The Best Actress Academy Award: Facts and Trivia

The Best Actress award should actually be titled "the best performance by an actress in a leading role." The same rules that govern the Best Actor category apply to the Best Actress category.

Winning Trends:

Biographies of remarkable, real-life individuals (showbiz figures and entertainers) and portrayals of the mentally ill are heavily represented among Oscar winners (and nominees), particularly in the acting awards. It helps an actress's chances of winning (or being nominated for) an Oscar if the character dies during the movie, or is alcoholic (or drug-addicted), or is a murderess. It also helps to play a role against type (Julia Roberts as a crusading single mother in Erin Brockovich (2000), or Susan Sarandon as a death-row nun in Dead Man Walking (1995)), or for showing acting diversity (Kathy Bates as the horror villainess in Misery (1990), or singer Cher in Moonstruck (1987)). Also, first-time Oscar nominations are more often given to actresses below or around the age of thirty.

A large number of actresses have also won (or been nominated for) the top acting awards for portraying hookers (girls of the night, party girls, whores, call girls, madams, etc.) or loose women (mistresses, promiscuous ladies, etc.), for example:

• Janet Gaynor won the Best Actress award for her role as a poor prostitute in Street Angel (1927/28), one of three films for which she was honored
• Helen Hayes won the Best Actress Oscar as a sacrificial, maternal streetwalker in The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931/32)
• Judy Holliday won the Best Actress Oscar as a mistress and kept woman in Born Yesterday (1950)
• Vivien Leigh won the Best Actress Oscar as a fallen woman in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
• Joanne Woodward won the Best Actress Oscar as a multiple personality (with one sluttish member) in The Three Faces of Eve (1957)
• Susan Hayward won the Best Actress Oscar as a deceitful party-girl prostitute in I Want to Live! (1958)
• Elizabeth Taylor won the Best Actress Oscar as a high-class New York call girl who wants to straighten out her life in Butterfield 8 (1960) - in the same year, Melina Mercouri was nominated for playing a Greek prostitute who doesn't work one day of the week in Never On Sunday (1960) and Shirley MacLaine was nominated for her role as the mistress of a callous business executive in The Apartment (1960)
• Shirley MacLaine was nominated for Best Actress as a Parisian prostitute in Irma La Douce (1963)
• Julie Christie won the Best Actress Oscar as an amoral model in Darling (1965)
• Jane Fonda won the Best Actress Oscar as a fearful, bored, and victimized/stalked streetwalker in Klute (1971)
• Julia Roberts was nominated as Best Actress for her role as a LA hooker/escort in Pretty Woman (1990)
• Charlize Theron won the Best Actress Oscar as a serial-killer prostitute in Monster (2003)

And a few Best Actress (and Supporting Actress) winners acquired acting Oscars for characters that were essentially mute:

• Jane Wyman won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as a deaf-mute in Johnny Belinda (1948)
• Patty Duke won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for portraying Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker (1962) who spoke only one triumphant word of dialogue: "Wa-wa" (or water)
• Note: Marlee Matlin (truly hearing impaired) won the Best Actress Oscar for her mostly silent, realistic performance in Children of a Lesser God (1986)
• Holly Hunter won the Best Actress Oscar for her non-speaking role (although she did voice-over narration) as a 19th century pianist mute in The Piano (1993)

Another group of actresses have won awards for portraying characters that were performers, or handicapped with disabilities (or other physical afflictions), or nuns (a mostly non-winning category for its many nominees in lead and supporting roles, including Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in 2008, Anne Bancroft and Meg Tilly in 1985, Peggy Wood (and some count Julie Andrews) in 1965, Lilia Skalia in 1963, Audrey Hepburn in 1959, Deborah Kerr in 1957, Loretta Young and Celeste Holm in 1949, Ingrid Bergman in 1945, and Gladys Cooper in 1943), for example:

