Janet Gaynor, Sunrise, Seventh Heaven, and Street Angel (1928)

Other nominees: Louise Dresser (A Ship Comes In) and Gloria Swanson (Sadie Thompson)

Mary Pickford, Coquette (1929)

No official nominees were announced in 1929.

Norma Shearer, The Divorcee (1930)

Other nominees: Greta Garbo (Anna Christie), Nancy Carroll (The Devil's Holiday), Greta Garbo (Romance), Ruth Chatterton (Sarah and Son), Norma Shearer (Their Own Desire), and Gloria Swanson (The Trespasser)

Marie Dressler, Min and Bill (1931)

Other nominees: Irene Dunne (Cimarron), Norma Shearer (A Free Soul), Ann Harding (Holiday), and Marlene Dietrich (Morocco)

Helen Hayes, The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1932)

Other nominees: Marie Dressler (Emma) and Lynn Fontanne (The Guardsman)

Katharine Hepburn, Morning Glory (1933)

Other nominees: Diana Wynyard (Cavalcade) and May Robson (Lady for a Day)

Claudette Colbert, It Happened One Night (1934)

Other nominees: Norma Shearer (The Barretts of Wimpole Street), and Grace Moore (One Night of Love)

Note: Bette Davis was not nominated for Of Human Bondage, but received a great number of write-in votes.

Bette Davis, Dangerous (1935)

Other nominees: Katharine Hepburn (Alice Adams), Miriam Hopkins (Becky Sharp), Merle Oberon (The Dark Angel), Elisabeth Bergner (Escape Me Never), and Claudette Colbert (Private Worlds)

Luise Rainer, The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

Other nominees: Carole Lombard (My Man Godfrey), Norma Shearer (Romeo and Juliet), Irene Dunne (Theodora Goes Wild), and Gladys George (Valiant Is the Word for Carrie)

Luise Rainer, The Good Earth (1937)

Other nominees: Irene Dunne (The Awful Truth), Greta Garbo (Camille), Janet Gaynor (A Star Is Born), and Barbara Stanwyck (Stella Dallas)

Bette Davis, Jezebel (1938)

Other nominees: Norma Shearer (Marie Antoinette), Wendy Hiller (Pygmalion), Margaret Sullavan (Three Comrades), and Fay Bainter (White Banners)

Vivien Leigh, Gone with the Wind (1939)

Other nominees: Bette Davis (Dark Victory), Greer Garson (Goodbye, Mr. Chips), Irene Dunne (Love Affair), and Greta Garbo (Ninotchka)

Ginger Rogers, Kitty Foyle (1940)

Other nominees: Bette Davis (The Letter), Martha Scott (Our Town), Katharine Hepburn (The Philadelphia Story), and Joan Fontaine (Rebecca)

Joan Fontaine, Suspicion (1941)

Other nominees: Barbara Stanwyck (Ball of Fire), Greer Garson (Blossoms in the Dust), Olivia de Havilland (Hold Back the Dawn), and Bette Davis (The Little Foxes)

Greer Garson, Mrs. Miniver (1942)

Other nominees: Rosalind Russell (My Sister Eileen), Bette Davis (Now, Voyager), Teresa Wright (The Pride of the Yankees), and Katharine Hepburn (Woman of the Year)

Jennifer Jones, The Song of Bernadette (1943)

Other nominees: Joan Fontaine (The Constant Nymph), Ingrid Bergman (For Whom the Bell Tolls), Greer Garson (Madame Curie), and Jean Arthur (The More the Merrier)

Ingrid Bergman, Gaslight (1944)

Other nominees: Barbara Stanwyck (Double Indemnity), Bette Davis (Mr. Skeffington), Greer Garson (Mrs. Parkington), and Claudette Colbert (Since You Went Away)

Joan Crawford, Mildred Pierce (1945)

Other nominees: Ingrid Bergman (The Bells of St. Mary's), Gene Tierney (Leave Her to Heaven), Jennifer Jones (Love Letters), and Greer Garson (The Valley of Decision)

Olivia de Havilland, To Each His Own (1946)

Other nominees: Celia Johnson (Brief Encounter), Jennifer Jones (Duel in the Sun), Rosalind Russell (Sister Kenny), and Jane Wyman (The Yearling)

Loretta Young, The Farmer's Daughter (1947)

Other nominees: Dorothy McGuire (Gentleman's Agreement), Rosalind Russell (Mourning Becomes Electra), Joan Crawford (Possessed), and Susan Hayward (Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman)

Jane Wyman, Johnny Belinda (1948)

Other nominees: Irene Dunne (I Remember Mama), Ingrid Bergman (Joan of Arc), Olivia de Havilland (The Snake Pit), and Barbara Stanwyck (Sorry, Wrong Number)

Olivia de Havilland, The Heiress (1949)

Other nominees: Loretta Young (Come to the Stable), Deborah Kerr (Edward, My Son), Susan Hayward (My Foolish Heart), and Jeanne Crain (Pinky)

Judy Holliday, Born Yesterday (1950)

Other nominees: Anne Baxter (All About Eve), Bette Davis (All About Eve), Eleanor Parker (Caged), and Gloria Swanson (Sunset Boulevard)

Vivien Leigh, A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Other nominees: Katharine Hepburn (The African Queen), Jane Wyman (The Blue Veil), Eleanor Parker (Detective Story), and Shelley Winters (A Place in the Sun)

Shirley Booth, Come Back Little Sheba (1952)

Other nominees: Julie Harris (The Member of the Wedding), Bette Davis (The Star), Joan Crawford (Sudden Fear), and Susan Hayward (With a Song in My Heart)

Audrey Hepburn, Roman Holiday (1953)

