Academy Award for Best Actress

Information about Academy Award for Best Actress

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. 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.

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 11 times for Best Actress as well as 3 times for Best Supporting Actress, which makes her the overall most nominated actress.

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 Crosby 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 in the Best Supporting Actress category, and Winslet and Gloria Stuart were both nominated for their portrayals of Rose DeWitt Bukater in "Titanic", Stuart in the Best Supporting Actress category. The 1998 awards presented the unique case of actresses being nominated in the same year for the same role in different films, with Cate Blanchett being nominated for Best Actress and Judi Dench for Best Supporting Actress as Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth and Shakespeare in Love respectively.

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.

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.

Deborah Kerr has the record for the greatest number of Best Actress nominations without ever winning - six. (Thelma Ritter holds a similar record, six, for unsuccessful Best Supporting Actress nominations.)

Superlatives

Category Name Superlative Year Notes
Most AwardsKatharine Hepburn4 awards1981Awards resulted from 12 nominations.
Most NominationsKatharine Hepburn12 nominations1981Nominations resulted in 4 awards.
Oldest WinnerJessica Tandy80 years old1989Driving Miss Daisy
Oldest NomineeJessica Tandy80 years old1989Driving Miss Daisy
Youngest WinnerMarlee Matlin21 years old1986Children of a Lesser God
Youngest NomineeKeisha Castle-Hughes13 years old2003Whale Rider

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

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

See also

External links

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Academy Awards
Academy Award of Merit:
Current Awards		 Best Picture • Best Leading Actor • Best Leading Actress • Best Supporting Actor • Best Supporting Actress • Best Animated Feature • Best Art Direction • Best Cinematography • Best Costume Design • Best Director • Best Documentary Feature • Best Documentary Short Subject • Best Film Editing • Best Foreign Language Film • Best Makeup • Best Original Score • Best Original Song • Best Animated Short Film • Best Live Action Short Film • Best Sound Mixing • Best Sound Editing • Best Visual Effects • Best Adapted Screenplay • Best Original Screenplay
Academy Award of Merit:
Retired Awards		Best Assistant Director • Best Dance Direction • Best Director of a Comedy Picture • Best Short Film - Live Action - 2 Reels • Best Short Film - Novelty • Best Original Story • Best Title Writing • Best Unique and Artistic Quality of Production
Special Awards:
Current Awards		Academy Honorary Award • Academy Special Achievement Award • Academy Award, Scientific or Technical • The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award • The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award • Gordon E. Sawyer Award
Special Awards:
Retired Awards		Academy Juvenile Award
Ceremonies1927/28 • 1928/29 • 1929/30 • 1930/31 • 1931/32 • 1932/33 • 1934 • 1935 • 1936 • 1937 • 1938 • 1939 • 1940 • 1941 • 1942 • 1943 • 1944 • 1945 • 1946 • 1947 • 1948 • 1949 • 1950 • 1951 • 1952 • 1953 • 1954 • 1955 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1959 • 1960 • 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969 • 1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 • 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007
(Note: The years are listed as per Academy convention, usually the year of film release; the ceremonies are usually held the next year.)
Academy Award

Awarded for Excellence in cinematic achievements
Presented by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Country United States
First awarded May 16, 1929 to honor achievements of 1927/1928
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AMPAS
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Founded May 11,1927
Members 6,000
Country United States
Key people Sid Ganis, president
Office location Los Angeles,Beverly Hills, California

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actor, actress, or player (see terminology) is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity.
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The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking: i.e. film production companies, film studios, cinematography, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post production, film festivals, distribution; and actors, film directors and
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49th Academy Awards

Date Monday, March 28, 1977
Site Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles

Host Richard Pryor, Jane Fonda, Ellen Burstyn, Warren Beatty
Producer William Friedkin
Director Marty Pasetta
Duration 3 hours, 38 minutes The
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-1976- 1977 1978 1979  1980 .  1981 .  1982 .  1983  . 1984  . 1985  . 1986 
In home video: 1973 1974 1975 -1976- 1977 1978 1979     
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Janet Gaynor

from the film A Star Is Born (1937)
Birth name Laura Augusta Gainor
Born September 6 1906(1906--)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
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1st Academy Awards

