The Best Picture and Best Actor awards may garner a lot of attention at each Oscars ceremony, but one equally-coveted award is the Best Actress statue. Each year, five women with the top film performances are put up for the Best Actress award and throughout the Academy Awards’ 94 years, plenty of them have made history.
Academy Award for Best Actress
Who won Best Actress in 2022?
Now that Oscar’s are here for 2022 we’ve all been guessing who would win the golden trophy. Here are this year’s Best Actress Academy Award nominees:
- Jessica Chastain – The Eyes of Tammy Faye
- Olivia Colman – The Lost Daughter
- Penelope Cruz – Parallel Mothers
- Nicole Kidman – Being the Ricardos
- Kristen Stewart – Spencer
It was a tough race this year with many experts split over whether it would be Jessica Chastain’s transformation into Tammy Faye that wins the award or if Oscar favourite Olivia Colman could win it again. Kristen Stewart was also a dark horse in the race for her incredible turn as Princess Diana in Spencer.
Jessica Chastain, however, is the leading lady who has taken home the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2022. She took to the stage speaking about radical acts of love, how The Eyes of Tammy Faye taught her more about that, and the need for support and love for queer communities.
Check out Jessica Chastain’s acceptance speech below:
The Oscar for Actress in a Leading Role goes to Jessica Chastain for her stunning performance in ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye.’ Congratulations! #Oscars @jes_chastain pic.twitter.com/fsqe1QDL3U
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 28, 2022
Who won Best Supporting Actress in 2022?
The nominees for Best Supporting Actress in 2022 were:
- Jessie Buckley – The Lost Daughter
- Ariana DeBose – West Side Story
- Judi Dench – Belfast
- Kirsten Dunst – The Power of the Dog
- Aunjanue Ellis – King Richard
In a powerful moment for representation for queer and Afro-Latinx communities, Ariana DeBose took home the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as Anita in West Side Story (please watch it if you haven’t yet). Rita Moreno, who played the role in the original film, watched on bright-eyed as DeBose gave her speech.
The Oscar for Actress in a Supporting Role goes to Ariana DeBose for her exceptional performance in ‘West Side Story.’ #Oscars @ArianaDeBose pic.twitter.com/ZydSL3LD3m
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 28, 2022
Historic Best Actress wins over the years
Marlee Matlin – Youngest winner of Best Actress Award
Marlee Matlin made history for a number of reasons when she won in 1986, beating out both Jane Fonda and Sigourney Weaver that year.
Matlin’s win for her role as Sarah Norman in Children of a Lesser God occurred when she was just 21 years of age, making her the youngest Best Actress winner to date. She is also the first and only deaf actress to have won the Oscar.
Jessica Tandy – Oldest winner of Best Actress Award
From Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds to Broadway’s A Streetcar Named Desire, Jessica Tandy had quite the career before her history-making Best Actress win.
Tandy was 80 years of age when she received the award for her role in Driving Miss Daisy, making her the oldest actress to receive the top acting gong.
Halle Berry – First Black woman to win
The Oscars still has a startling lack of diversity, if it’s 13 Black female nominees are anything to go by. Of these 13, only one Black woman has won the Best Actress Oscar and that honour went to Halle Berry at the 2001 ceremony.
Berry’s role in Monster’s Ball secured her the win, where she was nominated alongside Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Sissy Spacek and Renee Zellweger.
Katharine Hepburn – Most award wins
Securing her place as one of the most iconic actresses of all time, it comes as no surprise that Katharine Hepburn has the Oscar wins to back it up. Her four wins for Morning Glory, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, The Lion in Winter and On Golden Pond make her the person with the most Best Actress Oscar wins in history.
Hepburn also received 12 Best Actress nominations over her lifetime but Meryl Streep retains her place as the person with the most nominations for the award with a whopping 17 nods.
We’ll keep you posted on the 2022 Oscar nominees and winners to see whether this will be another history-making ceremony.
This article has been updated since its original publish date.
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