| 1st Academy Awards (1927-1928) | Janet Gaynor | “7th Heaven” “Street Angel” “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” | Diane Angela The Wife |
| 2nd Academy Awards (1928-1929) | Mary Pickford | “Coquette” | Norma Besant |
| 3rd Academy Awards (1929-1930) | Norma Shearer | “The Divorcee” | Jerry Bernard Martin |
| 4th Academy Awards (1930-1931) | Marie Dressler | “Min and Bill” | Min Divot |
| 5th Academy Awards (1931-1932) | Helen Hayes | “The Sin of Madelon Claudet” | Madelon Claudet |
| 6th Academy Awards (1932-1933) | Katharine Hepburn | “Morning Glory” | Eva Lovelace |
| 7th Academy Awards (1934) | Claudette Colbert | “It Happened One Night” | Ellie Andrews |
| 8th Academy Awards (1935) | Bette Davis | “Dangerous” | Joyce Heath |
| 9th Academy Awards (1936) | Luise Rainer | “The Great Ziegfeld” | Anna Held |
| 10th Academy Awards (1937) | Luise Rainer [2] | “The Good Earth” | O-Lan |
| 11th Academy Awards (1938) | Bette Davis [2] | “Jezebel” | Julie Marsden |
| 12th Academy Awards (1939) | Vivien Leigh | “Gone with the Wind” | Scarlett O’Hara |
| 13th Academy Awards (1940) | Ginger Rogers | “Kitty Foyle” | Kitty Foyle |
| 14th Academy Awards (1941) | Joan Fontaine | “Suspicion” | Lina McLaidlaw Aysgarth |
| 15th Academy Awards (1942) | Greer Garson | “Mrs. Miniver” | Kay Miniver |
| 16th Academy Awards (1943) | Jennifer Jones | “The Song of Bernadette” | Bernadette Soubirous |
| 17th Academy Awards (1944) | Ingrid Bergman | “Gaslight” | Paula Alquist Anton |
| 18th Academy Awards (1945) | Joan Crawford | “Mildred Pierce” | Mildred Pierce Beragon |
| 19th Academy Awards (1946) | Olivia de Havilland | “To Each His Own” | Josephine “Jody” Norris |
| 20th Academy Awards (1947) | Loretta Young | “The Farmer’s Daughter” | Katie Holstrom |
| 21st Academy Awards (1948) | Jane Wyman | “Johnny Belinda” | Belinda McDonald |
| 22nd Academy Awards (1949) | Olivia de Havilland [2] | “The Heiress” | Catherine Sloper |
| 23rd Academy Awards (1950) | Judy Holliday | “Born Yesterday” | Emma “Billie” Dawn |
| 24th Academy Awards (1951) | Vivien Leigh [2] | “A Streetcar Named Desire” | Blanche DuBois |
| 25th Academy Awards (1952) | Shirley Booth | “Come Back, Little Sheba” | Lola Delaney |
| 26th Academy Awards (1953) | Audrey Hepburn | “Roman Holiday” | Princess Ann |
| 27th Academy Awards (1954) | Grace Kelly | “The Country Girl” | Georgie Elgin |
| 28th Academy Awards (1955) | Anna Magnani | “The Rose Tattoo” | Serafina Delle Rose |
| 29th Academy Awards (1956) | Ingrid Bergman [2] | “Anastasia” | Anna Koreff / Anastasia |
| 30th Academy Awards (1957) | Joanne Woodward | “The Three Faces of Eve” | Eve White / Eve Black / Jane |
| 31st Academy Awards (1958) | Susan Hayward | “I Want to Live!” | Barbara Graham |
| 32nd Academy Awards (1959) | Simone Signoret | “Room at the Top” | Alice Aisgill |
| 33rd Academy Awards (1960) | Elizabeth Taylor | “BUtterfield 8” | Gloria Wandrous |
| 34th Academy Awards (1961) | Sophia Loren | “Two Women” | Cesira |
| 35th Academy Awards (1962) | Anne Bancroft | “The Miracle Worker” | Annie Sullivan |
| 36th Academy Awards (1963) | Patricia Neal | “Hud” | Alma Brown |
| 37th Academy Awards (1964) | Julie Andrews | “Mary Poppins” | Mary Poppins |
| 38th Academy Awards (1965) | Julie Christie | “Darling” | Diana Scott |
| 39th Academy Awards (1966) | Elizabeth Taylor [2] | “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” | Martha |
| 40th Academy Awards (1967) | Katharine Hepburn | “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” | Christina Drayton |
| 41st Academy Awards (1968) (TIE) | Katharine Hepburn [2] Barbra Streisand | “The Lion in Winter” “Funny Girl” | Eleanor of Aquitaine Fanny Brice |
| 42nd Academy Awards (1969) | Maggie Smith | “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” | Jean Brodie |
| 43rd Academy Awards (1970) | Glenda Jackson | “Women in Love” | Gudrun Brangwen |
| 44th Academy Awards (1971) | Jane Fonda | “Klute” | Bree Daniels |
| 45th Academy Awards (1972) | Liza Minnelli | “Cabaret” | Sally Bowles |
| 46th Academy Awards (1973) | Glenda Jackson | “A Touch of Class” | Vickie Allessio |
| 47th Academy Awards (1974) | Ellen Burstyn | “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” | Alice Hyatt |
