Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress

The Best Actress Award (French: Prix d'interprétation féminine) is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival since 1946. It is given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance and chosen by the jury from the films in official competition slate at the festival.

At the 1st Cannes Film Festival held in 1946, Michèle Morgan was the first winner of this award for her performance in Pastoral Symphony, while Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, and Zoe Saldaña are the most recent winners in this category for their roles in Emilia Pérez at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in 2024.

History

The award was first presented in 1946. The prize was not awarded on three occasions (1947, 1953, and 1954). The festival was not held at all in 1948, 1950, and 2020. In 1968, no awards were given as the festival was called off mid-way due to the May 1968 events in France.

On five occasions, the jury has awarded multiple women (more than 2) the prize for one film. The five films were A Big Family (1955), Brink of Life (1958), A World Apart (1988), Volver (2006), and Emilia Pérez (2024).

Vanessa Redgrave, Barbara Hershey, Helen Mirren, and Isabelle Huppert have won the most awards in this category, each winning twice. Hershey is the only actress to win the award in consecutive years, for Shy People (1987) and A World Apart (1988).

Isabelle Adjani is the only actress to win for roles in two different films in the same competition, for her performances in Possession and Quartet in 1981.

The award can be for lead or supporting roles, with the exception of the period from 1979 to 1981, when the festival used to award a separate "Best Supporting Actress" prize. The jury also, on occasion, cites actresses with a special citation that is separate from the main award.