Best Lead Actress of the Year

Awarded to the actress deemed by Cosmo voters to have achieved the best performance in a leading role in an eligible film from the award year. Voters may use their own discretion in deciding whether to consider a particular role as either leading or supporting. It is possible for an actress to receive Lead Actress nominations for multiple films. It is also possible for an actress to receive both Lead and Supporting Actress nominations for the same film.

Best Lead Actress in a 2001 Film

Winner

  • Cate Blanchett – Bandits (2001)
  • Audrey Tautou – Amélie (2001)

Additional Nominees

  • Judi Dench – Iris (2001)
  • Nicole Kidman – Moulin Rouge (2001)
  • Nicole Kidman – The Others (2001)
  • Sissy Spacek – In the Bedroom (2001)
  • Renee Zellweger – Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)

Best Lead Actress in a 2002 Film

Winner

  • Julianne Moore – Far From Heaven (2002)

Additional Nominees

  • Nicole Kidman – The Hours (2002)
  • Diane Lane – Unfaithful (2002)
  • Meryl Streep – The Hours (2002)
  • Maura Tierney – Scotland, PA (2002)
  • Nia Vardalos – My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
  • Renee Zellweger – Chicago (2002)

Best Lead Actress in a 2003 Film

Winner

  • Charlize Theron – Monster (2003)

Additional Nominees

  • Sarah Bolger – In America (2003)
  • Charles Busch – Die, Mommie, Die! (2003)
  • Ellen Degeneres – Finding Nemo (2003)
  • Scarlett Johansson – Lost in Translation (2003)
  • Samantha Morton – In America (2003)
  • Naomi Watts – 21 Grams (2003)
  • Renee Zellweger – Down With Love (2003)

Best Lead Actress in a 2004 Film

Winner

  • Annette Bening – Being Julia (2004)

Additional Nominees

  • Natalie Portman – Closer (2004)
  • Natalie Portman – Garden State (2004)
  • Imelda Staunton – Vera Drake (2004)
  • Hilary Swank – Million Dollar Baby (2004)
  • Kate Winslet – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
  • Robin Wright – A Home at the End of the World (2004)

Best Lead Actress in a 2005 Film

Winner

  • Felicity Huffman – TransAmerica (2005)

Additional Nominees

  • Amy Adams – Junebug (2005)
  • Joan Allen – The Upside of Anger (2005)
  • Lisa Kudrow – Happy Endings (2005)
  • Reese Witherspoon – Walk the Line (2005)

Best Lead Actress in a 2006 Film

Winner

  • Helen Mirren – The Queen (2006)

Additional Nominees

  • Toni Collette – Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
  • Jennifer Hudson – Dreamgirls (2006)
  • Sook-Yin Lee – Shortbus (2006)
  • Meryl Streep – The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Best Lead Actress in a 2010 Film

Winner

  • Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right (2010)

Additional Nominees

  • Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole (2010)
  • Natalie Portman – Black Swan (2010)
  • Emma Stone – Easy A (2010)
  • Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine (2010)

Best Lead Actress in a 2012 Film

Winner

  • Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

Additional Nominees

  • Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
  • Marion Cotillard – Rust and Bone (2012)
  • Helen Mirren – Hitchcock (2012)
  • Quvenzhané Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

Best Lead Actress in a 2013 Film

Winner

  • Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine (2013)

Additional Nominees

  • Sandra Bullock – Gravity (2013)
  • Judi Dench – Philomena (2013)
  • Brie Larson – Short Term 12 (2013)
  • Meryl Streep – August: Osage County (2013)
  • Emma Thompson – Saving Mr. Banks (2013)

Best Lead Actress in a 2014 Film

Winner

  • Julianne Moore – Still Alice (2014)

Additional Nominees

  • Jennifer Aniston – Cake (2014)
  • Jessica Chastain – The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them (2014)
  • Essie Davis – The Babadook (2014)
  • Scarlett Johansson – Under the Skin (2014)
  • Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl (2014)

Best Lead Actress in a 2015 Film

Winner

  • Brie Larson – Room (2015)

Additional Nominees

  • Cate Blanchett – Carol (2015)
  • Jennifer Lawrence – Joy (2015)
  • Rooney Mara – Carol (2015)
  • Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn (2015)
  • Sarah Snook – Predestination (2015)

Best Lead Actress in a 2016 Film

Winner

  • Taraji P. Henson – Hidden Figures (2016)

Additional Nominees

  • Amy Adams – Arrival (2016)
  • Ruth Negga – Loving (2016)
  • Natalie Portman – Jackie (2016)
  • Emma Stone – La La Land (2016)
  • Meryl Streep – Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)

Best Lead Actress in a 2017 Film

Winner

  • Gal Gadot – Wonder Woman (2017)

Additional Nominees

  • Sally Hawkins – The Shape of Water (2017)
  • Frances McDormand – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
  • Margot Robbie – I, Tonya (2017)
  • Saoirse Ronan – Lady Bird (2017)
  • Daniela Vega – A Fantastic Woman (2017)

Best Lead Actress in a 2018 Film

Winner

  • Olivia Colman – The Favourite (2018)

Additional Nominees

  • Yalitza Aparicio – Roma (2018)
  • Glenn Close – The Wife (2018)
  • Toni Collette – Hereditary (2018)
  • Lady Gaga – A Star is Born (2018)
  • Melissa McCarthy – Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)

Best Lead Actress in a 2019 Film

Winner

  • Scarlett Johansson – Marriage Story

Additional Nominees

  • Awkwafina – The Farewell
  • Lupita Nyong’o – Us
  • Saoirse Ronan – Little Women
  • Charlize Theron – Bombshell
  • Renee Zellweger – Judy

Best Lead Actress in a 2020 Film

Winner

  • Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman

Additional Nominees

  • Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
  • Andra Day – The United States vs. Billie Holiday
  • Gal Gadot – Wonder Woman 1984
  • Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman
  • Frances McDormand – Nomadland

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