Other nominees: Deborah Kerr (From Here to Eternity), Leslie Caron (Lili), Ava Gardner (Mogambo), and Maggie McNamara (The Moon Is Blue)

Grace Kelly, The Country Girl (1954)

Other nominees: Dorothy Dandridge (Carmen Jones), Jane Wyman (Magnificent Obsession), Audrey Hepburn (Sabrina), and Judy Garland (A Star Is Born)

Anna Magnani, The Rose Tattoo (1955)

Other nominees: Susan Hayward (I'll Cry Tomorrow), Eleanor Parker (Interrupted Melody), Jennifer Jones (Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing), and Katharine Hepburn (Summertime)

Ingrid Bergman, Anastasia (1956)

Other nominees: Carroll Baker (Baby Doll), Nancy Kelly (The Bad Seed), Deborah Kerr (The King and I), and Katharine Hepburn (The Rainmaker)

Joanne Woodward, The Three Faces of Eve (1957)

Other nominees: Deborah Kerr (Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison), Lana Turner (Peyton Place), Elizabeth Taylor (Raintree County), and Anna Magnani (Wild Is the Wind)

Susan Hayward, I Want to Live! (1958)

Other nominees: Rosalind Russell (Auntie Mame), Elizabeth Taylor (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Deborah Kerr (Separate Tables), and Shirley MacLaine (Some Came Running)

Simone Signoret, Room at the Top (1959)

Other nominees: Audrey Hepburn (The Nun's Story), Doris Day (Pillow Talk), Katharine Hepburn (Suddenly, Last Summer), and Elizabeth Taylor (Suddenly, Last Summer)

Elizabeth Taylor, Butterfield 8 (1960)

Other nominees: Shirley MacLaine (The Apartment), Melina Mercouri (Never on Sunday), Deborah Kerr (The Sundowners), and Greer Garson (Sunrise at Campobello)

Sophia Loren, Two Women (1961)

Other nominees: Audrey Hepburn (Breakfast at Tiffany's), Piper Laurie (The Hustler), Natalie Wood (Splendor in the Grass), and Geraldine Page (Summer and Smoke)

Anne Bancroft, The Miracle Worker (1962)

Other nominees: Lee Remick (Days of Wine and Roses), Katharine Hepburn (Long Day's Journey Into Night), Geraldine Page (Sweet Bird of Youth), and Bette Davis (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?)

Patricia Neal, Hud (1963)

Other nominees: Shirley MacLaine (Irma La Douce), Leslie Caron (The L-Shaped Room), Natalie Wood (Love with the Proper Stranger), and Rachel Roberts (This Sporting Life)

Julie Andrews, Mary Poppins (1964)

Other nominees: Sophia Loren (Marriage Italian Style), Anne Bancroft (The Pumpkin Eater), Kim Stanley (Seance on a Wet Afternoon), and Debbie Reynolds (The Unsinkable Molly Brown)

Julie Christie, Darling (1965)

Other nominees: Samantha Eggar (The Collector), Elizabeth Hartman (A Patch of Blue), Simone Signoret (Ship of Fools), and Julie Andrews (The Sound of Music)

Elizabeth Taylor, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

Other nominees: Lynn Redgrave (Georgy Girl), Anouk Aimee (A Man and a Woman), Vanessa Redgrave (Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment), and Ida Kaminska (The Shop on Main Street)

Katharine Hepburn, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

Other nominees: Faye Dunaway (Bonnie and Clyde), Anne Bancroft (The Graduate), Audrey Hepburn (Wait Until Dark), and Edith Evans (The Whisperers)

Katharine Hepburn, The Lion in Winter and Barbra Streisand, Funny Girl (1968)

Other nominees: Vanessa Redgrave (Isadora), Joanne Woodward (Rachel, Rachel), and Patricia Neal (The Subject Was Roses)

Maggie Smith, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)

Other nominees: Genevieve Bujold (Anne of the Thousand Days), Jean Simmons (The Happy Ending), Liza Minnelli (The Sterile Cuckoo), and Jane Fonda (They Shoot Horses, Don't They?)

Glenda Jackson, Women in Love (1970)

Other nominees: Carrie Snodgress (Diary of a Mad Housewife), Jane Alexander (The Great White Hope), Ali MacGraw (Love Story), and Sarah Miles (Ryan's Daughter)

Jane Fonda, Klute (1971)

Other nominees: Vanessa Redgrave (Mary, Queen of Scots), Julie Christie (McCabe & Mrs. Miller), Janet Suzman (Nicholas and Alexandra), and Glenda Jackson (Sunday Bloody Sunday)

Liza Minnelli, Cabaret (1972)

Other nominees: Liv Ullmann (The Emigrants), Diana Ross (Lady Sings the Blues), Cicely Tyson (Sounder), and Maggie Smith (Travels with My Aunt)

Glenda Jackson, A Touch of Class (1973)

Other nominees: Marsha Mason (Cinderella Liberty), Ellen Burstyn (The Exorcist), Joanne Woodward (Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams), and Barbra Streisand (The Way We Were)

Ellen Burstyn, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)

Other nominees: Faye Dunaway (Chinatown), Diahann Carroll (Claudine), Valerie Perrine (Lenny), and Gena Rowlands (A Woman Under the Influence)

Louise Fletcher, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Other nominees: Glenda Jackson (Hedda), Carol Kane (Hester Street), Isabelle Adjani (The Story of Adele H), and Ann-Margret (Tommy)

Faye Dunaway, Network (1976)

Other nominees: Sissy Spacek (Carrie), Marie-Christine Barrault (Cousin, Cousine), Liv Ullmann (Face to Face), and Talia Shire (Rocky)