Best Actress

This page lists all Oscar nominees for Best Actress. Reviews of films on the original 1001 Films list are linked here.
As I finish each set of films for a given year and category, I will revisit those films and determine which film I think should have won and why. Those posts will be linked here as well.

Best Actress
1928
Louise Dresser: A Ship Comes In
Janet Gaynor: Seventh Heaven (winner)
Janet Gaynor: Street Angel (winner)
Janet Gaynor: Sunrise (winner)
Gloria Swanson: Sadie Thompson

1929
Ruth Chatterton: Madame X
Betty Compson: The Baker
Jeanne Eagles: The Letter
Corrine Griffith: The Divine Lady
Bessie Love: The Broadway Melody
Mary Pickford: Coquette (winner)

1930
Nancy Carroll: The Devil’s Holiday
Ruth Chatterton: Sarah and Son
Greta Garbo: Anna Christie
Greta Garbo: Romance
Norma Shearer: The Divorcee (winner)
Norma Shearer: Their Own Desire
Gloria Swanson: The Trespasser

1931
Marlene Dietrich: Morocco
Marie Dressler: Min and Bill (winner)
Irene Dunne: Cimarron
Ann Harding: Holiday
Norma Shearer: A Free Soul

1932
Marie Dressler: Emma
LynnFontanne: The Guardsman
Helen Hayes: The Sin of Madelon (winner)

1933
Katharine Hepburn: Morning Glory (winner)
May Robson: Lady for a Day
Diana Wynyard: Cavalcade

1934
Claudette Colbert: It Happened One Night (winner)
Bette Davis: Of Human Bondage
Grace Moore: One Night of Love
Norma Shearer: The Barretts of Wimpole Street

1935
Elisabeth Bergner: Escape Me Never
Claudette Colbert: Private Worlds
Bette Davis: Dangerous (winner)
Katharine Hepburn: Alice Adams
Miriam Hopkins: Becky Sharp
Merle Oberon: The Dark Angel

1936
Irene Dunne: Theodora Goes Wild
Gladys George: Valiant is the Word for Carrie
Carole Lombard: My Man Godfrey
Luise Rainer: The Great Ziegfeld (winner)
Norma Shearer: Romeo and Juliet

1937
Irene Dunne: The Awful Truth
Janet Gaynor: A Star is Born
Greta Garbo: Camille
Luise Raynor: The Good Earth (winner)
Barbara Stanwyck: Stella Dallas

1938
Fay Bainter: White Banners
Bette Davis: Jezebel (winner)
Wendy Hiller: Pygmalion
Norma Shearer: Marie Antoinette
Margaret Sullavan: Three Comrades

1939
Bette Davis: Dark Victory
Irene Dunne: Love Affair
Greta Garbo: Ninotchka
Greer Garson: Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Vivien Leigh: Gone with the Wind (winner)

1940
Bette Davis: The Letter
Katharine Hepburn: The Philadelphia Story
Joan Fontaine: Rebecca
Ginger Rogers: Kitty Foyle (winner)
Martha Scott: Our Town

1941
Bette Davis: The Little Foxes
Olivia de Havilland: Hold Back the Dawn
Joan Fontaine: Suspicion (winner)
Greer Garson: Blossoms in the Dust
Barbara Stanwyck: Ball of Fire

1942
Bette Davis: Now, Voyager
Greer Garson: Mrs. Miniver (winner)
Katharine Hepburn: Woman of the Year
Rosalind Russell: My Sister Eileen
Teresa Wright: The Pride of the Yankees

1943
Jean Arthur: The More the Merrier
Ingrid Bergman: For Whom the Bell Tolls
Joan Fontaine: The Constant Nymph
Greer Garson: Madame Curie
Jennifer Jones: The Song of Bernadette (winner)

1944
Ingrid Bergman: Gaslight (winner)
Claudette Colbert: Since You Went Away
Bette Davis: Mr. Skeffington
Greer Garson: Mrs. Parkington
Barbara Stanwyck: Double Indemnity

1945
Ingrid Bergman: The Bells of St. Mary’s
Joan Crawford: Mildred Pierce (winner)
Greer Garson: The Valley of Decision
Jennifer Jones: Love Letters
Gene Tierney: Leave Her to Heaven

1946
Olivia de Havilland: To Each His Own (winner)
Celia Johnson: Brief Encounter
Jennifer Jones: Duel in the Sun
Rosalind Russell: Sister Kenny
Jane Wyman: The Yearling

1947
Joan Crawford: Possessed
Susan Hayward: Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman
Dorothy McGuire: Gentleman’s Agreement
Rosalind Russell: Mourning Becomes Electra
Loretta Young: The Farmer’s Daughter (winner)

