Academy Award for Best Actress

The Academy Award for Best Actress is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. The winners are chosen by the Academy membership as a whole. Following the Academy's practice, the films below are listed by release year: for example, the Oscar for "Best Actress in 1999" was announced during the award ceremony held in 2000. Winners are listed first, followed by the other nominees.

1990s

• 1990 Kathy Bates - Misery
• Anjelica Huston - The Grifters
• Julia Roberts - Pretty Woman
• Meryl Streep - Postcards from the Edge
• Joanne Woodward - Mr. and Mrs. Bridge
• 1991 Jodie Foster - The Silence of the Lambs
• Geena Davis - Thelma and Louise
• Laura Dern - Rambling Rose
• Bette Midler - For the Boys
• Susan Sarandon - Thelma and Louise
• 1992 Emma Thompson - Howards End
• Catherine Deneuve - Indochine
• Mary McDonnell - Passion Fish
• Michelle Pfeiffer - Love Field
• Susan Sarandon - Lorenzo's Oil
• 1993 Holly Hunter - The Piano
• Angela Bassett - What's Love Got to Do with It?
• Stockard Channing - Six Degrees of Separation
• Emma Thompson - The Remains of the Day
• Debra Winger - Shadowlands
• 1994 Jessica Lange - Blue Sky
• Jodie Foster - Nell
• Miranda Richardson - Tom & Viv
• Winona Ryder - Little Women
• Susan Sarandon - The Client
• 1995 Susan Sarandon - Dead Man Walking
• Elisabeth Shue - Leaving Las Vegas
• Sharon Stone - Casino
• Meryl Streep - The Bridges of Madison County
• Emma Thompson - Sense and Sensibility
• 1996 Frances McDormand - Fargo
• Brenda Blethyn - Secrets & Lies
• Diane Keaton - Marvin's Room
• Kristin Scott Thomas - The English Patient
• Emily Watson - Breaking the Waves