BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role

Best Actress in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented each year by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). It is to recognise an actress who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.

Winners and nominees

Between 1952 and 1967, two awards were given to the best British and best foreign actress each year. In 1968, the two prizes of British and foreign actress were combined to create a single Best Actress award. Its current title, for Best Actress in a Leading Role, has been used since 1995.

1983 – Julie Walters – Educating Rita as Rita
- Jessica Lange – Tootsie as Julie Nichols
- Phyllis Logan – Another Time, Another Place
- Meryl Streep – Sophie's Choice as Sophie Zawistowska

1984 – Maggie Smith – A Private Function
- Shirley MacLaine – Terms of Endearment as Aurora Greenway
- Helen Mirren – Cal
- Meryl Streep – Silkwood as Karen Silkwood

1985 – Peggy Ashcroft – A Passage to India
- Mia Farrow – The Purple Rose of Cairo
- Kelly McGillis – Witness
- Alexandra Pigg – Letter to Brezhnev

1986 – Maggie Smith – A Room with a View
- Mia Farrow – Hannah and Her Sisters as Hannah
- Meryl Streep – Out of Africa as Karen Blixen
- Cathy Tyson – Mona Lisa

1987 – Anne Bancroft – 84 Charing Cross Road
- Emily Lloyd – Wish You Were Here
- Sarah Miles – Hope and Glory
- Julie Walters – Personal Services

1988 – Maggie Smith – The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
- Stéphane Audran – Babettes gæstebud
- Cher – Moonstruck as Loretta Castorini
- Jamie Lee Curtis – A Fish Called Wanda as Wanda

1989 – Pauline Collins – Shirley Valentine as Shirley Valentine Bradshaw
- Glenn Close – Dangerous Liaisons
- Jodie Foster – The Accused as Sarah Tobias
- Melanie Griffith – Working Girl as Tess McGill

1990s

1990 – Jessica Tandy – Driving Miss Daisy as Miss Daisy Werthan
- Shirley MacLaine – Postcards from the Edge as Suzanne Vale
- Michelle Pfeiffer – The Fabulous Baker Boys
- Julia Roberts – Pretty Woman as Vivian Ward

1991 – Jodie Foster – The Silence of the Lambs as Clarice Starling
- Geena Davis – Thelma & Louise as Thelma Dickinson
- Susan Sarandon – Thelma & Louise as Louise Sawyer
- Juliet Stevenson – Truly, Madly, Deeply

1992 – Emma Thompson – Howards End as Margaret Schlegel
- Judy Davis – Husbands and Wives
- Tara Morice – Strictly Ballroom
- Jessica Tandy – Fried Green Tomatoes as Ninny Threadgoode

1993 – Holly Hunter – The Piano as Ada McGrath
- Miranda Richardson – Tom & Viv as Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot
- Emma Thompson – The Remains of the Day
- Debra Winger – Shadowlands

1994 – Susan Sarandon – The Client as Reggie Love
- Linda Fiorentino – The Last Seduction as Bridget Gregory
- Irène Jacob – Three Colors: Red (Trois couleurs: Rouge)
- Uma Thurman – Pulp Fiction as Mia Wallace

1995 – Emma Thompson – Sense and Sensibility as Eleanor Dashwood
- Nicole Kidman – To Die For as Suzanne Stone Maretto
- Helen Mirren – The Madness of King George
- Elisabeth Shue – Leaving Las Vegas as Sera

1996 – Brenda Blethyn – Secrets & Lies as Cynthia Rose Purley
- Frances McDormand – Fargo as Marge Gunderson
- Kristin Scott Thomas – The English Patient
- Emily Watson – Breaking the Waves

1997 – Judi Dench – Mrs. Brown as Queen Victoria
- Kim Basinger – L.A. Confidential
- Kathy Burke – Nil By Mouth
- Helena Bonham Carter – The Wings of the Dove

