Updated May 2020: 92 years
The Best Supporting Actress category was established in 1936.
Of the 82 actresses who have won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, the vast majority (69) have received the award at their first nomination.
If you want to know more about the history and politics of the Oscars, please read my book:
Best Actress:
Supporting Actress:
Shelley Winters, Vanessa Redgrave, Maggie Smith, and Cate Blanchett, among others, belong to that category.
1920s:
1928: Janet Gaynor
1929: Mary Astor, Coquette
1930s:
1930: Norma Shearer, The Divorcee
1931: Marie Dressler, Min and Bill
1932: Helen Hayes, The Sin of Madelon Claudet
1933: Katharine Hepburn, Morning Glory
1934: Claudette Colbert, It Happened One Night
1935: Bette Davis, Dangerous
1936: Luise Rainer, Great Ziegfeld; Gale Sondergaard, Anthony Adverse
1937: Luise Rainer, Good Earth; Alice Brady, In Old Chicag0
1938: Bette Davis, Jezebel, Fay Bainter, Jezebel
1939: Vivien Leigh; Gone With the Wind; Hattie McDaniel, Gone With the Wind
1940s:
1940: Ginger Rogers, Kitty Foyle; Jane Darwell, The Grapes of Wrath
1941: Joan Fontaine, Suspicion; Mary Astor, The Great Lie
1942: Greer Garson, Mrs. Miniver; Teresa Wright, Mrs. Miniver
1943: Jennifer Jones, Katine Paxinou, For Whom the Bell Tolls
1944: Ingrid Bergman; Gaslight; Ethel Barrymore, None But the Lonely Heart
1945: Anne Revere, National Velvet
1946: Olivia De Havilland, To Each His Own; Anne Baxter, The Razor’s Edge
1947: Celeste Holme, Gentleman’s Agreement
1948: Jane Wyman, Johnny Belinda; Claire Trevor, Key Largo
1949: Mercedes McCambrdige, All the King’s Men
1950s:
1950: Judy Holliday; Born Yesterday; Josephine Hull, Harvey
1951: Vivien Leigh; A Streetcar Named Desire; Kim Hunter, A Streetcar Named Desire
1952: Shirley Booth, Come Back, Little Sheba; Gloria Grahame, The Bad and the Beautiful
1953: Audrey Hepburn, Roman Holiday; Donna Reed, From Here to Eternity
1954: Eva Marie Saint, On the Waterfront
1955: Jo Van Fleet, East of Eden
1956: Ingrid Bergman, Anastasia; Dorothy Malone, Written on the Wind
1957: Miyoshi Umeki, Sayonara
1958: Susan Hayward, I Want to Live!; Wendy Hiller, Separate Tables
1959: Shelley Winters, The Diary of Anne Frank
1960s: 10
1960: Elizabeth Taylor, Butterfield 8! Shirley Jones, Elmer Gantry
1961: Rita Moreno, West Side Story
1962: Anne Bancroft, The Miracle Worker; Patty Duke, The Miracle Worker
1963: Patricia Neal, Hud; Margaret Rutherford, The V.I.P.’s
1964: Julie Andrews, Mary Poppins; Lila Kedrova, Zorba the Greek
1965: Shelley Winters, A Patch of Blue
1966: Elizabeth Taylor, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Sandy Dennis, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1967: Katharine Hepburn, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner; Estelle Parsons, Bonnie and Clyde
1968: Katharine Hepburn, The Lion in Winter; Brabra Streisand, Funny Girl (Tie); Ruth Gordon, Rosemary’s Baby
1969: Goldie Hawn, Cactus Flower
1970s:
1970: Helen Hayes, Airport
1971: Cloris Leachman, The Last Picture Show
1972: Eileen Heckart, Butterflies Are Free
1973: Tatum O’Neal, Paper Moon
1974: Ellen Burstyn; Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore; Ingrid Bergman, Murder on the Orient Express
1975: Lee Grant, Shampoo
1976: Faye Dunaway, Network; Beatrice Straight, Network
1977: Vanessa Redgrave, Julia
1978: Maggie Smith, California Suite
1979: Sally Field, Norma Rae; Meryl Streep, Kramer Vs. Kramer
1980s:
1980: Mary Steenburgen, Melvin and Howard
1981: Maureen Stapleton, Reds
1982: Jessica Lange, Tootsie
1983: Linda Hunt, The Year of Living Dangerously
1984: Peggy Ashcroft, A Passage to India
1985: Anjelica Huston, Prizzi’s Honor
1986: Dianne Wiest, Hannah and Her Sisters
1987: Cher, Moonstruck; Olympia Dukakis, Moonstruck
1988: Jodie Foster, The Accused; Geena Davis, The Accidental Tourist
1989: Brenda Fricker, My Left Foot
1990s:
1990: Whoopi Goldberg, Ghost
1991: Mercedes Ruehl, The Fisher King
1992: Marisa Tomei, My Cousin Vinny
1993: Anna Paquin, The Piano
1994: Diane Wiest, Bullets Over Broadway
1995: Mira Sorvino, Mighty Aphrodite
1996: Juliette Binoche, The English Patient
1997: Kim Basinger, L.A. Confidential
1998: Judi Dench, Shakespeare in Love
1999: Angelina Jolie, Girl, Interrupted
2000s:
2000: Marcia Gay Harden, Pollock
2001: Jenniffer Connelly, A Beautiful Mind
2002: Nicole Kidman, The Hours; Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago
2003: Renee Zellweger, Cold Mountain
2004: Cate Blanchette, The Aviator
2005: Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener
2006: Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
2007: Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
2008: Penelope Cruz, Vicki, Cristina, Barcelona
2009: Mo’ Nique, Precious
2010s:
2010: Melissa Leo, The Fighter
2011: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady; Octavia Spencer, The Help
2012: Jennifer Lawrence, Silverlinings Handbook; Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
2013: Lupita N’Yong, 12 Years a Slave
2014: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
2015: Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
2017: Allison Janney, I, Tonya
2018: Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
2019: Renee Zellweger, Judy; Laura Dern, Marriage Story
Note:
Best Actress: In 92 years, 77 women have won the Best Actress; some multiple times.
Supporting Actress: Shelley Winters and Diane Wiest have won two Best Supporting Actress Oscars.
