#30. Liza Minnelli
Everyone knew that Liza Minnelli could sing, but when she starred in Cabaret in 1972, she finally gained recognition for her acting. Her performance as Sally Bowles was beyond incredible, and she perfectly captured the pain her character was going through in the movie.
Her voice and the incredible show tunes add an extra bonus to the overall magnificent piece of cinema that was Cabaret, but Minnelli's acting was more than enough to carry the whole movie.
#29. Anna Magnani
Anna Magnani broke into American cinema with her flawless performance as Serafina Delle Rose in The Rose Tattoo, a wonderful film about how a widow deals with the loss of her husband.
It is said that Tennessee Williams, who wrote the play on which the film was based, thought about Magnani when writing the character of Serafina, and even if that is not true, it does seem like it. The character fits her like a glove, and it is a pleasure to see her on screen.
#28. Olivia De Havilland
Olivia de Havilland had many great performances during her career and won two Academy Awards to prove it. The superior performance was without a doubt her role as Catherine Sloper in The Heiress in 1949.
She brought a character who does not know whether to side with her father or with her boyfriend to life, and seeing her go from a shy, dull girl to a brave, independent woman throughout the film is an amazing thing to see.
#27. Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1964 for her role as Mary Poppins, an iconic character if there ever was one. She captivated all kinds of audiences with her smile, her voice, and a touch of the Disney magic we all know and love.
She played an intricate part in many people's childhoods and the film will never be forgotten. Nobody deserved the award that year more than her, for sure. Andrews not only showed her great acting skills, but also her singing talent.
#26. Julianne Moore
After a long and impeccable career in Hollywood and three Oscar nominations, Julianne Moore finally won the prestigious award in 2014 for her performance in Still Alice.
The movie follows the character of Alice, played by Moore, as she deals with the news that she has Alzheimer's disease and comes to terms with it. It is heart-wrenching, emotional, and beautiful at the same time, and all thanks to Moore.
#25. Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor was nominated a total of five times and won the Academy Award twice. One of her award-winning performances as as Martha in 1966's Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf?, a role that changed her image and made people take her more seriously than before.
For the longest time, Taylor was seen as a sex symbol, but when she gained 30 pounds and pretended to be a much older woman in the movie, her true talents showed. What can we say, it was a different time!
#24. Jodie Foster
While Anthony Hopkins got most of the praise for his performance as the twisted Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs, it was Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling that was iconic. We see the story through her eyes as a young rookie detective trying to deal with the intensity of everything that is happening around her, and Foster is excellent at showing her emotions and making the audience feel them through the screen.
We see the story through her eyes as a young rookie detective trying to deal with the intensity of everything that is happening around her, and Foster is excellent at showing her emotions and making the audience feel them through the screen.
#23. Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman was undoubtedly one of the greatest actresses of all time and was famously nominated six times for the Oscar. For many years, she held the record for the most nominations.
She won two of them, one for playing Paula Alquist in Gaslight. a movie so iconic that a psychological term was named after it. She plays the part of a woman who is manipulated by her husband to make her think that she is crazy, and watching the movie, you go crazy with her.
#22. Kathy Bates
Kathy Bates was amazing in Misery where she played Annie Wilkies, a psychopathic woman who kidnaps and tortures her favorite author to force him to write stories for her. Her performance makes audiences fall in love with her, despite the fact that she is, well, a psychopath.
Through her witty remarks and her quirky sense of humor, Annie becomes the best part of the movie. This was the role that made Bates a true star after many years of being ignored in Hollywood.
#21. Marion Cotillard
Marion Cotillard broke two records when she won the Academy Award for her role as 'Édith Piaf in La Vie en Rose": she was the first Oscar-winning actress in a French film, and she had the worst eyebrows anyone ever had in a movie.
In all seriousness, her emotional performance as a distraught woman who suffered from a morphine addiction was incredible, and it gave Cotillard a spot as a true movie star. She also looked just like the real Piaf and adopted her mannerisms and accent.