1998 – Cate Blanchett – Elizabeth as Queen Elizabeth I
- Jane Horrocks – Little Voice
- Gwyneth Paltrow – Shakespeare in Love as Viola de Lesseps
- Emily Watson – Hilary and Jackie as Jacqueline du Pre

1999 – Annette Bening – American Beauty as Carolyn Burnham
- Linda Bassett – East is East
- Julianne Moore – The End of the Affair
- Emily Watson – Angela's Ashes

2000s

2000 – Julia Roberts – Erin Brockovich as Erin Brockovich
- Juliette Binoche – Chocolat
- Kate Hudson – Almost Famous as Penny Lane
- Hilary Swank – Boys Don't Cry as Brandon Teena
- Michelle Yeoh – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Wo hu cang long)

2001 – Judi Dench – Iris as Iris Murdoch
- Nicole Kidman – The Others
- Sissy Spacek – In the Bedroom as Ruth Fowler
- Audrey Tautou – Amélie (Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain)
- Renée Zellweger – Bridget Jones's Diary as Bridget Jones

2002 – Nicole Kidman – The Hours as Virginia Woolf
- Halle Berry – Monster's Ball as Leticia Musgrove
- Salma Hayek – Frida as Frida Kahlo
- Meryl Streep – The Hours as Clarissa Vaughan
- Renée Zellweger – Chicago as Roxie Hart

2003 – Scarlett Johansson – Lost in Translation as Charlotte
- Scarlett Johansson – Girl with a Pearl Earring
- Anne Reid – The Mother
- Uma Thurman – Kill Bill: Vol. 1 as The Bride
- Naomi Watts – 21 Grams

2004 – Imelda Staunton – Vera Drake as Vera Drake
- Charlize Theron – Monster as Aileen Wuornos
- Kate Winslet – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as Clementine Kruczynski
- Kate Winslet – Finding Neverland
- Zhang Ziyi – House of Flying Daggers (Shi mian mai fu)

2005 – Reese Witherspoon – Walk the Line as June Carter
- Judi Dench – Mrs Henderson Presents
- Charlize Theron – North Country as Josey Aimes
- Rachel Weisz – The Constant Gardener
- Zhang Ziyi – Memoirs of a Geisha

2006 – Helen Mirren – The Queen as Queen Elizabeth II
- Penélope Cruz – To Return (Volver)
- Judi Dench – Notes on a Scandal
- Meryl Streep – The Devil Wears Prada as Miranda Priestly
- Kate Winslet – Little Children

2007 – Marion Cotillard – La Vie en Rose (La môme) as Édith Piaf
- Cate Blanchett – Elizabeth: The Golden Age as Queen Elizabeth I
- Julie Christie – Away From Her as Fiona Anderson
- Keira Knightley – Atonement
- Ellen Page – Juno as Juno MacGuff

2008 – Kate Winslet – The Reader as Hanna Schmitz
- Angelina Jolie – Changeling as Christine Collins
- Kristin Scott Thomas – I've Loved You So Long (Il y a longtemps que je t'aime)
- Meryl Streep – Doubt as Sister Aloysius Beauvier
- Kate Winslet – Revolutionary Road as April Wheeler

2009 – Carey Mulligan – An Education as Jenny Mellor
- Saoirse Ronan – The Lovely Bones
- Gabourey Sidibe – Precious as Claireece "Precious" Jones
- Meryl Streep – Julie & Julia as Julia Child
- Audrey Tautou – Coco Before Chanel

2010s

2010 – Natalie Portman - Black Swan as Nina Sayers
- Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right as Nic
- Julianne Moore – The Kids Are All Right as Jules
- Noomi Rapace – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit as Mattie Ross

2011 – Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady as Margaret Thatcher
- Bérénice Bejo – The Artist as Peppy Miller
- Viola Davis — The Help as Aibileen Clark
- Tilda Swinton – We Need to Talk About Kevin as Eva Khatchadourian
- Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn as Marilyn Monroe

Other websites

BAFTA Awards Database Archived 2008-12-24 at the Wayback Machine

Winners and nominees

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

Other websites