quan Wang | Everything Everywhere All At Once | [106] |
| Cate Blanchett | Lydia Tár | Tár | ||
| Ana de Armas | Norma Jeane Mortenson / Marilyn Monroe | Blonde | ||
| Andrea Riseborough | Leslie "Lee" Rowlands | To Leslie | ||
| Michelle Williams | Mitzi Fabelman | The Fabelmans |
|
The following individuals received two or more Best Actress awards:
|
The following individuals received four or more Best Actress nominations:
|
| Record | Actor | Film | Year | Age | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oldest Winner | Jessica Tandy | Driving Miss Daisy | 1990 | 80 | [107] |
| Oldest Nominee | Emmanuelle Riva | Amour | 2013 | 85 | [107] |
| Youngest Winner | Marlee Matlin | Children of a Lesser God | 1987 | 21 | [107] |
| Youngest Nominee | Quvenzhané Wallis | Beasts of the Southern Wild | 2013 | 9 | [107] |
![Sophia Loren won for Two Women (1961), the first win for a non-English language performance.[42]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Sophia_Loren_-_1959.jpg/240px-Sophia_Loren_-_1959.jpg)
