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**[[Keira Knightley]] - ''[[Pride and Prejudice (2005 film)|Pride and Prejudice]]'' as [[Elizabeth Bennet]]
**[[Keira Knightley]] - ''[[Pride and Prejudice (2005 film)|Pride and Prejudice]]'' as [[Elizabeth Bennet]]
**[[Charlize Theron]] - ''[[North Country (film)|North Country]]'' as Josey Aimes
**[[Charlize Theron]] - ''[[North Country (film)|North Country]]'' as Josey Aimes
**[[Ziyi Zhang]] - ''[[Memoirs of a Geisha (film)|Memoirs of a Geisha]]'' as Sayuri


*'''[[2006 in film|2006]] ([[79th Academy Awards|79th]]) [[Helen Mirren]] - ''[[The Queen (film)|The Queen]]''''' as '''[[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen Elizabeth II]]'''
*'''[[2006 in film|2006]] ([[79th Academy Awards|79th]]) [[Helen Mirren]] - ''[[The Queen (film)|The Queen]]''''' as '''[[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen Elizabeth II]]'''

Revision as of 23:49, 26 January 2008

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Prior to the 49th Academy Awards ceremony (1976), this award was simply known as the Academy Award of Merit for Performance by an Actress. Since its inception, however, the award has commonly been referred to as the Oscar for Best Actress. While actresses are nominated for this award by Academy members who are actors and actresses themselves, winners are selected by the Academy membership as a whole.

History

Throughout the past 79 years, accounting for ties and repeat winners, AMPAS has presented a total of 80 Best Actress awards to 66 different actresses. Winners of this Academy Award of Merit receive the familiar Oscar statuette, depicting a gold-plated knight holding a crusader's sword and standing on a reel of film. The first recipient was Janet Gaynor, who was honored at the 1st Academy Awards ceremony (1927/1928) for her performances in Seventh Heaven, Street Angel, and Sunrise. The most recent recipient was Helen Mirren, who was honored at the 79th Academy Awards ceremony (2006) for her performance in The Queen.

In the first three years of the Academy Awards, individuals such as actors and directors were nominated as the best in their categories. Then all of their work during the qualifying period (as many as three films, in some cases) was listed after the award. However, during the 3rd Academy Awards ceremony (1929/1930), only one of those films was cited in each winner's final award, even though each of the acting winners had had two films following their names on the ballots. For the 4th Academy Awards ceremony (1930/1931), this unwieldy and confusing system was replaced by the current system in which an actress is nominated for a specific performance in a single film. Such nominations are limited to five per year. Until the 8th Academy Awards ceremony (1935), nominations for the Best Actress award were intended to include all actresses, whether the performance was in either a leading or supporting role. At the 9th Academy Awards ceremony (1936), however, the Best Supporting Actress category was specifically introduced as a distinct award following complaints that the single Best Actress category necessarily favored leading performers with the most screen time. Nonetheless, May Robson had received a Best Actress nomination (Lady for a Day, 1933) for her performance in a clear supporting role. Currently, Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, and Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role constitute the four Academy Awards of Merit for acting annually presented by AMPAS.

Superlatives

Superlative Best Actress Best Supporting Actress Overall
Most Awards Katharine Hepburn 4 Shelley Winters and Dianne Wiest 2 Katharine Hepburn 4
Most Nominations Katharine Hepburn 12 Thelma Ritter 6 Meryl Streep 14
Most Nominations
(without ever winning)
Deborah Kerr 6 Thelma Ritter 6 Deborah Kerr and Thelma Ritter 6
Oldest Winner Jessica Tandy 80 Peggy Ashcroft 77 Jessica Tandy 80
Oldest Nominee Jessica Tandy 80 Gloria Stuart 87 Gloria Stuart 87
Youngest Winner Marlee Matlin 21 Tatum O'Neal 10 Tatum O'Neal 10
Youngest Nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes 13 Tatum O'Neal 10 Tatum O'Neal 10

Katharine Hepburn, with four wins, has more Best Actress Awards than any other actress. Eleven women have won two Best Actress Awards; in chronological order, they are Luise Rainer, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Vivien Leigh, Ingrid Bergman, Elizabeth Taylor, Glenda Jackson, Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Jodie Foster, and Hilary Swank.

Only two actresses have won this award in consecutive years: Luise Rainer (1936 and 1937) and Katharine Hepburn (1967 and 1968).

Katharine Hepburn holds the record in the Best Actress category with 12 nominations. Meryl Streep has been nominated 14 times (11 for Best Actress and three for Best Supporting Actress), which makes her the overall most-nominated performer in all acting categories.

There has been only one tie in the history of this category. This occurred in 1968 when Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand were both given the award. Unlike the earlier 1932 "tie" for Best Actor, however, Hepburn and Streisand each received the exact same number of votes.

Only twice have siblings have been nominated for the Best Actress award during the same year: Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine in 1941; and Lynn Redgrave and Vanessa Redgrave in 1966.

Only two pairs of actresses have been nominated for Best Actress for the same role: Jeanne Eagels and Bette Davis as Leslie Crosbie in The Letter (1929 and 1940), and Janet Gaynor and Judy Garland as Vicki Lester in A Star is Born (1937 and 1954). Judi Dench and Kate Winslet were both nominated for their portrayals of Iris Murdoch at different ages in 2001's Iris, Winslet for Best Supporting Actress, and Winslet and Gloria Stuart were both nominated for their portrayals of Rose DeWitt Bukater in Titanic, Stuart for Best Supporting Actress.

The 71st Academy Awards (1998) presented the unique case of actresses being nominated in the same year for the same character in different films. Cate Blanchett was nominated for Best Actress for playing Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth, while Judi Dench was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for playing the same character in Shakespeare in Love.