#20. Holly Hunter
Holly Hunter took everyone's breath away as Ada McGrath, a woman who cannot speak and only communicates by playing the piano, in The Piano.
On top of this peculiarity of hers, Ada has to choose between a civilized man and a wild one, and the whole story is just fantastic. Because Hunter did not speak, she showed everything through her facial expressions and gestures, and she did it flawlessly.
#19. Louise Fletcher
Nowadays, villains are being celebrated in the Oscars (Joaquin Phoenix, hello?), but back in the day, it wasn't common for an actor to win an Oscar for playing the villain. The fact that Louise Fletcher won Best Actress for playing Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was a groundbreaking event, and she rightfully deserved the award.
What made her character and her performance so great was that Ratched believed she was doing the right thing and did not really intend to be the bad guy, a trope that is nowadays very popular.
#18. Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett is one of the most versatile actresses in history and has played many iconic roles. She has been nominated for an Academy Award a total of four times, twice for playing Queen Elizabeth.
But the role that earned her the award was as Jasmine, an ex-socialite who has to learn to be humble, in Blue Jasmine. To be honest, considering her talent, she should've won the other times as well.
#17. Patricia Neal
Patricia Neal won the Academy Award for her role as Alma Brown in Hud while only having 20 minutes of screen time, which is something extremely rare. But her performance was so powerful that those few minutes were enough to leave a mark in film history.
The best part about it was how it seemed as though she wasn't even acting, because it came so naturally to her. She also won other awards for her role, including a BAFTA and a National Board of Review Award.
#16. Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand captivated everyone on Earth with her effortless charm and incredible voice before she starred in Funny Girl, but her win at the Oscars for her role in the movie solidified her as an actress. Watching her journey during the film while hearing her beautiful voice in those catchy tunes will never get old.
The interesting part about her win was that Katharine Hepburn also won in the same category. It was the one and only time when there was a tie and two actresses received the Best Actress Oscar at the same time.
#15. Jane Fonda
While Donald Sutherland played the main character in Klute, Jane Fonda definitely stole the show as Bree Daniels, an escort who aspires to be an actress and is a possible mark for a murder.
She is smart, strong, and tough, and all thanks to Fonda. She has been nominated five times and has won another time for her role in Coming Home, but it was this one that took the cake (that is not to say that her role in Coming Home wasn't incredible, which it was!).
#14. Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine is magificent as Aurora Greenway, a seemingly vapid and narcissistic mother who, throughout the movie, shows a very raw, emotional side to her that pulls at your heartstrings.
Towards the end of the movie, it is impossible not to cry at MacLaine's performance as a brokenhearted mother who is losing her daughter to cancer. Her win for Terms of Endearment was more than well-deserved.
#13. Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet was famously snubbed at the Oscars in 1998 when she didn't win for her role in Titanic, and she was later nominated another two times.
Finally, she got the award she deserved from the very beginning for her role in The Reader in 2008, a movie about how German people coped with the aftermath of the Holocaust. While the movie wasn't the biggest hit at the box office, Winslet's performance was praised all over the world.
#12. Claudette Colbert
Comedies are not the most popular films at the Oscars, but Claudette Colbert's performance in It Happened One Night just couldn't be ignored by the Academy.
The movie was a classical screwball comedy, a romantic comedy sub-genre that emerged post WWII, and Colbert's spunky energy was the kind of vibe audiences at the time were craving. She was funny, alluring, and witty, and who doesn't love someone like that?
#11. Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman has been portraying iconic characters since she was only a child. Everyone always knew she was gifted, and she finally won the award she deserved in 2010 for her role in Black Swan.
She was excellent at bringing to life a troubled young woman who had trouble separating reality from her own fantasy world she created to cope with the stress of her profession and her overbearing mother. Portman also took ballet lessons for the part, and many scenes are actually done by her and not a double.
#10. Bette Davis
Bette Davis went down in history as one of the actresses with the most Oscar nominations. Out of the ten nominations she got, she won twice. One of those was for her role as a rebellious, headstrong southern girl in Jezebel.
