The Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture - Drama was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951. Previously, there was a single award for "Best Actress in a Motion Picture" but the splitting allowed for recognition of it and the Best Actress - Musical or Comedy.

The formal title has varied since its inception and as of 2005 is officially called: "Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture-Drama".

Past winners

"Best Actress - Motion Picture:"

• 1944 - Jennifer Jones, The Song of Bernadette
• 1945 - Ingrid Bergman, Gaslight
• 1946 - Ingrid Bergman, The Bells of St. Mary's
• 1947 - Rosalind Russell, Sister Kenny
• 1948 - Rosalind Russell, Mourning Becomes Electra
• 1949 - Jane Wyman, Johnny Belinda
• 1950 - Olivia de Havilland, The Heiress

"Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama:"

• 1951 - Gloria Swanson, Sunset Boulevard
• 1952 - Jane Wyman, The Blue Veil
• 1953 - Shirley Booth, Come Back, Little Sheba
• 1954 - Audrey Hepburn, Roman Holiday
• 1955 - Grace Kelly, The Country Girl
• 1956 - Anna Magnani, The Rose Tattoo
• 1957 - Ingrid Bergman, Anastasia
• 1958 - Joanne Woodward, The Three Faces of Eve
• 1959 - Susan Hayward, I Want to Live!
• 1960 - Elizabeth Taylor, Suddenly, Last Summer
• 1961 - Greer Garson, Sunrise at Campobello
• 1962 - Geraldine Page, Summer and Smoke
• 1963 - Geraldine Page, Sweet Bird of Youth
• 1964 - Leslie Caron, The L-Shaped Room
• 1965 - Anne Bancroft, The Pumpkin Eater
• 1966 - Samantha Eggar, The Collector
• 1967 - Anouk Aimée, A Man and a Woman
• 1968 - Edith Evans, The Whisperers
• 1969 - Joanne Woodward, Rachel, Rachel
• 1970 - Geneviève Bujold, Anne of the Thousand Days
• 1971 - Ali MacGraw, Love Story
• 1972 - Jane Fonda, Klute
• 1973 - Liv Ullmann, The Emigrants
• 1974 - Marsha Mason, Cinderella Liberty
• 1975 - Gena Rowlands, A Woman Under the Influence
• 1976 - Louise Fletcher, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
• 1977 - Faye Dunaway, Network
• 1978 - Jane Fonda, Julia
• 1979 - Jane Fonda, Coming Home
• 1980 - Sally Field, Norma Rae
• 1981 - Mary Tyler Moore, Ordinary People
• 1982 - Meryl Streep, The French Lieutenant's Woman
• 1983 - Meryl Streep, Sophie's Choice
• 1984 - Shirley MacLaine, Terms of Endearment
• 1985 - Sally Field, Places in the Heart
• 1986 - Whoopi Goldberg, The Color Purple
• 1987 - Marlee Matlin, Children of a Lesser God
• 1988 - Sally Kirkland, Anna
• 1989 - Jodie Foster, The Accused; Shirley MacLaine, Madame Sousatzka ; Sigourney Weaver, Gorillas in the Mist
• 1990 - Michelle Pfeiffer, The Fabulous Baker Boys
• 1991 - Kathy Bates, Misery
• 1992 - Jodie Foster, The Silence of the Lambs
• 1993 - Emma Thompson, Howards End
• 1994 - Holly Hunter, The Piano
• 1995 - Jessica Lange, Blue Sky
• 1996 - Sharon Stone, Casino
• 1997 - Brenda Blethyn, Secrets and Lies
• 1998 - Judi Dench, Mrs. Brown
• 1999 - Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth
• 2000 - Hilary Swank, Boys Don't Cry
• 2001 - Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovich
• 2002 - Sissy Spacek, In the Bedroom
• 2003 - Nicole Kidman, The Hours
• 2004 - Charlize Theron, Monster
• 2005 - Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby