Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Awarded for	"Performance by an actress in a supporting role"
Presented by	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Country	United States
First awarded	1936 (for performances in films released in 1936)
First winner	Gale Sondergaard, Anthony Adverse (1936)
Currently Held By	Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (2009)
Official website

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the award has commonly been referred to as the "Oscar for Best Supporting Actress". While actresses are nominated for this award by Academy members who are actors and actresses themselves, winners are selected by the entire Academy membership.

History

Throughout the past 74 years, accounting for ties and repeat winners, AMPAS has presented a total of 74 Best Supporting Actress awards to 72 different actresses. Winners of this Academy Award of Merit currently receive the familiar Oscar statuette, depicting a gold-plated knight holding a crusader's sword and standing on a reel of film. Prior to the 16th Academy Awards ceremony (1943), however, they received a plaque. The first recipient was Gale Sondergaard, who was honored at the 9th Academy Awards ceremony (1936) for her performance in Anthony Adverse. The most recent recipient was Mo'Nique, who was honored at the 82nd Academy Awards ceremony (2009) for her performance in Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire.

Until the 8th Academy Awards ceremony (1935), nominations for the Best Actress award were intended to include all actresses, whether the performance was in either a leading or supporting role. At the 9th Academy Awards ceremony (1936), however, the Best Supporting Actress category was specifically introduced as a distinct award following complaints that the single Best Actress category necessarily favored leading performers with the most screen time. Nonetheless, May Robson had received a Best Actress nomination (Lady for a Day, 1933) for her performance in a clear supporting role. Currently, Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, and Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role constitute the four Academy Awards of Merit for acting annually presented by AMPAS.

Superlatives

Superlative	Best Actress		Best Supporting Actress		Overall
Actress with most awards	Katharine Hepburn	4	Shelley Winters Dianne Wiest	2	Katharine Hepburn	4
Actress with most nominations	Meryl Streep	13	Thelma Ritter	6	Meryl Streep	16
Actress with most nominations (without ever winning)	Deborah Kerr	6	Thelma Ritter	6	Deborah Kerr Thelma Ritter	6
Film with most nominations	All About Eve Suddenly, Last Summer The Turning Point Terms of Endearment Thelma & Louise	2	Tom Jones	3	All About Eve	4
Oldest winner	Jessica Tandy	80	Peggy Ashcroft	77	Jessica Tandy	80
Oldest nominee	Jessica Tandy	80	Gloria Stuart	87	Gloria Stuart	87
Youngest winner	Marlee Matlin	21	Tatum O'Neal	10	Tatum O'Neal	10
Youngest nominee	Keisha Castle-Hughes	13	Tatum O'Neal	10	Tatum O'Neal	10

The only actresses to have won the award twice are Shelley Winters and Dianne Wiest. Winters won in 1959 and 1965 (she was also nominated in 1972, in addition to being nominated in the Best Actress category in 1951); Wiest won in 1986 and 1994 (she was also nominated in 1989).

Thelma Ritter had six nominations, more than any other actress in this category. As she never won the award, she also holds the record for the number of unsuccessful nominations. Ritter holds the record for the most successive nominations: 1950–1953. Glenn Close was nominated three years consecutively (1982–1984).

Actresses with four nominations are Ethel Barrymore, Agnes Moorehead, Lee Grant, Maureen Stapleton, Geraldine Page, and Maggie Smith. All of Moorehead's and Page's nominations were unsuccessful (but Page did win a Best Actress award, in 1986); each of the others have won (with Smith also having previously won a Best Actress award, in 1970).

Those with three nominations are: Anne Revere, Celeste Holm, Claire Trevor, Angela Lansbury, Shelley Winters, Glenn Close, Diane Ladd, Dianne Wiest, Meryl Streep, Frances McDormand, Cate Blanchett, and Marisa Tomei. Lansbury, Close, Ladd and McDormand have never won a Best Supporting Actress award (but McDormand did win a Best Actress award, in 1996).

Hattie McDaniel was the first African American, Miyoshi Umeki the first Asian, Rita Moreno the first (and only) Puerto Rican and the first Hispanic, Brenda Fricker the first (and only) Irish, Juliette Binoche the fisrt (and only) French, Catherine Zeta-Jones the first (and only) Welsh, Cate Blanchett the first (and only) Australian, and Penélope Cruz the first (and only) Spaniard to win Best Supporting Actress.

