Academy Award for Best Actress facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids Academy Award for Best Actress
The 2026 recipient: Jessie Buckley
Presented by	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)
Country	United States
First awarded	May 16, 1929; 96 years ago (1929-05-16) (for films released during the 1927/1928 film season)
Currently held by	Jessie Buckley, Hamnet (2025)

The Academy Award for Best Actress is a very special prize given out every year by a group called the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). This award celebrates an actress who gave an amazing performance in a main role in a movie released that year. It started way back at the 1st Academy Awards. Usually, the winner from the year before for Best Actor gives out this award. But lately, past Best Actress winners have been doing the honors!

This award has been given out 97 times to 80 different actresses! The very first winner was Janet Gaynor for her work in three movies: 7th Heaven, Street Angel, and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans. The most recent winner is Jessie Buckley for her role as Agnes Shakespeare in the movie Hamnet (2025). The actress with the most wins is Katharine Hepburn, who won four times! Frances McDormand has won three times, and many other actresses have won twice. Meryl Streep has been nominated the most times, seventeen in total, and she won twice. In 1969, Barbra Streisand and Katharine Hepburn actually tied and both won the award, which was a very rare event!

How Actresses Are Chosen
Amazing Actresses Who Won
- Actresses with Multiple Wins
- Actresses with Many Nominations
Age Records for Best Actress
Movies with Two Nominated Actresses
Different Actresses, Same Character
Images for kids
See Also

How Actresses Are Chosen

To choose who gets nominated, actors who are members of AMPAS vote using a special system. Then, all eligible members of the Academy vote to pick the final winner.

When the awards first started, actresses were nominated for all their great work in movies that year, sometimes even for three different films! But by the 4th Academy Awards, they changed the rules. Now, an actress is nominated for one specific role in one movie. Since the 9th Academy Awards, there can only be up to five nominees in this category each year.

Janet Gaynor was the inaugural winner, for three films: 7th Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1928), and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927).

Mary Pickford won for Coquette (1929).

Norma Shearer won for The Divorcee (1930).

Marie Dressler won for Min and Bill (1930).

Helen Hayes won for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931); first actress to complete the EGOT.

Katharine Hepburn won four times, for: Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), and On Golden Pond (1981).

Claudette Colbert won for It Happened One Night (1934).

Bette Davis won twice, for Dangerous (1935) and Jezebel (1938).

Luise Rainer was the first to win twice consecutively, for The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937).

Vivien Leigh won twice, for Gone with the Wind (1939) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).

Ginger Rogers won for Kitty Foyle (1940).

Joan Fontaine won for Suspicion (1941).

Greer Garson won for Mrs. Miniver (1942).

Jennifer Jones won for The Song of Bernadette (1943).

Ingrid Bergman won twice, for Gaslight (1944) and Anastasia (1956).

Olivia de Havilland won twice, for To Each His Own (1946) and The Heiress (1949).

Loretta Young won for The Farmer's Daughter (1947).

Jane Wyman won for Johnny Belinda (1948); first winner to utilize ASL.

Judy Holliday won for Born Yesterday (1950).

Amazing Actresses Who Won

The Academy Award for Best Actress has celebrated many incredible performances over the years. From the early days of cinema to today, these actresses have brought memorable characters to life on screen.

Some of the earliest winners include Janet Gaynor, who won the very first award, and Mary Pickford, a silent film star. In the 1930s and 40s, actresses like Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, and Ingrid Bergman began to dominate, each winning multiple times for their powerful roles. Katharine Hepburn holds the record with four Best Actress Oscars!

Later, stars like Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, and Elizabeth Taylor captivated audiences and won their own awards. The 1970s and 80s saw wins for Jane Fonda, Sally Field, and Meryl Streep, who is known for her incredible range and holds the record for the most nominations in this category.

More recently, actresses like Julia Roberts, Halle Berry (the first Black woman to win Best Actress), Nicole Kidman, and Charlize Theron have taken home the coveted statue. Michelle Yeoh made history in 2022 as the first Southeast Asian winner for her role in Everything Everywhere All at Once. The most recent winner is Jessie Buckley for her performance in Hamnet (2025).

