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Academy Award for Best Actress
The Academy Award for Best Actress is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. The winners are chosen by the Academy membership as a whole. Following the Academy's practice, the films below are listed by release year: for example, the Oscar for "Best Actress in 1999" was announced during the award ceremony held in 2000. Winners are listed first, followed by the other nominees.The youngest ever nominee is Keisha Castle-Hughes, who was 13 when nominated for her role in Whale Rider in 2004. The oldest nominee is Jessica Tandy, who was 80 years old when she won for Driving Miss Daisy in 1989.
Katharine Hepburn, with four wins, has more 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, Ingrid Bergman, Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland, Elizabeth Taylor, Glenda Jackson, Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Jodie Foster,and Hilary Swank.
1928 to Present
| Year | Actress | Picture |
| 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 , Barbra Streisand | The Lion in Winter , Funny Girl |
| 1969 | Maggie Smith | The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 1986 | Marlee Matlin | Children of a Lesser God |
| 1987 | Cher | Moonstruck |
| 1988 | Jodie Foster | The Accused |
| 1989 | Jessica Tandy | Driving Miss Daisy |
| 1990 | Kathy Bates | Misery |
| 1991 | Jodie Foster | The Silence of the Lambs |
| 1992 | Emma Thompson | Howards End |
| 1993 | Holly Hunter | The Piano |
| 1994 | Jessica Lange | Blue Sky |
| 1995 | Susan Sarandon | Dead Man Walking |
| 1996 | Frances McDormand | Fargo |
| 1997 | Helen Hunt | As Good as It Gets |
| 1998 | Gwyneth Paltrow | Shakespeare in Love |
| 1999 | Hilary Swank | Boys Don't Cry |
| 2000 | Julia Roberts | Erin Brockovich |
| 2001 | Halle Berry | Monster's Ball |
| 2002 | Nicole Kidman | The Hours |
| 2003 | Charlize Theron | Monster |
| 2004 | Hilary Swank | Million Dollar Baby |
| 2005 | Reese Witherspoon | Walk the Line |
| 2006 | Helen Mirren | The Queen |
| 2007 | Marion Cotillard | La Vie en Rose |
| 2008 | Kate Winslet | The Reader |
