AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
The AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role is an award presented by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts, a non-profit organisation whose aim is to "identify, award, promote, and celebrate Australia's greatest achievements in film and television".
The award is presented annually at the AACTA Awards, which hands out accolades for achievements in feature films, television, documentaries, and short films. From 1971–2010, the category was presented by the Australian Film Institute, the Academy's parent organisation, at the annual Australian Film Institute Awards. When the AFI launched the AACTA in 2011, it changed the annual ceremony to the AACTA Awards, with the current award being a continuum of the AFI Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
From 1971–1975, it was presented as a special award, and was accompanied with a cash prize, before it became a competitive award from 1976 onward. Judy Davis is the most nominated actress in this category, with eight nominations, including five wins, most recently for her role in The Eye of the Storm.
Candidates for this award must be human and female, and cannot be nominated for the same role in the supporting actress category.
Winners and nominees
In the following table, the years listed correspond to the year of film release; the ceremonies are usually held the same year. The actress in bold and in dark blue background have received a special award; those in bold and in yellow background have won a regular competitive award. Those that are neither highlighted nor in bold are the nominees. When sorted chronologically, the table always lists the winning actress first and then the other nominees.is the most awarded and nominated actress in this category.
AFI Awards
1970s
| Year | Actor | Film | Character |
| 1971 | Monica Maughan | A City's Child | Woman |
| 1972 | Jacki Weaver | Stork | Anna |
| 1973 | Judy Morris | Libido: The Child | Sybil |
| 1974–75 | Julie Dawson | Who Killed Jenny Langby? | Jenny Langby |
| 1976 | Helen Morse | Caddie | Caddie Marsh |
| 1976 | Briony Behets | The Trespassers | Penny |
| 1976 | Helen Morse | Picnic at Hanging Rock | Mlle. de Poitiers |
| 1976 | Judy Morris | The Trespassers | Dee |
| 1977 | Pat Bishop | Don's Party | Jenny |
| 1977 | Jeanie Drynan | Don's Party | Kath Henderson |
| 1977 | Sara Kestelman | Break of Day | Alice |
| 1977 | Robyn Nevin | The Fourth Wish | Connie |
| 1978 | Angela Punch McGregor | The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith | Gilda Marshall |
| 1978 | Geraldine Fitzgerald | The Mango Tree | Grandma Carr |
| 1978 | Wendy Hughes | Newsfront | Amy Mackenzie |
| 1978 | Kim Krejus | Mouth to Mouth | Carrie |
| 1979 | Michele Fawdon | Cathy's Child | Cathy |
| 1979 | Ruth Cracknell | The Night the Prowler | Doris Bannister |
| 1979 | Judy Davis | My Brilliant Career | Sybylla Melvyn |
| 1979 | Sigrid Thornton | Snapshot | Angela |