We look back and review the history of the Hollywood Academy Awards in the female performance categories.
Who received him in bed? Which actress was the first to win it on two consecutive occasions? What actress never went to pick it up?
How many Best Actress Oscar winners do you remember? There are 95 actresses of all time!
Did you know that the awards started in 1929 with Janet Gaynor as the first winner? And that there has only been a tie in the entire history of this category?
Do you know who the most repeaters are, from Katharine Hepburn to Frances McDormand?
Here we are going to review each and every one of those Oscar winners for Best Actress, and we show most of them (those who attended the ceremony) posing so happily with their precious golden statuettes.
The last winner has been Michelle Yeoh at the Oscars 2023 for Best Actress for 'Everything at once everywhere'.
Before she was Jessica Chastain, who won the 2022 Oscar for Best Leading Actress for her role in 'The Eyes of Tammy Faye' and thus slipped into the 2022 Oscars winners, joining this select list of performers who have left his name engraved in the history of the Hollywood Academy Awards.
Luckily he did it with less controversy than the 2022 Oscar winner for Best Leading Actor, Will Smith, who with a punch joined the parallel list of actors who have won the Oscar for Best Actor.
On the other hand, we know that there are great actresses and actors who never won an Oscar, others who won it for a role much lower than their most remembered work, or even performers who perhaps did not deserve to have a golden statuette but had a good campaign or simply a stroke of luck.
And is that the Oscars are given by the year and by film, not by career or talent, you have to be lucky, it has to be your year, and for that, you not only depend on your work but also that of your rivals, or even the political climate or the context in which it is rewarded.
If we already told you about injustices such as 25 mythical films that were not nominated for an Oscar, and also about bad films that you would not believe we're at the Oscars, now we want to remember much happier moments: we have decided to review each and every one of the winners to the Oscar for Best Leading Actress (or Principal), a list of legends, but also of actresses who simply and simply had their year.
Oscar-Winning Actresses Since 1929
Michelle Yeoh
In her first nomination and after decades of career in Hollywood, Michelle Yeoh won the Oscar for Best Leading Actress for her work in 'Everything at the same time everywhere'. Thus, she became the first Asian woman to achieve it and only the second non-white in the almost 100-year history of the Oscars.
Jessica Chastain
She had been nominated for 'Maids and Ladies (2011) and 'Darkest Night' (2012), but it was the third time she won the charm. In 2022, Chastain won the Oscar for her role as an evangelical televangelist in 'The Eyes of Tammy Faye'.
Frances McDormand
The third did not take as long as the first and the second. In the most atypical gala, that of the pandemic, 'Nomadland' triumphed, and with it, the center and undoubtedly the best plot of the film. Thus, almost naturally, McDormand equaled Meryl Streep and Ingrid Bergman.
Renee Zellweger
Her portrayal of Judy Garland in the movie 'Judy' made her a favorite at the 2019 Oscars, and ultimately she was unrivaled at the ceremony. Zellweger already had a statuette for Best Supporting Actress for 'Cold Mountain' in 2004.
Olivia Colman
Honoring the title of the film by Yorgos Lanthimos for which she won the statuette, the actress from 'The Crown' became the favorite of the Academicians for her portrayal of the capricious monarch (it's all about queens…) from ' The favorite'. They were left with the desire of Lady Gaga, Melissa McCarthy, Yalitza Aparicio, and Glenn Close.
Frances McDormand
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Two decades after the first, McDormand returned to the stage for his work in 'Three billboards on the outskirts'. To her credit are three more supporting actress nominations, but both times she was nominated for best actress, she took it.
Emma Stone
She had won all the awards of the season for her role in 'La La land', so the Oscar was pretty clear. In her second nomination (her first was for supporting actress in 'Birdman') she won the coveted statuette, defeating Natalie Portman, Meryl Streep, Ruth Negga, and Isabelle Huppert.
Brie Larson
The actress picked up her first Oscar for starring in the drama 'The Room' (Lenny Abrahamson, 2015).
