Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead

The Film Independent's Spirit Award for Best Female Lead is one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards.

Notes

• "†" indicates an Academy Award-winning performance.
• "‡" indicates an Academy Award nomination

Winners and nominees

1980s

Year	Winner and nominees	Film	Role
1985	Geraldine Page	The Trip to Bountiful	Carrie Watts †
	Rosanna Arquette	After Hours	Marcy Franklin
	Laura Dern	Smooth Talk	Connie Wyatt
	Lori Singer	Trouble in Mind	Georgia
1986	Isabella Rossellini	Blue Velvet	Dorothy Vallens
	Elpidia Carrillo	Salvador	María
	Patricia Charbonneau	Desert Hearts	Cay Rivvers
	Laura Dern	Blue Velvet	Sandy Williams
	Tracy Camilla Johns	She's Gotta Have It	Nola Darling
1987	Sally Kirkland	Anna	Anna ‡
	Lillian Gish	The Whales of August	Sarah Webber
	Debra Sandlund	Tough Guys Don't Dance	Patty Lareine
	Louise Smith	Working Girls	Molly
	Joanne Woodward	The Glass Menagerie	Amanda Wingfield
1988	Jodie Foster	Five Corners	Linda
	Ricki Lake	Hairspray	Tracy Turnblad
	Nobu McCarthy	The Wash	Masi Matsumoto
	Julia Roberts	Mystic Pizza	Daisy Arujo
	Meg Ryan	Promised Land	Bev Sykes
1989	Andie MacDowell	sex, lies, and videotape	Ann Bishop Mullany
	Youki Kudoh	Mystery Train	Mitsuko
	Kelly Lynch	Drugstore Cowboy	Dianne
	Winona Ryder	Heathers	Veronica Sawyer
	Annabella Sciorra	True Love	Donna

1990s

Year	Winner and nominees	Film	Role
1990	Anjelica Huston	The Grifters	Lilly Dillon ‡
	Mary Alice	To Sleep with Anger	Suzie
	Eszter Balint	Bail Jumper	Elaine
	Carolyn Farina	Metropolitan	Audrey Rouget
	Joanne Woodward	Mr. & Mrs. Bridge	India Bridge ‡
1991	Judy Davis	Impromptu	George Sand / Aurora
	Patsy Kensit	Twenty-One	Katie
	Mimi Rogers	The Rapture	Sharon
	Lili Taylor	Bright Angel	Lucy
	Lily Tomlin	The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe	Various roles
1992	Fairuza Balk	Gas Food Lodging	Shade
	Edie Falco	Laws of Gravity	Denise
	Catherine Keener	Johnny Suede	Yvonne
	Sheryl Lee	Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me	Laura Palmer
	Cynda Williams	One False Move	Lila 'Fantasia' Walker
1993	Ashley Judd	Ruby in Paradise	Ruby Lee Gissing
	Suzy Amis	The Ballad of Little Jo	Josephine 'Jo' Monaghan
	May Chin	The Wedding Banquet	Wei-Wei
	Ariyan A. Johnson	Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.	Chantel Mitchell
	Emma Thompson	Much Ado About Nothing	Beatrice
1994	Linda Fiorentino	The Last Seduction	Bridget Gregory / Wendy Kroy
	Jennifer Jason Leigh	Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle	Dorothy Parker
	Karen Sillas	What Happened Was...	Jackie Marsh
	Lauren Vélez	I Like It Like That	Lisette Linares
	Chien-Lien Wu	Eat Drink Man Woman	Jia-Chien
1995	Elisabeth Shue	Leaving Las Vegas	Sera ‡
	Jennifer Jason Leigh	Georgia	Sadie Flood
	Elina Löwensohn	Nadja	Nadja
	Julianne Moore	Safe	Carol White
	Lili Taylor	The Addiction	Kathleen Conklin
1996	Frances McDormand	Fargo	Marge Gunderson †
	María Conchita Alonso	Caught	Betty
	Scarlett Johansson	Manny & Lo	Mannyl
	Catherine Keener	Walking and Talking	Amelia
	Renée Zellweger	The Whole Wide World	Novalyne Price
1997	Julie Christie	Afterglow	Phyllis Mann ‡
	Stacy Edwards	In the Company of Men	Christine
	Alison Folland	All Over Me	Claude
	Lisa Harrow	Sunday	Madeleine Vesey
	Robin Wright Penn	Loved	Hedda Amerson
1998	Ally Sheedy	High Art	Lucy Berliner
	Katrin Cartlidge	Claire Dolan	Claire Dolan
	Christina Ricci	The Opposite of Sex	Dede Truitt
	Robin Tunney	Niagara, Niagara	Marcy
	Alfre Woodard	Down in the Delta	Loretta Sinclair
1999	Hilary Swank	Boys Don't Cry	Brandon Teena †
	Diane Lane	A Walk on the Moon	Pearl Kantrowitz
	Janet McTeer	Tumbleweeds	Mary Jo Walker ‡
	Susan Traylor	Valerie Flake	Valerie Flake
	Reese Witherspoon	Election	Tracy Flick

