The Top 25 Best Actress Winners So Far (Updated for 2026)

Believe it or not folks, the last four installments for this series are here, as we’ve already wrapped up the below the line categories. As a reminder, this is a tradition I’ve been keen on for years, where I’m ranking the new crop of Academy Award winners. For nearly all of the Oscar categories, you’ll see me list the top 25 recipients of that prize. Sometimes, our newest winner will appear. Other times, they’ll be relegated to the Honorable Mention category. Who knows, maybe one or two won’t even make the cut? It’s a list series that I’ll do each and every single year, in the weeks after the ceremony concludes. So, while this is a fun way to think about the Oscars in the aftermath of the latest telecast, it’s also a beginning for another column here on the site. Of course, definitely show us your own lists as well, in the comments section below. We’re definitely keen to know what you think!

Today brings the Best Actress category into focus. As you might imagine, there’s an embarrassment of riches here, and whomever you’re partial to, you won’t be alone. Hell, just with Frances McDormand, one of our more recent winners in Actress, she has three separate Oscars to choose from, all of which are high quality. You’ll be able to see where her win for Nomadland ranks below, but for me, tops in this category is Diane Keaton for Annie Hall, with Jodie Foster for The Silence of the Lambs and Hilary Swank for Boys Don’t Cry not far behind. Ironically, both Foster and Swank have other Academy Award wins in this category that rank highly for me, as you’ll see next, along with where a prior winner in Jessica Chastain falls for her turn in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, as well as our even newer champions in Michelle Yeoh for Everything Everywhere All At Once, Emma Stone‘s second win for Poor Things, and Mikey Madison for Anora. What about Jessie Buckley and here performance in Hamnet, our brand new winner? The wait to find out is over…

Here now are what I consider to be the 25 best winners of the Oscar for Best Actress, to date:

25. Helen Hunt – As Good As It Gets
24. Ingrid Bergman – Gaslight
23. Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
22. Kathy Bates – Misery
21. Emma Stone – La La Land
20. Shirley MacLane – Terms of Endearment
19. Mikey Madison – Anora
18. Vivien Leigh – A Streetcar Named Desire
17. Ellen Burstyn – Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
16. Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
15. Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All At Once
14. Olivia Colman – The Favourite
13. Jodie Foster – The Accused
12. Frances McDormand – Fargo
11. Meryl Streep – Sophie’s Choice 
10. Hilary Swank – Million Dollar Baby
9. Vivien Leigh – Gone With the Wind
8. Louise Fletcher – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
7. Natalie Portman – Black Swan
6. Elizabeth Taylor – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
5. Charlize Theron – Monster
4. Emma Stone – Poor Things
3. Jodie Foster – The Silence of the Lambs
2. Hilary Swank – Boys Don’t Cry
1. Diane Keaton – Annie Hall

Honorable Mentions: Cher – Moonstruck, Julie Andrews – Mary Poppins, Jessie Buckley – Hamnet, Katharine Hepburn – Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Brie Larson – Room, and Frances McDormand – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Stay tuned for the next category early on next week!