BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
The 2019 recipient: Renée Zellweger
Awarded for	Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Country	United Kingdom
Presented by	British Academy of Film and Television Arts
First awarded	Vivien Leigh for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Simone Signoret for Golden Helmet (1952)
Currently held by	Renée Zellweger for Judy (2019)
Website	http://www.bafta.org/

Best Actress in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.

• From 1952 to 1967, there were two Best Actress awards presented, Best British Actress and Best Foreign Actress.
• From 1968 onwards, the two awards merged into one award, which from 1968 to 1984 was known as Best Actress.^[1]
• From 1985 to present, the award has been known by its current name of Best Actress in a Leading Role.^[2]

Winners and nominees

Vivien Leigh was the first winner in this category for her performance as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Audrey Hepburn won three times from five nominations for her roles in Roman Holiday (1953), The Nun's Story (1959), and Charade (1963)

Rachel Roberts won twice for her roles in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) and This Sporting Life (1963)

Leslie Caron won for her performance in The L-Shaped Room (1962)

Julie Christie won once from six nominations for her performance in Darling (1965)

Elizabeth Taylor won for her performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

Edith Evans won for her performance in The Whisperers (1967)

Katharine Hepburn won twice for her roles in The Lion in Winter (1968) and On Golden Pond (1981)

Maggie Smith has the most wins in this category for her roles in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), A Private Function (1984), A Room with a View (1985), and The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987)

Katharine Ross won for her performance in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Glenda Jackson won for her performance in Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)

Liza Minnelli won for her performance as Sally Bowles in Cabaret (1972)

Joanne Woodward won for her performance in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973)

Ellen Burstyn won for her performance as Alice Hyatt in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)

Louise Fletcher won for her performance as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Diane Keaton won for her performance in Annie Hall (1977)

Jane Fonda won two consecutive times for her roles in Julia (1977) and The China Syndrome (1979)

Meryl Streep has received twelve nominations in this category, winning twice for The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981) and The Iron Lady (2011)

Julie Walters won for her performance in Educating Rita (1983)

Jessica Tandy won for her performance in Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

Emma Thompson won twice for her roles in Howards End (1992) and Sense and Sensibility (1995)

Holly Hunter won for her performance in The Piano (1994)

Susan Sarandon won for her performance in The Client (1994)

Judi Dench won twice for her roles in Mrs Brown (1997) and Iris (2001)

Cate Blanchett won twice for her roles in Elizabeth (1998) and Blue Jasmine (2013)

Annette Bening won for her performance in American Beauty (1999)

Julia Roberts won for her portrayal of Erin Brockovich in Erin Brockovich (2000)

Nicole Kidman won for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in The Hours (2002)

Scarlett Johansson won for her performance in Lost in Translation (2003)

Reese Witherspoon won for her portrayal of June Carter Cash in Walk the Line (2005)

Helen Mirren won for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen (2006)

Marion Cotillard won for her portrayal of Édith Piaf in La Vie en Rose (2007)

Kate Winslet won for her performance in The Reader (2008)

Carey Mulligan won for her performance in An Education (2009)

Natalie Portman won for her performance in Black Swan (2010)

Emmanuelle Riva won for her performance in Amour (2012)

Julianne Moore won for her performance in Still Alice (2014)

Brie Larson won for her performance in Room (2015)

Emma Stone won for her performance in La La Land (2016)

Frances McDormand won for her performance in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

Olivia Colman won for her portrayal of Queen Anne in The Favourite (2018)

Best British Actress (1952-1967)

Best Foreign Actress (1952-1967)

Best Actress in a Leading Role (1968-present)

1968-1979

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

Note: Between 1964-1973, several actresses were nominated for multiple performances in a single year, these each count as one nomination.^[4]Scarlett Johansson's two mentions in 2003 count as two separate nominations.^[5] The two mentions received by Kate Winslet in both 2004 and 2008 count as two separate nominations each time.

Note: The 2013 ceremony was the first time in the history of BAFTA that two French actresses were nominated for French-language performances in this category: Marion Cotillard for Rust and Bone and Emmanuelle Riva for Amour; the latter won.^[6]

Superlatives

Note: Meryl Streep and Judi Dench tie for the record of a total of 15 BAFTA Film nominations, with Streep having 12 Best Actress nominations and 3 Best Supporting Actress nominations. Dench has 5 Best Actress nominations and 9 Best Supporting Actress nominations. Dench's 15th nomination is for Best Newcomer in 1966 (which she won). This gives her 6 BAFTA Film wins. In addition, she has won 4 BAFTA TV awards (from 12 nominations). In total, she has received 27 BAFTA Film & TV nominations with 10 wins. In 2001, Dench also received an honorary BAFTA: The BAFTA Fellowship.

Note: Maggie Smith has a total of 13 BAFTA Film nominations, for Best Actress (8), Best Supporting Actress (4) and Best Newcomer (1), winning 5. She also has 5 BAFTA TV nominations. This gives her a total of 18 BAFTA Film and TV nominations. In addition, Smith has received two honorary awards: The BAFTA Special Award (1993) and BAFTA Fellowship (1996).

Multiple nominations

12 nominations

• Meryl Streep

8 nominations

• Maggie Smith

7 nominations

6 nominations

5 nominations

4 nominations

3 nominations

2 nominations

Multiple wins

See also

• Academy Award for Best Actress
• BIFA Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a British Independent Film
• Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress
• Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Comedy or Musical
• Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

References

External links

• BAFTA Awards Database