# British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress

The British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress is a discontinued annual award given by the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) to recognize the best supporting performance by an actress in a British independent film.
From 2003 to 2007, only one award was presented for supporting performances named Best Supporting Actor/Actress. Since 2008, two categories named Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress are presented.
Olivia Colman is the only actress who has won this award more than once since its creations in 2008 with two wins while Kristin Scott Thomas and Julie Walters hold the record of most nominations in this category with three each.
In July 2022, it was announced that the performance categories would be replaced with gender-neutral categories, with both Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress merging into the Best Lead Performance category. Additionally, a category named Best Joint Lead Performance was created for "two (or exceptionally three) performances that are the joint focus of the film, especially where performances share a large number of scenes and screen time".

## Winners and nominees
### 2000s
#### Best Supporting Actor/Actress

| Year | Actor/Actress | Film | Character |
| 2003 (6th) | Susan Lynch | 16 Years of Alcohol | Mary |
| 2003 (6th) | Benedict Wong | Dirty Pretty Things | Guo Yi |
| 2003 (6th) | Sophie Okonedo | Dirty Pretty Things | Juliette |
| 2003 (6th) | Adrian Rawlins | Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself | Harbour |
| 2003 (6th) | Shirley Henderson | Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself | Alice |
| 2004 (7th) | Eddie Marsan | Vera Drake | Reg |
| 2004 (7th) | Gary Stretch | Dead Man's Shoes | Sonny |
| 2004 (7th) | Samantha Morton | Enduring Love | Claire |
| 2004 (7th) | Romola Garai | Rory O'Shea Was Here | Siobhán |
| 2004 (7th) | Paddy Considine | My Summer of Love | Phil |
| 2005 (8th) | Rosamund Pike | The Libertine | Elizabeth Wilmot, Countess of Rochester |
| 2005 (8th) | Bill Nighy | The Constant Gardener | Sir Bernard Pellegrin |
| 2005 (8th) | Tom Hollander | The Libertine | George Etherege |
| 2005 (8th) | Kelly Reilly | Mrs Henderson Presents | Maureen Ashford |
| 2005 (8th) | Rob Brydon | A Cock and Bull Story | Captain Toby Shandy / Rob Brydon |
| 2006 (9th) | Leslie Phillips | Venus | Ian |
| 2006 (9th) | Martin Compston | Red Road | Stevie |
| 2006 (9th) | Joseph Gilgun | This Is England | Woody |
| 2006 (9th) | Stephen Graham | This Is England | Combo |
| 2006 (9th) | Vanessa Redgrave | Venus | Valerie |
| 2007 (10th) | Toby Kebbell | Control | Rob Gretton |
| 2007 (10th) | Colin Firth | And When Did You Last See Your Father? | Blake Morrison |
| 2007 (10th) | Samantha Morton | Control | Deborah Curtis |
| 2007 (10th) | Armin Mueller-Stahl | Eastern Promises | Vor Semyon |
| 2007 (10th) | Cate Blanchett | Notes on a Scandal | Sheba Hart |

#### Best Supporting Actress

| Year | Actress | Film | Character |
| 2008 (11th) | Alexis Zegerman | Happy-Go-Lucky | Zoe |
| 2008 (11th) | Emma Thompson | Brideshead Revisited | Lady Marchmain |
| 2008 (11th) | Kristin Scott Thomas | Easy Virtue | Veronica Whittaker |
| 2008 (11th) | Hayley Atwell | The Duchess | Elizabeth "Bess" Foster |
| 2008 (11th) | Sienna Miller | The Edge of Love | Caitlin Thomas |
| 2009 (12th) | Anne-Marie Duff | Nowhere Boy | Julia Lennon |
| 2009 (12th) | Rosamund Pike | An Education | Helen |
| 2009 (12th) | Kerry Fox | Bright Star | Mrs. Brawne |
| 2009 (12th) | Kierston Wareing | Fish Tank | Joanne Williams |
| 2009 (12th) | Kristin Scott Thomas | Nowhere Boy | Mimi Smith |