Julianne Moore
After four nominations, the actress won the Oscar for best actress for her long-suffering role in 'Always Alice (Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, 2014).
Cate Blanchett
The actress won her second Oscar, her first as a leading actress, in 2014 for her role directed by Woody Allen in 'Blue Jasmine'. In 2005 she won as best supporting actress for 'The Aviator' (Martin Scorsese, 2004).
Jennifer Lawrence
A very emotional Jennifer Lawrence went up on stage to collect her Oscar for best actress for 'The Good Side of Things (David O. Russell, 2012).
Meryl Streep
The most nominated actress got her third Oscar in 2012, as best actress for her role in 'The Iron Lady' (Phyllida Lloyd, 2011) where she gave life to Margaret Thatcher herself.
Natalie Portman
Actress Natalie Portman received her Oscar for best actress pregnant for her role in 'Black Swan' (Darren Aronofsky, 2010).
Sandra Bullock
Sandra Bullock has been nominated twice, for 'A Possible Dream' (John Lee Hancock, 2009) and for 'Gravity' (Alfonso Cuarón, 2013). She would get the Oscar for the first one.
Kate Winslet
The actress Kate Winslet on stage collected her Oscar for 'The Reader' (Stephen Daldry, 2008). It was her sixth nomination.
Marion Cotillard
Forest Whitaker accompanies Marion Cotillard to collect her Oscar for best actress for 'La vie en rosa' (Olivier Dahan, 2007)
Helen Mirren
The veteran British actress with the Oscar for best actress for 'The Queen' (Stephen Frears, 2006).
Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon backstage at the 78th edition of the Oscars with her award for best actress for 'Walk a Tightrope' (James Mangold, 2005).
Hilary Swank
Hilary Swank, with her second Best Actress Oscar for Clint Eastwood's 'Million Dollar Baby'. The first she got in 2000 for her role in 'Boys Don't Cry'.
Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron picked up her Oscar for best actress for her transformation in 'Monster' (Patty Jenkins, 2003).
Nicole Kidman
The actress with her Oscar for 'The Hours (Stephen Daldry, 2002) was also nominated for 'Moulin Rouge!' and 'The secrets of the heart'.
Halle Berry
Halle Berry on stage collected her Oscar for best actress for 'Monster's Ball' (Marc Forster, 2001). Berry became the first African-American actress to win the Oscar for Best Leading Actress, joining a slim list of black actors at the Oscars.
Julia Roberts
The actress won the Oscar for best leading actress for her long-suffering character 'Erin Brockovich' (Steven Soderbergh, 2000).
Hilary Swank
Hilary Swank, backstage with her first Oscar, got it for 'Boys Don't Cry' (Kimberly Peirce, 1999).
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow cries when receiving the Oscar for best actress for 'Shakespeare in Love' (John Madden, 19998).
Helen hunt
The actress won the Oscar for best actress for 'Best... Impossible' (James L. Brooks, 1997).
Frances McDormand
A smiling Frances McDormand with her Oscar for best actress for 'Fargo,' by the Coen brothers.
Susan Sarandon
The actress was visibly surprised after being awarded the Oscar for best actress for her role in 'Death penalty' (Tim Robbins, 1995).
Jessica Lange
Jessica Lange, in 1995, picked up the Oscar for best actress for her role in 'Things That Never Die' (Tony Richardson, 1994).
Holly Hunter
The actress with her Oscar for best actress for 'The Piano' (Jane Campion, 1993), that same year had been nominated for best supporting actress for 'The Cover' (Sydney Pollack, 1993).
Emma Thompson
The actress jokes around with the Oscar for best actress for 'Return to Howards End' (James Ivory, 1992). She would win a second for the script for 'Sense and Sensibility' (Ang Lee, 1995).
Jodie Foster
The actress with her Oscar for 'The Silence of the Lambs' (Jonathan Demme, 1991). At the moment she has two of four nominations.
