Academy Award for Best Actress

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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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Superlatives

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.

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
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

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. 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.

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.)

[edit] 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.

[edit] 1920s

[edit] 1930s

[edit] 1940s

[edit] 1950s

[edit] 1960s

[edit] 1970s

[edit] 1980s

[edit] 1990s

[edit] 2000s

[edit] Nationalities of winners

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

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


ar:جائزة الأوسكار لأفضل ممثلة رئيسية

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