Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead | |
Presenter: | Independent Spirit Awards |
Year: | Geraldine Page The Trip to Bountiful (1986) |
Year2: | Taylour Paige Zola (2021) |
The Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead was one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards to honor an actress who has delivered an outstanding lead performance in an independent film. It was first presented in 1985 with Geraldine Page being the first recipient of the award for her role as Carrie Watts in The Trip to Bountiful. It was last presented in 2022 with Taylour Paige being the final recipient of the award for her role in Zola.
In 2022, it was announced that the four acting categories would be retired and replaced with two gender neutral categories, with both Best Male Lead and Best Female Lead merging into the Best Lead Performance category.[1]
With two wins, Frances McDormand and Julianne Moore are the most awarded females in this category, while with 4 nominations Michelle Williams is the most nominated female in this category.
Year | Actress | Film | Role |
---|---|---|---|
1985 [2] | Geraldine Page | The Trip to Bountiful | Carrie Watts |
After Hours | Marcy Franklin | ||
Smooth Talk | Connie Wyatt | ||
Trouble in Mind | Georgia | ||
1986 | Isabella Rossellini | Blue Velvet | Dorothy Vallens |
Salvador | María | ||
Desert Hearts | Cay Rivvers | ||
Blue Velvet | Sandy Williams | ||
She's Gotta Have It | Nola Darling | ||
1987 | Sally Kirkland | Anna | Anna |
The Whales of August | Sarah Webber | ||
Tough Guys Don't Dance | Patty Lareine | ||
Working Girls | Molly | ||
The Glass Menagerie | Amanda Wingfield | ||
1988 | Jodie Foster | Five Corners | Linda |
Hairspray | Tracy Turnblad | ||
The Wash | Masi Matsumoto | ||
Mystic Pizza | Daisy Arujo | ||
Promised Land | Bev Sykes | ||
1989 | Andie MacDowell | Sex, Lies, and Videotape | Ann Bishop Mullany |
Mystery Train | Mitsuko | ||
Drugstore Cowboy | Dianne | ||
Heathers | Veronica Sawyer | ||
True Love | Donna |
Year | Actress | Film | Role |
---|---|---|---|
2010 [13] | Natalie Portman | Black Swan | Nina Sayers |
The Kids Are All Right | Nicole "Nic" Allgood | ||
Greenberg | Florence Marr | ||
Rabbit Hole | Becca Corbett | ||
Winter's Bone | Ree Dolly | ||
Blue Valentine | Cindy Heller | ||
2011 [14] | Michelle Williams | My Week with Marilyn | Marilyn Monroe |
About Sunny | Angela | ||
Natural Selection | Linda White | ||
Pariah | Alike | ||
Martha Marcy May Marlene | Martha | ||
2012 [15] | Jennifer Lawrence | Silver Linings Playbook | Tiffany Maxwell |
Return | Kelli | ||
Middle of Nowhere | Ruby | ||
Beasts of the Southern Wild | Hushpuppy | ||
Smashed | Kate Hannah | ||
2013 [16] | Cate Blanchett | Blue Jasmine | Jeanette "Jasmine" Francis |
Before Midnight | Céline Wallace | ||
Crystal Fairy | Crystal Fairy | ||
Short Term 12 | Grace Howard | ||
The Spectacular Now | Aimee Finecky | ||
2014 [17] | Julianne Moore | Still Alice | Dr. Alice Howland |
The Immigrant | Ewa Cybulska | ||
Kumiko: The Treasure Hunter | Kumiko | ||
Obvious Child | Donna Stern | ||
Only Lovers Left Alive | Eve | ||
2015 [18] | Brie Larson | Room | Joy "Ma" Newsome |
Carol | Carol Aird | ||
Therese Belivet | |||
The Diary of a Teenage Girl | Minnie Goetze | ||
Tangerine | Sin-Dee Rella | ||
2016 [19] | Isabelle Huppert | Elle | Michèle Leblanc |
20th Century Women | Dorothea Fields | ||
American Honey | Star | ||
Loving | |||
Jackie | |||
2017 [20] | Frances McDormand | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri | Mildred Hayes |
Beatriz at Dinner | Beatriz | ||
I, Tonya | |||
Lady Bird | Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson | ||
Oh Lucy! | Setsuko Kawashima / Lucy | ||
Regina Williams | Life and Nothing More | Regina | |
2018 [21] | Glenn Close | The Wife | Joan Castleman |
Hereditary | Annie Graham | ||
Eighth Grade | Kayla Day | ||
Support the Girls | Lisa Conroy | ||
Madeline's Madeline | Madeline | ||
Wildlife | Jeanette Brinson | ||
2019 [22] | Renée Zellweger | Judy | Judy Garland |
Colewell | Nora Pancowski | ||
Driveways | Kathy | ||
Her Smell | Becky Something | ||
Diane | Diane | ||
Clemency | Warden Bernadine Williams | ||
Year | Actress | Film | Role |
---|---|---|---|
2020 [23] [24] | Carey Mulligan | Promising Young Woman | Cassandra "Cassie" Thomas |
Miss Juneteenth | Turquoise Jones | ||
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom | |||
Never Rarely Sometimes Always | Autumn Callahan | ||
The Assistant | Jane | ||
Nomadland | Fern | ||
2021 [25] | Taylour Paige | Zola | Aziah "Zola" King |
Isabelle Fuhrman | The Novice | Alex Dall | |
Brittany S. Hall | Test Pattern | Renesha | |
Patti Harrison | Together Together | Anna Caper | |
Kali Reis | Catch the Fair One | Kaylee |