Kathy Bates
Bates together with Daniel Day-Lewis, the actress won the Oscar for best actress for 'Misery' (Rob Reiner, 1990). She has been nominated on two other occasions, this time for Best Supporting Actress for 'Primary Colors' (Mike Nichols, 1998) and 'About Schmith' (Alexander Payne, 2002).
Jessica Tandy
Jessica Tandy with her Oscar for best actress for 'Driving Miss Daisy' (Bruce Beresford, 1989).
Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster won her first Oscar at the 61st in the 61st edition of the awards, for 'The Accused' (Jonathan Kaplan, 1988). She would win it again for 'The silence of the lambs' (Jonathan Demme, 1991).
Cher
Cher, with an impossible look and her Oscar for 'Moon Spell' (Norman Jewison, 1987).
Marlee Matlin
In the 59th edition of the Oscars, Marlee Matlin won the Oscar for 'Children of a Lesser God' (Randa Haines, 1986).
Geraldine Page
The actress with her Oscar for best actress for 'Return to Bountiful' (Peter Masterson, 1985).
Sally Field
A young Sally Field posing with her Oscar for 'In a Place of the Heart' (Robert Benton, 1984). It was her second statuette, the first she won for 'Norma Rae' (Martin Ritt, 1979).
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine with Jack Nicholson with her Oscar for best actress for 'The Force of Endearment' (James L. Brooks, 1983).
Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep, the eternal nominee (she has 19 nominations so far ), got her first Oscar in 1980, as best supporting actress for 'Kramer vs. Kramer' (Robert Benton, 1979), and the first as the protagonist for 'Sophie's Decision' just two years later, in 1982.
Katharine Hepburn
Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn in a scene from the movie 'In the Golden Pond' (Mark Rydell, 1980). Fourth Oscar for the actress who also did not come to pick it up this time, Jon Voight it in her name.
Sissy Spacek
Sissy Spacek collected her Oscar for best actress for 'I want to be free' (Michael Apted, 1980) at the 53rd edition of the awards ceremony.
Sally Field
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The actress with the Oscar for best actress for 'Norma Rae' (Martin Ritt, 1979). Five years later she would get another for 'In a place of the heart' (Robert Benton, 1984).
Jane Fonda
The actress, is still active (you can see her in the Netflix series, 'Grace and Frankie'), with her second Oscar for best actress for 'The Return (Hal Ashby, 1978).
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton poses with her only Oscar. She received it in 1978 for her work on 'Annie Hall' directed by Woody Allen.
Faye Dunaway
The actress Faye Dunaway having breakfast with Oscar at the foot of the pool. She got it for 'Network, an unforgiving world (Sidney Lumet, 1976).
Louise Fletcher
48th edition of the Oscars, 1976. Louise Fletcher won the Oscar for best actress for 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (Milos Forman, 1975).
Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn playing the piano and singing in a scene from 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore', by Martin Scorsese. For this role, in which she plays a widow trying to make a living from music, she won the Oscar for best actress.
Glenda Jackson
Glenda Jackson got her second Oscar for 'A Touch of Class', by Melvin Frank (1973), the first for 'Women in Love' (1969). It was picked up on her behalf by the film's director.
Liza Minelli
March 26, 1973, Liza Minelli receives the Oscar for best actress for her role in 'Cabaret' (Bob Fosse, 1972).
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda got her first Oscar for Best Actress thanks to 'Klute' (Alan J. Pakula, 1971) at the 1971 Oscars ceremony, where she was competing against actresses like Julie Christie and Glenda Jackson.
Glenda Jackson
British actress Glenda Jackson with her Oscar for 'Women in Love', by Ken Russell (1968).
Maggie Smith
The British actress won her first Best Actress Oscar for 'The Best Years of Miss Brodie' (Ronald Neame, 1969), and in 1978 she would win her second for 'California Suite' (Herbert Ross, 1978).
Barbra Streisand & Katharine Hepburn
At the 1968 Oscars, the Best Actress category was tied between Barbra Streisand and Katharine Hepburn. She only picked it up at the ceremony for her first, who received early recognition as an actress in 'Funny Girl' (William Wyler, 1968), the first of her two Oscars. Hepburn will already be a legend, and this third Oscar she won for Anthony Harvey's 'The Lion in Winter'.
