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A Complete Guide to Every Best Actress Oscar Winner (1929–2026)

A complete ceremony-year list of every Best Actress Oscar winner from Janet Gaynor in 1929 through Jessie Buckley in 2026, plus records, milestones, and the category’s only tie.
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Jessie Buckley is the latest Best Actress Oscar winner, taking the 2026 award for Hamnet. Across 98 presentations, 81 different actresses have won the prize. Katharine Hepburn holds the record with four victories, and the only tie came in 1969, when Hepburn and Barbra Streisand received the same number of votes.

Below is the complete list, organized by ceremony year. The Academy currently calls the category Actress in a Leading Role, but Best Actress remains the standard historical shorthand.

The table uses the Academy’s ceremony-year convention: 1980, for example, means the ceremony held in 1980, at which Sally Field won for Norma Rae. The winning film generally premiered during the preceding film year, although the earliest eligibility rules were different.

Every Best Actress Oscar winner, 1929–2026

Best Actress winners by Academy Awards ceremony year
Ceremony year Winner Winning film
1929 Janet Gaynor 7th Heaven; Street Angel; Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
1930 Mary Pickford Coquette
1931 Norma Shearer The Divorcee
1932 Marie Dressler Min and Bill
1933 Helen Hayes The Sin of Madelon Claudet
1934 Katharine Hepburn Morning Glory
1935 Claudette Colbert It Happened One Night
1936 Bette Davis Dangerous
1937 Luise Rainer The Great Ziegfeld
1938 Luise Rainer The Good Earth
1939 Bette Davis Jezebel
1940 Vivien Leigh Gone with the Wind
1941 Ginger Rogers Kitty Foyle
1942 Joan Fontaine Suspicion
1943 Greer Garson Mrs. Miniver
1944 Jennifer Jones The Song of Bernadette
1945 Ingrid Bergman Gaslight
1946 Joan Crawford Mildred Pierce
1947 Olivia de Havilland To Each His Own
1948 Loretta Young The Farmer’s Daughter
1949 Jane Wyman Johnny Belinda
1950 Olivia de Havilland The Heiress
1951 Judy Holliday Born Yesterday
1952 Vivien Leigh A Streetcar Named Desire
1953 Shirley Booth Come Back, Little Sheba
1954 Audrey Hepburn Roman Holiday
1955 Grace Kelly The Country Girl
1956 Anna Magnani The Rose Tattoo
1957 Ingrid Bergman Anastasia
1958 Joanne Woodward The Three Faces of Eve
1959 Susan Hayward I Want to Live!
1960 Simone Signoret Room at the Top
1961 Elizabeth Taylor BUtterfield 8
1962 Sophia Loren Two Women
1963 Anne Bancroft The Miracle Worker
1964 Patricia Neal Hud
1965 Julie Andrews Mary Poppins
1966 Julie Christie Darling
1967 Elizabeth Taylor Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1968 Katharine Hepburn Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
1969 Katharine Hepburn; Barbra Streisand The Lion in Winter; Funny Girl — tie
1970 Maggie Smith The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
1971 Glenda Jackson Women in Love
1972 Jane Fonda Klute
1973 Liza Minnelli Cabaret
1974 Glenda Jackson A Touch of Class
1975 Ellen Burstyn Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
1976 Louise Fletcher One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
1977 Faye Dunaway Network
1978 Diane Keaton Annie Hall
1979 Jane Fonda Coming Home
1980 Sally Field Norma Rae
1981 Sissy Spacek Coal Miner’s Daughter
1982 Katharine Hepburn On Golden Pond
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
2009 Sandra Bullock The Blind Side
2010 Natalie Portman Black Swan
2011 Meryl Streep The Iron Lady
2012 Jennifer Lawrence Silver Linings Playbook
2013 Cate Blanchett Blue Jasmine
2014 Julianne Moore Still Alice
2015 Brie Larson Room
2016 Emma Stone La La Land
2017 Frances McDormand Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
2018 Olivia Colman The Favourite
2019 Renée Zellweger Judy
2020 Frances McDormand Nomadland
2021 Jessica Chastain The Eyes of Tammy Faye
2022 Michelle Yeoh Everything Everywhere All at Once
2023 Emma Stone Poor Things
2024 Emma Stone Poor Things
2025 Mikey Madison Anora
2026 Jessie Buckley Hamnet

Important correction to the sequence: the ceremony-year record places Sally Field’s Norma Rae win in 1980, followed by Sissy Spacek in 1981, Katharine Hepburn in 1982, Shirley MacLaine in 1983, and Sally Field again in 1984. The film-year and ceremony-year labels are often mixed in Oscar lists, which is why this stretch is especially easy to misread.