• Bette Davis won the Best Actress Oscar for Dangerous (1935)
• Jennifer Jones won the Best Actress Oscar (as a nun) for The Song of Bernadette (1943)
• Vivien Leigh won the Best Actress Oscar for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
• Ingrid Bergman won the Best Actress Oscar for Anastasia (1956)
• Joanne Woodward won the Best Actress Oscar for The Three Faces of Eve (1957)
• Patty Duke won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for portraying Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker (1962)
• Jessica Lange won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Tootsie (1982) and the Best Actress Oscar for Blue Sky (1994)
• Susan Sarandon won the Best Actress Oscar (as a nun) for Dead Man Walking (1995)
• Angelina Jolie won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Girl, Interrupted (1999)
• Halle Berry won the Best Actress Oscar for Monster's Ball (2001)
• Nicole Kidman won the Best Actress Oscar for The Hours (2002)
• Cate Blanchett won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Aviator (2004)
• Hilary Swank won the Best Actress Oscar for Million Dollar Baby (2004)
• Marion Cotillard won the Best Actress Oscar for La Vie en Rose (2007, Fr.)

And a few actresses have received Best Actress nominations for playing actresses (performers/stars) who were Best Actress winners:

• Janet Gaynor, nominated for A Star is Born (1937)
• Bette Davis, nominated for The Star (1952)
• Judy Garland, nominated for A Star is Born (1954)
• Maggie Smith, nominated for Best Supporting Actress for California Suite (1978) (win)

Faye Dunaway was the only performer who won an Academy Award Oscar of her own (Best Actress for Network (1976)) and then went on to portray in the film Mommie Dearest (1981) a real-life star, Joan Crawford, who won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in Mildred Pierce (1945).

The only two actresses to win Best Actress Oscars (their sole wins) for playing real-life country singers:

• Sissy Spacek won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)
• Reese Witherspoon won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as June Carter Cash in Walk the Line (2005)

Oscar victories for Best Actress haven't always been for the stars' best work, either, but retroactively for an entire body of work - or for sympathy:

• 62 year old Marie Dressler's Best Actress win for Min and Bill (1930/31) was a tribute to her entire career
• Bette Davis won her only two Oscars for Dangerous (1935) and Jezebel (1938), after being passed over for Of Human Bondage (1934) - she would have rather won for her better performances in The Letter (1940) and All About Eve (1950)
• Elizabeth Taylor's first Best Actress win - for Butterfield 8 (1960) - was a sympathy vote for her near-fatal bout with pneumonia, and for being passed over for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) two years earlier
• Katharine Hepburn also acknowledged that she probably won the Best Actress award for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) over Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Anne Bancroft in The Graduate (1967), because Spencer Tracy, her longtime lover, had just died; her other Oscar wins were for Morning Glory (1932/33), The Lion in Winter (1968), and On Golden Pond (1981), but she should have won instead for Alice Adams (1935), The Philadelphia Story (1940), The African Queen (1951), and Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)
• Faye Dunaway won Best Actress for her performance in Network (1976), but she should have won earlier for either Bonnie and Clyde (1967) or Chinatown (1974)

Also, elderly nominees seem to fare better, such as 72 year-old Ruth Gordon winning the Best Supporting Actress award for Rosemary's Baby (1968), or Best Actress winners Katharine Hepburn (after her first win at age 27), Geraldine Page (finally winning with her eighth nomination), Jessica Tandy and Ellen Burstyn for On Golden Pond (1981), The Trip to Bountiful (1985), Driving Miss Daisy (1989) and Requiem for a Dream (2000). Young nominees also do well, such as Patty Duke (in 1962), Tatum O'Neal (in 1973), and Anna Paquin (in 1993).

The Top Best Actress Winner:

The most honored actress of all-time is Katharine Hepburn - with a total of twelve nominations and four wins - all in the Best Actress category - stretching over a period of 49 years (from Hepburn's Best Actress win for Morning Glory (1932/33) to her Best Actress win for On Golden Pond (1981)) - a record in itself for the greatest span between Oscar wins. Hepburn is the only actress to have won the Best Actress award four times.

Meryl Streep surpassed Hepburn's record of 12 acting nominations in 2002, with 13 career nominations (and then in 2006 with 14 career nominations, in 2008 with 15 career nominations, and in 2009 with 16 career nominations) - and became the most-nominated performer ever - over a period of only 24 years (from her Best Supporting Actress nomination for The Deer Hunter (1978) to her Best Supporting Actress nomination for Adaptation (2002)). Meryl Streep is the only performer to have 16 Oscar nominations, 13 as Best Actress (a record) and three as Best Supporting Actress, with one win in each category.

