Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
	The 2025 recipient: Zoe Saldaña
Awarded for	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Country	United States
Presented by	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)
First award	March 4, 1937 (for films released in 1936)
Most recent winner	Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez (2024)
Most awards	Dianne Wiest and Shelley Winters (2)
Most nominations	Thelma Ritter (6)
Website	oscars.org

The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 9th Academy Awards to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role in a film released that year. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's Best Supporting Actor winner. However, in recent years, it has shifted towards being presented by previous years’ Best Supporting Actress winners instead. In lieu of the traditional Oscar statuette, supporting acting recipients were given plaques up until the 16th Academy Awards,^[1] when statuettes were awarded to each category instead.^[2]

The Best Supporting Actress award has been presented a total of 89 times, to 87 actresses. The first winner was Gale Sondergaard for her role in Anthony Adverse (1936). The most recent winner is Zoe Saldaña for her role in Emilia Pérez (2024).^[3] The record for most wins is two, held jointly by Dianne Wiest and Shelley Winters. Each other recipient has only won once, in this category. Thelma Ritter has received the most nominations in the category, with six—although she never won. Hattie McDaniel made history in 1940, when she became the first person of color to win an Oscar in any category, for Gone with the Wind (1939).^[4] Tatum O'Neal remains the youngest person to win a competitive acting Oscar at 10 years old, for Paper Moon (1973). With five minutes and two seconds of screentime, Beatrice Straight's performance in Network (1976) holds the record for the shortest to win an Oscar.^[5]

^ Kinn & Piazza 2014, pp. 39–67
^ Dirks, Tim. "1943 Academy Awards Winners and History". Filmsite. Rainbow Media. Archived from the original on July 16, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
^ "Rule One: Award Definitions" (PDF). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 21, 2014. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
^ Richmond, Ray (February 15, 2023). "Oscar Flashback: In 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first African American winner. But she had to accept her award in a 'No Blacks' hotel". GoldDerby. Archived from the original on December 3, 2023. Retrieved December 3, 2023. Yet despite the undeniable progress inherent in McDaniel's triumph, that night 83 years ago was rife with racist and humiliating overtones for McDaniel, the daughter of two former slaves. It began months before with her being barred from the Gone with the Wind world premiere on December 15, 1939, at the Loew's Grand Theater on Peachtree Street in Atlanta. Star Clark Gable had threatened to boycott the event unless McDaniel were allowed to attend, but she convinced him to go, anyway, while she stayed away, a victim of Georgia's strict segregation laws of the time.
^ Stewart, Matthew (March 28, 1977). "Oscar Winners — Supporting Actress (Time vs. Percentage)". ScreenTime Central. Retrieved March 7, 2025.

[Plaques-1] Kinn & Piazza 2014, pp. 39–67

[2] Dirks, Tim. "1943 Academy Awards Winners and History". Filmsite. Rainbow Media. Archived from the original on July 16, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2023.

[3] "Rule One: Award Definitions" (PDF). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 21, 2014. Retrieved August 30, 2013.

[hattie-4] Richmond, Ray (February 15, 2023). "Oscar Flashback: In 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first African American winner. But she had to accept her award in a 'No Blacks' hotel". GoldDerby. Archived from the original on December 3, 2023. Retrieved December 3, 2023. Yet despite the undeniable progress inherent in McDaniel's triumph, that night 83 years ago was rife with racist and humiliating overtones for McDaniel, the daughter of two former slaves. It began months before with her being barred from the Gone with the Wind world premiere on December 15, 1939, at the Loew's Grand Theater on Peachtree Street in Atlanta. Star Clark Gable had threatened to boycott the event unless McDaniel were allowed to attend, but she convinced him to go, anyway, while she stayed away, a victim of Georgia's strict segregation laws of the time.

[shortest-5] Stewart, Matthew (March 28, 1977). "Oscar Winners — Supporting Actress (Time vs. Percentage)". ScreenTime Central. Retrieved March 7, 2025.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]