The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 9th Academy Awards to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role in a film released that year. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's Best Supporting Actor winner. However, in recent years, it has shifted towards being presented by previous years' Best Supporting Actress winners instead. In lieu of the traditional Oscar statuette, supporting acting recipients were given plaques up until the 16th Academy Awards, when statuettes were awarded to each category instead.
The Best Supporting Actress award has been presented a total of 90 times, to 88 actresses. The first winner was Gale Sondergaard for her role in Anthony Adverse (1936). The most recent winner is Amy Madigan for her role as Gladys in Weapons (2025). The record for most wins is two, held jointly by Dianne Wiest and Shelley Winters. Each other recipient has only won once, in this category. Thelma Ritter has received the most nominations in the category, with six, followed closely by Amy Adams with five, although neither has ever wonâÂÂyet, in the latter's instance. Hattie McDaniel, whom the Academy sat in the back of the room, made history in 1940 when she became the first person of color to win an Oscar in any category, for her performance as Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939).
Tatum O'Neal remains the youngest person to win a competitive acting Oscar at 10 years old, for her role in Paper Moon (1973). With five minutes and two seconds of screentime (the majority in one scene), Beatrice Straight's performance in Network (1976) holds the record for the shortest to win an Oscar. The 40-year gap between Madigan's nomination for Weapons and her previous one for Twice in a Lifetime (1985) set the record for longest gap between Oscar nominations for an actress.
Nominees are currently determined by single transferable vote within the actors branch of AMPAS; winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy.
In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of film release in Los Angeles County; the ceremonies are always held the following year. For the first five ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned twelve months, from August 1 to July 31. For the 6th ceremony held in 1934, the extended eligibility period lasted from August 1, 1932, to December 31, 1933. Since the 7th ceremony held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full previous calendar year from January 1 to December 31.
The following individuals received two Best Supporting Actress awards:
The following individuals received two or more Best Supporting Actress nominations:
There have been 37 instances in which films have produced more than one nominee within this category. Tom Jones (1963) was the only film which garnered three nominations, while all others obtained two.
Winners are in bold.
Winners are in bold.