Many other actresses have won the Best Actress award twice. Among them are two performers who have won consecutive statuettes:

• Luise Rainer with her first win for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), and then her second - and back-to-back Best Actress Oscar win for her performance in The Good Earth (1937). She became the first multiple Oscar winner, and was the first to win an award two years in a row
• Katharine Hepburn, two consecutive Best Actress Oscars in four wins, for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) and The Lion in Winter (1968)
  
  

The Top Best Actress Oscar Winner	Best Actress Wins
Katharine Hepburn 12 career nominations (all B.A. noms), 4 wins	Morning Glory (1932/33) Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) The Lion in Winter (1968) On Golden Pond (1981)
Other Top Best Actress Oscar Winners and Nominees	Best Actress Wins
Meryl Streep 16 career nominations (13 B.A. noms), 2 wins (1 B.A.)	Sophie's Choice (1982)
Luise Rainer 2 career nominations (both B.A.), 2 wins	The Great Ziegfeld (1936) The Good Earth (1937)
Bette Davis 10 career nominations (all B.A. noms) (plus an "unofficial" write-in nomination in 1934), 2 wins	Dangerous (1935) Jezebel (1938)
Ingrid Bergman 7 career nominations (6 B.A. noms), 3 wins (2 B.A.)	Gaslight (1944) Anastasia (1956)
Vivien Leigh 2 career nominations (both B.A. noms), 2 wins	Gone With The Wind (1939) A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Olivia de Havilland 5 career nominations (4 B.A. noms), 2 wins (both B.A.)	To Each His Own (1946) The Heiress (1949)
Elizabeth Taylor 5 career nominations (all B.A. noms), 2 wins	Butterfield 8 (1960) Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Glenda Jackson 4 career nominations (all B.A. noms), 2 wins	Women in Love (1970) A Touch of Class (1973)
Jane Fonda 7 career nominations (6 B.A. noms), 2 wins (both B.A.)	Klute (1971) Coming Home (1978)
Judi Dench 6 career nominations (4 B.A. noms), 1 win (B.S.A.)	none
Kate Winslet 6 career nominations (2 B.A. noms), 1 win	The Reader (2008)
Sally Field 2 career nominations (both B.A. noms), 2 wins	Norma Rae (1979) Places in the Heart (1984)
Jodie Foster 4 career nominations (3 B.A. noms), 2 wins (both B.A.)	The Accused (1988) The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Hilary Swank 2 career nominations 2 wins (both B.A.)	Boys Don't Cry (1999) Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Stars to Win Two Best Actress Oscars Before the Age of 30:

• Luise Rainer (at age 28) for The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937) -- back-to-back wins, the first to accomplish this feat
• Bette Davis (at age 29) for Dangerous (1935) and Jezebel (1938)
• Jodie Foster (at age 29) for The Accused (1988) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• Hilary Swank (at age 29) for Boys Don't Cry (1999) and Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Both Luise Rainer and Hilary Swank won their Oscars each time that they were nominated.

With Kate Winslet's sixth career nomination for The Reader (2008), she became the youngest individual (at age 33) to have six Oscar nominations. She was one year younger than Bette Davis who (at age 34) received her sixth for Now, Voyager (1942).

The Only Best Actress Tie:

In the Best Actress category, an unusual tie (the only occurrence among female acting performances) occurred in 1968 between Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand, for their respective performances in The Lion in Winter (1968) and Funny Girl (1968).

The Most Best Actress Nominations (and Wins):

Actresses with the most Best Actress nominations include:

