In addition to adding a new Best Supporting Actor category in 1936, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences created a similar for actresses. The first winner was Gale Sondergaard for her role in the film Anthony Adverse. Only two actresses have won this award twice: Shelley Winters was selected for her roles in the 1959 film The Diary of Anne Frank and the 1965 movie A Patch of Blue; and Dianne Wiest has been honored twice, for the 1986 film Hannah and Her Sisters, and 1994's Bullets Over Broadway. The actress with the most nominations never to win the award was Thelma Ritter, who went home empty handed six times. Glenn Close was the only actress nominated in three consecutive years, and she also did not win the trophy. The 3 youngest acting award winners all won this award: Patty Duke in 1962 for The Miracle Worker, Tatum O'Neal in 1973 for Paper Moon, and Anna Paquin in 1993 for The Piano, all under the age of 17. Tilda Swinton won for the 2007 film Michael Clayton. The most recent winner was Penelope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
Fast Facts:
- 1st winner: Gale Sondergaard, 1936
- Oldest Winner: Peggy Ashcroft in 1984 for A Passage to India at age 77
- Oldest Nominee: Gloria Stuart in 1997 for Titanic at age 87
- Youngest Winner & Nominee: Tatum O'Neal in 1973 for Pape Moon at age 10
List of Previous Best Supporting Actress Winners
| Best Supporting Actress | |||||||
| Year | Winner | Film | Role | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Penelope Cruz | Vicky Cristina Barcelona | Maria Elena | ||||
| 2007 | Tilda Swinton | Michael Clayton | Karen Crowder | ||||
| 2006 | Jennifer Hudson | Dreamgirls | Effie White | ||||
| 2005 | Rachel Weisz | The Constant Gardener | Tessa Quayle | ||||
| 2004 | Cate Blanchett | The Aviator | Katharine Hepburn | ||||
| 2003 | Renee Zellweger | Cold Mountain | Ruby Thewes | ||||
| 2002 | Catherine Zeta-Jones | Chicago | Velma Kelly | ||||
| 2001 | Jennifer Connelly | A Beautiful Mind | Alicia Nash | ||||
| 2000 | Marcia Gay Harden | Pollock | Lee Krasner | ||||
| 1999 | Angelina Jolie | Girl, Interrupted | Lisa Rowe | ||||
| 1998 | Judi Dench | Shakespeare in Love | Queen Elizabeth I | ||||
| 1997 | Kim Basinger | L.A. Confidential | Lynn Bracken | ||||
| 1996 | Juliette Binoche | The English Patient | Hana | ||||
| 1995 | Mira Sorvino | Mighty Aphrodite | Linda | ||||
| 1994 | Dianne Wiest | Bullets over Broadway | Helen Sinclair | ||||
| 1993 | Anna Paquin | The Piano | Flora | ||||
| 1992 | Marisa Tomei | My Cousin Vinny | Mona Lisa Vito | ||||
| 1991 | Mercedes Ruehl | The Fisher King | Anne | ||||
| 1990 | Whoopi Goldberg | Ghost | Oda Mae Brown | ||||
| 1989 | Brenda Fricker | My Left Foot | Mrs. Brown | ||||
| 1988 | Geena Davis | The Accidental Tourist | Muriel | ||||
| 1987 | Olympia Dukakis | Moonstruck | Rose Castorini | ||||
| 1986 | Dianne Wiest | Hannah and Her Sisters | Holly | ||||
| 1985 | Anjelica Huston | Prizzi's Honor | Macrose Prizzi | ||||
| 1984 | Peggy Ashcroft | A Passage to India | Mrs. Moore | ||||
