These are our picks for the top 30 Best Actress wins of all time.
30.)
Minnelli lends her powerful voice to help Sally sing her way through the pain.Gina McIntyre
29.)
Vivien Leigh in ‘Gone with the Wind’; Michelle Yeoh in ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’; Kathy Bates in ‘Misery’.Credit:Bettmann Archive; David Bornfriend/A24; Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett
Then you sit down and watchThe Favouriteand realize this ain’t your grandma’s stuffy costume drama.
Kevin Jacobsen
28.)
Whether or not that’s true is now probably beside the point.
Liza Minneli in ‘Cabaret’.Everett Collection
Maggie the Cat, Blanche DuBois, Amanda Wingfield).
But Magnani elevates Serafina into a lightning storm of rage, sorrow, and vengeance.
In hers, it is a tour de force.Sean Smith
27.)
Olivia Colman in ‘The Favourite’.Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features
Andrews' nuanced design of P.L.
In fact, only six had ever been nominated beforeHalle Berrymade historyin 2002 with her win forMonster’s Ball.
24.)
Anna Magnani and Burt Lancaster in ‘The Rose Tattoo’.Mondadori Collection/Getty Images
With this Oscar, Yeoh made history asthe first Asian Best Actress winner.
22.)
that has the power to bring a person to his knees.
Olivia de Havilland in ‘The Heiress’.Everett Collection
Well, ankles.Marc Snetiker
20.)
Also emotional, sometimes spirited and other times melancholy, are the songs, which Cotillard lip-synced.
Molly Smith
19.)
Julie Andrews in ‘Mary Poppins’.Everett Collection
McMurphy to get with the program.
Which is, of course, always the goal for any actor.
But even Newman is acting.
Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton in ‘Monster’s Ball’.Lions Gate/Courtesy Everett
Neal is just bein'.
Every line is a dart.
Every delivery has a potent subtext.
Jodie Foster in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’.Orion Pictures
There’s absolutely nothing another actor can learn from watching Neal inHud.
She’s that good.Jeff Labrecque
15.)
Within a movie full of Kleenex moments, this is the big one.Sara Vilkomerson
13.)
Michelle Yeoh in ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’.David Bornfriend/A24
Claudette Colbert It Happened One Night(1934)
The great American screwball heroine.
But nothing can match her performance inIt Happened One Nightfor sheer funny-sensual energy.
What makes Theron’s work so undeniable is how she doesn’t play Wuornos as a monster.
Ingrid Bergman in ‘Gaslight’.Getty Images
10.)
The world is cold enough.
In a movie that skewers the concept of “Minnesota nice,” Marge is the real deal.
Kathy Bates in ‘Misery’.Columbia Pictures
Diane Keaton Annie Hall(1977)
Well, la-di-da.
6.)
Joan Crawford Mildred Pierce(1945)
IsMildred Piercea film noir?
Marion Cotillard in ‘La Vie en Rose’.Bruno Calvo
A women’s picture?
Yes, and yes.
Viewed through our 21st-century lens, Crawford’s performance (those shoulder pads!)
Holly Hunter in ‘The Piano’.Everett Collection
can seem like it’s teetering on the edge of camp.
After all, it’s hard to watch her and not see the long shadow cast by 1981’sMommie Dearest.
But for its time,Mildred Pierce’s self-made brand of feminism was undeniably revolutionary.
Louise Fletcher in ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’.Everett Collection
Elizabeth Taylor Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
She’s luminous; she’s haunted.
And then there’s “the choice” when she’s forced to make an impossible decision.
Cate Blanchett in ‘Blue Jasmine’.Jessica Miglio
Patricia Neal in ‘Hud’.Everett Collection
Jane Fonda in ‘Klute’.Everett Collection
Shirley MacLaine in ‘Terms of Endearment’.Paramount Pictures/Getty Images
Claudette Colbert in ‘It Happened One Night’.Columbia Pictures/Getty Images
Bette Davis in ‘Jezebel’.Everett Collection
Charlize Theron in ‘Monster’.Newmarket/Courtesy Everett
Frances McDormand in ‘Fargo’.Michael Tackett
Diane Keaton in ‘Annie Hall’.Everett Collection
Barbra Streisand in ‘Funny Girl’; Katharine Hepburn in ‘The Lion in Winter’.Screen Archives/Getty (2)
Hilary Swank in ‘Boys Don’t Cry’.Everett Collection
Joan Crawford in ‘Mildred Pierce’.Everett Collection
Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in ‘Gone With the Wind’.Everett Collection
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’.Everett Collection
Vivien Leigh in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’.Everett
Meryl Streep in ‘Sophie’s Choice’.Everett Collection
