SAG Award for Outstanding Female Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture
by andrewjocunning | created - 26 Oct 2020 | updated - 2 months ago | PublicMost wins: 1. Viola Davis, Frances McDormand & Renée Zellweger = 2 wins
1. Lily Gladstone
Actress | Certain Women
Born in Montana, Gladstone was raised on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and later near Seattle, WA. She graduated with high honors from the University of Montana in 2008 with a BFA in Acting/Directing, and a minor in Native American Studies.
Gladstone was introduced to audiences in Alex and Andrew...
2023: Killers of the Flower Moon
- Annette Bening - Nyad
- Carey Mulligan - Maestro
- Margot Robbie - Barbie
- Emma Stone - Poor Things
2. Michelle Yeoh
Actress | Everything Everywhere All at Once
Michelle Yeoh was born in Ipoh, Malaysia. She's the daughter of Janet Yeoh & Kian Teik Yeoh. She's of Hokkien descent, speaking English and Malay before Chinese. A ballet dancer since 4, she moved to London to study at the Royal Academy as a teen. After a brief dance career, she won the Miss ...
2022: Everything Everywhere All at Once
- Cate Blanchett - Tár
- Viola Davis - The Woman King
- Danielle Deadwyler - Till
- Ana de Armas - Blonde
3. Jessica Chastain
Actress | Zero Dark Thirty
Jessica Michelle Chastain was born in Sacramento, California, and was raised in a middle-class household in a Northern California suburb. Her mother, Jerri Chastain, is a vegan chef whose family is originally from Kansas, and her stepfather is a fireman. She discovered dance at the age of nine and ...
2021: The Eyes of Tammy Faye
- Olivia Colman - The Lost Daughter
- Lady Gaga - House of Gucci
- Jennifer Hudson - Respect
- Nicole Kidman - Being the Ricardos
4. Viola Davis
Actress | Fences
Viola Davis is a critically revered actress of film, television, and theater and has won rave reviews for her multitude of substantial and intriguingly diverse roles. Audiences across the United States and internationally have admired her for her work- including her celebrated, Oscar-nominated ...
2020: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
- Amy Adams - Hillbilly Elegy
- Vanessa Kirby - Pieces of a Woman
- Frances McDormand - Nomadland
- Carey Mulligan - Promising Young Woman
5. Renée Zellweger
Actress | Chicago
Renée Kathleen Zellweger was born on April 25, 1969, in Katy, Texas, Her mother, Kjellfrid Irene (Andreassen), is a Norwegian-born former nurse and midwife, of Norwegian, Kven (Finnish), and Swedish descent. Her father, Emil Erich Zellweger, is a Swiss-born engineer. The two married in 1963. Renée ...
2019: Judy
- Cynthia Erivo - Harriet
- Scarlett Johansson - Marriage Story
- Lupita Nyong'o - Us
- Charlize Theron - Bombshell
6. Glenn Close
Actress | Fatal Attraction
Eight time Academy Award-nominated actress Glenn Close was born and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. She is the daughter of Elizabeth Mary H. "Bettine" (Moore) and William Taliaferro Close (William Close), a prominent doctor. Both of her parents were from upper-class families.
Glenn was a noted ...
2018: The Wife
- Emily Blunt - Mary Poppins Returns
- Olivia Colman - The Favourite
- Lady Gaga - A Star Is Born
- Melissa McCarthy - Can You Ever Forgive Me?
7. Frances McDormand
Actress | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Frances Louise McDormand was born on June 23, 1957, in Gibson City, Illinois. She was adopted by Canadian-born parents Noreen Eloise (Nickleson), a nurse from Ontario, and Rev. Vernon Weir McDormand, a Disciples of Christ minister from Nova Scotia, who raised her in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. She ...
2017: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Judi Dench - Victoria & Abdul
- Sally Hawkins - The Shape of Water
- Margot Robbie - I, Tonya
- Saoirse Ronan - Lady Bird
8. Emma Stone
Actress | La La Land
Emily Jean "Emma" Stone was born on November 6, 1988 in Scottsdale, Arizona to Krista Jean Stone (née Yeager), a homemaker & Jeffrey Charles "Jeff" Stone, a contracting company founder and CEO. She is of Swedish, German & British Isles descent. Stone began acting as a child as a member of the ...
2016: La La Land
- Amy Adams - Arrival
- Emily Blunt - The Girl on the Train
- Natalie Portman - Jackie
- Meryl Streep - Florence Foster Jenkins
9. Brie Larson
Actress | Room
Brie Larson has built an impressive career as an acclaimed television actress, rising feature film star and emerging recording artist. A native of Sacramento, Brie started studying drama at the early age of 6, as the youngest student ever to attend the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco...
2015: Room
- Cate Blanchett - Carol
- Helen Mirren - Woman in Gold
- Saoirse Ronan - Brooklyn
- Sarah Silverman - I Smile Back
10. Julianne Moore
Actress | Far from Heaven
Julianne Moore was born Julie Anne Smith in Fort Bragg, North Carolina on December 3, 1960, the daughter of Anne (Love), a social worker, and Peter Moore Smith, a paratrooper, colonel, and later military judge. Her mother moved to the U.S. in 1951, from Greenock, Scotland. Her father, from ...
