| Year |
Actress |
Film |
| 2003 | Charlize Theron | Monster |
| 2002 | Nicole Kidman | The Hours |
| 2001 | Halle Berry | Monster's Ball |
| 2000 | Julia Roberts | Erin Brockovich |
| 1999 | Hilary Swank | Boys Don't Cry |
| 1998 | Gwyneth Paltrow | Shakespeare In Love |
| 1997 | Helen Hunt | As Good As It Gets |
| 1996 | Frances McDormand | Fargo |
| 1995 | Susan Sarandon | Dead Man Walking |
| 1994 | Jessica Lange | Blue Sky |
| 1993 | Holly Hunter | The Piano |
| 1992 | Emma Thompson | Howards End |
| 1991 | Jodie Foster | The Silence Of The Lambs |
| 1990 | Kathy Bates | Misery |
| 1989 | Jessica Tandy | Driving Miss Daisy |
| 1988 | Jodie Foster | The Accused |
| 1987 | Cher | Moonstruck |
| 1986 | Marlee Matlin | Children Of A Lesser God |
| 1985 | Geraldine Page | The Trip To Bountiful |
| 1984 | Sally Field | Places In The Heart |
| 1983 | Shirley MacLaine | Terms Of Endearment |
| 1982 | Meryl Streep | Sophie's Choice |
| 1981 | Katharine Hepburn | On Golden Pond |
| 1980 | Sissy Spacek | Coal Miner's Daughter |
| 1979 | Sally Field | Norma Rae |
| 1978 | Jane Fonda | Coming Home |
| 1977 | Diane Keaton | Annie Hall |
| 1976 | Faye Dunaway | Network |
| 1975 | Louis Fletcher | One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest |
| 1974 | Ellen Burstyn | Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore |
| 1973 | Glenda Jackson | A Touch Of Class |
| 1972 | Liza Minneli | Cabaret |
| 1971 | Jane Fonda | Klute |
| 1970 | Glenda Jackson | Women In Love |
| 1969 | Maggie Smith | The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie |
| 1968 | Katherine Hepburn | The Lion In Winter |
| 1968 | Barbra Streisand | Funny Girl |
| 1967 | Katharine Hepburn | Guess Who's Coming To Dinner |
| 1966 | Elizabeth Taylor | Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? |
| 1965 | Julie Christie | Darling |
| 1964 | Julie Andrews | Mary Poppins |
| 1963 | Patricai Neal | Hud |
| 1962 | Anne Bancroft | The Miracle Worker |
| 1961 | Sophia Loren | Two Women |
| 1960 | Elizabeth Taylor | Butterfield 8 |
| 1959 | Simone Signoret | Room At The Top |
| 1958 | Susan Hayward | I Want To Live! |
| 1957 | Joanne Woodard | The Three Faces Of Eve |
| 1956 | Ingrid Bergman | Anastasia |
| 1955 | Anna Magnani | The Rose Tatoo |
| 1954 | Grace Kelly | The Country Girl |
| 1953 | Audrey Hepburn | Roman Holiday |
| 1952 | Shirley Booth | Come Back, Little Sheba |
| 1951 | Vivien Leigh | A Streetcar Named Desire |
| 1950 | Judy Holiday | Born Yesterday |
| 1949 | Olivia de Havilland | The Hdeiress |
| 1948 | Jane Wyman | Johnny Belinda |
| 1947 | Loretta Young | The Farmer's Daughter |
| 1946 | Olivia de Havilland | To Each His Own |
| 1945 | Joan Crawford | Mildred Pierce |
| 1944 | Ingrid Bergman | Gaslight |
| 1943 | Jennifer Jones | The Song Of Bernadette |
| 1942 | Greer Garson | Mrs. Miniver |
| 1941 | Joan Fontaine | Suspicion |
| 1940 | Ginger Rogers | Kitty Foyle |
| 1939 | Vivien Leigh | Gone With The Wind |
| 1938 | Bette Davis | Jezebel |
| 1937 | Luise Rainer | The Good Earth |
| 1936 | Luise Rainer | The Great Ziegfeld |
| 1935 | Bette Davis | Dangerous |
| 1934 | Claudette Colbert | It Happened One Night |
| 1933 | Katharine Hepburn | Morning Glory |
| 1932 | Helen Hayes | The Sin Of Madelon Claudet |
| 1931 | Marie Dressler | Min And Bill |
| 1930 | Norma Shearer | The Divorcee |
| 1929 | Mary Pickford | Coquette |
| 1928 | Janet Gaynor | 7th Heaven, Street Angel, Sunrise |