Three actresses have received Best Supporting Actress nominations for non-speaking roles: Patty Duke won the award for The Miracle Worker in 1962, Samantha Morton was nominated for Sweet and Lowdown in 1999, and Rinko Kikuchi was nominated for Babel in 2006. Both Morton and Kikuchi performed their roles without speaking a word, while Duke had no dialogue other than grunts and screams.

The earliest nominee in this category who is still alive is Olivia de Havilland (1939), followed by Angela Lansbury (1944). The earliest winner in this category who is still alive is Celeste Holm (1947), followed by Eva Marie Saint (1954). Gloria Stuart, born 1910, is the oldest nominee in this category, she passed away in 2010. Stuart is also the oldest acting nominee ever (for Titanic, 1997).

Beatrice Straight, who won for her role in Network in 1976, had the shortest on-screen role at five minutes and forty seconds. Judi Dench, who won for her role as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare In Love in 1998, had the second-shortest on-screen performance at eight minutes.

The only actor to win an Oscar for playing a real-life Oscar winner is Cate Blanchett. She won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 2004 for playing Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator.

There have been no posthumous nominations for this award.

Eight women have won the award for playing prostitutes: Anne Baxter (1946), Claire Trevor (1948), Donna Reed (1953), Jo Van Fleet (1955), Dorothy Malone (1956), Shirley Jones (1960), Mira Sorvino (1995) and Kim Basinger (1997).

Four African-American actresses have won the award: Hattie McDaniel, Whoopi Goldberg, Jennifer Hudson, and most recently Mo'Nique.

Hispanic actresses who have been nominated for Best Supporting Actress are: Katy Jurado, the first Mexican actress (1954), Susan Kohner, the first Mexican-American Actress (1959), Rita Moreno, the first Puerto Rican actress and first winner (1961, West Side Story), Norma Aleandro the first Argentine actress (1988), Rosie Perez, the first Puerto Rican-American actress (1993), Adriana Barraza, the second Mexican actress (2006), Penélope Cruz, the first Spanish actress to ever be awarded an Academy Award for Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008).

The only two Mexican-born actresses who have received Best Supporting Actress nominations are Katy Jurado (for Broken Lance, 1954) and Adriana Barraza (for Babel, 2006).

The first (and only) Iranian actress nominated was Shohreh Aghdashloo (for House of Sand and Fog, 2003).

Winners and nominees

Following the Academy's practice, the films below are listed by year of their Los Angeles qualifying run, which is usually (but not always) the film's year of release. For example, the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress of 1999 was announced during the award ceremony held in 2000. Winners are listed first in bold, followed by the other nominees. For a list sorted by actress names, please see List of Best Supporting Actress nominees. For a list sorted by film titles, please see List of Best Supporting Actress nominees (films).

1930s

• 1936 Gale Sondergaard – Anthony Adverse as Faith Paleologus
  • Beulah Bondi – The Gorgeous Hussy as Rachel Jackson
  • Alice Brady – My Man Godfrey as Angelica Bullock
  • Bonita Granville – These Three as Mary Tilford
  • Maria Ouspenskaya – Dodsworth as Baroness Von Obersdorf

• 1937 Alice Brady – In Old Chicago as Molly O'Leary
  • Andrea Leeds – Stage Door as Kay Hamilton
  • Anne Shirley – Stella Dallas as Laurel "Lollie" Dallas
  • Claire Trevor – Dead End as Francey
  • May Whitty – Night Must Fall as Mrs. Bramson

• 1938 Fay Bainter – Jezebel as Aunt Belle Massey
  • Beulah Bondi – Of Human Hearts as Mary Wilkins
  • Billie Burke – Merrily We Live as Emily Kilbourne
  • Spring Byington – You Can't Take It with You as Penny Sycamore
  • Miliza Korjus – The Great Waltz as Carla Donner

• 1939 Hattie McDaniel – Gone with the Wind as Mammy
  • Olivia de Havilland – Gone with the Wind as Melanie Hamilton
  • Geraldine Fitzgerald – Wuthering Heights as Isabella Linton
  • Edna May Oliver – Drums Along the Mohawk as Sarah McKlennar
  • Maria Ouspenskaya – Love Affair as Grandmother Janou

