The Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama is presented annually at the Golden Globe Awards ceremony. The ceremony is conducted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) that is formed of reporters and photographers, who cover the US showbiz for publications predominantly in non-American media markets. This accolade is conferred to honor best performance in a lead female role of a drama film, thus adding a feather on the recipient’s cap, bringing more recognition, prestige and visibility to her work.

The Hollywood Foreign Correspondent Association (HFCA), predecessor of HFPA, launched the Golden Globe Awards ceremony to honor excellence in the film industry. The six original categories of the ceremony included the Best Actress in a Leading Role category. American actress Jennifer Jones received the first Best Actress in a Leading Role award for her outstanding performance in the titular role of Bernadette Soubirous in the American biographical drama film The Song of Bernadette (1943) during the 1944 held 1st Golden Globe Awards ceremony. In 1951, the association divided the category into two genres, Drama and Musical or Comedy, in order to take note of and recognize acting caliber of lead actresses in both the genres and presented the two separate categories, namely Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama and Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy that year during the 8th Golden Globe Awards event. American actress Gloria Swanson became first recipient of the Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama award for her splendid performance as former silent-film star Norma Desmond in the American black comedy film noir Sunset Boulevard (1950). The category was officially called Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama in 2005 and since 2013, it is known as Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama.

French film actress Anouk Aimée bagged the award in 1967 for her role of Anne Gauthier in the French romantic drama A Man and a Woman (1966) and with this emerged as the first actress who was honored with the accolade for a foreign language/non-English language performance. In 1986, American actor, comedian, television personality and author Whoopi Goldberg was presented with the award for her film breakthrough role of Celie, in the American epic coming-of-age period drama The Color Purple (1985), and with this she became the first actress of African descent to achieve such feat. The following year, Marlee Matlin earned the award as the first deaf actress for playing Sarah Norman in her debut film Children of a Lesser God (1986), an American romantic drama. The 46th Golden Globe Awards, held in 1989, had a little twist that witnessed three actresses namely Jodie Foster (for The Accused), Sigourney Weaver (for Gorillas in the Mist) and Shirley MacLaine (for Madame Sousatzka) winning the Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama award, marking the only three-way tie that occurred in the event’s history.

Accomplished actresses Ingrid Bergman, Meryl Streep, Jane Fonda and Cate Blanchett won the award thrice, of whom each of the former three won two awards in a row. Streep holds the record of garnering most nominations in the category with 14. Other thespians who won the award twice include Nicole Kidman, Jodie Foster, Jane Wyman, Sally Field, Hilary Swank, Shirley MacLaine, Joanne Woodward, Geraldine Page (consecutive) and Rosalind Russell (consecutive).

List of Winners Golden Globe Award Best Actress Motion Picture Drama

Year

Winner

1943

 Jennifer Jones

1944

 Ingrid Bergman

1945

 Ingrid Bergman

1946

 Rosalind Russell

1947

 Rosalind Russell

1948

 Jane Wyman

1949

 Olivia de Havilland

1950

 Gloria Swanson

1951

 Jane Wyman

1952

 Shirley Booth

1953

 Audrey Hepburn

1954

 Grace Kelly

1955

 Anna Magnani

1956

 Ingrid Bergman

1957

 Joanne Woodward

1958

 Susan Hayward

1959

 Elizabeth Taylor

1960

 Greer Garson

1961

 Geraldine Page

1962

 Geraldine Page

1963

 Leslie Caron

1964

 Anne Bancroft

1965

 Samantha Eggar

1966

 Anouk Aimée

1967

 Edith Evans

1968

 Joanne Woodward

1969

 Geneviève Bujold

1970

 Ali MacGraw

1971

 Jane Fonda

1972

 Liv Ullmann

1973

 Marsha Mason

1974

 Gena Rowlands

1975

 Louise Fletcher

1976

 Faye Dunaway

1977

 Jane Fonda

1978

 Jane Fonda

1979

 Sally Field

1980

 Mary Tyler Moore

1981

 Meryl Streep

1982

 Meryl Streep

1983

 Shirley MacLaine

1984

 Sally Field

1985

 Whoopi Goldberg

1986

 Marlee Matlin

1987

 Sally Kirkland

1988

 Jodie Foster/ Sigourney Weaver/ Shirley MacLaine

1989

 Michelle Pfeiffer

1990

 Kathy Bates

1991

 Jodie Foster

1992

 Emma Thompson

1993

 Holly Hunter

1994

 Jessica Lange

1995

 Sharon Stone

1996

 Brenda Blethyn

1997

 Judi Dench

1998

 Cate Blanchett

1999

 Hilary Swank

2000

 Julia Roberts

2001

 Sissy Spacek

2002

 Nicole Kidman

2003

 Charlize Theron

2004

 Hilary Swank

2005

 Felicity Huffman

2006

 Helen Mirren

2007

 Julie Christie

2008

 Kate Winslet

2009

 Sandra Bullock