Kate Winslet is the youngest actress to be nominated for five Academy Awards.

Halle Berry, who won in 2002 for her role in Monster's Ball, is the only African-American winner of the Best Actress award. Only six other African-American actresses have been nominated: Dorothy Dandridge, Diana Ross, Cicely Tyson, Diahann Carroll, Whoopi Goldberg, and Angela Bassett. In addition, only three Hispanic actresses have been nominated for the Best Actress award: Salma Hayek, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and Penélope Cruz. Finally, only one Brazilian actress has been nominated: Fernanda Montenegro.

Helen Hayes, Ingrid Bergman, Maggie Smith, Meryl Streep, and Jessica Lange have each won both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress awards.

No Best Actress winning or nominated performance is lost, although Sadie Thompson (1928) is incomplete and missing portions have been reconstructed with stills.

Winners and nominees

Following the Academy's practice, the films below are listed by year of their Los Angeles qualifying run, which is usually (but not always) the film's year of release. For example, the Oscar for Best Actress of 1999 was announced during the award ceremony held in 2000. Winners are listed first in bold, followed by the other nominees.

1920s

1930s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Nationalities of winners

The following information reflects the nationality of each award winner at the time of the award.

Number Annual Year Name Flag Nationality
1 1st 1927 / 1928 Janet Gaynor United States American
2 2nd 1928 / 1929 Mary Pickford Canada Canadian
3 3rd 1929 / 1930 Norma Shearer Canada Canadian
4 4th 1930 / 1931 Marie Dressler Canada Canadian
5 5th 1931 / 1932 Helen Hayes United States American
6 6th 1932 / 1933 Katharine Hepburn United States American
7 7th 1934 Claudette Colbert United States American
8 8th 1935 Bette Davis United States American
9 9th 1936 Luise Rainer Germany German
10 10th 1937 Luise Rainer Germany German
11 11th 1938 Bette Davis United States American
12 12th 1939 Vivien Leigh United Kingdom British
13 13th 1940 Ginger Rogers United States American
14 14th 1941 Joan Fontaine United Kingdom British
15 15th 1942 Greer Garson United Kingdom British
16 16th 1943 Jennifer Jones United States American
17 17th 1944 Ingrid Bergman Sweden Swedish
18 18th 1945 Joan Crawford United States American
19 19th 1946 Olivia de Havilland United States American
20 20th 1947 Loretta Young United States American
21 21st 1948 Jane Wyman United States American
22 22nd 1949 Olivia de Havilland United States American
23 23rd 1950 Judy Holliday United States American
24 24th 1951 Vivien Leigh United Kingdom British
25 25th 1952 Shirley Booth United States American
26 26th 1953 Audrey Hepburn United Kingdom / Netherlands British / Dutch
27 27th 1954 Grace Kelly United States American
28 28th 1955 Anna Magnani Italy Italian
29 29th 1956 Ingrid Bergman Sweden Swedish
30 30th 1957 Joanne Woodward United States American
31 31st 1958 Susan Hayward United States American
32 32nd 1959 Simone Signoret France French
33 33rd 1960 Elizabeth Taylor United States / United Kingdom American / British
34 34th 1961 Sophia Loren Italy Italian
35 35th 1962 Anne Bancroft United States American
36 36th 1963 Patricia Neal United States American
37 37th 1964 Julie Andrews United Kingdom British
38 38th 1965 Julie Christie United Kingdom British
39 39th 1966 Elizabeth Taylor United States / United Kingdom American / British
40 40th 1967 Katharine Hepburn United States American
41 41st 1968 Katharine Hepburn United States American
42 41st 1968 Barbra Streisand United States American
43 42nd 1969 Maggie Smith United Kingdom British
44 43rd 1970 Glenda Jackson United Kingdom British
45 44th 1971 Jane Fonda United States American
46 45th 1972 Liza Minnelli United States American
47 46th 1973 Glenda Jackson United Kingdom British
48 47th 1974 Ellen Burstyn United States American
49 48th 1975 Louise Fletcher United States American
50 49th 1976 Faye Dunaway United States American
51 50th 1977 Diane Keaton United States American
52 51st 1978 Jane Fonda United States American
53 52nd 1979 Sally Field United States American
54 53rd 1980 Sissy Spacek United States American
55 54th 1981 Katharine Hepburn United States American
56 55th 1982 Meryl Streep United States American
57 56th 1983 Shirley MacLaine United States American
58 57th 1984 Sally Field United States American
59 58th 1985 Geraldine Page United States American
60 59th 1986 Marlee Matlin United States American
61 60th 1987 Cher United States American
62 61st 1988 Jodie Foster United States American
63 62nd 1989 Jessica Tandy United States American
64 63rd 1990 Kathy Bates United States American
65 64th 1991 Jodie Foster United States American
66 65th 1992 Emma Thompson United Kingdom British
67 66th 1993 Holly Hunter United States American
68 67th 1994 Jessica Lange United States American
69 68th 1995 Susan Sarandon United States American
70 69th 1996 Frances McDormand United States American
71 70th 1997 Helen Hunt United States American
72 71st 1998 Gwyneth Paltrow United States American
73 72nd 1999 Hilary Swank United States American
74 73rd 2000 Julia Roberts United States American
75 74th 2001 Halle Berry United States American
76 75th 2002 Nicole Kidman Australia Australian
77 76th 2003 Charlize Theron South Africa South African
78 77th 2004 Hilary Swank United States American
79 78th 2005 Reese Witherspoon United States American
80 79th 2006 Helen Mirren United Kingdom British
Nationality Number of Awards Number of Winners
American 54 68% 45 68%
British 11 14% 9 14%
Canadian 3 4% 3 5%
All Others 12 15% 9 14%
Total 80 100% 66 100%

See also