1940s

• 1940 Jane Darwell – The Grapes of Wrath as Ma Joad
  • Judith Anderson – Rebecca as Mrs. Danvers
  • Ruth Hussey – The Philadelphia Story as Elizabeth Imbrie
  • Barbara O'Neil – All This and Heaven Too as Duchesse de Praslin
  • Marjorie Rambeau – Primrose Path as Mamie Adams

• 1941 Mary Astor – The Great Lie as Sandra Kovak
  • Sara Allgood – How Green Was My Valley as Beth Morgan
  • Patricia Collinge – The Little Foxes as Birdie Hubbard
  • Teresa Wright – The Little Foxes as Alexandra Giddens
  • Margaret Wycherly – Sergeant York as Mother York

• 1942 Teresa Wright – Mrs. Miniver as Carol Beldon
  • Gladys Cooper – Now, Voyager as Mrs. Vale
  • Agnes Moorehead – The Magnificent Ambersons as Fanny Minafer
  • Susan Peters – Random Harvest as Kitty Chilcet
  • Dame May Whitty – Mrs. Miniver as Lady Beldon

Beginning with the 1943 awards, winners in the supporting acting categories were awarded Oscar statuettes similar to those awarded to winners in all other categories, including the leading acting categories. Prior to this, however, winners in the supporting acting categories were awarded plaques.

• 1943 Katina Paxinou – For Whom the Bell Tolls as Pilar
  • Gladys Cooper – The Song of Bernadette as Sister Marie Therese Vauzous
  • Paulette Goddard – So Proudly We Hail! as Lt. Joan O'Doul
  • Anne Revere – The Song of Bernadette as Louise Soubirous
  • Lucile Watson – Watch on the Rhine as Fanny Farrelly

• 1944 Ethel Barrymore – None but the Lonely Heart as Ma Mott
  • Jennifer Jones – Since You Went Away as Jane Deborah Hilton
  • Angela Lansbury – Gaslight as Nancy Oliver
  • Aline MacMahon – Dragon Seed as Ling Tan's Wife
  • Agnes Moorehead – Mrs. Parkington as Baroness Aspasia Conti

• 1945 Anne Revere – National Velvet as Araminty Brown
  • Eve Arden – Mildred Pierce as Ida Corwin
  • Ann Blyth – Mildred Pierce as Veda Pierce Forrester
  • Angela Lansbury – The Picture of Dorian Gray as Sibyl Vane
  • Joan Lorring – The Corn is Green as Bessie Watty

• 1946 Anne Baxter – The Razor's Edge as Sophie MacDonald
  • Ethel Barrymore – The Spiral Staircase as Mrs. Warren
  • Lillian Gish – Duel in the Sun as Laura Belle McCanles
  • Flora Robson – Saratoga Trunk as Angelique Buiton
  • Gale Sondergaard – Anna and the King of Siam as Lady Thiang

• 1947 Celeste Holm – Gentleman's Agreement as Anne Dettrey
  • Ethel Barrymore – The Paradine Case as Lady Sophie Horfield
  • Gloria Grahame – Crossfire as Ginny Tremaine
  • Marjorie Main – The Egg and I as Ma Kettle
  • Anne Revere – Gentleman's Agreement as Mrs. Green

• 1948 Claire Trevor – Key Largo as Gaye Dawn
  • Barbara Bel Geddes – I Remember Mama as Katrin Hanson
  • Ellen Corby – I Remember Mama as Aunt Trina
  • Agnes Moorehead – Johnny Belinda as Aggie McDonald
  • Jean Simmons – Hamlet as Ophelia

• 1949 Mercedes McCambridge – All the King's Men as Sadie Burke
  • Ethel Barrymore – Pinky as Miss Em
  • Celeste Holm – Come to the Stable as Sister Scholastica
  • Elsa Lanchester – Come to the Stable as Amelia Potts
  • Ethel Waters – Pinky as Pinky's Granny

1950s

• 1950 Josephine Hull – Harvey as Veta Louise Simmons
  • Hope Emerson – Caged as Evelyn Harper
  • Celeste Holm – All About Eve as Karen Richards
  • Nancy Olson – Sunset Boulevard as Betty Schaefer
  • Thelma Ritter – All About Eve as Birdie