2014: Still Alice
- Jennifer Aniston - Cake
- Felicity Jones - The Theory of Everything
- Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl
- Reese Witherspoon - Wild
11. Cate Blanchett
Actress | Carol
Cate Blanchett was born on May 14, 1969 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, to June (Gamble), an Australian teacher and property developer, and Robert DeWitt Blanchett, Jr., an American advertising executive, originally from Texas. She has an older brother and a younger sister. When she was ten ...
2013: Blue Jasmine
- Sandra Bullock - Gravity
- Judi Dench - Philomena
- Meryl Streep - August: Osage County
- Emma Thompson - Saving Mr. Banks
12. Jennifer Lawrence
Actress | The Hunger Games
As the highest-paid actress in the world in 2015 and 2016, and with her films grossing over $5.5 billion worldwide, Jennifer Lawrence is often cited as the most successful actress of her generation. She is also the first person born in the 1990s to have won an acting Oscar.
Jennifer Shrader Lawrence...
2012: Silver Linings Playbook
- Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
- Marion Cotillard - Rust and Bone
- Helen Mirren - Hitchcock
- Naomi Watts - The Impossible
13. Viola Davis
Actress | Fences
Viola Davis is a critically revered actress of film, television, and theater and has won rave reviews for her multitude of substantial and intriguingly diverse roles. Audiences across the United States and internationally have admired her for her work- including her celebrated, Oscar-nominated ...
2011: The Help
- Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs
- Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
- Tilda Swinton - We Need to Talk About Kevin
- Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn
14. Natalie Portman
Actress | Black Swan
Natalie Portman is the first person born in the 1980s to have won the Academy Award for Best Actress (for Black Swan (2010)).
Natalie was born Natalie Hershlag on June 9, 1981, in Jerusalem, Israel. She is the only child of Avner Hershlag, an Israeli-born doctor, and Shelley Stevens, an ...
2010: Black Swan
- Annette Bening - The Kids Are All Right
- Nicole Kidman - Rabbit Hole
- Jennifer Lawrence - Winter's Bone
- Hilary Swank - Conviction
15. Sandra Bullock
Producer | The Proposal
Sandra Annette Bullock was born in Arlington, a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C. Her mother, Helga Bullock (née Helga Mathilde Meyer), was a German opera singer. Her father, John W. Bullock, was an American voice teacher, who was born in Alabama, of German descent. Sandra grew up on the road ...
2009: The Blind Side
- Helen Mirren - The Last Station
- Carey Mulligan - An Education
- Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
- Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia
16. Meryl Streep
Actress | Out of Africa
Considered by many critics to be the greatest living actress, Meryl Streep has been nominated for the Academy Award an astonishing 21 times, and has won it three times. Meryl was born Mary Louise Streep in 1949 in Summit, New Jersey, to Mary Wolf (Wilkinson), a commercial artist, and Harry William ...
2008: Doubt
- Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
- Angelina Jolie - Changeling
- Melissa Leo - Frozen River
- Kate Winslet - Revolutionary Road
17. Julie Christie
Actress | Doctor Zhivago
Julie Christie, the British movie legend whom Al Pacino called "the most poetic of all actresses," was born in Chabua, Assam, India, on April 14, 1940, the daughter of a tea planter and his Welsh wife Rosemary, who was a painter. The young Christie grew up on her father's plantation before being ...
2007: Away from Her
- Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age
- Marion Cotillard - La Vie en Rose
- Angelina Jolie - A Mighty Heart
- Ellen Page - Juno
18. Helen Mirren
Actress | The Queen
Dame Helen Mirren was born in Queen Charlotte's Hospital in West London. Her mother, Kathleen Alexandrina Eva Matilda (Rogers), was from a working-class English family, and her father, Vasiliy Petrovich Mironov, was a Russian-born civil servant, from Kuryanovo, whose own father was a diplomat. ...
2006: The Queen
- Penélope Cruz - Volver
- Judi Dench - Notes on a Scandal
- Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
- Kate Winslet - Little Children
19. Reese Witherspoon
Producer | Wild
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon was born on March 22, 1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana to Betty Witherspoon, a registered nurse & John Draper Witherspoon, a military surgeon. Reese spent the first 4 years of her life in Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany, where her father served as a lieutenant colonel in the ...
2005: Walk the Line
- Judi Dench - Mrs. Henderson Presents
- Felicity Huffman - Transamerica
- Charlize Theron - North Country
- Ziyi Zhang - Memoirs of a Geisha
20. Hilary Swank
Actress | Million Dollar Baby
Hilary was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, to Judith Kay (Clough), a secretary, and Stephen Michael Swank, who served in the National Guard and was also a traveling salesman. Her maternal grandmother, Frances Martha Dominguez, was of Mexican descent, and her other roots include German, English, and ...