1948
Ingrid Bergman: Joan of Arc
Olivia de Havilland: The Snake Pit
Irene Dunne: I Remember Mama
Barbara Stanwyck: Sorry, Wrong Number
Jane Wyman: Johnny Belinda (winner)

1949
Jeanne Crain: Pinky
Olivia de Havilland: The Heiress (winner)
Susan Hayward: My Foolish Heart
Deborah Kerr: Edward, My Son
Loretta Young: Come to the Stable

1950
Anne Baxter: All About Eve
Bette Davis: All About Eve
Judy Holliday: Born Yesterday (winner)
Eleanor Parker: Caged
Gloria Swanson: Sunset Boulevard

1951
Katharine Hepburn: The African Queen
Vivien Leigh: A Streetcar Named Desire (winner)
Eleanor Parker: Detective Story
Shelley Winters: A Place in the Sun
Jane Wyman: The Blue Veil

1952
Shirley Booth: Come Back, Little Sheba (winner)
Joan Crawford: Sudden Fear
Bette Davis: The Star
Julie Harris: The Member of the Wedding
Susan Hayward: With a Song in My Heart

1953
Leslie Caron: Lili
Ava Gardner: Mogambo
Audrey Hepburn: Roman Holiday (winner)
Deborah Kerr: From Here to Eternity
Maggie McNamara: The Moon is Blue

1954
Dorothy Dandridge: Carmen Jones
Judy Garland: A Star is Born
Audrey Hepburn: Sabrina
Grace Kelly: The Country Girl (winner)
Jane Wyman: Magnificent Obsession

1955
Susan Hayward: I’ll Cry Tomorrow
Katharine Hepburn: Summertime
Jennifer Jones: Love is a Many-Splendored Thing
Anna Magnani: The Rose Tattoo (winner)
Eleanor Parker: Interrupted Melody

1956
Carroll Baker: Baby Doll
Ingrid Bergman: Anastasia (winner)
Katharine Hepburn: The Rainmaker
Nancy Kelly: The Bad Seed
Deborah Kerr: The King and I

1957
Deborah Kerr: Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison
Anna Magnani: Wild is the Wind
Elizabeth Taylor: Raintree County
Lana Turner: Peyton Place
Joanne Woodward: The Three Faces of Eve

1958
Susan Hayward: I Want to Live! (winner)
Deborah Kerr: Separate Tables
Shirley MacLaine: Some Came Running
Rosalind Russell: Auntie Mame
Elizabeth Taylor: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

1959
Doris Day: Pillow Talk
Audrey Hepburn: The Nun’s Story
Katharine Hepburn: Suddenly, Last Summer
Simone Signoret: Room at the Top (winner)
Elizabeth Taylor: Suddenly, Last Summer

1960
Greer Garson: Sunrise at Campobello
Deborah Kerr: The Sundowners
Shirley MacLaine: The Apartment
Melina Mercouri: Never on Sunday
Elizabeth Taylor: Butterfield 8 (winner)

1961
Audrey Hepburn: Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Piper Laurie: The Hustler
Sophia Loren: Two Women (winner)
Geraldine Page: Summer and Smoke
Natalie Wood: Splendor in the Grass

1962
Anne Bancroft: The Miracle Worker (winner)
Bette Davis: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Katharine Hepburn: Long Day’s Journey Into Night
Geraldine Page: Sweet Bird of Youth
Lee Remick: Days of Wine and Roses

1963
Leslie Caron: The L-Shaped Room
Shirley MacLaine: Irma la Douce
Patricia Neal: Hud (winner)
Rachel Roberts: This Sporting Life
Natalie Wood: Love with a Proper Stranger

1964
Julie Andrews: Mary Poppins (winner)
Anne Bancroft: The Pumpkin Eater
Sophia Loren: Marriage, Italian-Style
Debbie Reynolds: The Unsinkable Molly Brown
Kim Stanley: Séance on a Wet Afternoon

1965
Julie Andrews: The Sound of Music
Julie Christie: Darling (winner)
Samantha Eggar: The Collector
Elizabeth Hartmen: A Patch of Blue
Simone Signoret: Ship of Fools

1966
Anouk Aimee: A Man and a Woman
Ida Kaminska: The Shop on Main Street
Lynn Redgrave: Georgy Girl
Vanessa Redgrave: Morgan!
Elizabeth Taylor: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (winner)

1967
Anne Bancroft: The Graduate
Faye Dunaway: Bonnie and Clyde
Edith Evans: The Whisperers
Audrey Hepburn: Wait Until Dark
Katharine Hepburn: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (winner)

1968
Katharine Hepburn: The Lion in Winter (co-winner)
Patricia Neal: The Subject was Roses
Vanessa Redgrave: Isadora
Barbra Streisand: Funny Girl (co-winner)
Joanne Woodward: Rachel, Rachel