• Katharine Hepburn (12) - with four wins (1932/33, 1967, 1968, 1981); two nominations were consecutive (from 1955-1956)
• Meryl Streep (12) - with one win (1982); three nominations were consecutive (from 1981-1983)
• Bette Davis (10) - with two wins (1935, 1938); five nominations were consecutive (from 1938-1942)
• Greer Garson (7) - with one win (1942); five nominations were consecutive (from 1941-1945)
• Ingrid Bergman (6) - with two wins (1944, 1956); three nominations were consecutive (from 1943-1945)
• Jane Fonda (6) - with two wins (1971, 1978); three nominations were consecutive (from 1977-1979)
• Deborah Kerr (6) - with no wins; three nominations were consecutive (from 1956-1958) -- the only 6-time Best Actress nominee who never won
• Norma Shearer (6) with one win (1929/30); three nominations were consecutive (from 1929/30-1931)
• Sissy Spacek (6) - with one win (1980), nominations in 1976, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 2001
• Anne Bancroft (5) - with one win (1962); nominations in 1962, 1964, 1967, 1977, 1985
• Ellen Burstyn (5) - with one win (1974); nominations in 1971, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1980, 2000
• Audrey Hepburn (5) - with one win (1953); two nominations were consecutive (from 1953-1954)
• Susan Hayward (5) - with one win (1958); nominations in 1947, 1949, 1952, 1955, 1958
• Jessica Lange (5) - with one win (1994); two nominations were consecutive (from 1984-1985)
• Shirley MacLaine (5) - with one win (1983); nominations in 1958, 1960, 1963, 1977, and 1983
• Susan Sarandon (5) - with one win (1995); two nominations were consecutive twice (1991-1992, 1994-1995)
• Elizabeth Taylor (5) - with two wins (1960, 1966); four nominations were consecutive (from 1957-1960)
• Irene Dunne (5) - with no wins; two nominations were consecutive (from 1936-1937)
• Julie Christie (4) - with one win (1965); nominations in 1965, 1971, 1997, and 2007
• Kate Winslet (4) - with one win (2008); nominations in 1997, 2004, 2006, and 2008

Film Debut Nominees/Winners:

Four actresses have won the Best Actress Oscar for their first (substantial) screen roles or during the first year of their film careers, while others (a sampling) have received a nomination for their first screen role:

• Katharine Hepburn in Morning Glory (1932/33) (she had previous bit roles in A Bill of Divorcement (1932) and Christopher Strong (1933))
• Greer Garson in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) (nomination)
• (1) Shirley Booth in Come Back, Little Sheba (1952)
• Julie Harris in The Member of the Wedding (1952) (nomination)
• Maggie McNamara in The Moon is Blue (1953) (nomination)
• (2) Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins (1964)
• (3) Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl (1968)
• Janet Suzman in Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) (nomination)
• Diana Ross in Lady Sings the Blues (1972) (nomination)
• Louise Fletcher in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) (she had a previous bit role in Thieves Like Us (1974))
• Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple (1985) (nomination)
• (4) Marlee Matlin in Children of a Lesser God (1986) (Matlin was also the first deaf actress to win the Academy Award)
• Emily Watson in Breaking the Waves (1996) (nomination)
• Keisha Castle-Hughes in Whale Rider (2003) (nomination)
• Catalina Sandino Moreno in Maria Full of Grace (2004) (nomination)
• Gabourey Sidibe in Precious (2009) (nomination)

Best Actresses with New Screen Names:

Two actresses won the Best Actress Oscar with new screen names:

• Jennifer Jones (real-name and original screen name Phylis Lee Isley), Best Actress winner for The Song of Bernadette (1943)
• Ellen Burstyn (real-name Edna Rae Gillooly, and first appearing with screen name Ellen McRae), Best Actress winner for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)

Reprising an Acclaimed Stage Role:

Four Best Actress winners won the Oscar for an acclaimed stage role that they reprised on the screen:

• Judy Holliday for Born Yesterday (1950)
• Shirley Booth for Come Back, Little Sheba (1952)
• Anne Bancroft for The Miracle Worker (1962)
• Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl (1968)

Longest Time Period Between First and Last Nomination/Win:

• 48 years - Katharine Hepburn was first nominated and won Best Actress for Morning Glory (1932/33) and then 48 years later was nominated and won Best Actress for On Golden Pond (1981) - her fourth (and last) Oscar win!
• 41 years - Henry Fonda was first nominated in 1940 as Best Actor for The Grapes Of Wrath (1940), and wasn't nominated again until 41 years later - when he won his sole Oscar (Best Actor) for On Golden Pond (1981)
• 40 years - Mickey Rooney was first nominated as Best Actor for Babes in Arms (1939), then as Best Actor for The Human Comedy (1943), then as Best Supporting Actor for The Bold and the Brave (1956), and then as Best Supporting Actor for The Black Stallion (1979), 40 years later, but he didn't ever win!
• 39 years - Jack Palance was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for Sudden Fear (1952) and then as Best Supporting Actor for Shane (1953) - it was a time span of 39 years from his first nomination to his eventual victory as Best Supporting Actor for City Slickers (1991)
• 38 years - Alan Arkin was nominated as Best Actor for The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968), and then had to wait 38 years for his Best Supporting Actor nomination (and win) for Little Miss Sunshine (2006). He was nominated one other time in his career, Best Actor for The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming! (1966)
• 38 years - Helen Hayes had to wait 38 years between her only Oscar nominations (both wins), Best Actress for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931/32), and Best Supporting Actress for Airport (1970)
• 37 years - Albert Finney was first nominated as Best Actor for Tom Jones (1963) and then received three more nominations for Best Actor: for Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Dresser (1983), and Under the Volcano (1984) -- 37 years after his first nomination, he received his fifth and final Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Erin Brockovich (2000) - he never won!

