The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It has been awarded since the 1st Academy Awards to an actress who has delivered a
The 2026 recipient: Jessie Buckley
Janet Gaynor was the inaugural winner, for three films: 7th Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1928), and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927).
Mary Pickford won for Coquette (1929).
Marie Dressler won for Min and Bill (1930).
Katharine Hepburn
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Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress whose career as a leading lady on stage and screen spanned six decades. Known for her headstrong independence, spirited personality, and outspokennes
Academy Award for Best Actress
…1927), and the most recent winner is Jessie Buckley for her portrayal of Agnes Shakespeare in Hamnet (2025). The record for most wins is four, held by Katharine Hepburn; Frances McDormand has won three times, and thirteen other actresses have won the award twice. Meryl Streep has received the most nominations in the…
MGM studio publicity portrait, c. 1941
Left to right: daughter Katharine, Marion, Robert, Thomas, and Richard. Her mother is seated at center with daughter Margaret, 1921
Hepburn's yearbook photo, 1928, Bryn Mawr College
Hepburn in the 1932 role that brought her to the attention of Hollywood, The Warrior's Husband