1969
Genevieve Bujold: Anne of the Thousand Days
Jane Fonda: They Shoot Horses, Don’t They
Liza Minnelli: The Sterile Cuckoo
Maggie Smith: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (winner)
Jean Simmons: The Happy Ending

1970
Jane Alexander: The Great White Hope
Glenda Jackson: Women in Love (winner)
Ali MacGraw: Love Story
Sarah Miles: Ryan’s Daughter
Carrie Snodgress: Diary of a Mad Housewife

1971
Julie Christie: McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Jane Fonda: Klute (winner)
Glenda Jackson: Sunday Bloody Sunday
Vanessa Redgrave: Mary, Queen of Scots
Janet Suzman: Nicholas and Alexandra

1972
Liza Minnelli: Cabaret (winner)
Diana Ross: Lady Sings the Blues
Maggie Smith: Travels with My Aunt
Cicely Tyson: Sounder
Liv Ullmann: The Emigrants

1973
Ellen Burstyn: The Exorcist
Glenda Jackson: A Touch of Class (winner)
Marsha Mason: Cinderella Liberty
Barbra Streisand: The Way We Were
Joanne Woodward: Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams

1974
Ellen Burstyn: Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (winner)
Diahann Carroll: Claudine
Faye Dunaway: Chinatown
Valerie Perrine: Lenny
Gena Rowlands: A Woman Under the Influence

1975
Isabelle Adjani: The Story of Adele H.
Louise Fletcher: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (winner)
Carol Kane: Hester Street
Glenda Jackson: Hedda
Ann-Margret: Tommy

1976
Marie-Christine Barrault: Cousin, Cousine
Faye Dunaway: Network (winner)
Talia Shire: Rocky
Sissy Spacek: Carrie
Liv Ullmann: Face to Face

1977
Anne Bancroft: The Turning Point
Jane Fonda: Julia
Diane Keaton: Annie Hall (winner)
Shirley MacLaine: The Turning Point
Marsha Mason: The Goodbye Girl

1978
Ingrid Bergman: Autumn Sonata
Ellen Burstyn: Same Time, Next Year
Jill Clayburgh: An Unmarried Woman
Jane Fonda: Coming Home (winner)
Geraldine Page: Interiors

1979
Jill Clayburgh: Starting Over
Sally Field: Norma Rae (winner)
Jane Fonda: The China Syndrome
Marsha Mason: Chapter Two
Bette Midler: The Rose

1980
Ellen Burstyn: Resurrection
Goldie Hawn: Private Benjamin
Mary Tyler Moore: Ordinary People
Gena Rowlands: Gloria
Sissy Spacek: Coal Miner’s Daughter (winner)

1981
Katharine Hepburn: On Golden Pond (winner)
Diane Keaton: Reds
Marsha Mason: Only When I Laugh
Susan Sarandon: Atlantic City
Meryl Strep: The French Lieutenant’s Woman

1982
Julie Andrews: Victor Victoria
Jessica Lange: Frances
Sissy Spacek: Missing
Meryl Streep: Sophie’s Choice (winner)
Debra Winger: An Officer and a Gentleman

1983
Jane Alexander: Testament
Shirley MacLaine: Terms of Endearment (winner)
Meryl Streep: Silkwood
Julie Walters: Educating Rita
Debra Winger: Terms of Endearment

1984
Judy Davis: A Passage to India
Sally Field: Places in the Heart (winner)
Jessica Lange: Country
Vanessa Redgrave: The Bostonians
Sissy Spacek: The River

1985
Anne Bancroft: Agnes of God
Whoopi Goldberg: The Color Purple
Jessica Lange: Sweet Dreams
Geraldine Page: The Trip to Bountiful (winner)
Meryl Streep: Out of Africa

1986
Jane Fonda: The Morning After
Marlee Matlin: Children of a Lesser God (winner)
Sissy Spacek: Crimes of the Heart
Kathleen Turner: Peggy Sue Got Married
Sigourney Weaver: Aliens

1987
Cher: Moonstruck (winner)
Glenn Close: Fatal Attraction
Holly Hunter: Broadcast News
Sally Kirkland: Anna
Meryl Streep: Ironweed

1988
Glenn Close: Dangerous Liaisons
Jodie Foster: The Accused (winner)
Melanie Griffith: Working Girl
Meryl Streep: A Cry in the Dark
Sigourney Weaver: Gorillas in the Mist

1989
Isabelle Adjani: Camille Claudel
Pauline Collins: Shirley Valentine
Jessica Lange: Music Box
Michelle Pfeiffer: The Fabulous Baker Boys
Jessica Tandy: Driving Miss Daisy (winner)