Longest Gap Between First Nomination and First Winning Film:

• 41 years - Henry Fonda was first nominated in 1940 as Best Actor for The Grapes Of Wrath (1940), and didn't win an acting award (Best Actor) until 41 years later for On Golden Pond (1981), and these were his only two career acting nominations (Note: Fonda did receive a producing Best Picture nomination for 12 Angry Men (1957))
• 32 years - Geraldine Page was first nominated in 1953 as Best Supporting Actress for Hondo (1953), and won Best Actress for A Trip to Bountiful (1985), 32 years later; she was the only actress with seven unsuccessful nominations (in both categories) before finally winning Best Actress with nomination # 8
• 28 years - Paul Newman was first nominated in 1958 as Best Actor for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and won Best Actor for The Color of Money (1986), 28 years later; he was the only actor with six unsuccessful Best Actor nominations before finally winning Best Actor with nomination # 7 - and he later added another nomination as Best Actor for Nobody's Fool (1994), and his first Best Supporting Actor nomination also came later for Road to Perdition (2002)
• 25 years - Shirley MacLaine was first nominated in 1958 as Best Actress for Some Came Running (1958), and won Best Actress for Terms of Endearment (1983), 25 years later
• 20 years - Al Pacino was first nominated in 1972 as Best Supporting Actor for The Godfather (1972), and won Best Actor for Scent of a Woman (1992), 20 years later
• 20 years - John Wayne was first nominated in 1949 as Best Actor for Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), and won Best Actor for True Grit (1969), 20 years later
• 18 years - Ronald Colman was first nominated in 1929/30 as Best Actor for Bulldog Drummond (1929/30), and won Best Actor for A Double Life (1947), 18 years later
• 17 years - Gregory Peck was first nominated in 1945 as Best Actor for The Keys of the Kingdom (1945), and won Best Actor for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), 17 years later
• 14 years - Susan Sarandon was first nominated in 1981 as Best Actress for Atlantic City (1981), and won Best Actress for Dead Man Walking (1995), 14 years later
• 13 years - Rod Steiger was first nominated in 1954 as Best Supporting Actor for On the Waterfront (1954), and won Best Actor for In the Heat of the Night (1967), 13 years later

Best Actress Winners For Their Only Nominations:

• Luise Rainer (2 career nominations and wins): The Great Ziegfeld (1936), The Good Earth (1937)
• Vivien Leigh (2 career nominations and wins): Gone With The Wind (1939), and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
• Sally Field (2 career nominations and wins): Norma Rae (1979), Places in the Heart (1984)
• Hilary Swank (2 career nominations and wins): Boys Don't Cry (1999), Million Dollar Baby (2004)
  also
• Helen Hayes (2 career nominations and wins): Best Actress for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931/32), and Best Supporting Actress for Airport (1970)

Films With the Most Oscars for Acting:

• A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) - 12 nominations total, 4 acting nominations, 3 acting wins: Vivien Leigh (Best Actress), Karl Malden (Best Supporting Actor), Kim Hunter (Best Supporting Actress)
• Network (1976) - 10 nominations total, 5 acting nominations, 3 acting wins: Peter Finch (Best Actor), Faye Dunaway (Best Actress), Beatrice Straight (Best Supporting Actress)

Winning Co-Stars: Best Actor and Best Actress in the Same Film

Seven films have won in both the leading actor and leading actress categories:

• Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night (1934)
• Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
• Peter Finch and Faye Dunaway in Network (1976)
• Jon Voight and Jane Fonda in Coming Home (1978)
• Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn in On Golden Pond (1981)
• Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt in As Good As It Gets (1997)

