# Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress was an award given annually by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. It was first introduced in 1975 to reward the best performance by a leading actress. In 2022, it was announced that the four acting categories would be retired and replaced with two gender neutral categories, with both Best Actor and Best Actress merging into the Best Lead Performance category.

## Winners
### 1970s

| Year | Winner | Film | Role |
| 1975 | Florinda Bolkan | A Brief Vacation | Clara Mataro |
| 1976 | Liv Ullmann | Face to Face (Ansikte mot ansikte) | Dr. Jenny Isaksson |
| 1977 | Shelley Duvall | 3 Women | Mildred Lammoreaux |
| 1978 | Jane Fonda | California Suite | Hannah Warren |
| 1978 | Jane Fonda | Comes a Horseman | Ella Connors |
| 1978 | Jane Fonda | Coming Home | Sally Hyde |
| 1979 | Sally Field | Norma Rae | Norma Rae Webster |

### 1980s

| Year | Winner(s) | Film | Role |
| 1980 | Sissy Spacek | Coal Miner's Daughter | Loretta Webb/Lynn |
| 1981 | Meryl Streep | The French Lieutenant's Woman | Sarah Woodruff / Anna |
| 1982 | Meryl Streep | Sophie's Choice | Zofia "Sophie" Zawistowski |
| 1983 | Shirley MacLaine | Terms of Endearment | Aurora Greenway |
| 1984 | Kathleen Turner | Crimes of Passion | Joanna Crane / China Blue |
| 1984 | Kathleen Turner | Romancing the Stone | Joan Wilder |
| 1985 | Meryl Streep | Out of Africa | Karen Blixen |
| 1986 | Sandrine Bonnaire | Vagabond (Sans toit ni loi) | Mona Bergeron |
| 1987 | Holly Hunter | Broadcast News | Jane Craig |
| 1987 | Sally Kirkland | Anna | Anna |
| 1988 | Christine Lahti | Running on Empty | Annie Pope / Cynthia Manfield |
| 1989 | Andie MacDowell | Sex, Lies, and Videotape | Ann Bishop Mullany |
| 1989 | Michelle Pfeiffer | The Fabulous Baker Boys | Susie Diamond |

### 1990s

| Year | Winner(s) | Film | Role |
| 1990 | Anjelica Huston | The Grifters | Lilly Dillon |
| 1990 | Anjelica Huston | The Witches | Miss Eva Ernst / The Grand High Witch |
| 1991 | Mercedes Ruehl | The Fisher King | Anne Napolitano |
| 1992 | Emma Thompson | Howards End | Margaret Schlegel |
| 1993 | Holly Hunter | The Piano | Ada McGrath |
| 1994 | Jessica Lange | Blue Sky | Carly Marshall |
| 1995 | Elisabeth Shue | Leaving Las Vegas | Sera |
| 1996 | Brenda Blethyn | Secrets & Lies | Cynthia Rose Purley |
| 1997 | Helena Bonham Carter | The Wings of the Dove | Kate Croy |
| 1998 | Fernanda Montenegro | Central Station (Central do Brasil) | Isadora "Dora" Teixeira |
| 1998 | Ally Sheedy | High Art | Lucy Berliner |
| 1999 | Hilary Swank | Boys Don't Cry | Brandon Teena |

### 2000s

| Year | Winner | Film | Role |
| 2000 | Julia Roberts | Erin Brockovich | Erin Brockovich |
| 2001 | Sissy Spacek | In the Bedroom | Ruth Fowler |
| 2002 | Julianne Moore | Far from Heaven | Cathy Whitaker |
| 2002 | Julianne Moore | The Hours | Laura McGrath Brown |
| 2003 | Naomi Watts | 21 Grams | Cristina Peck |
| 2004 | Imelda Staunton | Vera Drake | Vera Drake |
| 2005 | Vera Farmiga | Down to the Bone | Irene Morrison |
| 2006 | Helen Mirren | The Queen | Queen Elizabeth II |
| 2007 | Marion Cotillard | La Vie en Rose (La môme) | Édith Piaf |
| 2008 | Sally Hawkins | Happy-Go-Lucky | Pauline "Poppy" Cross |
| 2009 | Yolande Moreau | Séraphine | Séraphine Louis |

### 2010s

| Year | Winner(s) | Film | Role |
| 2010 | Kim Hye-ja | Mother | Mother |
| 2011 | Yoon Jeong-hee | Poetry | Yang Mi-ja |
| 2012 | Jennifer Lawrence | Silver Linings Playbook | Tiffany Maxwell |
| 2012 | Emmanuelle Riva | Amour | Anne Laurent |
| 2013 | Cate Blanchett | Blue Jasmine | Jeanette "Jasmine" Francis |
| 2013 | Adèle Exarchopoulos | Blue Is the Warmest Colour | Adèle |
| 2014 | Patricia Arquette | Boyhood | Olivia Evans |
| 2015 | Charlotte Rampling | 45 Years | Kate Mercer |
| 2016 | Isabelle Huppert | Elle | Michèle Leblanc |
| 2016 | Isabelle Huppert | Things to Come | Nathalie Chazeaux |
| 2017 | Sally Hawkins | The Shape of Water | Elisa Esposito |
| 2018 | Olivia Colman | The Favourite | Queen Anne |
| 2019 | Mary Kay Place | Diane | Diane |

### 2020s

| Year | Winner(s) | Film | Role |
| 2020 | Carey Mulligan | Promising Young Woman | Cassandra Thomas |
| 2021 | Penélope Cruz | Parallel Mothers | Janis Martinez |

## Multiple Winners
### 3 wins

* Meryl Streep (1981, 1982, 1985)

### 2 wins

* Sally Hawkins (2008, 2017)
* Holly Hunter (1987, 1993)
* Sissy Spacek (1980, 2001)