Katherine Hepburn
Katherine Hepburn with Spencer Tracy in a scene from the movie 'Guess who's coming tonight' (Stanley Kramer, 1967). For this work, she got her second Oscar as best actress, of the four she ended up getting in her career. She did not collect any, this one was received on her behalf by director George Cukor.
Elizabeth Taylor
The actress won her second Oscar for 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' (Mike Nichols, 1966), but this time she did not come to pick him up.
Julie Christie
The British actress with the Oscar for best actress for 'Darling' (John Schlesinger, 1965). She would be nominated three more times. The last of her in 2008 for 'Far from her'.
Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews came and beat. She won the Oscar for best actress for her film debut, the endearing 'Mary Poppins' (Robert Stevenson, 1964)
Patricia Neal
"Look kids, this is Mommy's Oscar!" That's what Patricia Neal seems to have said to her children. She had just won the Oscar for best actress for 'Hud, the wildest among a thousand' (Martin Ritt, 1963).
Anne Bancroft
The actress, smiling with her Oscar for best actress for 'The Miracle of Ana Sullivan' (Arthur Penn, 1962). She was nominated four other times.
Sophia Loren
This is how happy Sophia Loren posed with her Oscar for best actress for 'Two Women' (Vittorio de Sica, 1960). She was the first actress to win an award for a foreign language film.
Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor at the 1961 Oscars after party. She won the Oscar for 'A Marked Woman' (Daniel Mann, 1960). She would win it again in 1968 for 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?', but this time she did not come to pick it up.
Simone Signoret
A Place at the Summit (Jack Clayton, 1959) was the film that got Simone Signoret her Oscar for Best Actress.
Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward between the bars of a cell in 'I want to live' (Robert Wise, 1958), won the Oscar for best actress in this role. It was her fifth nomination.
Joanne Woodward
Actress Joanne Woodward with her husband, actor Paul Newman, with the Oscar for Best Actress for her role in 'The Three Faces of Eve' (Nunnally Johnson, 1957).
Ingrid Bergmann
Ingrid Bergman in a scene from 'Anastasia' (Anatole Litvak, 1956). For this work, she won her second Oscar. Cary Grant picked up the statuette in her place.
Anna Magnani
The Italian actress with her Best Actress Oscar which she won for 'The Rose Tattoo' (1955). The actress did not attend the ceremony, it ended up being delivered by the American ambassador in Rome.
Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly had been nominated the year before for Best Supporting Actress for 'Mogambo', but she didn't get it. The following year she would get the best actress award for 'La anguish de vivid (1954). They would be her only two nominations.
Audrey Hepburn
The actress Audrey Hepburn was excited about her Oscar for best actress for 'Roman Holiday' (William Wyller, 1953). Forty years later she would be awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Shirley Booth
The actress Shirley Booth won her well-deserved Oscar for Best Actress thanks to her work in 'Come back, little Sheba' (Daniel Mann, 1952), in which she starred with Burt Lancaster.
Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois in a scene from 'A Streetcar Named Desire' (Elia Kazan, 1951). For this role she got her second Oscar, her first had been for 'Gone with the Wind'. She did not attend to pick it up, she did it on her behalf, Greer Garson.
Judy Holliday
In this iconic photo, we see the actor Jose Ferrer consoling an inconsolable Gloria Swanson, who believed that her moment of glory at the Oscars had come thanks to 'The Twilight of the Gods' (Billy Wilder, 1950), but nevertheless, the Oscar was for Judy Holliday, whom we see happy and proud looking at her statuette for 'Born Yesterday' (George Cukor, 1950).
Olivia DeHavilland
Actress Olivia de Havilland smiling with her two Oscars. The first was achieved in 1946, and the second for 'The heiress' (William Wyler, 1949).