• 1951 Kim Hunter – A Streetcar Named Desire as Stella Kowalski
  • Joan Blondell – The Blue Veil as Annie Rawlins
  • Mildred Dunnock – Death of a Salesman as Linda Loman
  • Lee Grant – Detective Story as Shoplifter
  • Thelma Ritter – The Mating Season as Ellen McNulty

• 1952 Gloria Grahame – The Bad and the Beautiful as Rosemary Bartlow
  • Jean Hagen – Singin' in the Rain as Lina Lamont
  • Colette Marchand – Moulin Rouge as Marie Charlet
  • Terry Moore – Come Back, Little Sheba as Marie Buckholder
  • Thelma Ritter – With a Song in My Heart as Clancy

• 1953 Donna Reed – From Here to Eternity as Alma 'Lorene' Burke
  • Grace Kelly – Mogambo as Linda Nordley
  • Geraldine Page – Hondo as Angie Lowe
  • Marjorie Rambeau – Torch Song as Mrs. Stewart
  • Thelma Ritter – Pickup on South Street as Moe

• 1954 Eva Marie Saint – On the Waterfront as Edie Doyle
  • Nina Foch – Executive Suite as Erica Martin
  • Katy Jurado – Broken Lance as Señora Devereaux
  • Jan Sterling – The High and the Mighty as Sally McKee
  • Claire Trevor – The High and the Mighty as May Holst

• 1955 Jo Van Fleet – East of Eden as Kate
  • Betsy Blair – Marty as Clara Snyder
  • Peggy Lee – Pete Kelly's Blues as Rose Hopkins
  • Marisa Pavan – The Rose Tattoo as Rosa Delle Rose
  • Natalie Wood – Rebel Without a Cause as Judy

• 1956 Dorothy Malone – Written on the Wind as Marylee Hadley
  • Mildred Dunnock – Baby Doll as Rose Comfort
  • Eileen Heckart – The Bad Seed as Hortense Daigle
  • Mercedes McCambridge – Giant as Luz Benedict
  • Patty McCormack – The Bad Seed as Rhoda Penmark

• 1957 Miyoshi Umeki – Sayonara as Katsumi
  • Carolyn Jones – The Bachelor Party as The Existentialist
  • Elsa Lanchester – Witness for the Prosecution as Miss Plimsoll
  • Hope Lange – Peyton Place as Selena Cross
  • Diane Varsi – Peyton Place as Allison MacKenzie

• 1958 Wendy Hiller – Separate Tables as Pat Cooper
  • Peggy Cass – Auntie Mame as Agnes Gooch
  • Martha Hyer – Some Came Running as Gwen French
  • Maureen Stapleton – Lonelyhearts as Fay Doyle
  • Cara Williams – The Defiant Ones as Billy's mother

• 1959 Shelley Winters – The Diary of Anne Frank as Petronella Van Daan
  • Hermione Baddeley – Room at the Top as Elspeth
  • Susan Kohner – Imitation of Life as Sarah Jane (age 18)
  • Juanita Moore – Imitation of Life as Annie Johnson
  • Thelma Ritter – Pillow Talk as Alma

1960s

• 1960 Shirley Jones – Elmer Gantry as Lulu Baines
  • Glynis Johns – The Sundowners as Mrs. Firth
  • Shirley Knight – The Dark at the Top of the Stairs as Reenie Flood
  • Janet Leigh – Psycho as Marion Crane
  • Mary Ure – Sons and Lovers as Clara Dawes

• 1961 Rita Moreno – West Side Story as Anita
  • Fay Bainter – The Children's Hour as Amelia Tilford
  • Judy Garland – Judgment at Nuremberg as Irene Hoffman Wallner
  • Lotte Lenya – The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone as Contessa
  • Una Merkel – Summer and Smoke as Mrs. Winemiller

• 1962 Patty Duke – The Miracle Worker as Helen Keller
  • Mary Badham – To Kill a Mockingbird as Scout Finch
  • Shirley Knight – Sweet Bird of Youth as Heavenly Finley
  • Angela Lansbury – The Manchurian Candidate as Eleanor Iselin
  • Thelma Ritter – Birdman of Alcatraz as Elizabeth Stroud

• 1963 Margaret Rutherford – The V.I.P.s as The Duchess of Brighton
  • Diane Cilento – Tom Jones as Molly Seagrim
  • Edith Evans – Tom Jones as Miss Western
  • Joyce Redman – Tom Jones as Mrs. Waters
  • Lilia Skala – Lilies of the Field as Mother Maria

