| 1928 - | Janet Gaynor, as Diane, in Seventh Heaven |
| 1929 - | Mary Pickford, as Norma Besant, in Coquette |
| 1930 - | Norma Shearer, as Jerry Bernard Martin, in The Divorcee |
| 1931 - | Marie Dressler, as Min Divot, Innkeeper, in Min and Bill |
| 1932 - | Helen Hayes, as Madelon Claudet, in The Sin of Madelon Claudet |
| 1933 - | Katharine Hepburn, as Eva Lovelace, in Morning Glory |
| 1934 - | Claudette Colbert, as Ellie Andrews, in It Happened One Night |
| 1935 - | Bette Davis, as Joyce Heath, in Dangerous |
| 1936 - | Luise Rainer, as Anna Held, in The Great Ziegfeld |
| 1937 - | Luise Rainer, as O-Lan, in The Good Earth |
| 1938 - | Bette Davis, as Julie Marsden, in Jezebel |
| 1939 - | Vivien Leigh, as Scarlett O'Hara, in Gone with the Wind |
| 1940 - | Ginger Rogers, as Kitty Foyle, in Kitty Foyle |
| 1941 - | Joan Fontaine, as Lina McLaidlaw Aysgarth, in Suspicion |
| 1942 - | Greer Garson, as Mrs. Miniver, in Mrs. Miniver |
| 1943 - | Jennifer Jones, as Bernadette Soubirous, in The Song of Bernadette |
| 1944 - | Ingrid Bergman, as Paula Alquist Anton, in Gaslight |
| 1945 - | Joan Crawford, as Mildred Pierce, in Mildred Pierce |
| 1946 - | Olivia de Havilland, as Miss Josephine 'Jody' Norris, in To Each His Own |
| 1947 - | Loretta Young, as Katrin Holstrom, in The Farmer's Daughter |
| 1948 - | Jane Wyman, as Belinda McDonald, in Johnny Belinda |
| 1949 - | Olivia de Havilland, as Catherine Sloper, in The Heiress |
| 1950 - | Judy Holliday, as Emma 'Billie' Dawn, in Born Yesterday |
| 1951 - | Vivien Leigh, as Blanche DuBois, in A Streetcar Named Desire |
| 1952 - | Shirley Booth, as Lola Delaney, in Come Back, Little Sheba |
| 1953 - | Audrey Hepburn, as Princess Ann, in Roman Holiday |
| 1954 - | Grace Kelly, as Georgie Elgin, in The Country Girl |
| 1955 - | Anna Magnani, as Serafina Delle Rose, in The Rose Tattoo |
| 1956 - | Ingrid Bergman, as Anna Koreff / Anastasia, in Anastasia |
| 1957 - | Joanne Woodward, as Eve White / Eve Black / Jane, in The Three Faces of Eve |
| 1958 - | Susan Hayward, as Barbara Graham, in I Want to Live! |
| 1959 - | Simone Signoret, as Alice Aisgill, in Room at the Top |
| 1960 - | Elizabeth Taylor, as Gloria Wandrous, in BUtterfield 8 |
| 1961 - | Sophia Loren, as Cesira, in Two Women |
| 1962 - | Anne Bancroft, as Annie Sullivan, in The Miracle Worker |
| 1963 - | Patricia Neal, as Alma Brown, in Hud |
| 1964 - | Julie Andrews, as Mary Poppins, in Mary Poppins |
| 1965 - | Julie Christie, as Diana Scott, in Darling |
| 1966 - | Elizabeth Taylor, as Martha, in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? |
| 1967 - | Katharine Hepburn, as Christina Drayton, in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner |
| 1968 - | Katharine Hepburn, as Eleanor of Aquitaine, in The Lion in Winter & Barbra Streisand, as Fanny Brice, in Funny Girl (tie) |
| 1969 - | Maggie Smith, as Jean Brodie, in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie |
| 1970 - | Glenda Jackson, as Gudrun Brangwen, in Women in Love |
| 1971 - | Jane Fonda, as Bree Daniels, in Klute |
| 1972 - | Liza Minnelli, as Sally Bowles, in Cabaret |
| 1973 - | Glenda Jackson, as Vicki Allessio, in A Touch of Class |
| 1974 - | Ellen Burstyn, as Alice Hyatt, in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore |
| 1975 - | Louise Fletcher, as Nurse Ratched, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest |
| 1976 - | Faye Dunaway, as Diana Christensen, in Network |
| 1977 - | Diane Keaton, as Annie Hall, in Annie Hall |
| 1978 - | Jane Fonda, as Sally Hyde, in Coming Home |
| 1979 - | Sally Field, as Norma Rae Webster, in Norma Rae |
| 1980 - | Sissy Spacek, as Loretta Lynn, in Coal Miner's Daughter |
| 1981 - | Katharine Hepburn, as Ethel Thayer, in On Golden Pond |
| 1982 - | Meryl Streep, as Sophie Zawistowski, in Sophie's Choice |
| 1983 - | Shirley MacLaine, as Aurora Greenway, in Terms of Endearment |
| 1984 - | Sally Field, as Edna Spalding, in Places in the Heart |
| 1985 - | Geraldine Page, as Carrie Watts, in The Trip to Bountiful |
| 1986 - | Marlee Matlin, as Sarah Norman, in Children of a Lesser God |
| 1987 - | Cher, as Loretta Castorini, in Moonstruck |
| 1988 - | Jodie Foster, as Sarah Tobias, in The Accused |
| 1989 - | Jessica Tandy, as Daisy Werthan, in Driving Miss Daisy |
| 1990 - | Kathy Bates, as Annie Wilkes, in Misery |
| 1991 - | Jodie Foster, as Clarice Starling, in The Silence of the Lambs |
| 1992 - | Emma Thompson, as Margaret Schlegel, in Howards End |
| 1993 - | Holly Hunter, as Ada McGrath, in The Piano |
| 1994 - | Jessica Lange, as Carly Marshall, in Blue Sky |
| 1995 - | Susan Sarandon, as Helen Prejean, in Dead Man Walking |
| 1996 - | Frances McDormand, as Marge Olmstead-Gunderson, in Fargo |
| 1997 - | Helen Hunt, as Carol Connelly, in As Good as It Gets |
| 1998 - | Gwyneth Paltrow, as Viola De Lesseps, in Shakespeare in Love |
| 1999 - | Hilary Swank, as Brandon Teena, in Boys Don't Cry |
| 2000 - | Julia Roberts, as Erin Brockovich, in Erin Brockovich |
| 2001 - | Halle Berry, as Leticia Musgrove, in Monster's Ball |
| 2002 - | Nicole Kidman, as Virginia Woolf, in The Hours |
| 2003 - | Charlize Theron, as Aileen Wuornos, in Monster |
| 2004 - | Hilary Swank, as Maggie Fitzgerald, in Million Dollar Baby |
| 2005 - | Reese Witherspoon, as June Carter Cash, in Walk the Line |
| 2006 - | Helen Mirren, as Queen Elizabeth II, in The Queen |
| 2007 - | Marion Cotillard, as Édith Piaf, in La Vie en Rose |
| 2008 - | Kate Winslet, as Hanna Schmitz, in The Reader |
| 2009 - | Sandra Bullock, as Leigh Anne Tuohy, in The Blind Side |
| 2010 - | Natalie Portman, as Nina Sayers/The Swan Queen, in Black Swan |
