The Actor Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture (formerly Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role) is an award presented annually by the Screen Actors Guild. It has been presented since the 1st Screen Actors Guild Awards in 1995 to a female actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year.
The award has been presented 32 times, and 27 actresses have won the award. Jodie Foster was the award's first winner for Nell (1994). The most recent winner is Jessie Buckley who won for her performance in Hamnet (2025). Frances McDormand, Renée Zellweger, and Viola Davis have all won the award twice. Meryl Streep has the most nominations with ten.
Winners and nominees
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
Superlatives
Multiple winners
2 wins
- Viola Davis (The Help <small>(2011)</small>, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom <small>(2020)</small>)
- Frances McDormand (Fargo <small>(1996)</small>, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri <small>(2017)</small>)
- Renée Zellweger (Chicago <small>(2002)</small>, Judy <small>(2019)</small>)
Multiple nominees
Note: Winners are indicated in bold type.
Two nominations
- Amy Adams (Arrival <small>(2016)</small>, Hillbilly Elegy <small>(2020)</small>)
- Joan Allen (Nixon <small>(1995)</small>, The Contender <small>(2000)</small>)
- Emily Blunt (The Girl On The Train <small>(2016)</small>, Mary Poppins Returns <small>(2018)</small>)
- Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side <small>(2009)</small>, Gravity <small>(2013)</small>)
- Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty <small>(2012)</small>, The Eyes of Tammy Faye <small>(2021)</small>)
- Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs <small>(2011)</small>, The Wife <small>(2018)</small>)
- Olivia Colman (The Favourite <small>(2018)</small>, The Lost Daughter <small>(2021)</small>)
- Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose <small>(2007)</small>, Rust and Bone <small>(2012)</small>)
- Cynthia Erivo (Harriet <small>(2019)</small>, Wicked <small>(2024)</small>)
- Lady Gaga (A Star is Born <small>(2018)</small>, House of Gucci <small>(2021)</small>)
- Angelina Jolie (A Mighty Heart <small>(2007)</small>, Changeling <small>(2008)</small>)
- Diane Keaton (Marvin's Room <small>(1996)</small>, Something's Gotta Give <small>(2003)</small>)
- Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone <small>(2010)</small>, Silver Linings Playbook <small>(2012)</small>)
- Natalie Portman (Black Swan <small>(2010)</small>, Jackie <small>(2016)</small>)
- Margot Robbie (I, Tonya <small>(2017)</small>, Barbie <small>(2023)</small>)
- Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn <small>(2015)</small>, Lady Bird <small>(2017)</small>)
- Susan Sarandon (The Client <small>(1994)</small>, Dead Man Walking <small>(1995)</small>)
- Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility <small>(1995)</small>, Saving Mr. Banks <small>(2013)</small>)
- Naomi Watts (21 Grams <small>(2003)</small>, The Impossible <small>(2012)</small>)
- Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line <small>(2005)</small>, Wild <small>(2014)</small>)
Three nominations
- Viola Davis (The Help <small>(2011)</small>, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom <small>(2020)</small>, The Woman King <small>(2022)</small>)
- Nicole Kidman (The Hours <small>(2002)</small>, Rabbit Hole <small> (2010)</small>, Being the Ricardos <small> (2021)</small>)
- Frances McDormand (Fargo <small>(1996)</small>, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri <small>(2017)</small>, Nomadland <small>(2020)</small>)
- Julianne Moore (The End of the Affair <small>(1999)</small>, Far from Heaven <small>(2002)</small>, Still Alice <small>(2014)</small>)
- Carey Mulligan (An Education <small>(2009)</small>, Promising Young Woman <small>(2020)</small>, Maestro <small>(2023)</small>)
- Emma Stone (La La Land <small>(2016)</small>, Poor Things <small>(2023)</small>, Bugonia <small>(2025)</small>)
- Hilary Swank (Boys Don't Cry <small>(1999)</small>, Million Dollar Baby <small>(2004)</small>, Conviction <small>(2010)</small>)
- Charlize Theron (Monster <small>(2003)</small>, North Country <small>(2005)</small>, Bombshell <small>(2019)</small>)
- Renée Zellweger (Bridget Jones's Diary <small>(2001)</small>, Chicago <small>(2002)</small>, Judy <small>(2019)</small>)
Four nominations
- Annette Bening (American Beauty <small>(1999)</small>, Being Julia <small>(2004)</small>, The Kids Are All Right <small>(2010)</small>, Nyad <small>(2023)</small>)
- Helen Mirren (The Queen <small>(2006)</small>, The Last Station <small>(2009)</small>, Hitchcock <small>(2012)</small>, Woman in Gold <small>(2015)</small>)
- Kate Winslet (Titanic <small>(1997)</small>, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind <small>(2004)</small>, Little Children <small> (2006)</small>, Revolutionary Road <small>(2008)</small>)
Five nominations
- Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth <small>(1998)</small>, Elizabeth: The Golden Age <small>(2007)</small>, Blue Jasmine <small>(2013)</small>, Carol <small>(2015)</small>, Tár <small>(2022)</small>)
Six nominations
- Judi Dench (Mrs Brown <small>(1997)</small>, Iris <small>(2001)</small>, Mrs Henderson Presents <small>(2005)</small>, Notes on a Scandal <small>(2006)</small>, Philomena <small>(2013)</small>, Victoria & Abdul <small>(2017)</small>)
Ten nominations
- Meryl Streep (The River Wild <small>(1994)</small>, The Bridges of Madison County <small>(1995)</small>, One True Thing <small> (1998)</small>, Music of the Heart <small>(1999)</small>, The Devil Wears Prada <small>(2006)</small>, Doubt <small>(2008)</small>, Julie & Julia <small>(2009)</small>, The Iron Lady <small>(2011)</small>, August: Osage County <small>(2013)</small>, Florence Foster Jenkins <small>(2016)</small>)
See also
References
External links