Silver Bear for Best Actress

The Silver Bear for Best Actress (German: Silberner Bär/Beste Darstellerin) is the Berlin International Film Festival's award for achievement in performance by an actress. It is selected by the jury of the festival for films in the official competition slate. 
The award was first presented in 1956, and can be for lead or supporting roles. The award was not presented in 1969, 1970, 1973, and 1974. Sachiko Hidari won the award for two films in the 1964 competition. In 2011, the award was given to the entire female cast of A Separation. Shirley MacLaine is the only actress that has won the award more than once.
==Award winners==
‡ - indicates the performance was also nominated for an Academy Award.thumb|150px|alt= photo of Elizabeth Taylor|Elizabeth Taylor, recipient of the 1972 Berlin Film Festival Award for Best Actress.
Year 	Actress 	Role 	Film 	Nationality of actress
1950s	1950s 	1950s 	1950s 	1950s
1956 	Elsa Martinelli 	Donatella 	Donatella 	Italy
1957 	Yvonne Mitchell 	Amy Preston 	Woman in a Dressing Gown 	United Kingdom
1958 	Anna Magnani 	Gioia ‡ 	Wild Is the Wind 	Italy
1959 	Shirley MacLaine 	Meg Wheeler 	Ask Any Girl 	United States
1960s	1960s 	1960s 	1960s 	1960s
1960 	Juliette Mayniel 	Annette 	The Fair 	France
1961 	Anna Karina 	Angela Récamier 	A Woman Is a Woman 	France
1962 	Rita Gam (Tie) 	Estelle Rigault 	No Exit 	United States
1962 	Viveca Lindfors (Tie) 	Inès Serrano 	No Exit 	Sweden
1963 	Bibi Andersson 	The Girl 	The Mistress 	Sweden
1964 	Sachiko Hidari 	Tome Matsuki / Naoko Ishikawa	The Insect Woman / She and He	Japan
1965 	Madhur Jaffrey 	Manjula 	Shakespeare Wallah 	India
1966 	Lola Albright 	Marie Greene 	Lord Love a Duck 	United States
1967 	Edith Evans 	Maggie Ross ‡ 	The Whisperers 	United Kingdom
1968 	Stéphane Audran 	Frédérique 	The Does 	France
1969 	No Award 	No Award 	No Award 	No Award
1970s	1970s 	1970s 	1970s 	1970s
1970 	No Award 	No Award 	No Award 	No Award
1971 	Simone Signoret (Tie) 	Clémence Bouin 	The Cat 	France
1971 	Shirley MacLaine (Tie) 	Sophie Bentwood 	Desperate Characters 	United States
1972 	Elizabeth Taylor 	Jimmie Jean Jackson 	Hammersmith Is Out 	United States
1973 	No Award 	No Award 	No Award 	No Award
1974 	No Award 	No Award 	No Award 	No Award
1975 	Kinuyo Tanaka 	Osaki Yamakawa 	Brothel No. 8 	Japan
1976 	Jadwiga Barańska 	Barbara Niechcic 	Nights and Days 	Poland
1977 	Lily Tomlin 	Margo Sperling 	The Late Show 	United States
1978 	Gena Rowlands 	Myrtle Gordon 	Opening Night 	United States
1979 	Hanna Schygulla 	Maria Braun 	The Marriage of Maria Braun 	West Germany
1980s	1980s 	1980s 	1980s 	1980s
1980 	Renate Krößner 	Ingrid “Sunny” Sommer 	Solo Sunny 	East Germany
1981 	Barbara Grabowska 	Kama 	Fever 	Poland
1982 	Katrin Saß 	Nina Kern 	Warranty for One Year 	East Germany
1983 	Yevgeniya Glushenko 	Vera Silkova 	I Love At Will 	Soviet Union
1984 	Inna Churikova (Tie) 	Vera 	Wartime Romance 	Soviet Union
1984 	Monica Vitti (Tie) 	Laura 	Flirt 	Italy
