Edith Norma Shearer was a Canadian-American actress who was active on film from 1919 through 1942. Shearer often played spunky, sexually liberated women. She appeared in adaptations of Noël Coward, Eugene O'Neill, and William Shakespeare, and was the first five-time Academy Award acting nominee, winning Best Actress for The Divorcee (1930).
Shearer in Riptide (1934)
Portrait of Shearer by Arnold Genthe, c. 1920
Norma Shearer's strabismus, 1926
Shearer in an early MGM publicity photo
Academy Award for Best Actress
The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 1st Academy Awards to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's Best Actor winner.
The 2023 recipient: Emma Stone
Mary Pickford won for Coquette (1929).
Norma Shearer won for The Divorcee (1930).
Marie Dressler won for Min and Bill (1930).