• 1964 Lila Kedrova – Zorba the Greek as Madame Hortense
  • Gladys Cooper – My Fair Lady as Mrs. Higgins
  • Edith Evans – The Chalk Garden as Mrs. St. Maugham
  • Grayson Hall – The Night of the Iguana as Judith Fellowes
  • Agnes Moorehead – Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte as Velma Cruther

• 1965 Shelley Winters – A Patch of Blue as Rose-Ann D'Arcy
  • Ruth Gordon – Inside Daisy Clover as The Dealer – Mrs. Clover
  • Joyce Redman – Othello as Emilia
  • Maggie Smith – Othello as Desdemona
  • Peggy Wood – The Sound of Music as Mother Abbess

• 1966 Sandy Dennis – Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as Honey
  • Wendy Hiller – A Man for All Seasons as Alice More
  • Jocelyne LaGarde – Hawaii as Queen Malama
  • Vivien Merchant – Alfie as Lily
  • Geraldine Page – You're a Big Boy Now as Margery Chanticleer

• 1967 Estelle Parsons – Bonnie and Clyde as Blanche Barrow
  • Carol Channing – Thoroughly Modern Millie as Muzzy Van Hossmere
  • Mildred Natwick – Barefoot in the Park as Ethel Banks
  • Beah Richards – Guess Who's Coming to Dinner as Mrs. Prentice
  • Katharine Ross – The Graduate as Elaine Robinson

• 1968 Ruth Gordon – Rosemary's Baby as Minnie Castevet
  • Lynn Carlin – Faces as Maria Forst
  • Sondra Locke – The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter as Mick Kelly
  • Kay Medford – Funny Girl as Rose Brice
  • Estelle Parsons – Rachel, Rachel as Calla Mackie

• 1969 Goldie Hawn – Cactus Flower as Toni Simmons
  • Catherine Burns – Last Summer as Rhoda
  • Dyan Cannon – Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice as Alice Henderson
  • Sylvia Miles – Midnight Cowboy as Cass
  • Susannah York – They Shoot Horses, Don't They? as Alice LeBlanc

1970s

• 1970 Helen Hayes – Airport as Ada Quonsett
  • Karen Black – Five Easy Pieces as Rayette Dipesto
  • Lee Grant – The Landlord as Joyce Enders
  • Sally Kellerman – MASH as Maj. Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan
  • Maureen Stapleton – Airport as Inez Guerrero

• 1971 Cloris Leachman – The Last Picture Show as Ruth Popper
  • Ellen Burstyn – The Last Picture Show as Lois Farrow
  • Barbara Harris – Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? as Allison Densmore
  • Margaret Leighton – The Go-Between as Mrs. Maudsley
  • Ann-Margret – Carnal Knowledge as Bobbie

• 1972 Eileen Heckart – Butterflies Are Free as Mrs. Baker
  • Jeannie Berlin – The Heartbreak Kid as Lila Kolodny
  • Geraldine Page – Pete 'n' Tillie as Gertrude
  • Susan Tyrrell – Fat City as Oma
  • Shelley Winters – The Poseidon Adventure as Belle Rosen

• 1973 Tatum O'Neal – Paper Moon as Addie Loggins
  • Linda Blair – The Exorcist as Regan MacNeil
  • Candy Clark – American Graffiti as Debbie Dunham
  • Madeline Kahn – Paper Moon as Trixie Delight
  • Sylvia Sidney – Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams as Mrs. Pritchett

• 1974 Ingrid Bergman – Murder on the Orient Express as Greta Ohlsson
  • Valentina Cortese – La nuit américaine aka Day for Night as Severine
  • Madeline Kahn – Blazing Saddles as Lili Von Shtupp
  • Diane Ladd – Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore as Flo Castleberry
  • Talia Shire – The Godfather Part II as Connie Corleone

• 1975 Lee Grant – Shampoo as Felicia Carr
  • Ronee Blakley – Nashville as Barbara Jean
  • Sylvia Miles – Farewell, My Lovely as Jessie Halstead Florian
  • Lily Tomlin – Nashville as Linnea Reese
  • Brenda Vaccaro – Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough as Linda Riggs