Her character of Julie Marsden is regarded as one of the first feminist heroine roles in cinema, and it all makes sense when you learn that the role was specifically written for her and for her only.
#9. Frances McDormand
Fargo is one of the best black comedy thrillers ever made, and we have Frances McDormand to thank for that. She plays the main character, police chief Marge Gunderson, who has to solve a series of strange murders by a road in Minnesota. The movie was nominated for several awards, but McDormand took home most of them.
As soon as the movie was released, it was clear that McDormand was going to at least be nominated for an Academy Award, so her win came as no surprise. Still, it was very well deserved and everyone was happy to see her win.
#8. Diane Keaton
Who could forget Diane Keaton's fantastic performance in Annie Hall* as the title character? She was a great match for Woody Allen, her co-star and director, and she actually outshone him by far.
She was neurotic and he hated himself, and somehow, the two were meant for each other while also being a terrible couple. The movie was a hit worldwide and received many awards, mostly because of Keaton's work.
#7. Hilary Swank
Hilary Swank was one of the biggest stars of the early 2000s and she won two Academy Awards just a couple years apart. While her performance in Million Dollar Baby was incredible, it was her first Oscar for Boys Don't Cry that put her on the map.
She portrayed a trans man called brandon Teena, who struggles to find acceptance in a cruel world. The movie was heart-wrenching and Swank just pulls at your heartstrings with every bit of strength she has, and the pain is just beautiful.
#6. Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was one of Hollywood's biggest legends and her legacy still lives on in many ways. Not only is her kindness as a humanitarian remembered by many and her styled still adopted by countless celebrities who came after her, but her amazing performances are still very much relevant today.
Her Oscar win for her role as Princess Ann in Roman Holiday was her only one, and it was more than deserved. The movie told the story of said princess, who escapes a diplomatic visit in Rome and ends up falling in love with a journalist.
#5. Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron was often seen only as a beautiful face, until she got rid of it through the magic of makeup to show her incredible talent as an actress in Monster, a movie for which she won an Oscar.
Her transformation into the real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos was terrifyingly impressive, and there was no doubt she was going to take the Academy Award home that night. Wuornos was sentenced to death for murdering seven men in the '90s.
#4. Joan Crawford
Another Hollywood icon we just had to mention is Joan Crawford. During her career, Crawford had many notable roles in countless films, but it was her part in Mildred Pierce as the title character that is remembered as her best one.
She is captivating as Mildred, a woman who has a lot of trouble finding love and has her heart broken over and over. Crawford manages to make her pain felt through the screen, and her role was regarded as revolutionary at the time.
#3. Vivien Leigh
Gone With the Wind was the highest-grossing film of all time, if adjusted for inflation. The movie broke records and was a huge success both critically and commercially, and Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara played a huge part in it. Interestingly enough, although she played a southern girl, she was actually British. Her accent was flawless, though.
Leigh also won an Academy Award for her role as Blache DuBois in the famous A Streetcar Name Desire, based on the Tennessee Williams play of the same name, a movie almost as iconic as Gone with the Wind.
#2. Vivien Leigh, Again
Yes, we are fully aware that we just talked about Vivien Leigh, but she was so iconic that we have to mention her another time. This time is for her role as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, the film adaptation of the famous play of the same name.
Leigh brings a tortured but beautiful soul to life who has to survive her aggressive brother-in-law (played by Marlon Brando, another legend) when she moves in with her sister Stella. Seeing Blache's journey is a painful experience and Leigh expresses every emotion perfectly.
#1. Meryl Streep
Of course the one and only Meryl Streep had to take our #1 spot. Having been nominated a record-breaking 17 times and won twice, it is very hard to pick Streep's best role. As we've mentioned before, the record was previously held by Katharine Hepburn.
However, many would agree that her performance as Sophie in Sophie's Choice is the most magnificent of all. She took the role so seriously that she even learned both Polish and German to make her role as a Holocaust survivor more believable.