Date Thursday, May 16, 1929
Site Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, Hollywood, California

Host Douglas Fairbanks
William C. DeMille

The 1st Academy Awards
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-1927- 1928 1929 1930  1931 .  1932 .  1933 .  1934  . 1935  . 1936  . 1937 

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-1928- 1929 1930 1931  1932 .  1933 .  1934 .  1935  . 1936  . 1937  . 1938 

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IMDb profile

For other uses, see Seventh Heaven (disambiguation).


Seventh Heaven is a 1927 silent film and one of the first films to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture (then called "Best Picture,
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IMDb profile

Street Angel is a 1928 silent film about a spirited young woman (Janet Gaynor in an Oscar-winning performance) who finds herself destitute and on the streets before joining a traveling carnival, where she meets a vagabond painter (Charles
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Story:
Hermann Sudermann
Starring Janet Gaynor
George O'Brien
Margaret Livingston
Cinematography Charles Rosher
Karl Struss
Editing by Harold D. Schuster
Distributed by Fox Film Corporation
Release date(s) Sept.
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Dame Helen Mirren

Helen Mirren at The Critics' Circle Awards Luncheon in April 2007.
Birth name Ilyena Vasilievna Mironov
Born July 26 1945 (1945--) (age 62)
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79th Academy Awards

Date Sunday, February 25 2007
Site Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California
Preshow Chris Connelly
Lisa Ling
Shaun Robinson
Allyson Waterman
Host Ellen DeGeneres
Producer Laura Ziskin
Director Louis J.
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-2006- 2007 2008 2009  2010 .  2011 .  2012 .  2013  . 2014  . 2015  . 2016 
In home video: 2003 2004 2005 -2006- 2007 2008 2009     
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All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile
The Queen is a 2006 Academy Award-winning British drama film directed by Stephen Frears, written by Peter Morgan and stars Oscar-winner Helen Mirren with Michael Sheen, James Cromwell, Helen McCrory, Alex Jennings
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3rd Academy Awards

Date November 5, 1930
Site Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, California

Host Conrad Nagel

The 3rd Academy Awards were awarded to films completed and screened in 1929/1930, by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
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-1929- 1930 1931 1932  1933 .  1934 .  1935 .  1936  . 1937  . 1938  . 1939 

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-1930- 1931 1932 1933  1934 .  1935 .  1936 .  1937  . 1938  . 1939  . 1940 

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4th Academy Awards

Date November 10, 1931
Site Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles, California

Host Lawrence Grant

The 4th Academy Awards were awarded to films completed and screened in 1930/1931, by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
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-1930- 1931 1932 1933  1934 .  1935 .  1936 .  1937  . 1938  . 1939  . 1940 

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-1931- 1932 1933 1934  1935 .  1936 .  1937 .  1938  . 1939  . 1940  . 1941 

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Academy Awards

Date March 5, 1936
Site Biltmore Hotel

Host Frank Capra

The 8th Academy Awards were held on March 5, 1936 at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by Frank Capra.
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-1935- 1936 1937 1938  1939 .  1940 .  1941 .  1942  . 1943  . 1944  . 1945 

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Academy Awards

Date March 4, 1937
Site Biltmore Hotel

Host George Jessel

The 9th Academy Awards were held on March 4, 1937 at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by George Jessel.
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-1936- 1937 1938 1939  1940 .  1941 .  1942 .  1943  . 1944  . 1945  . 1946 

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Performance by an Actress in a Supporting 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.
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May Robson

from the film A Star Is Born (1937).
Birth name Mary Jeanette Robinson
Born March 19 1858(1858--)
Melbourne, Australia
Died September 6 1942 (aged 84)
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Lady for a Day is a 1933 film which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. It was written by Robert Riskin, based on the Damon Runyon story Madame la Gimp. The film was directed by Frank Capra.
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