• 1976 Beatrice Straight – Network as Louise Schumacher
  • Jane Alexander – All the President's Men as Judy Hoback
  • Jodie Foster – Taxi Driver as Iris Steensma
  • Lee Grant – Voyage of the Damned as Lillian Rosen
  • Piper Laurie – Carrie as Margaret White

• 1977 Vanessa Redgrave – Julia as Julia
  • Leslie Browne – The Turning Point as Emilia Rodgers
  • Quinn Cummings – The Goodbye Girl as Lucy McFadden
  • Melinda Dillon – Close Encounters of the Third Kind as Gillian Guiler
  • Tuesday Weld – Looking for Mr. Goodbar as Katherine

• 1978 Maggie Smith – California Suite as Diana Barrie
  • Dyan Cannon – Heaven Can Wait as Julia Farnsworth
  • Penelope Milford – Coming Home as Vi Munson
  • Maureen Stapleton – Interiors as Pearl
  • Meryl Streep – The Deer Hunter as Linda

• 1979 Meryl Streep – Kramer vs. Kramer as Joanna Kramer
  • Jane Alexander – Kramer vs. Kramer as Margaret Phelps
  • Barbara Barrie – Breaking Away as Evelyn Stoller
  • Candice Bergen – Starting Over as Jessica Potter
  • Mariel Hemingway – Manhattan as Tracy

1980s

• 1980 Mary Steenburgen – Melvin and Howard as Lynda Dummar
  • Eileen Brennan – Private Benjamin as Capt. Doreen Lewis
  • Eva Le Gallienne – Resurrection as Grandma Pearl
  • Cathy Moriarty – Raging Bull as Vickie Thailer LaMotta
  • Diana Scarwid – Inside Moves as Louise

• 1981 Maureen Stapleton – Reds as Emma Goldman
  • Melinda Dillon – Absence of Malice as Teresa Perrone
  • Jane Fonda – On Golden Pond as Chelsea Thayer Wayne
  • Joan Hackett – Only When I Laugh as Toby
  • Elizabeth McGovern – Ragtime as Evelyn Nesbit

• 1982 Jessica Lange – Tootsie as Julie Nichols
  • Glenn Close – The World According to Garp as Jenny Fields
  • Teri Garr – Tootsie as Sandy Lester
  • Kim Stanley – Frances as Lillian Farmer
  • Lesley Ann Warren – Victor/Victoria as Norma Cassady

• 1983 Linda Hunt – The Year of Living Dangerously as Billy Kwan
  • Cher – Silkwood as Dolly Pelliker
  • Glenn Close – The Big Chill as Sarah Cooper
  • Amy Irving – Yentl as Hadass
  • Alfre Woodard – Cross Creek as Geechee

• 1984 Peggy Ashcroft – A Passage to India as Mrs. Moore
  • Glenn Close – The Natural as Iris Gaines
  • Lindsay Crouse – Places in the Heart as Margaret Lomax
  • Christine Lahti – Swing Shift as Hazel
  • Geraldine Page – The Pope of Greenwich Village as Mrs. Ritter

• 1985 Anjelica Huston – Prizzi's Honor as Maerose Prizzi
  • Margaret Avery – The Color Purple as Shug Avery
  • Amy Madigan – Twice in a Lifetime as Sunny
  • Meg Tilly – Agnes of God as Sister Agnes
  • Oprah Winfrey – The Color Purple as Sofia

• 1986 Dianne Wiest – Hannah and Her Sisters as Holly
  • Tess Harper – Crimes of the Heart as Chick Boyle
  • Piper Laurie – Children of a Lesser God as Mrs. Norman
  • Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio – The Color of Money as Carmen
  • Maggie Smith – A Room with a View as Charlotte Bartlett

• 1987 Olympia Dukakis – Moonstruck as Rose Castorini
  • Norma Aleandro – Gaby: A True Story as Florencia
  • Anne Archer – Fatal Attraction as Beth Gallagher
  • Anne Ramsey – Throw Momma from the Train as Mrs. Lift
  • Ann Sothern – The Whales of August as Tisha Doughty

• 1988 Geena Davis – The Accidental Tourist as Muriel Pritchett
  • Joan Cusack – Working Girl as Cyn
  • Frances McDormand – Mississippi Burning as Mrs. Pell
  • Michelle Pfeiffer – Dangerous Liaisons as Madame Marie de Tourvel
  • Sigourney Weaver – Working Girl as Katharine Parker