Actresses with Multiple Wins

Some actresses have won the Best Actress award more than once! Here are the amazing stars who have achieved this:

Wins	Actress	Nominations	Years won
4	Katharine Hepburn	12	1933, 1967, 1968, 1981
3	Frances McDormand	3	1996, 2017, 2020
2	Meryl Streep	17	1982, 2011
	Bette Davis	11	1935, 1938
	Ingrid Bergman	6	1944, 1956
	Jane Fonda	6	1971, 1978
	Elizabeth Taylor	5	1960, 1966
	Olivia de Havilland	4	1946, 1949
	Glenda Jackson	4	1970, 1973
	Jodie Foster	3	1988, 1991
	Emma Stone	3	2016, 2023
	Sally Field	2	1979, 1984
	Vivien Leigh		1939, 1951
	Luise Rainer		1936, 1937
	Hilary Swank		1999, 2004

Actresses with Many Nominations

Being nominated for an Academy Award is a huge honor! These actresses have been nominated three or more times for Best Actress:

Nominations	Actress
17	Meryl Streep
12	Katharine Hepburn
11	Bette Davis
7	Greer Garson
6	Ingrid Bergman
	Jane Fonda
	Deborah Kerr
	Sissy Spacek
5	Anne Bancroft
	Cate Blanchett
	Ellen Burstyn
	Judi Dench
	Irene Dunne
	Susan Hayward
	Audrey Hepburn
	Jessica Lange
	Shirley MacLaine
	Susan Sarandon
	Norma Shearer
	Elizabeth Taylor
4	Annette Bening
	Julie Christie
	Glenn Close
	Olivia de Havilland
	Glenda Jackson
	Jennifer Jones
	Diane Keaton
	Nicole Kidman
	Marsha Mason
	Geraldine Page
	Vanessa Redgrave
	Rosalind Russell
	Barbara Stanwyck
	Kate Winslet
	Joanne Woodward
	Jane Wyman
3	Julie Andrews
	Claudette Colbert
	Joan Crawford
	Faye Dunaway
	Joan Fontaine
	Jodie Foster
	Greta Garbo
	Jennifer Lawrence
	Frances McDormand
	Julianne Moore
	Carey Mulligan
	Eleanor Parker
	Saoirse Ronan
	Emma Stone
	Gloria Swanson
	Charlize Theron
	Emma Thompson
	Michelle Williams
	Debra Winger
	Renée Zellweger

Age Records for Best Actress

Here are some interesting facts about the ages of the Best Actress winners and nominees:

Record	Actor	Film	Year	Age
Oldest Winner	Jessica Tandy	Driving Miss Daisy	1990	80
Oldest Nominee	Emmanuelle Riva	Amour	2013	85
Youngest Winner	Marlee Matlin	Children of a Lesser God	1987	21
Youngest Nominee	Quvenzhané Wallis	Beasts of the Southern Wild	2013	9

Movies with Two Nominated Actresses

Sometimes, two actresses from the same movie are so good that they both get nominated for Best Actress! Here are some examples:

All About Eve (1950) – Anne Baxter and Bette Davis
Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) – Katharine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor
The Turning Point (1977) – Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine
Terms of Endearment (1983) – Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger
Thelma & Louise (1991) – Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon

Different Actresses, Same Character

It's cool when different actresses play the same character in different movies and both get nominated for an Oscar! Here are some famous characters that have led to multiple nominations:

Billie Holiday from Lady Sings the Blues (Diana Ross, 1972) and The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Andra Day, 2021)
Josephine "Jo" March from Little Women (Winona Ryder, 1994) and Little Women (Saoirse Ronan, 2019)
Leslie Crosbie from The Letter (Jeanne Eagels, 1929) and The Letter (Bette Davis, 1940)
Marilyn Monroe from My Week with Marilyn (Michelle Williams, 2011) and Blonde (Ana de Armas, 2022)
Queen Elizabeth I from Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett, 1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (Cate Blanchett, 2007)
Vicki Lester (born Esther (Victoria) Blodgett) from A Star Is Born (Janet Gaynor, 1937) and A Star Is Born (Judy Garland, 1954)
- Ally Maine (born Campano) from A Star Is Born (Lady Gaga, 2018)