| 1983 | Linda Hunt | The Year of Living Dangerously | Billy Kwan | ||||
| 1982 | Jessica Lange | Tootsie | Julie Nichols | ||||
| 1981 | Maureen Stapleton | Reds | Emma Goldman | ||||
| 1980 | Mary Steenburgen | Melvin and Howard | Lynda Dummar | ||||
| 1979 | Meryl Streep | Kramer vs. Kramer | Joanna Kramer | ||||
| 1978 | Maggie Smith | California Suite | Diana Barrie | ||||
| 1977 | Vanessa Redgrave | Julia | Julia | ||||
| 1976 | Beatrice Straight | Network | Louise Schumacher | ||||
| 1975 | Lee Grant | Shampoo | Felicia Carr | ||||
| 1974 | Ingrid Bergman | Murder on the Orient Express | Greta Ohlsson | ||||
| 1973 | Tatum O'Neal | Paper Moon | Addie Loggins | ||||
| 1972 | Eileen Heckart | Butterflies Are Free | Mrs. Baker | ||||
| 1971 | Cloris Leachman | The Last Picture Show | Ruth Popper | ||||
| 1970 | Helen Hayes | Airport | Ada Quonsett | ||||
| 1969 | Goldie Hawn | Catcus Flower | Toni Simmons | ||||
| 1968 | Ruth Gordon | Rosemary's Baby | Minnie Castevet | ||||
| 1967 | Estelle Parsons | Bonnie and Clyde | Blanche Barrow | ||||
| 1966 | Sandy Dennis | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | Honey | ||||
| 1965 | Shelley Winters | A Patch of Blue | Rose-Ann D'Arcey | ||||
| 1964 | Lila Kedrova | Zorba the Greek | Madame Hortense | ||||
| 1963 | Margaret Rutherford | The V.I.P.s | Dutchess of Brighton | ||||
| 1962 | Patty Duke | The Miracle Worker | Helen Keller | ||||
| 1961 | Rita Moreno | West Side Story | Anita | ||||
| 1960 | Shirley Jones | Elmer Gantry | Lulu Baines | ||||
| 1959 | Shelley Winters | The Diary of Anne Frank | Mrs. Van Daan | ||||
| 1958 | Wendy Hiller | Separate Tables | Pat Cooper | ||||
| 1957 | Miyoshi Umeki | Sayonara | Katsumi | ||||
| 1956 | Dorothy malone | Written on the Wind | Marylee Hadley | ||||
| 1955 | Jo Van Fleet | East of Eden | Kate | ||||
| 1954 | Eva Marie Saint | On the Waterfront | Eddie Doyle | ||||
| 1953 | Donna Reed | From Here to Eternity | Lorene/Alma | ||||
| 1952 | Gloria Grahame | The Bad and the Beautiful | Rosemary Bartlow | ||||
| 1951 | Kim Hunter | A Streetcar Named Desire | Stella Kowalski | ||||
| 1950 | Josephine Hull | Harvey | Veta Louise Simmons | ||||
| 1949 | Mercedes McCambridge | Allthe King's Men | Sadie Burke | ||||
| 1948 | Claire Trevor | Key Largo | Gaye | ||||
| 1947 | Celeste Holm | Gentleman's Agreement | Anne | ||||
| 1946 | Anne Baxter | The Razor's Edge | Sophie MacDonald | ||||
| 1945 | Anne Revere | National Velvet | Mrs. Brown | ||||
| 1944 | Ethel Barrymore | None but the Lonely Heart | Ma Mott | ||||
| 1943 | Katina Paxinou | For Whom the Bell Tolls | Pilar | ||||
| 1942 | Teresa Wright | Mrs. Miniver | Carol Beldon | ||||
| 1941 | Mary Astor | The Great Lie | Sandra Kovak | ||||
| 1940 | Jane Darwell | The Grapes of Wrath | Ma Joad | ||||
| 1939 | Hattie McDaniel | Gone with the Wind | Mammy | ||||
| 1938 | Fay Bainter | Jezebel | Aunt Belle Massey | ||||
| 1937 | Alice Brady | In Old Chicago | Molly O'Leary | ||||
| 1936 | Gale Sondergaard | Anthony Adverse | Faith Paleologue | ||||