1985 	Jo Kennedy 	Mary 	Wrong World 	Australia
1986 	Charlotte Valandrey (Tie) 	Nadia 	Red Kiss 	France
1986 	Marcélia Cartaxo (Tie) 	Macabéa 	Hour of the Star 	Brazil
1987 	Ana Beatriz Nogueira 	Anderson / Vera Bauer 	Vera 	Brazil
1988 	Holly Hunter 	Jane Craig ‡ 	Broadcast News 	United States
1989 	Isabelle Adjani 	Camille Claudel ‡ 	Camille Claudel 	France
1990s	1990s 	1990s 	1990s 	1990s
1990 	No Award 	No Award 	No Award 	No Award
1991 	Victoria Abril 	Luisa 	Lovers 	Spain
1992 	Maggie Cheung 	Ruan Lingyu 	Center Stage 	Hong Kong
1993 	Michelle Pfeiffer 	Lurene Hallett ‡ 	Love Field 	United States
1994 	Crissy Rock 	Maggie Conlan 	Ladybird, Ladybird 	United Kingdom
1995 	Josephine Siao 	May Sun 	Summer Snow 	Hong Kong
1996 	Anouk Grinberg 	Marie Abarth 	My Man 	France
1997 	Juliette Binoche 	Hana ‡ 	The English Patient 	France
1998 	Fernanda Montenegro 	Isadora Teixeira ‡ 	Central Station 	Brazil
1999 	Juliane Köhler (Tie) 	Aimée 	Aimée & Jaguar 	Germany
1999 	Maria Schrader (Tie) 	Jaguar 	Aimée & Jaguar 	Germany
2000s	2000s 	2000s 	2000s 	2000s
2000 	Bibiana Beglau (Tie) 	Rita Vogt 	The Legend of Rita 	Germany
2000 	Nadja Uhl (Tie) 	Tatjana 	The Legend of Rita 	Germany
2001 	Kerry Fox 	Claire 	Intimacy 	New Zealand
2002 	Halle Berry 	Leticia Musgrove ‡ 	Monster's Ball 	United States
2003 	Nicole Kidman (Tie) 	Virginia Woolf ‡ 	The Hours 	US / Australia
2003 	Julianne Moore (Tie) 	Laura Brown ‡ 	The Hours 	United States
2003 	Meryl Streep (Tie) 	Clarissa Vaughn 	The Hours 	United States
2004 	Charlize Theron (Tie) 	Aileen Wournos ‡ 	Monster 	South Africa
2004 	Catalina Sandino Moreno (Tie)	María Álvarez ‡ 	Maria Full of Grace 	Colombia
2005 	Julia Jentsch 	Sophie Scholl 	Sophie Scholl – The Final Days	Germany
2006 	Sandra Hüller 	Michaela Klingler 	Requiem 	Germany
2007 	Nina Hoss 	Yella Fichte 	Yella 	Germany
2008 	Sally Hawkins 	Pauline "Poppy" Cross 	Happy-Go-Lucky 	United Kingdom
2009 	Birgit Minichmayr 	Gitti 	Everyone Else 	Austria
2010s	2010s 	2010s 	2010s 	2010s
2010 	Shinobu Terajima 	Shigeko Kurokawa 	Caterpillar 	Japan
2011 	Leila Hatami (Tie) 	Simin 	A Separation 	Iran
2011 	Sareh Bayat (Tie) 	Razieh 	A Separation 	Iran
2011 	Sarina Farhadi (Tie) 	Termeh 	A Separation 	Iran
2011 	Kimia Hosseini (Tie) 	Somayeh 	A Separation 	Iran
2012 	Rachel Mwanza 	Komona 	War Witch 	Democratic Republic of the Congo
2013 	Paulina García 	Gloria Cumplido 	Gloria 	Chile
2014 	Haru Kuroki 	Taki Nunomiya 	The Little House 	Japan
2015 	Charlotte Rampling 	Kate Mercer ‡ 	45 Years 	UK / France
2016 	Trine Dyrholm 	Anna 	The Commune 	Denmark
2017 	Kim Min-hee 	Young-hee 	On the Beach at Night Alone 	South Korea
2018 	Ana Brun 	Chela 	The Heiresses 	Paraguay
==See also==
* Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress
* Volpi Cup for Best Actress
==External links==
*Berlinale website
* Berlin Film Festival at IMDb
* 2010 winner at hollywoodreporter.com, accessed 6-27-2015
*
Category:Film awards for lead actress