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Shirley Booth won for Come Back, Little Sheba (1952); won Tony for the same role—first actress to accomplish this.
Audrey Hepburn won for Roman Holiday (1953).
Grace Kelly won for The Country Girl (1954).
Anna Magnani won for The Rose Tattoo (1955).
Joanne Woodward won for The Three Faces of Eve (1957).
Susan Hayward won for I Want to Live! (1958).
Simone Signoret won for Room at the Top (1959).
Elizabeth Taylor won twice, for BUtterfield 8 (1960) and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966).
Sophia Loren won for Two Women (1960); first for a non-English (Italian) dialogue role.
Anne Bancroft won for The Miracle Worker (1962).
Patricia Neal won for Hud (1963).
Julie Andrews won for Mary Poppins (1964).
Julie Christie won for Darling (1965).
Barbra Streisand won for Funny Girl (1968), in a tie with Katharine Hepburn.
Maggie Smith won for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969).
Glenda Jackson won twice, for Women in Love (1970) and A Touch of Class (1973).
Jane Fonda won twice, for Klute (1971) and Coming Home (1978).
Liza Minnelli won for Cabaret (1972).
Ellen Burstyn won for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974).
Louise Fletcher won for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975).
Faye Dunaway won for Network (1976).
Diane Keaton won for Annie Hall (1977).
Sally Field won twice, for Norma Rae (1979) and Places in the Heart (1984).
Sissy Spacek won for Coal Miner's Daughter (1980).
Meryl Streep won twice, for Sophie's Choice (1982) and The Iron Lady (2011).
Shirley MacLaine won for Terms of Endearment (1983).
Geraldine Page won for The Trip to Bountiful (1985).
Marlee Matlin won for Children of a Lesser God (1986); first deaf, and at age 21, this category's youngest winner.
Cher won for Moonstruck (1987).
Jodie Foster won twice, for The Accused (1988) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
Jessica Tandy won for Driving Miss Daisy (1989); this category's oldest winner, at age 80.
Kathy Bates won for Misery (1990).
Emma Thompson won for Howards End (1992).
Holly Hunter won for The Piano (1993).
Jessica Lange won for Blue Sky (1994).
Susan Sarandon won for Dead Man Walking (1995).
Frances McDormand won thrice, for Fargo (1996), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), and Nomadland (2020).
Helen Hunt won for As Good as It Gets (1997).
Gwyneth Paltrow won for Shakespeare in Love (1998).
Hilary Swank won twice, for Boys Don't Cry (1999) and Million Dollar Baby (2004).
Julia Roberts won for Erin Brockovich (2000).
Halle Berry won for Monster's Ball (2001); first black winner in this category.
Nicole Kidman won for The Hours (2002).
Charlize Theron won for Monster (2003).
Reese Witherspoon won for Walk the Line (2005).
Helen Mirren won for The Queen (2006).
Marion Cotillard won for La Vie en Rose (2007); first French-language performance winner.
Kate Winslet won for The Reader (2008).
Sandra Bullock won for The Blind Side (2009).
Natalie Portman won for Black Swan (2010).
Jennifer Lawrence won for Silver Linings Playbook (2012).
Cate Blanchett won for Blue Jasmine (2013).
Julianne Moore won for Still Alice (2014).
Brie Larson won for Room (2015).
Emma Stone won twice, for La La Land (2016) and Poor Things (2023).
Olivia Colman won for The Favourite (2018).
Jessica Chastain won for The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021).
Michelle Yeoh won for Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022); first Southeast Asian winner in this category.
Mikey Madison won for Anora (2024).