2004: Million Dollar Baby
- Annette Bening - Being Julia
- Catalina Sandino Moreno - Maria Full of Grace
- Imelda Staunton - Vera Drake
- Kate Winslet - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
21. Charlize Theron
Producer | Monster
Charlize Theron was born in Benoni, a city in the greater Johannesburg area, in South Africa, the only child of Gerda Theron (née Maritz) and Charles Theron. She was raised on a farm outside the city. Theron is of Afrikaner (Dutch, with some French Huguenot and German) descent, and Afrikaner ...
2003: Monster
- Patricia Clarkson - The Station Agent
- Diane Keaton - Something's Gotta Give
- Naomi Watts - 21 Grams
- Evan Rachel Wood - Thirteen
22. Renée Zellweger
Actress | Chicago
Renée Kathleen Zellweger was born on April 25, 1969, in Katy, Texas, Her mother, Kjellfrid Irene (Andreassen), is a Norwegian-born former nurse and midwife, of Norwegian, Kven (Finnish), and Swedish descent. Her father, Emil Erich Zellweger, is a Swiss-born engineer. The two married in 1963. Renée ...
2002: Chicago
- Salma Hayek - Frida
- Nicole Kidman - The Hours
- Diane Lane - Unfaithful
- Julianne Moore - Far from Heaven
23. Halle Berry
Actress | Catwoman
Halle Maria Berry was born Maria Halle Berry on August 14, 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in Oakwood, Ohio to Judith Ann Berry (née Hawkins), a psychiatric nurse & Jerome Jesse Berry, a hospital attendant. Her father was African-American and her mother is of mostly English and German descent. ...
2001: Monster's Ball
- Jennifer Connelly - A Beautiful Mind
- Judi Dench - Iris
- Sissy Spacek - In the Bedroom
- Renée Zellweger - Bridget Jones's Diary
24. Julia Roberts
Actress | Pretty Woman
Julia Fiona Roberts never dreamed she would become the most popular actress in America. She was born in Smyrna, Georgia, to Betty Lou (Bredemus) and Walter Grady Roberts, one-time actors and playwrights, and is of English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, German, and Swedish descent. As a child, due to her ...
2000: Erin Brockovich
- Joan Allen - The Contender
- Juliette Binoche - Chocolat
- Ellen Burstyn - Requiem for a Dream
- Laura Linney - You Can Count on Me
25. Annette Bening
Actress | American Beauty
Annette Bening was born on May 29, 1958 in Topeka, Kansas, the youngest of four children. Her family moved to California when she was young, and she grew up there. She graduated from San Francisco State University and began her acting career with the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, ...
1999: American Beauty
- Janet McTeer - Tumbleweeds
- Julianne Moore - The End of the Affair
- Meryl Streep - Music of the Heart
- Hilary Swank - Boys Don't Cry
26. Gwyneth Paltrow
Actress | Shakespeare in Love
Gwyneth Kate Paltrow was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of noted producer and director Bruce Paltrow and Tony Award-winning actress Blythe Danner. Her father was from a Jewish family, while her mother is of mostly German descent. When Gwyneth was eleven, the family moved to Massachusetts, where ...
1998: Shakespeare in Love
- Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth
- Jane Horrocks - Little Voice
- Meryl Streep - One True Thing
- Emily Watson - Hilary and Jackie
27. Helen Hunt
Actress | As Good as It Gets
Helen Hunt began studying acting at the age of eight with her father, respected director and acting coach Gordon Hunt. A year later she made her professional debut and afterwards worked steadily in films, theatre and television.
1997: As Good As It Gets
- Helena Bonham Carter - The Wings of the Dove
- Judi Dench - Mrs. Brown
- Pam Grier - Jackie Brown
- Kate Winslet - Titanic
- Robin Wright - She's So Lovely
28. Frances McDormand
Actress | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Frances Louise McDormand was born on June 23, 1957, in Gibson City, Illinois. She was adopted by Canadian-born parents Noreen Eloise (Nickleson), a nurse from Ontario, and Rev. Vernon Weir McDormand, a Disciples of Christ minister from Nova Scotia, who raised her in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. She ...
1996: Fargo
- Brenda Blethyn - Secrets & Lies
- Diane Keaton - Marvin's Room
- Gena Rowlands - Unhook the Stars
- Kristin Scott Thomas - The English Patient
29. Susan Sarandon
Actress | Thelma & Louise
It was after the 1968 Democratic convention and there was a casting call for a film with several roles for the kind of young people who had disrupted the convention. Two recent graduates of Catholic University in Washington DC, went to the audition in New York for Joe (1970). Chris Sarandon, who ...
1995: Dead Man Walking
- Joan Allen - Nixon
- Elisabeth Shue - Leaving Las Vegas
- Meryl Streep - The Bridges of Madison County
- Emma Thompson - Sense and Sensibility
30. Jodie Foster
Actress | The Silence of the Lambs
Jodie Foster started her career at the age of two. For four years she made commercials and finally gave her debut as an actress in the TV series Mayberry R.F.D. (1968). In 1975 Jodie was offered the role of prostitute Iris Steensma in the movie Taxi Driver (1976). This role, for which she received ...
1994: Nell
- Jessica Lange - Blue Sky
- Meg Ryan - When a Man Loves a Woman
- Susan Sarandon - The Client
- Meryl Streep - The River Wild
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