| BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role | |
| Awarded For: | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role |
| Presenter: | British Academy of Film and Television Arts |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Image Upright: | 0.7 |
| Holder: | Emma Stone for Poor Things (2023) |
| Website: | http://www.bafta.org/ |
Best Actress in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.
In the following lists, the titles and names in bold with a gold background are the winners and recipients respectively; those not in bold are the nominees. The years given are those in which the films under consideration were released, not the year of the ceremony, which always takes place the following year.
| Year | Actress | Film | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frances McDormand | Nomadland | Fern | |
| Bukky Bakray | Rocks | Olushola "Rocks" Omotoso | |
| Radha Blank | The Forty-Year-Old Version | Radha Blank | |
| Vanessa Kirby | Pieces of a Woman | Martha Weiss | |
| Wunmi Mosaku | His House | Rial Majur | |
| Alfre Woodard | Clemency | Bernardine Williams | |
| Joanna Scanlan | After Love | Mary Hussain | |
| Lady Gaga | House of Gucci | Patrizia Reggiani | |
| Alana Haim | Licorice Pizza | Alana Kane | |
| Emilia Jones | CODA | Ruby Rossi | |
| Renate Reinsve | The Worst Person in the World | Julie | |
| Tessa Thompson | Passing | Irene Redfield | |
| Cate Blanchett | Tár | Lydia Tár | |
| Viola Davis | The Woman King | General Nanisca | |
| Danielle Deadwyler | Till | Mamie Till | |
| Ana de Armas | Blonde | Marilyn Monroe | |
| Emma Thompson | Good Luck to You, Leo Grande | Nancy Stokes / Susan Robinson | |
| Michelle Yeoh | Everything Everywhere All at Once | Evelyn Quan Wang | |
| Emma Stone | Poor Things | Bella Baxter | |
| Fantasia Barrino | The Color Purple | Celie Harris-Johnson | |
| Sandra Huller | Anatomy of a Fall | Sandra Voyter | |
| Carey Mulligan | Maestro | Felicia Montealegre | |
| Vivian Oparah | Rye Lane | Yas | |
| Margot Robbie | Barbie | Barbie | |
| Superlative | Best Actress in a Leading Role | Best Supporting Actress | Overall (including Most Promising Newcomer) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Actress with most awards | Maggie Smith | 4 | Judi Dench | 3 | Judi Dench | 6 | |
| Actress with most British Actress Awards (until 1967) | Audrey Hepburn | 3 | — | — | Audrey Hepburn | 3 | |
| Actress with most Foreign Actress Awards (until 1967) | Simone Signoret | 3 | — | — | Simone Signoret | 3 | |
| Actress with most nominations | Meryl Streep | 12 | Judi Dench | 9 | Judi Dench Meryl Streep | 15 | |
| Actress with most British Actress Award nominations (until 1967) | Audrey Hepburn | 5 | — | — | Audrey Hepburn | 5 | |
| Actress with most Foreign Actress Award nominations (until 1967) | Simone Signoret | 6 | — | — | Simone Signoret | 6 | |
A: Rules from the 1960s to the 1970s allowed for a performer to receive a single citation which could honor their work in more than one film. Shirley MacLaine, Julie Andrews, Julie Christie, Bibi Andersson, Katharine Hepburn, Barbra Streisand, Katharine Ross, Goldie Hawn, and Stéphane Audran were all nominated for their roles in two different films in the same category, while Mia Farrow was nominated for three films.
B: Elliot Page was nominated before his gender transition in 2020.[3]
C: Emmanuelle Riva and Marion Cotillard both received nominations for French-speaking roles. It was the first time that multiple foreign-language performances were nominated for Best Actress in the same year since separate Best Foreign Actress and Best British Actress awards were folded into a single category in 1968.