# Silver Shell for Best Actress

The Silver Shell for Best Actress (Spanish: Concha de Plata a la mejor actriz; Basque: Aktore onenaren Zilarrezko Maskorra) was one of the main awards presented at the San Sebastián International Film Festival to the Best Actress of a competing film. The last of this award was given out in 2020, after which it was replaced with a gender-neutral Silver Shell for Best Leading Performance and Silver Shell for Best Supporting Performance the following year.

## Winners

| Year | Actress | Film Title |
| 1953 | Julita Martínez | There's a Road on the Right |
| 1954 | Marisa de Leza | La patrulla |
| 1956 | Luisa Della Noce | The Railroad Man |
| 1957 | Giulietta Masina | Nights of Cabiria |
| 1958 | Jacqueline Sassard | March's Child |
| 1959 | Audrey Hepburn | The Nun's Story |
| 1960 | Joanne Woodward | The Fugitive Kind |
| 1961 | Pina Pellicer | One-Eyed Jacks |
| 1962 | Anne Bancroft | The Miracle Worker |
| 1963 | Lee Remick | Days of Wine and Roses |
| 1964 | Ava Gardner | The Night of the Iguana |
| 1965 | Lilli Palmer | Operation Crossbow |
| 1966 | Evangelina Salazar | Arm in Arm Down the Street |
| 1967 | Serena Vergano | A Love Story |
| 1968 | Monica Vitti | The Girl with the Pistol |
| 1969 | Stefania Sandrelli | L'amante di Gramigna |
| 1969 | Ludmila Tchoursina | Zhuravusha |
| 1970 | Stéphane Audran | Le Boucher |
| 1971 | Graciela Borges | Crónica de una Señora |
| 1972 | Mia Farrow | Follow Me! |
| 1973 | Glenda Jackson | A Touch of Class |
| 1973 | Françoise Fabian | La bonne année |
| 1974 | Sophia Loren | The Voyage |
| 1975 | Gena Rowlands | A Woman Under the Influence |
| 1976 | Helen Morse | Caddie |
| 1977 | Katherine Hunter | The Girl's War |
| 1978 | Carol Burnett | A Wedding |
| 1979 | Laura Betti | Il piccolo Archimede |
| 1985 | Mercedes Sampietro | Extramuros |
| 1986 | Angela Molina | Half of Heaven |
| 1987 | Victoria Abril | El Lute (Run for Your Life) |
| 1988 | Cipe Lincovski | The Girlfriend |
| 1988 | Liv Ullmann | The Girlfriend |
| 1989 | Mirjana Jokovic | Eversmile, New Jersey |
| 1990 | Margherita Buy | The Week of the Sphinx |
| 1991 | Deborra-Lee Furness | Waiting |
| 1991 | Noni Hazlehurst | Waiting |
| 1991 | Helen Jones | Waiting |
| 1991 | Fiona Press | Waiting |
| 1992 | Krystyna Janda | Zwolnieni z zycia |
| 1993 | Niki Karimi | Sara |
| 1994 | Ning Jing | Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker |
| 1995 | Victoria Abril | Nobody Will Speak of Us When We're Dead |
| 1996 | Norma Aleandro | Autumn Sun |
| 1997 | Julie Christie | Afterglow |
| 1998 | Jeanne Balibar | Late August, Early September |
| 1999 | Aitana Sánchez-Gijón | Volavérunt |
| 2000 | Carmen Maura | La Comunidad |
| 2001 | Pilar López de Ayala | Mad Love |
| 2002 | Mercedes Sampietro | Common Ground |
| 2003 | Laia Marull | Take My Eyes |
| 2004 | Connie Nielsen | Brødre |
| 2005 | Ana Geislerová | Something Like Happiness |
| 2006 | Nathalie Baye | Mon fils à moi |
| 2007 | Blanca Portillo | Seven Billiard Tables |
| 2008 | Melissa Leo | Frozen River |
| 2008 | Tsilla Chelton | Pandora's Box |
| 2009 | Lola Dueñas | Me Too |
| 2010 | Nora Navas | Black Bread |
| 2011 | María León | The Sleeping Voice |
| 2012 | Macarena Garcia | Blancanieves |
| 2012 | Katie Coseni | Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang |
| 2013 | Marian Álvarez | Wounded |
| 2014 | Paprika Steen | Silent Heart |
| 2015 | Yordanka Ariosa | The King of Havana |
| 2016 | Fan Bingbing | I Am Not Madam Bovary |
| 2017 | Sofia Gala Castiglione | Alanis |
| 2018 | Pia Tjelta | Blind Spot |
| 2019 | Greta Fernández | A Thief's Daughter |
| 2019 | Nina Hoss | The Audition |
| 2020 | Ia Sukhitashvili | Beginning |