1990
Kathy Bates: Misery (winner)
Anjelica Huston: The Grifters
Julia Roberts: Pretty Woman
Meryl Streep: Postcards from the Edge
Joanne Woodward: Mr. and Mrs. Bridge

1991
Geena Davis: Thelma & Louise
Laura Dern: Rambling Rose
Jodie Foster: The Silence of the Lambs (winner)
Bette Midler: For the Boys
Susan Sarandon: Thelma & Louise

1992
Catherine Deneuve: Indochine
Mary McDonnell: Passion Fish
Michelle Pfeiffer: Love Field
Susan Sarandon: Lorenzo’s Oil
Emma Thompson: Howard’s End (winner)

1993
Angela Basset: What’s Love Got to Do with It?
Stockard Channing: Six Degrees of Separation
Holly Hunter: The Piano (winner)
Emma Thompson: The Remains of the Day
Debra Winger: Shadowlands

1994
Jodie Foster: Nell
Jessica Lange: Blue Sky (winner)
Miranda Richardson: Tom & Viv
Winona Ryder: Little Women
Susan Sarandon: The Client

1995
Susan Sarandon: Dead Man Walking (winner)
Elisabeth Shue: Leaving Las Vegas
Meryl Streep: The Bridges of Madison County
Sharon Stone: Casino
Emma Thompson: Sense and Sensibility

1996
Brenda Blethyn: Secrets & Lies
Diane Keaton: Marvin’s Room
Frances McDormand: Fargo (winner)
Kristin Scott Thomas: The English Patient
Emily Watson: Breaking the Waves

1997
Helena Bonham Carter: The Wings of the Dove
Julie Christie: Afterglow
Judi Dench: Mrs. Brown
Helen Hunt: As Good as it Gets (winner)
Kate Winslet: Titanic

1998
Cate Blanchett: Elizabeth
Feranda Montenegro: Central Station
Gwyneth Paltrow: Shakespeare in Love (winner)
Meryl Streep: One True Thing
Emily Watson: Hilary and Jackie

1999
Annette Bening: American Beauty
Janet McTeer: Tumbleweeds
Julianne Moore: The End of the Affair
Meryl Streep: Music of the Heart
Hilary Swank: Boys Don’t Cry (winner)

2000
Joan Allen: The Contender
Juliette Binoche: Chocolat
Ellen Burstyn: Requiem for a Dream
Laura LInney: You Can Count on Me
Julia Roberts: Erin Brockovich (winner)

2001
Halle Berry: Monster’s Ball (winner)
Judi Dench: Iris
Nicole Kidman: Moulin Rouge!
Sissy Spacek: In the Bedroom
Renee Zellweger: Bridget Jones’s Diary

2002
Salma Hayek: Frida
Nicole Kidman: The Hours (winner)
Diane Lane: Unfaithful
Julianne Moore: Far from Heaven
Renee Zellweger: Chicago

2003
Keisha Castle-Hughes: Whale Rider
Diane Keaton: Something’s Gotta Give
Samantha Morton: In America
Charlize Theron: Monster (winner)
Naomi Watts: 21 Grams

2004
Annette Bening: Being Julia
Catalina Sandino Moreno: Maria Full of Grace
Imelda Staunton: Vera Drake
Hilary Swank: Million Dollar Baby (winner)
Kate Winslet: The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2005
Judi Dench: Mrs. Henderson Presents
Felicity Huffman: Transamerica
Keira Knightley: Pride & Prejudice
Charlize Theron: North Country
Reese Witherspoon: Walk the Line (winner)

2006
Penelope Cruz: Volver
Judi Dench: Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren: The Queen (winner)
Meryl Streep: The Devil Wears Prada
Kate WInslet: Little Children

2007
Cate BLanchett: Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie: Away from Her
Marion Cotillard: La Vie en Rose (winner)
Laura Linney: The Savages
Ellen Page: Juno

2008
Anne Hathaway: Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie: Changeling
Melissa Leo: Frozen River
Meryl Streep: Doubt
Kate Winslet: The Reader (winner)

2009
Sandra Bullock: The Blind Side (winner)
Helen Mirren: The Last Station
Carey Mulligan: An Education
Gabourey Sidibe: Precious
Meryl Streep: Julie & Julia

2010
Annette Bening: The Kids are All Right
Nicole Kidman: Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence: Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman: Black Swan (winner)
Michelle Williams: Blue Valentine

2011
Glenn Close: Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis: The Help
Rooney Mara: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep: The Iron Lady (winner)
Michelle Williams: My Week with Marilyn

2012
Jessica Chastain: Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence: Silver Linings Playbook (winner)
Emmanuelle Riva: Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis: Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts: The Impossible