Academy Award for Best Actress
The Academy Awards are awarded the year after the film's release; the films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 went to the best actress in 1999. The winner is listed first.
- 1928 Janet Gaynor - Seventh Heaven Street Angel and Sunrise
- 1929 Mary Pickford - Coquette
- 1930 Norma Shearer - The Divorcee
- 1931 Marie Dressler - Min and Bill
- 1932 Helen Hayes - The Sin of Madelon Claudet
- 1933 Katharine Hepburn - Morning Glory
- 1934 Claudette Colbert - It Happened One Night
- 1935 Bette Davis - Dangerous
- 1936 Luise Rainer - The Great Ziegfeld
- 1937 Luise Rainer - The Good Earth
- 1938 Bette Davis - Jezebel
- 1939 Vivien Leigh - Gone With the Wind
- 1940 Ginger Rogers - Kitty Foyle
- 1941 Joan Fontaine - Suspicion
- 1942 Greer Garson- Mrs. Miniver
- 1943 Jennifer Jones - The Song of Bernadette
- 1944 Ingrid Bergman - Gaslight
- 1945 Joan Crawford - Mildred Pierce
- 1946 Olivia de Havilland - To Each His Own
- 1947 Loretta Young - The Farmer's Daughter
- 1948 Jane Wyman - Johnny Belinda
- 1949 Olivia de Havilland - The Heiress
- 1950 Judy Holliday - Born Yesterday
- 1951 Vivien Leigh - A Streetcar Named Desire
- 1952 Shirley Booth - Come Back, Little Sheba
- 1953 Audrey Hepburn - Roman Holiday
- 1954 Grace Kelly - The Country Girl
- 1955 Anna Magnani - The Rose Tattoo
- 1956 Ingrid Bergman - Anastasia
- 1957 Joanne Woodward - The Three Faces of Eve
- 1958 Susan Hayward - I Want to Live
- 1959 Simone Signoret - Room at the Top
- 1960 Elizabeth Taylor - BUtterfield 8
- 1961 Sophia Loren - Two Women
- 1962 Anne Bancroft - The Miracle Worker
- 1963 Patricia Neal - Hud
- 1964 Julie Andrews - Mary Poppins
- 1965 Julie Christie - Darling
- 1966 Elizabeth Taylor - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
- 1967 Katharine Hepburn - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
- 1968 Katharine Hepburn - The Lion in Winter and Barbra Streisand - Funny Girl
- 1969 Maggie Smith - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
- Geneviève Bujold - Anne of the Thousand Days
- Jane Fonda - They Shoot Horses, Don't They
- Liza Minnelli - The Sterile Cuckoo
- Jean Simmons - The Happy Ending
- 1970 Glenda Jackson - Women in Love
- 1971 Jane Fonda - Klute
- 1972 Liza Minnelli - Cabaret
- 1973 Glenda Jackson - A Touch of Class
- 1974 Ellen Burstyn - Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
- 1975 Louise Fletcher - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
- Ann-Margret - Tommy
- Isabelle Adjani - The Story of Adele H
- Glenda Jackson - Hedda
- Carol Kane - Hester Street
- 1976 Faye Dunaway - Network
- 1977 Diane Keaton - Annie Hall
- 1978 Jane Fonda - Coming Home
- 1979 Sally Field - Norma Rae
- 1980 Sissy Spacek - Coal Miner's Daughter
- 1981 Katharine Hepburn - On Golden Pond
- 1982 Meryl Streep - Sophie's Choice
- 1983 Shirley MacLaine - Terms of Endearment
- 1984 Sally Field - Places in the Heart
- 1985 Geraldine Page - The Trip to Bountiful
- Anne Bancroft - Agnes of God
- Whoopi Goldberg - The Color Purple
- Jessica Lange - Sweet Dreams
- Meryl Streep - Out of Africa
- 1986 Marlee Matlin - Children of a Lesser God
- 1987 Cher - Moonstruck
- 1988 Jodie Foster - The Accused
- Glenn Close - Dangerous Liaisons
- Melanie Griffith - Working Girl
- Meryl Streep - A Cry in the Dark
- Sigourney Weaver - Gorillas in the Mist
- 1989 Jessica Tandy - Driving Miss Daisy
- Isabelle Adjani - Camille Claudel
- Pauline Collins - Shirley Valentine
- Jessica Lange - Music Box
- Michelle Pfeiffer - The Fabulous Baker Boys
- 1990 Kathy Bates - Misery
- Anjelica Huston - The Grifters
- Julia Roberts - Pretty Woman
- Meryl Streep - Postcards from the Edge
- Joanne Woodward - Mr. and Mrs. Bridge
- 1991 Jodie Foster - The Silence of the Lambs
- Geena Davis - Thelma and Louise
- Laura Dern - Rambling Rose
- Bette Midler - For the Boys
- Susan Sarandon - Thelma and Louise
- 1992 Emma Thompson - Howards End
- Catherine Deneuve - Indochine
- Mary McDonnell - Passion Fish
- Michelle Pfeiffer - Love Field
- Susan Sarandon - Lorenzo's Oil
- 1993 Holly Hunter - The Piano
- Angela Bassett - What's Love Got to Do with It
- Stockard Channing - Six Degrees of Separation
- Emma Thompson - Remains of the Day
- Debra Winger - Shadowlands
- 1994 Jessica Lange - Blue Sky
- Jodie Foster - Nell
- Miranda Richardson - Tom and Viv
- Winona Ryder - Little Women
- Susan Sarandon - The Client
- 1995 Susan Sarandon - Dead Man Walking
- Elisabeth Shue - Leaving Las Vegas
- Sharon Stone - Casino
- Meryl Streep - The Bridges of Madison County
- Emma Thompson - Sense and Sensibility
- 1996 Frances McDormand - Fargo
- Brenda Blethyn - Secrets and Lies
- Diane Keaton - Marvin's Room
- Kristin Scott Thomas - The English Patient
- Emily Watson - Breaking the Waves
- 1997 Helen Hunt - As Good As It Gets
- Helena Bonham Carter - The Wings of the Dove
- Julie Christie - Afterglow
- Judi Dench - Mrs. Brown
- Kate Winslet - Titanic
- 1998 Gwyneth Paltrow - Shakespeare in Love
- Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth
- Fernanda Montenegro - Central do Brasil
- Meryl Streep - One True Thing
- Emily Watson - Hilary and Jackie
- 1999 Hilary Swank - Boys Don't Cry
- Annette Bening - American Beauty
- Julianne Moore - The End of the Affair
- Meryl Streep - Music of the Heart
- Janet McTeer - Tumbleweeds
- 2000 Julia Roberts - Erin Brockovich
- Juliette Binoche - Chocolat
- Joan Allen - The Contender
- Ellen Burstyn - Requiem for a Dream
- Laura Linney - You Can Count on Me
- 2001 Halle Berry - Monster's Ball
- 2002 Nicole Kidman -The Hours
- Renée Zellweger - Chicago
- Julianne Moore - Far from Heaven
- Salma Hayek - Frida
- Diane Lane - Unfaithful