Films With Two Best Actress Nominations:

• All About Eve (1950) - Anne Baxter and Bette Davis (both lost to Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday (1950))
• Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) - Elizabeth Taylor and Katharine Hepburn (both lost to Simone Signoret in Room at the Top (1959))
• The Turning Point (1977) - Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine (both lost to Diane Keaton in Annie Hall (1977))
• Terms of Endearment (1982) - Debra Winger and Shirley MacLaine (MacLaine won)
• Thelma & Louise (1991) - Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis (both lost to Jodie Foster in The Silence of the Lambs (1991))

Multiple Nominations for the Same Character:

Two sets of actresses have been nominated for Best Actress for the same role in different films, in different years:

• Janet Gaynor and Judy Garland as Vicki Lester in A Star is Born (1937) and A Star is Born (1954)
• Jeanne Eagels and Bette Davis as Leslie Crosbie in The Letter (1929) and The Letter (1940)

Both groups of actresses playing the same character in the same film lost their races:

• Kate Winslet (as Best Actress) and Gloria Stuart (as Best Supporting Actress) for playing young Rose DeWitt Bukater and an older Rose DeWitt Bukater respectively, in Titanic (1997)
  
• Kate Winslet (as Best Supporting Actress) and Judi Dench (as Best Actress) for playing young Iris Murdoch and an older Irish Murdoch, respectively, in Iris (2001)

Cate Blanchett was the only actress to be nominated twice for playing the same character role in two different films:

• Cate Blanchett (as Best Actress) for her role as Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth (1998)
• Cate Blanchett (as Best Actress) for her role as Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

The only time two female performers were nominated for the same character (Queen Elizabeth I) in different films in the same year was:

• Cate Blanchett (as Best Actress) for Elizabeth (1998)
• Judi Dench (as Best Supporting Actress) for Shakespeare in Love (1998)

Related Winners:

Frances McDormand won the Best Actress Oscar for Fargo (1996), thereby becoming the first star to win in a film directed by a spouse, husband Joel Coen. Her brother-in-law, Ethan Coen, was the film's producer. Other wives nominated for films made by their director husbands:

• Melina Mercouri, nominated for Best Actress for Never on Sunday (1960), was directed by husband Jules Dassin
• Gena Rowlands, nominated for Best Actress for A Woman Under the Influence (1974), was directed by husband John Cassavetes
• Julie Andrews, nominated for Best Actress for Victor/Victoria (1982), was directed by husband Blake Edwards

To date, no female directors have had their starring husbands receive an Oscar nod.

The only married couples who acted together in the same film with each spouse being nominated for an award were:

• Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, nominated as Best Actor and Best Actress for The Guardsman (1932) - both lost
• Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester, nominated as Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress for Witness for the Prosecution (1957) - both lost
• Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (win), nominated as Best Actor and Best Actress for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

The only divorced couple to co-star in a film with each receiving an Oscar nomination:

• William Powell and Carole Lombard, Best Actor and Best Actress nominations for My Man Godfrey (1936)

Siblings nominated for the Best Actress Oscar in the same year:

• Joan Fontaine (Best Actress winner for Suspicion (1941)) and sister Olivia de Havilland (Best Actress nominee for Hold Back the Dawn (1941))
• Lynn Redgrave (Best Actress nominee for Georgy Girl (1966)), and sister Vanessa Redgrave (Best Actress nominee for Morgan! (1966))

Joan Fontaine (Best Actress winner for Suspicion (1941)) and double-winner sister Olivia de Havilland (for To Each His Own (1946) and The Heiress (1949)) are the only sisters to win "Best Actress" Oscars. Siblings Warren Beatty (Best Director for Reds (1981)) and Shirley MacLaine (Best Actress for Terms of Endearment (1983)) are related Oscar winners.

