AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role

The Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role is an award presented annually at the Australian Film Institute Awards. The award has been presented annually since 1971.

History

The award was first presented in 1971 at the 13th Australian Film Institute Awards, twelve years after the awards ceremony was first instituted. The first recipient of the award was Monica Maughan for her performance in A City's Child. The most recent person to receive the award is Jacki Weaver for her performance in Animal Kingdom at the 52nd Australian Film Institute Awards in 2010.

Milestones

Superlative	Actress	Times won/nominated
Actress with most awards	Judy Davis	4
Actress with most nominations	Judy Davis	7
Indigenous actress with most wins	Deborah Mailman	1
Indigenous actress with most nominations	Marissa Gibson, Mawuyul Yanthalawuy	1
Foreign actress with most wins	Emily Barclay, Joan Chen, Lisa Harrow, Monic Hendrickx, Holly Hunter, Pamela Rabe, Meryl Streep	1

Winners and nominees

1970s

• 1971 Monica Maughan – A City's Child as Woman

• 1972 Jacki Weaver – Stork as Anna

• 1973 Judy Morris – Libido: The Child as Sybil

• 1974–1975 Julie Dawson – Who Killed Jenny Langby as Jenny Langby

• 1976 Helen Morse – Caddie as Caddie Marsh

• 1977 Pat Bishop – Don's Party as Jenny
  • Sara Kestelman – Break of Day as Alice
  • Jeanie Drynan – Don's Party as Kath Henderson
  • Robyn Nevin – The Fourth Wish as Connie

• 1978 Angela Punch-McGregor – The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith as Gilda Marshall
  • Kim Krejus – Mouth to Mouth as Carrie
  • Wendy Hughes – Newsfront as Amy Mackenzie
  • Geraldine Fitzgerald – The Mango Tree as Grandma Carr

• 1979 Michele Fawdon – Cathy's Child as Cathy
  • Judy Davis – My Brilliant Career as Sybylla Melvyn
  • Sigrid Thornton – Snapshot as Angela
  • Ruth Cracknell – The Night the Prowler as Doris Bannister

1980s

• 1980 Tracy Mann – Hard Knocks as Samantha
  • Judy Morris – ...Maybe This Time as Fran
  • Carmen Duncan – Harlequin as Sandra Rast
  • Mawuyul Yanthalawuy – Manganinnie as Manganinnie

• 1981 Judy Davis – Winter of Our Dreams as Lou
  • Lorraine Bayly – Fatty Finn as Maggie McGrath
  • Noni Hazlehurst – Fatty Finn as Myrtle Finn
  • Jenny Agutter – The Survivor as Hobbs

• 1982 Noni Hazlehurst – Monkey Grip as Nora
  • Wendy Hughes – Lonely Hearts as Patricia Curnow
  • Carol Kane – Norman Loves Rose as Rose
  • Angela Punch-McGregor – We of the Never Never as Jeannie Gunn

• 1983 Wendy Hughes – Careful, He Might Hear You as Vanessa
  • Kris McQuade – Buddies as Stella
  • Lorna Lesley – The Settlement as Joycie
  • Geneviève Picot- Undercover as Libby

• 1984 Angela Punch-McGregor – Annie's Coming Out as Jessica Hathaway
  • Wendy Hughes – My First Wife as Helen
  • Gosia Dobrowolska – Norman Loves Rose as Nina
  • Carol Burns – Strikebound as Agnes Doig

• 1985 Noni Hazlehurst – Fran as Fran
  • Lynette Curran – Bliss as Bettina Joy
  • Debra Byrne – Rebel as Kathy McLeod
  • Michele Fawdon – Unfinished Business as Maureen

• 1986 Judy Davis – Kangaroo as Harriet Somers
  • Helen Buday – For Love Alone as Teresa
  • Justine Saunders – The Fringe Dwellers as Mollie Comeaway
  • Judy Morris – The More Things Change... as Connie

• 1987 Judy Davis – High Tide as Lillie
  • Wendy Hughes – Echoes of Paradise as Maria
  • Loene Carmen – The Year My Voice Broke as Freya Olson
  • Julia Blake – Travelling North as Frances

• 1988 Nadine Garner – Mull as Phoebe Mullens
  • Rosey Jones – Afraid to Dance as The Female
  • Wendy Hughes – Boundaries of the Heart as Stella Marsden
  • Jo Kennedy – Tender Hooks as Mitch

• 1989 Meryl Streep – Evil Angels as Lindy Chamberlain
  • Judy Davis – Georgia as Nina Bailley/Georgia White
  • Irini Pappas – Island as Marquise
  • Geneviève Lemon – Sweetie as Dawn (Sweetie)

1990s

• 1990 Catherine McClements – Weekend with Kate as Kate Moir
  • Kerry Armstrong – Hunting (film) as Michelle Harris
  • Claudia Karvan – The Big Steal as Joanna Johnson
  • Rosanna Arquette – Wendy Cracked a Walnut as Wendy

• 1991 Sheila Florance – A Woman's Tale as Martha
  • Angie Milliken – Act of Necessity as Louise Coleman
  • Eri Ishida – Aya as Aya
  • Geneviève Picot – Proof as Celia