2000s

Year	Winner and nominees	Film	Role
2000	Ellen Burstyn	Requiem for a Dream	Sara Goldfarb ‡
	Joan Allen	The Contender	Laine Hanson ‡
	Sanaa Lathan	Love & Basketball	Monica Wright
	Laura Linney	You Can Count on Me	Samantha 'Sammy' Prescott ‡
	Kelly Macdonald	Two Family House	Mary O'Neary
2001	Sissy Spacek	In the Bedroom	Ruth Fowler ‡
	Kim Dickens	Things Behind the Sun	Sherry
	Molly Parker	The Center of the World	Florence
	Tilda Swinton	The Deep End	Margaret Hall
	Kerry Washington	Lift	Niecy
2002	Julianne Moore	Far from Heaven	Cathy Whitaker ‡
	Jennifer Aniston	The Good Girl	Justine Last
	Maggie Gyllenhaal	Secretary	Lee Holloway
	Catherine Keener	Lovely & Amazing	Michelle Marks
	Parker Posey	Personal Velocity	Greta Herskowitz
2003	Charlize Theron	Monster	Aileen Wuornos †
	Agnes Bruckner	Blue Car	Megan Denning
	Zooey Deschanel	All the Real Girls	Noel
	Samantha Morton	In America	Sarah ‡
	Elisabeth Moss	Virgin	Jessie Reynolds
2004	Catalina Sandino Moreno	Maria Full of Grace	María Álvarez ‡
	Kimberly Elise	Woman Thou Art Loosed	Michelle Jordan
	Vera Farmiga	Down to the Bone	Irene
	Judy Marte	On the Outs	Oz
	Kyra Sedgwick	Cavedweller	Delia Byrd
2005	Felicity Huffman	Transamerica	Bree ‡
	Dina Korzun	Forty Shades of Blue	Laura
	Laura Linney	The Squid and the Whale	Joan Berkman
	S. Epatha Merkerson	Lackawanna Blues	Rachel 'Nanny' Crosby
	Cyndi Williams	Room	Julia Barker
2006	Shareeka Epps	Half Nelson	Drey
	Catherine O'Hara	For Your Consideration	Marilyn Hack
	Elizabeth Reaser	Sweet Land	Young Inge
	Michelle Williams	Land of Plenty	Lana
	Robin Wright Penn	Sorry, Haters	Phoebe Torrence
2007	Ellen Page	Juno	Juno MacGuff ‡
	Angelina Jolie	A Mighty Heart	Mariane Pearl
	Sienna Miller	Interview	Katya
	Parker Posey	Broken English	Nora Wilder
	Tang Wei	Lust, Caution	Wong Chia Chi / Mak Tai Tai
2008	Melissa Leo	Frozen River	Ray Eddy ‡
	Summer Bishil	Towelhead	Jasira Maroun
	Anne Hathaway	Rachel Getting Married	Kym ‡
	Tarra Riggs	Ballast	Marlee
	Michelle Williams	Wendy and Lucy	Wendy Carroll
2009	Gabourey Sidibe	Precious	Claireece 'Precious' Jones ‡
	Maria Bello	Downloading Nancy	Nancy Stockwell
	Nisreen Faour	Amreeka	Muna Farah
	Helen Mirren	The Last Station	Sophia Tolstaya ‡
	Gwyneth Paltrow	Two Lovers	Michelle Rausch

2010s

Year	Winner and nominees	Film	Role
2010	Natalie Portman	Black Swan	Nina Sayers †
	Annette Bening	The Kids Are All Right	Nic ‡
	Greta Gerwig	Greenberg	Florence Marr
	Nicole Kidman	Rabbit Hole	Becca Corbett ‡
	Jennifer Lawrence	Winter's Bone	Ree Dolly ‡
	Michelle Williams	Blue Valentine	Cindy ‡
2011	Michelle Williams	My Week with Marilyn	Marilyn Monroe ‡
	Lauren Ambrose	Think of Me	Angela
	Rachael Harris	Natural Selection	Linda
	Adepero Oduye	Pariah	Alike
	Elizabeth Olsen	Martha Marcy May Marlene	Martha