### 2010s

| Year | Actress | Film | Character |
| 2010 (13th) | Helena Bonham Carter | The King's Speech | Queen Elizabeth |
| 2010 (13th) | Lesley Manville | Another Year | Mary Smith |
| 2010 (13th) | Rosamund Pike | Made in Dagenham | Lisa Hopkins |
| 2010 (13th) | Keira Knightley | Never Let Me Go | Ruth C |
| 2010 (13th) | Tamsin Greig | Tamara Drewe | Beth Hardiment |
| 2011 (14th) | Vanessa Redgrave | Coriolanus | Volumnia |
| 2011 (14th) | Felicity Jones | Albatross | Beth Fischer |
| 2011 (14th) | Carey Mulligan | Shame | Sissy Sullivan |
| 2011 (14th) | Sally Hawkins | Submarine | Jill Tate |
| 2011 (14th) | Kathy Burke | Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy | Connie Sachs |
| 2012 (15th) | Olivia Colman | Hyde Park on Hudson | Queen Elizabeth |
| 2012 (15th) | Vanessa Redgrave | Song for Marion | Marion |
| 2012 (15th) | Maggie Smith | The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel | Muriel Donnelly |
| 2012 (15th) | Alice Englert | Ginger and Rosa | Rosa |
| 2012 (15th) | Eileen Davies | Sightseers | Carol |
| 2013 (16th) | Imogen Poots | The Look of Love | Debbie Raymond |
| 2013 (16th) | Kristin Scott Thomas | The Invisible Woman | Frances Ternan |
| 2013 (16th) | Mia Wasikowska | The Double | Hannah |
| 2013 (16th) | Shirley Henderson | Filth | Bunty Blades |
| 2013 (16th) | Siobhan Finneran | The Selfish Giant | Mrs. Swift |
| 2014 (17th) | Imelda Staunton | Pride | Hefina Headon |
| 2014 (17th) | Dorothy Atkinson | Mr. Turner | Hannah Danby |
| 2014 (17th) | Maggie Gyllenhaal | Frank | Clara |
| 2014 (17th) | Sally Hawkins | X+Y | Julie Ellis |
| 2014 (17th) | Sienna Guillory | The Goob | Janet Taylor |
| 2015 (18th) | Olivia Colman | The Lobster | The Hotel Manager |
| 2015 (18th) | Helena Bonham Carter | Suffragette | Edith Ellyn |
| 2015 (18th) | Anne-Marie Duff | Suffragette | Violet Miller |
| 2015 (18th) | Sienna Miller | High-Rise | Charlotte Melville |
| 2015 (18th) | Julie Walters | Brooklyn | Madge Kehoe |
| 2016 (19th) | Avin Manshadi | Under the Shadow | Dorsa |
| 2016 (19th) | Gemma Arterton | The Girl with All the Gifts | Helen Justineau |
| 2016 (19th) | Naomie Harris | Our Kind of Traitor | Gail Perkins |
| 2016 (19th) | Terry Pheto | A United Kingdom | Naledi Khama |
| 2016 (19th) | Shana Swash | My Feral Heart | Eve |
| 2017 (20th) | Patricia Clarkson | The Party | April |
| 2017 (20th) | Naomi Ackie | Lady Macbeth | Anna |
| 2017 (20th) | Kelly Macdonald | Goodbye Christopher Robin | Olive |
| 2017 (20th) | Andrea Riseborough | The Death of Stalin | Svetlana Stalin |
| 2017 (20th) | Julie Walters | Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool | Bella Turner |
| 2018 (21st) | Rachel Weisz | The Favourite | Lady Sarah |
| 2018 (21st) | Nina Arianda | Stan & Ollie | Ida Kitaeva Laurel |
| 2018 (21st) | Rachel McAdams | Disobedience | Esti Kuperman |
| 2018 (21st) | Emma Stone | The Favourite | Abigail |
| 2018 (21st) | Molly Wright | Apostasy | Alex |
| 2019 (22nd) | Ruthxjiah Bellenea | The Last Tree | Tope |
| 2019 (22nd) | Jessica Barden | Scarborough | Beth |
| 2019 (22nd) | Elizabeth Debicki | Vita and Virginia | Virginia Woolf |
| 2019 (22nd) | Tilda Swinton | The Personal History of David Copperfield | Betsey Trotwood |
| 2019 (22nd) | Julie Walters | Wild Rose | Marion Harlan |

### 2020s

| Year | Actress | Film | Character |
| 2020 (23rd) | Kosar Ali | Rocks | Sumaya |
| 2020 (23rd) | Niamh Algar | Calm with Horses | Ursula |
| 2020 (23rd) | Ashley Madekwe | County Lines | Tony |
| 2020 (23rd) | Fiona Shaw | Kindred | Margaret |
| 2020 (23rd) | Jennifer Ehle | Saint Maud | Amanda |
| 2021 (24th) | Vinette Robinson | Boiling Point | Carly |
| 2021 (24th) | Judi Dench | Belfast | Buddy's grandmother |
| 2021 (24th) | Jo Hartley | Sweetheart | Tina |
| 2021 (24th) | Nathalie Richard | After Love | Genevieve |
| 2021 (24th) | Tilda Swinton | The Souvenir Part II | Rosalind |