Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress
The Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually at the Hong Kong Film Awards. It is given to honour an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a Hong Kong film. The 1st Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony was held in 1982, with no formal nomination procedure established; the award was given to Kara Hui for her role in My Young Auntie. After the first award ceremony, a nomination system was put in place whereby no more than five nominations are made for each category and each entry is selected through two rounds of voting. Firstly, prospective nominees are marked with a weight of 50% each from HKFA voters and a hundred professional adjudicators, contributing towards a final score with which the top five nominees advance to the second round of voting. The winner is then selected via a scoring process where 55% of the vote comes from 55 professional adjudicators, 25% from representatives of the Hong Kong Performing Artistes Guild and 20% from all other HKFA Executive Committee Members.
Maggie Cheung holds the title of the most awards received having been honoured on five separate occasions. Sylvia Chang holds the record for the most nominated actress with ten nominations. Since its inception, 81 actresses have been nominated for the award with 26 actresses winning at least one of the 36 awards.
Winners and nominees
In the following table award nominees are listed by year corresponding to the Hong Kong Film Awards' annual presentation ceremony. At the first incarnation of the ceremony in 1982 awards were presented to winners with no nominees selected. Thereafter, the winner is chosen from a list of nominees from the chosen category.was the first to win the award for her role in My Young Auntie.|alt=Photo of Kara Hui at the world premiere of the Hong Kong film Happiness in 2015.
won the award five times for her roles in A Fishy Story, Center Stage, , The Soong Sisters and In the Mood for Love.|alt=Photo of Maggie Cheung at Shanghai movie festival in 2007.
was nominated for her role in Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain as well as on three other occasions.|alt=Photo of Brigitte at the 2008 Dubai International Film Festival.
won in 1998 for Portland Street Blues.|alt=Photo of Sandra Ng in Bangkok 2007.
was nominated for her roles in Chungking Express and Chinese Odyssey 2002.|alt=Photo of Faye Wong in Kuala Lumpur 2011.
won in 2002 for Forever and Ever.|alt=Photo of Sylvia Chang at Hong Kong International Film Festival 2011.
won in 2004 for Lost in Time.|alt=Photo of Cecilia Cheung in 2012.
won in 2005 for 2046 and in 2014 for The Grandmaster.|alt=Photo of Zhang ziyi at Cabourg Film Festival in 2014.
won in 2006 for Perhaps Love.|alt=Photo of Zhou Xun at CCTV-MTV music award ceremony in Beijing in July 2002.
was nominated for her roles in The God of Cookery and Wait 'til You're Older.|alt=Photo of Faye Wong in Kuala Lumpur 2011.
won in 2008 for Curse of the Golden Flower.|alt=Photo of Gong Li at Cannes Film Festival in 2011.
was nominated for the award in both 2010 and 2012.|alt=Photo of Shu Qi at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.
was nominated in 2012 for her role in Don't Go Breaking My Heart|alt=Photo of Gao Yuanyuan in Seoul 2011.
won in 2012 for A Simple Life.|alt=Photo of Karen Mok in Taipei 2007.
won in 2013 for Love in the Buff.|alt=Photo of Miriam Yeung at SINA Music 2006.
won in 2015 for her role in Dearest.|alt=Photo of Zhao Wei at the Huabiao Awards in 2007.
was nominated in 2016 for her role in A Tale of Three Cities|alt=Photo of Gao Yuanyuan at China the art of life,11 December 2013.
won in 2017 for her role in Tomorrow Is Another Day.|alt=Photo of Zhou Dongyu.
won in 2020 for her role in Better Days.|alt=Photo of Teresa Mo.
| Indicates the winner |
Multiple wins and nominations
The following individuals received two or more Best Actress awards:| Wins | Actress | Years |
| 5 | Maggie Cheung | 1990, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2001 |
| 3 | Kara Wai | 1982, 2010, 2017 |
| 2 | Anita Yuen | 1994, 1995 |
| 2 | Cecilia Yip | 1984, 1992 |
| 2 | Josephine Siao | 1988, 1996 |
| 2 | Siqin Gaowa | 1985, 2008 |
| 2 | Sylvia Chang | 1987, 2002 |
| 2 | Ziyi Zhang | 2005, 2014 |
The following individuals received five or more Best Actress nominations:
| Nominations | Actress |
| 10 | Sylvia Chang |
| 9 | Maggie Cheung |
| 9 | Sammi Cheng |
| 7 | Zhou Xun |
| 6 | Carina Lau |
| 6 | Karena Lam |
| 6 | Tang Wei |
| 5 | Anita Mui |
| 5 | Josephine Siao |
| 5 | Sandra Ng |