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What the year means

Oscar lists commonly use one of two conventions. A ceremony-year list names the year in which the statuette was awarded; a film-year list names the year associated with the winning movie’s release or eligibility. This guide uses the first convention. Thus, Coming Home appears under 1979, Norma Rae under 1980, and Hamnet under 2026.

The first Academy Awards covered an unusual eligibility period rather than a normal single calendar year. The first three ceremonies also used different acting-eligibility and recognition arrangements from the modern system. The single-film performance format used today began with the fourth ceremony, so Janet Gaynor’s 1929 award is not an error: it recognized her work in 7th Heaven, Street Angel, and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans.

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In historical writing, Best Actress is the familiar name for the award. The Academy’s current official category label is Actress in a Leading Role.

For readers who prefer a print companion, an Oscar history reference book can add ceremony history, nominees, and production context to this winner list. Check the edition, seller, price, and availability before buying; this is an independent reading suggestion, not an Academy endorsement.

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Records and repeat winners

Katharine Hepburn holds the record

Katharine Hepburn has the category record with four wins. They came for Morning Glory in 1934, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner in 1968, The Lion in Winter in 1969, and On Golden Pond in 1982. Her 1969 victory was shared with Barbra Streisand, making Hepburn both the record-holder and one half of the category’s only tie.

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Frances McDormand has three wins

Frances McDormand is the only other actress with three Best Actress victories: Fargo in 1996, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri in 2017, and Nomadland in 2020.

Thirteen actresses have won twice

The two-time winners are Bette Davis, Luise Rainer, Vivien Leigh, Ingrid Bergman, Olivia de Havilland, Elizabeth Taylor, Glenda Jackson, Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Jodie Foster, Jessica Lange, Hilary Swank, and Emma Stone.

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Luise Rainer was the first actress to win consecutively, taking the award in 1937 for The Great Ziegfeld and again in 1938 for The Good Earth. Emma Stone is the most recent two-time winner, following her victories for La La Land and Poor Things.

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Milestones in the category

  • First winner: Janet Gaynor received the inaugural award in 1929. Her award uniquely cited three films.
  • Only tie: Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand received the same number of votes in 1969. Hepburn won for The Lion in Winter; Streisand won for Funny Girl.
  • First consecutive winner: Luise Rainer won in 1937 and 1938.
  • First deaf winner: Marlee Matlin won for Children of a Lesser God in 1987. At age 21, she was also the category’s youngest winner at the time of her victory.
  • Oldest winner: Jessica Tandy won at age 80 for Driving Miss Daisy in 1989.
  • First Black winner: Halle Berry won for Monster’s Ball in 2001.
  • First Southeast Asian winner: Michelle Yeoh won for Everything Everywhere All at Once in 2022.

The latest winner

Jessie Buckley is the latest Best Actress winner. She won for Hamnet at the 98th Academy Awards, presented on March 15, 2026. That victory brings the official record covered here to 98 award presentations and 81 different winning actresses.

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How to use this list when choosing a film

The winning title is the best starting point for exploring the category, but the year should not be treated as a guaranteed release date. Older films may have premiered, qualified, or received their awards under special scheduling rules, and international films can have different release dates in different territories. For a viewing project, search by the film title as well as the ceremony year, then verify the edition and availability in your country. Streaming and physical-media availability changes frequently and is not listed here as a permanent fact.

The Academy Awards Database is the primary record for the winners and nominees and is reported as complete through the 98th Academy Awards. Individual Academy ceremony records also corroborate key entries including Gaynor’s inaugural award, Audrey Hepburn’s 1954 win, Emma Stone’s 2024 win, Mikey Madison’s 2025 win, and Jessie Buckley’s 2026 win.

The Bottom Line

There have been 98 Best Actress Oscar presentations through 2026, won by 81 actresses. Katharine Hepburn leads with four victories, while Jessie Buckley is the latest winner for Hamnet.

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