African-American Notables:

There have been only 8 African-American actresses nominated for Best Actress (and only one win). All nominees were nominated only once:

In total, there have only been 20 different African-American performers nominated for the top award (either Best Actor or Best Actress). Only twelve awards have been won by African-Americans in both lead and supporting categories (four Best Actor, one Best Actress, four Best Supporting Actor, and three Best Supporting Actress). Only five black performers have won the Oscar in the lead category (four Best Actor, one Best Actress). Only one African-American actress has ever won the Best Actress Oscar:

• Halle Berry (with her first nomination) for Monster's Ball (2001)

Five of the 20 acting nominations in 2004 and 2006 were African-American nominees. This bested the record of three nominated blacks that occurred in three different years (2001, 1985, and 1972):

• 2001: Halle Berry for Monster's Ball, Denzel Washington for Training Day, and Will Smith for Ali
• 1985: Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Avery and Oprah Winfrey for The Color Purple
• 1972: Diana Ross for Lady Sings the Blues, and Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield for Sounder

In three instances, African-Americans have won two of the four acting prizes:

• 2006: Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland, Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls
• 2004: Morgan Freeman for Million Dollar Baby, Jamie Foxx for Ray
• 2001: Halle Berry for Monster's Ball, Denzel Washington for Training Day

The only Caucasians who portrayed black characters and were nominated (but didn't win) for Academy Awards:

• Jeanne Crain, Best Actress for Pinky (1949)
• Flora Robson, Best Supporting Actress for Saratoga Trunk (1946)
• Susan Kohner, Best Supporting Actress for Imitation of Life (1959)

Latino, Asian and Other Minority (or Non-English) Performers or Nationalities:

Note: In 1985, all ten of the Best Actor/Actress nominees were American-born - the first time in Oscar history. Also, in 1964 and in 2007, all four winners of the performance/acting Oscars were non-Americans.

There have been very few nominations/wins of ethnic/minority female performers (or non-English) in the Best Actress category:

• French actress Marion Cotillard was nominated (and won) as Best Actress for her role as famed tempestuous singer Edith Piaf (Piaf's recordings were lip-synched by Cotillard) in La Vie en Rose (2007, Fr.)
• Spanish actress Penelope Cruz was nominated as Best Actress for her role as single mother Raimunda in Volver (2006) - she became the first Spanish woman to be nominated for a best actress Academy Award for a non-English speaking role
• Colombian-born Spanish actress Catalina Sandino Moreno was nominated as Best Actress for her role as Maria, a pregnant 17-year-old Colombian girl who agreed to be a 'drug mule', in director Joshua Marston's Maria Full of Grace (2004)
• 13 year-old New Zealand/Maori teen Keisha Castle-Hughes was nominated as Best Actress for Whale Rider (2003) - she became the youngest nominee in the category
• Mexican-born Salma Hayek was nominated as Best Actress for the lead role in Frida (2002)
  
• Portuguese/Brazilian Fernanda Montenegro was nominated as Best Actress for Central Station (1998) - the first Latin American actress ever nominated
• Helena Bonham Carter (with a Spanish mother) was nominated as Best Actress for The Wings of the Dove (1997)
• French actress Catherine Deneuve was nominated as Best Actress for Indochine (1992)
• French actress Isabelle Adjani was nominated as Best Actress for Camille Claudel (1989)
• American Sign Language actress Marlee Matlin was nominated (and won) as Best Actress for Children of a Lesser God (1986)
• Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman was nominated as Best Actress for Autumn Sonata (1978)
• Swedish actress Liv Ullmann was nominated as Best Actress for Face to Face (1976)
• French actress Marie-Christine Barrault was nominated as Best Actress for Cousin, Cousine (1976)
• French actress Isabelle Adjani was nominated as Best Actress for The Story of Adele H. (1975)
• Swedish actress Liv Ullmann was nominated as Best Actress for The Emigrants (1972)
• Czechoslovakian actress Ida Kaminska was nominated as Best Actress for The Shop on Main Street (1966)
• French actress Anouk Aimee was nominated as Best Actress for A Man and a Woman (1966)
• Italian actress Sophia Loren was nominated as Best Actress for Marriage Italian Style (1964, It.)
• Italian actress Sophia Loren was nominated (and won) as Best Actress for Two Women (1960, It.)

No female Asian-Americans have been nominated for the lead acting Oscar. The only Asian actress to win the Best Actress Oscar (twice, in 1939 and 1951) was Vivien Leigh, whose mother had an Irish and Indian background.

White, Austrian performer Luise Rainer won a Best Actress Oscar for playing an Asian role in The Good Earth (1937). Nicole Kidman was the only Australian actress to win the Best Actress Oscar award, for The Hours (2002).