| 48th Academy Awards (1975) | Louise Fletcher | “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” | Nurse Mildred Ratched |
| 49th Academy Awards (1976) | Faye Dunaway | “Network” | Diana Christensen |
| 50th Academy Awards (1977) | Diane Keaton | “Annie Hall” | Annie Hall |
| 51st Academy Awards (1978) | Jane Fonda [2] | “Coming Home” | Sally Hyde |
| 52nd Academy Awards (1979) | Sally Field | “Norma Rae” | Norma Rae Webster |
| 53rd Academy Awards (1980) | Sissy Spacek | “Coal Miner’s Daughter” | Loretta Lynn |
| 54th Academy Awards (1981) | Katharine Hepburn [3] | “On Golden Pond” | Ethel Thayer |
| 55th Academy Awards (1982) | Meryl Streep | “Sophie’s Choice” | Sophie Zawistowski |
| 56th Academy Awards (1983) | Shirley MacLaine | “Terms of Endearment” | Aurora Greenway |
| 57th Academy Awards (1984) | Sally Field [2] | “Places in the Heart” | Edna Spalding |
| 58th Academy Awards (1985) | Geraldine Page | “The Trip to Bountiful” | Carrie Watts |
| 59th Academy Awards (1986) | Marlee Matlin | “Children of a Lesser God” | Sarah Norman |
| 60th Academy Awards (1987) | Cher | “Moonstruck” | Loretta Castorini |
| 61st Academy Awards (1988) | Jodie Foster | “The Accused” | Sarah Tobias |
| 62nd Academy Awards (1989) | Jessica Tandy | “Driving Miss Daisy” | Daisy Werthan |
| 63rd Academy Awards (1990) | Kathy Bates | “Misery” | Annie Wilkes |
| 64th Academy Awards (1991) | Jodie Foster [2] | “The Silence of the Lambs” | Clarice Starling |
| 65th Academy Awards (1992) | Emma Thompson | “Howard’s End” | Margaret Schlegel |
| 66th Academy Awards (1993) | Holly Hunter | “The Piano” | Ada McGrath |
| 67th Academy Awards (1994) | Jessica Lange | “Blue Sky” | Carly Marshall |
| 68th Academy Awards (1995) | Susan Sarandon | “Dead Man Walking” | Helen Prejean |
| 69th Academy Awards (1996) | Frances McDormand | “Fargo” | Marge Gunderson |
| 70th Academy Awards (1997) | Helen Hunt | “As Good as It Gets” | Carol Connelly |
| 71st Academy Awards (1998) | Gwyneth Paltrow | “Shakespeare in Love” | Viola de Lesseps / Thomas Kent |
| 72nd Academy Awards (1999) | Hilary Swank | “Boys Don’t Cry” | Brandon Teena |
| 73rd Academy Awards (2000) | Julia Roberts | “Erin Brockovich” | Erin Brockovich |
| 74th Academy Awards (2001) | Halle Berry | “Monster’s Ball” | Leticia Musgrove |
| 75th Academy Awards (2002) | Nicole Kidman | “The Hours” | Virginia Woolf |
| 76th Academy Awards (2003) | Charlize Theron | “Monster” | Aileen “Lee” Wuornos |
| 77th Academy Awards (2004) | Hilary Swank [2] | “Million Dollar Baby” | Maggie Fitzgerald |
| 78th Academy Awards (2005) | Reese Witherspoon | “Walk the Line” | June Carter Cash |
| 79th Academy Awards (2006) | Helen Mirren | “The Queen” | Queen Elizabeth II |
| 80th Academy Awards (2007) | Marion Cotillard | “La Vie en Rose” | Édith Piaf |
| 81st Academy Awards (2008) | Kate Winslet | “The Reader” | Hanna Schmitz |
| 82nd Academy Awards (2009) | Sandra Bullock | “The Blind Side” | Leigh Anne Tuohy |
| 83rd Academy Awards (2010) | Natalie Portman | “Black Swan” | Nina Sayers |
| 84th Academy Awards (2011) | Meryl Streep [2] | “The Iron Lady” | Margaret Thatcher |
| 85th Academy Awards (2012) | Jennifer Lawrence | “Silver Linings Playbook” | Tiffany Maxwell |
| 86th Academy Awards (2013) | Cate Blanchett | “Blue Jasmine” | Jeanette “Jasmine” Francis |
| 87th Academy Awards (2014) | Julianne Moore | “Still Alice” | Alice Howland |
| 88th Academy Awards (2015) | Brie Larson | “Room” | Joy “Ma” Newsome |
| 89th Academy Awards (2016) | Emma Stone | “La La Land” | Mia Dolan |
| 90th Academy Awards (2017) | Frances McDormand [2] | “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” | Mildred Hayes |
| 91st Academy Awards (2018) | Olivia Colman | “The Favourite” | Queen Anne |
| 92nd Academy Awards (2019) | Renée Zellweger | “Judy” | Judy Garland |
| 93rd Academy Awards (2020) | Frances McDormand [3] | “Nomanland” | Fern |
| 94th Academy Awards (2021) | Jessica Chastain | “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” | Tammy Faye Bakker |
| 95th Academy Awards (2022) | Michelle Yeoh | “Everything Everywhere All At Once” | Evelyn Quan Wang |