Jane Wyman
She will go down in history for giving life to the fearsome Angela Channing in the television series 'Falcon Crest', but in 1948 she already had an Oscar for her secondary role in 'Belinda', by Jean Negulesco. She would be nominated four times in this category.
Loretta Young
A smiling Loretta Young in the film 'A Woman's Destiny (HC Potter, 1947), for which she won the Oscar for best actress.
Olivia DeHavilland
The actress took her first statuette in 1946 for 'The Intimate Life of Julia Norris'.
Joan Crawford
Crawford with her Oscar for best actress for 'Sad Soul' (Michael Curtiz, 1945). She picked him up in bed due to illness. The trick of the actress, who resisted the Oscar, was to get "sick" before the ceremony. She only announced that an illness kept her bedridden. And that's where she received the press. Days later she was already recovered.
Ingrid Bergmann
The actress Ingrid Bergman with her Oscar for best actress for 'Dying Light' (George Cukor, 1944). It would be the first of three that she would get in her career.
Jennifer Jones
Jennifer Jones, accompanied in the photo by Ingrid Bergman, won the Oscar for best actress for 'The Song of Bernadette' (Henry King, 1943).
Greer Garson
The actress Greer Garson in 'Mrs. Miniver's (William Wyler, 1942) work for which she would win the Oscar for best actress.
Joan Fontaine
Joan Fontaine looks with admiration if Oscar for her role in 'Suspicion' (Alfred Hitchcock, 1941). It would be the only one in her career, despite being nominated three times.
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers received her Best Actress Oscar for Sam Wood's 'Illusion of Love (1940)
Vivien Leigh
Spencer Tracy presented Vivien Leighel with an Oscar for best actress for 'Gone with the Wind' (Victor Fleming, 1939).
Bette Davis
Bette Davis and Spencer Tracy with their respective Oscars in 1939. He won it for 'Forge of Men' (Nornma Taurog, 1938) and she for 'Jezebel' (William Wyler, 1938). In both cases, it was the second consecutive Oscar.
Louise Rainer
Actress Luise Rainer with her Best Actress Oscar for 'The Good Earth' (Sidney Franklin, 1937), becoming the first actress to receive them for two consecutive years. The previous year she had achieved it for 'The great Ziegfeld' (Robert Z. Leonard, 1936).
Louise Rainer
Luise Rainer in a promotional image for 'The Great Ziegfeld', by Robert Z. Leonard. The following year she would do it again, becoming the first actress to win two consecutive Oscars.
Bette Davis
Bette Davis received her first Oscar from Jack L. Warner, one of the founders of Warner. She got it for her role in 'Dangerous' (Alfred E. Green, 1935).
Claudette Colbert
Shirley Temple and Claudette Colbert, both won the Oscar in 1935, the very young Temple won the youth award, while Colbert won it for 'It Happened One Night' (Frank Capra, 1934).
Katharine Hepburn
The actress Katharine Hepburn reviewed her makeup during a break in the filming of 'One Day Glory' (Lowell Sherman, 1933), a work for which she would win the Oscar for best actress. She won two more for 'Guess Who's Coming Tonight' (Stanley Kramer, 1967) and 'In the Golden Pond' (Mark Rydell, 1981). None of the three times did she pick up the statuette.
Helen Hayes
Producer Louis B. Mayer presented the Oscar for best actress to Helen Hayes for her role in Edgar Selwyn's film 'The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931).
Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler with Lionel Barrymore with their respective Oscars for best performances. She got it in for George W. Hill's 'Bitter Fruit' (1930).
Norma Shearer
The actress in publicity for the film 'The Divorcee', by Robert Z Leonard, a role for which she won the Oscar for best actress.
Mary Pickford
Canadian actress Mary Pickford won the Best Actress Oscar for 'Coquette' (Sam Taylor, 1929)
Janet Gaynor
In 1929, the actress became the first actress in history to win the Oscar for Best Actress. She did it for her work in three films: 'Seventh Heaven' (Frank Borzage, 1927), 'Dawn' (FW Murnau, 1927), and 'Angel on the Street' (Frank
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