Academy Award for Best Actress: Every Winner from 1990 to 2026

The Academy Award for Best Actress has gone to some of the most memorable performances in film history. Looking at the winners side by side shows how roles for women on screen have changed, and which kinds of performances the Academy tends to reward.

Below is a complete list of Best Actress winners from 1990 to 2026, followed by highlights from each era. Years refer to the ceremony; the films were released the year before.

Best Actress winners, 2020–2026

Ceremony	Actress	Film
2026	Jessie Buckley	Hamnet
2025	Mikey Madison	Anora
2024	Emma Stone	Poor Things
2023	Michelle Yeoh	Everything Everywhere All at Once
2022	Jessica Chastain	The Eyes of Tammy Faye
2021	Frances McDormand	Nomadland
2020	Renée Zellweger	Judy

Best Actress winners, 2010–2019

Ceremony	Actress	Film
2019	Olivia Colman	The Favourite
2018	Frances McDormand	Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
2017	Emma Stone	La La Land
2016	Brie Larson	Room
2015	Julianne Moore	Still Alice
2014	Cate Blanchett	Blue Jasmine
2013	Jennifer Lawrence	Silver Linings Playbook
2012	Meryl Streep	The Iron Lady
2011	Natalie Portman	Black Swan
2010	Sandra Bullock	The Blind Side

Best Actress winners, 2000–2009

Ceremony	Actress	Film
2009	Kate Winslet	The Reader
2008	Marion Cotillard	La Vie en Rose
2007	Helen Mirren	The Queen
2006	Reese Witherspoon	Walk the Line
2005	Hilary Swank	Million Dollar Baby
2004	Charlize Theron	Monster
2003	Nicole Kidman	The Hours
2002	Halle Berry	Monster’s Ball
2001	Julia Roberts	Erin Brockovich
2000	Hilary Swank	Boys Don’t Cry

Best Actress winners, 1990–1999

Ceremony	Actress	Film
1999	Gwyneth Paltrow	Shakespeare in Love
1998	Helen Hunt	As Good as It Gets
1997	Frances McDormand	Fargo
1996	Susan Sarandon	Dead Man Walking
1995	Jessica Lange	Blue Sky
1994	Holly Hunter	The Piano
1993	Emma Thompson	Howards End
1992	Jodie Foster	The Silence of the Lambs
1991	Kathy Bates	Misery
1990	Jessica Tandy	Driving Miss Daisy

Highlights from each era

The 1990s

Jessica Tandy became the oldest Best Actress winner at 80 for Driving Miss Daisy, a record she still holds. Kathy Bates won for her terrifying turn in Misery, and Holly Hunter for The Piano, a performance in which her character never speaks. Frances McDormand won her first Oscar for Fargo, a role written for her by Joel and Ethan Coen.

The 2000s

Halle Berry became the first Black woman to win Best Actress, for Monster’s Ball. Hilary Swank won twice in six years for physically demanding roles. Charlize Theron’s transformation in Monster and Marion Cotillard’s Édith Piaf in La Vie en Rose, a French-language performance, showed the Academy’s growing appetite for total transformation.

The 2010s

Biographical and psychologically intense roles dominated. Natalie Portman trained for months as a dancer for Black Swan, Meryl Streep won her third Oscar playing Margaret Thatcher, and Julianne Moore portrayed early-onset Alzheimer’s in Still Alice. Olivia Colman’s win for The Favourite was one of the decade’s most charming surprises.

The 2020s

Frances McDormand won her third Best Actress award for Nomadland, second only to Katharine Hepburn’s four. Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian woman to win the category, for Everything Everywhere All at Once. Emma Stone won her second Oscar for Poor Things, Mikey Madison won for Anora, and Jessie Buckley won in 2026 for her performance as Agnes, Shakespeare’s wife, in Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet.

What actors can learn from these performances

Watch these films as an actor, not just a viewer:

• Notice the choices in scenes where nothing dramatic happens. Great performances are built from small moments.
• Watch how they listen. The reactions often reveal more than the lines.
• Study transformation and restraint. Some winners change their voice and body completely; others barely seem to act at all. Both approaches need a clear inner life.
• Look at the writing. Many of these roles are complex, contradictory women with strong objectives. Good parts make great performances possible.

Compare this list with the Best Actor winners from 1990 to 2026, or read our guide to essential acting techniques.