• 1992 Holly Hunter – The Piano as Beth
  • Claudia Carvan – Red Heads as Lucy
  • Tara Morice – Strictly Ballroom as Fran
  • Miranda Otto – The Girl Who Came Late as Nell Tiscowitz

• 1993 Lisa Harrow – The Last Days of Chez Nous as Ada McGrath
  • Claudia Carvan – Broken Highway as Catherine
  • Fiona Ruttelle – Say a Little Prayer as Angie
  • Jacqueline McKenzie – This Won't Hurt a Bit as Vanessa Prescott

• 1994 Toni Collette – Muriel's Wedding as Muriel Heslop
  • Kerry Fox – Country Life as Sally Voysey
  • Tara FitzGerald – Sirens as Estella Campion
  • Victoria Longley – Talk as Julia Strong

• 1995 Jacqueline McKenzie – Angel Baby as Kate
  • Caroline Goodall – Hotel Sorrento as Meg Moynihan
  • Caroline Gillmer – Hotel Sorrento as Hilary Moynihan
  • Lisa Harrow – That Eye, the Sky as Alice Flack

• 1996 Judy Davis – Children of the Revolution as Joan
  • Gia Carides – Brilliant Lies as Susy Connor
  • Claudia Karvan – Dating the Enemy as Tash
  • Frances O'Connor – Love and Other Catastrophes as Mia

• 1997 Pamela Rabe – The Well as Hester
  • Frances O'Connor – Kiss or Kill as Nikki Davies
  • Frances O'Connor – Thank God He Met Lizzie as Jenny
  • Miranda Otto – The Well as Katherine

• 1998 Deborah Mailman – Radiance as Nona
  • Rachel Griffiths – Amy as Tanya Rammus
  • Cate Blanchett – Oscar and Lucinda as Lucinda Leplastrier
  • Lynette Curran – The Boys as Sandra Sprague

• 1999 Sacha Horler – Praise as Cynthia
  • Maya Stange – In a Savage Land as Evelyn Spence
  • Jeanie Drynan – Soft Fruit as Patsy
  • Michela Noonan – Strange Fits of Passion as She

2000s

• 2000 Pia Miranda – Looking for Alibrandi as Josephine Alibrandi
  • Susie Porter – Better Than Sex as Cin
  • Julia Blake – Innocence as Claire
  • Rachel Griffiths – Me Myself I as Pamela Drury

• 2001 Kerry Armstrong – Lantana as Sonja Zat
  • Alice Ansara – La Spagnola as Lucia
  • Lola Marceli – La Spagnola as Lola
  • Nicole Kidman – Moulin Rouge! as Satine

• 2002 Maria Theodorakis – Walking on Water as Anna
  • Dannielle Hall – Beneath Clouds as Lena
  • Judy Davis – Swimming Upstream as Dora Fingleton
  • Rachel Griffiths – The Hard Word as Carol

• 2003 Toni Collette – Japanese Story as Sandy Edwards
  • Helen Buday – Alexandra's Project as Alexandra
  • Susie Porter – Teesh and Trude as Letitia (Teesh)
  • Rose Byrne – The Rage in Placid Lake as Gemma Taylor

• 2004 Abbie Cornish – Somersault as Heidi
  • Olivia Pigeot – A Cold Summer as Tia
  • Leeanna Walsman – One Perfect Day as Alysse
  • Chloe Maxwell – Under the Radar as Jo

• 2005 Cate Blanchett – Little Fish as Tracy Louise Heart
  • Saskia Burmeister – Haitng Alison Ashley as "Erk" Erica "Yuk" Yurken
  • Justine Clarke – Look Both Ways as Meryl Lee
  • Frances O'Connor – Three Dollars as Tanya

• 2006 Emily Barclay – Suburban Mayhem as Katrina
  • Teresa Palmer – 2:37 as Melody
  • Abbie Cornish – Candy as Candy
  • Laura Linney – Jindabyne as Claire

• 2007 Joan Chen – The Home Song Stories as Rose
  • Brenda Blethyn – Clubland as Jean Dwight
  • Kerry Armstrong – Razzle Dazzle as Justine Morgan
  • Franka Potente – Romulus, My Father as Christine

• 2008 Monic Hendrickx – Unfinished Sky as Tahmeena
  • Noni Hazlehurst – Bitter & Twisted as Penelope Lombard
  • Emma Lung – The Jammed as Crystal
  • Veronica Sywak – The Jammed as Ashley

• 2009 Frances O'Connor – Blessed as Rhonda
  • Sophie Lowe – Beautiful Kate as Kate
  • Sacha Horler – My Year Without Sex as Natalie
  • Marissa Gibson – Samson and Delilah as Delilah

2010s

• 2010 Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom as Janine 'Smurf' Cody
  • Abbie Cornish – Bright Star as Fanny Brawne
  • Morgana Davis – The Tree as Simone
  • Charlotte Gainsbourg – The Tree as Dawn

External links

• Afi.org.au – Winners