The Academy Award for best actress is an annual honor presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It recognizes the actress in a leading role who delivered the most outstanding performance in a movie of a given year, as determined by the Academy’s voting members. The winner receives a gold-plated statuette known as an Oscar. The award was first presented in 1929 at the inaugural Academy Awards ceremony, which recognized work in films from 1927–28.
Katharine Hepburn has earned the most Oscars in this category, with four wins. Meryl Streep holds the record for the most best actress nominations, with 17.