• 1989 Brenda Fricker – My Left Foot as Mrs. Brown
  • Anjelica Huston – Enemies, a Love Story as Tamara Broder
  • Lena Olin – Enemies, a Love Story as Masha
  • Julia Roberts – Steel Magnolias as Shelby Eatenton Latcherie
  • Dianne Wiest – Parenthood as Helen Buckman

1990s

• 1990 Whoopi Goldberg – Ghost as Oda Mae Brown
  • Annette Bening – The Grifters as Myra Langtry
  • Lorraine Bracco – Goodfellas as Karen Hill
  • Diane Ladd – Wild at Heart as Marietta Fortune
  • Mary McDonnell – Dances with Wolves as Stands With A Fist

• 1991 Mercedes Ruehl – The Fisher King as Anne Napolitano
  • Diane Ladd – Rambling Rose as Mother
  • Juliette Lewis – Cape Fear as Danielle Bowden
  • Kate Nelligan – The Prince of Tides as Lila Wingo Newbury
  • Jessica Tandy – Fried Green Tomatoes as Ninny Threadgoode

• 1992 Marisa Tomei – My Cousin Vinny as Mona Lisa Vito
  • Judy Davis – Husbands and Wives as Sally
  • Joan Plowright – Enchanted April as Mrs. Fisher
  • Vanessa Redgrave – Howards End as Ruth Wilcox
  • Miranda Richardson – Damage as Ingrid Fleming

• 1993 Anna Paquin – The Piano as Flora McGrath
  • Holly Hunter – The Firm as Tammy Hemphill
  • Rosie Perez – Fearless as Carla Rodrigo
  • Winona Ryder – The Age of Innocence as May Welland
  • Emma Thompson – In the Name of the Father as Gareth Peirce

• 1994 Dianne Wiest – Bullets Over Broadway as Helen Sinclair
  • Rosemary Harris – Tom & Viv as Rose Haigh-Wood
  • Helen Mirren – The Madness of King George as Queen Charlotte
  • Uma Thurman – Pulp Fiction as Mia Wallace
  • Jennifer Tilly – Bullets Over Broadway as Olive Neal

• 1995 Mira Sorvino – Mighty Aphrodite as Linda Ash
  • Joan Allen – Nixon as Pat Nixon
  • Kathleen Quinlan – Apollo 13 as Marilyn Lovell
  • Mare Winningham – Georgia as Georgia Flood
  • Kate Winslet – Sense and Sensibility as Marianne Dashwood

• 1996 Juliette Binoche – The English Patient as Hana
  • Joan Allen – The Crucible as Elizabeth Proctor
  • Lauren Bacall – The Mirror Has Two Faces as Hannah Morgan
  • Barbara Hershey – The Portrait of a Lady as Madame Serena Merle
  • Marianne Jean-Baptiste – Secrets & Lies as Hortense Cumberbatch

• 1997 Kim Basinger – L.A. Confidential as Lynn Bracken
  • Joan Cusack – In & Out as Emily Montgomery
  • Minnie Driver – Good Will Hunting as Skylar
  • Julianne Moore – Boogie Nights as Amber Waves
  • Gloria Stuart – Titanic as Old Rose

• 1998 Judi Dench – Shakespeare in Love as Queen Elizabeth I
  • Kathy Bates – Primary Colors as Libby Holden
  • Brenda Blethyn – Little Voice as Mari Hoff
  • Rachel Griffiths – Hilary and Jackie as Hilary du Pré
  • Lynn Redgrave – Gods and Monsters as Hanna

• 1999 Angelina Jolie – Girl, Interrupted as Lisa Rowe
  • Toni Collette – The Sixth Sense as Lynn Sear
  • Catherine Keener – Being John Malkovich as Maxine Lund
  • Samantha Morton – Sweet and Lowdown as Hattie
  • Chloë Sevigny – Boys Don't Cry as Lana Tisdel

2000s

• 2000 Marcia Gay Harden – Pollock as Lee Krasner
  • Judi Dench – Chocolat as Armande Voizin
  • Kate Hudson – Almost Famous as Penny Lane
  • Frances McDormand – Almost Famous as Elaine Miller
  • Julie Walters – Billy Elliot as Mrs. Wilkinson

