The films are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 went to the best actor in 1999.
- 1928 Janet Gaynor - Seventh Heaven
- 1929 Mary Pickford - Coquette
- 1930 Norma Shearer - The Divorcee
- 1931 Marie Dressler - Min and Bill
- 1932 Helen Hayes - The Sin of Madelon Claudet
- 1933 Katharine Hepburn - Morning Glory
- 1934 Claudette Colbert - It Happened One Night
- 1935 Bette Davis - Dangerous
- 1936 Luise Rainer - The Great Ziegfeld
- 1937 Luise Rainer - The Good Earth
- 1938 Bette Davis - Jezebel
- 1939 Vivien Leigh - Gone With The Wind
- 1940 Ginger Rogers - Kitty Foyle
- 1941 Joan Fontaine - Suspicion
- 1942 Greer Garson- Mrs. Miniver
- 1943 Jennifer Jones - The Song Of Bernadette
- 1944 Ingrid Bergman - Gaslight
- 1945 Joan Crawford - Mildred Pierce
- 1946 Olivia De Havilland - To Each His Own
- 1947 Loretta Young - The Farmer's Daughter
- 1948 Jane Wyman - Johnny Belinda
- 1949 Olivia De Havilland - The Heiress
- 1950 Judy Holliday - Born Yesterday
- 1951 Vivien Leigh - A Streetcar Named Desire
- 1952 Shirley Booth - Come Back, Little Sheba
- 1953 Audrey Hepburn - Roman Holiday
- 1954 Grace Kelly - The Country Girl
- 1955 Anna Magnani - The Rose Tattoo
- 1956 Ingrid Bergman - Anastasia
- 1957 Joanne Woodward - The Three Faces of Eve
- 1958 Susan Hayward - I Want To Live!
- 1959 Simone Signoret - Room At The Top
- 1960 Elizabeth Taylor - Butterfield 8
- 1961 Sophia Loren - Two Women
- 1962 Anne Bancroft - The Miracle Worker
- 1963 Patricia Neal - Hud
- 1964 Julie Andrews - Mary Poppins
- Anne Bancroft - The Pumpkin Eater
- Sophia Loren - [[Marriage Italian Style}
- Debbie Reynolds - The Unsinkable Molly Brown
- Kim Stanley - Séance on a Wet Afternoon
- 1965 Julie Christie - Darling
- 1966 Elizabeth Taylor - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
- 1967 Katharine Hepburn - Guess Who's Coming To Dinner
- 1968 Katharine Hepburn - The Lion In Winter and Barbra Streisand - Funny Girl
- 1969 Maggie Smith - The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie
- 1970 Glenda Jackson - Women In Love
- 1971 Jane Fonda - Klute
- 1972 Liza Minnelli - Cabaret
- 1973 Glenda Jackson - A Touch of Class
- 1974 Ellen Burstyn - Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
- 1975 Louise Fletcher - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
- 1976 Faye Dunaway - Network
- 1977 Diane Keaton - Annie Hall
- 1978 Jane Fonda - Coming Home
- 1979 Sally Field - Norma Rae
- 1980 Sissy Spacek - Coal Miner's Daughter
- 1981 Katharine Hepburn - On Golden Pond
- 1982 Meryl Streep - Sophie's Choice
- 1983 Shirley Maclaine - Terms Of Endearment
- 1984 Sally Field - Places In The Heart
- 1985 Geraldine Page - The Trip To Bountiful
- 1986 Marlee Matlin - Children Of A Lesser God
- 1987 Cher - Moonstruck
- 1988 Jodie Foster - The Accused
- 1989 Jessica Tandy - Driving Miss Daisy
- 1990 Kathy Bates - Misery
- 1991 Jodie Foster - The Silence Of The Lambs
- 1992 Emma Thompson - Howards End
- 1993 Holly Hunter - The Piano
- 1994 Jessica Lange - Blue Sky
- 1995 Susan Sarandon - Dead Man Walking
- 1996 Frances McDormand - Fargo
- 1997 Helen Hunt - As Good As It Gets
- 1998 Gwyneth Paltrow - Shakespeare In Love
- 1999 Hilary Swank - Boys Don't Cry
- 2000 Julia Roberts - Erin Brokovich
- 2001 Hallie Berry - Monster's Ball
- See also: Academy Awards