Only two actresses won the Best Actress Oscar for a foreign-language performance:

• Sophia Loren was the first foreign actress to win an Oscar (Best Actress) for a foreign-language film, Two Women (1960, It.)
• French actress Marion Cotillard also won Best Actress for the French film La Vie en Rose (2007, Fr.) - it was the first acting Oscar awarded to a French-language film

The first acting Oscar winner from South Africa was Charlize Theron as Best Actress for Monster (2003). In the same year, Theron and Djimon Hounsou were the first African-born performers to be nominated for an Oscar.

Other Notables:

Curiously, in the decade of the 1950s, none of the Best Actress Oscar winners appeared in a Best Picture winning film!

The only stars to win a Best Actress Oscar in a musical film were:

• Julie Andrews for her role as the title character in Mary Poppins (1964)
  
• Barbra Streisand for her role as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl (1968)
• Liza Minnelli for her role as Sally Bowles in Cabaret (1972)

Winning Performances Portraying Royalty:

• Charles Laughton, Best Actor as King Henry VIII in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1932/33)
• Yul Brynner, Best Actor as King Mongkut of Siam in The King and I (1956)
• Ingrid Bergman, Best Actress as Anastasia (possibly daughter of murdered Russian czar Nicholas II) in Anastasia (1956)
• Katharine Hepburn, Best Actress as Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter (1968)
• Helen Mirren, Best Actress as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen (2006)

Silent Film Oscar Winners:

The only two performers to win Oscars (although the awards weren't officially called "Oscars" yet) for silent film performances were:

• Emil Jannings: Best Actor Oscar winner for The Last Command (1927/28) and The Way of All Flesh (1927/28)
• Janet Gaynor: Best Actress Oscar winner for Sunrise (1927/28), Seventh Heaven (1927/28), and Street Angel (1927/28) - she was also the only star to win the Best Actress Oscar honoring performances in three films in the same year

Youngest and Oldest Best Actresses:

Note: The calculated time is from date of birth to the date of either (1) the nominations announcement, or (2) the date of the awards ceremony.

Youngest Best Actress Nominee	Youngest Best Actress Winner	Oldest Best Actress Nominee	Oldest Best Actress Winner
13 years (and 309 days) Keisha Castle-Hughes for Whale Rider (2003)	21 years (and 218 days) Marlee Matlin for Children of a Lesser God (1986)	80 years (and 252 days) Jessica Tandy for Driving Miss Daisy (1989)	80 years (and 292 days) Jessica Tandy for Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
Runner-Ups: 20 years (and 235 days) Isabelle Adjani for The Story of Adele H. (1975) 20 years (and 311 days) Keira Knightley for Pride & Prejudice (2005) 20 years (and 335 days) Ellen Page for Juno (2007) 21 years (and 171 days) Marlee Matlin for Children of a Lesser God (1986) 22 years (and 60 days) Elizabeth Hartman for A Patch of Blue (1965)	Runner-Ups: 22 years (and 222 days) Janet Gaynor for 3 films ( Sunrise (1927/28), Street Angel (1927/28) and Seventh Heaven (1927/28)) - she won for Seventh Heaven 24 years (and 127 days) Joan Fontaine for Suspicion (1941)	Runner-Ups: 80 years (and 11 days) Dame Edith Evans for The Whisperers (1967) 75 years (and 313 days) May Robson for Lady for a Day (1932/33) [Note: Robson also has the earliest birth date of all performers ever nominated for an Oscar. She was born on April 19, 1858.] 74 years (and 275 days) Katharine Hepburn for On Golden Pond (1981)	Runner-Ups: 74 years (and 321 days) Katharine Hepburn for On Golden Pond (1981) 63 years (and 1 day) Marie Dressler for Min and Bill (1930/31) 61 years (and 337 days) Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter (1968)
Six years (and 310 days) Shirley Temple was the youngest performer to win an Academy Award when she won an unofficial honorary 'juvenile' Academy Award statuette in 1934, presented on February 27, 1935. 85 years (and 207 days) Myrna Loy was the oldest female performer to receive an honorary statuette in 1990, presented on March 25, 1991. 83 years (and 182 days) Groucho Marx was the oldest male performer to receive an honorary statuette in 1973, presented on April 2, 1974.