• 2001 Jennifer Connelly – A Beautiful Mind as Alicia Nash
  • Helen Mirren – Gosford Park as Mrs. Wilson
  • Maggie Smith – Gosford Park as Constance Trentham
  • Marisa Tomei – In the Bedroom as Natalie Strout
  • Kate Winslet – Iris as Iris Murdoch

• 2002 Catherine Zeta-Jones – Chicago as Velma Kelly
  • Kathy Bates – About Schmidt as Roberta Hertzel
  • Julianne Moore – The Hours as Laura Brown
  • Queen Latifah – Chicago as Matron Mama Morton
  • Meryl Streep – Adaptation. as Susan Orlean

• 2003 Renée Zellweger – Cold Mountain as Ruby Thewes
  • Shohreh Aghdashloo – House of Sand and Fog as Nadereh Behrani
  • Patricia Clarkson – Pieces of April as Joy Burns
  • Marcia Gay Harden – Mystic River as Celeste Boyle
  • Holly Hunter – Thirteen as Melanie Freeland

• 2004 Cate Blanchett – The Aviator as Katharine Hepburn
  • Laura Linney – Kinsey as Clara McMillen
  • Virginia Madsen – Sideways as Maya Randall
  • Sophie Okonedo – Hotel Rwanda as Tatiana Rusesabagina
  • Natalie Portman – Closer as Alice Ayres/Jane Jones

• 2005 Rachel Weisz – The Constant Gardener as Tessa Quayle
  • Amy Adams – Junebug as Ashley Johnsten
  • Catherine Keener – Capote as Nelle Harper Lee
  • Frances McDormand – North Country as Glory Dodge
  • Michelle Williams – Brokeback Mountain as Alma Beers Del Mar

• 2006 Jennifer Hudson – Dreamgirls as Effie White
  • Adriana Barraza – Babel as Amelia
  • Cate Blanchett – Notes on a Scandal as Sheba Hart
  • Abigail Breslin – Little Miss Sunshine as Olive Hoover
  • Rinko Kikuchi – Babel as Chieko Wataya

• 2007 Tilda Swinton – Michael Clayton as Karen Crowder
  • Cate Blanchett – I'm Not There as Jude Quinn
  • Ruby Dee – American Gangster as Mama Lucas
  • Saoirse Ronan – Atonement as Briony Tallis
  • Amy Ryan – Gone Baby Gone as Helene McCready

• 2008 Penélope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona as María Elena
  • Amy Adams – Doubt as Sister James
  • Viola Davis – Doubt as Mrs. Miller
  • Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button as Queenie
  • Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler as Cassidy

• 2009 Mo'Nique – Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire as Mary Lee Johnston
  • Penélope Cruz – Nine as Carla Albanese
  • Vera Farmiga – Up in the Air as Alex Goran
  • Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart as Jean Craddock
  • Anna Kendrick – Up in the Air as Natalie Keener

International presence

As the Academy Awards are based in the United States and are centered on the Hollywood film industry, the majority of Academy Award winners have been Americans. Nonetheless, there is significant international presence at the awards, as evidenced by the following list of winners of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

• Australia: Cate Blanchett
• Canada / New Zealand: Anna Paquin
• France: Juliette Binoche
• Russia: Lila Kedrova
• Greece: Katina Paxinou
• Ireland: Brenda Fricker
• Japan: Miyoshi Umeki
• Puerto Rico: Rita Moreno
• Spain: Penélope Cruz
• Sweden: Ingrid Bergman
• United Kingdom: Peggy Ashcroft, Judi Dench, Wendy Hiller, Vanessa Redgrave, Margaret Rutherford, Maggie Smith, Tilda Swinton, Rachel Weisz, and Catherine Zeta-Jones

At the 37th Academy Awards (1964), for the first time in history, all four of the top acting honors were awarded to non-Americans: Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews, Peter Ustinov, and Lila Kedrova. This occurred for the second time at the 80th Academy Awards (2007), when all four acting categories were similarly represented: Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Javier Bardem, and Tilda Swinton.

See also

• List of Academy Awards ceremonies
• List of Best Supporting Actress winners by age at win
• List of actors who have won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, a SAG, and a Critic's Choice Award for a single performance

External links

• Oscars.org (official Academy site)
• Oscar.com (official ceremony promotional site)
• The Academy Awards Database (official site)