The Academy Award for Finest Actress has been handed out yearly since 1929 — it was initially awarded to star Janet Gaynor for her roles in seventh Heaven, Road Angel, and Dawn: A Track of Two People — and within the near-century since, it has been offered 97 occasions to 79 actresses. Successful that coveted statuette is unsurprisingly a dream come true for a lot of a big-screen performer, however the award does include added consideration on the actress’s subsequent tasks. Will no matter they work on subsequent be as critically acclaimed or commercially profitable? Listed here are 32 movies that Oscar-winning actresses did after taking house the Academy Award, and the way they had been acquired.
Emma Stone
The entire La La Land Oscars brouhaha on the 2018 ceremony was fairly memorable, however clearly so was star Emma Stone’s efficiency as aspiring actress Mia Dolen reverse Ryan Gosling’s jazz pianist Seb Wilder. Considered one of Stone’s finest films, the function earned the star her first Finest Actress win (she would strike gold but once more together with her 2024 victory for Poor Issues). Her subsequent efficiency additionally stirred up awards buzz: she was nominated for a Golden Globe and a Critics Selection Award for portraying tennis legend Billie Jean King within the sports activities drama Battle of the Sexes.
Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep’s historical past with the Academy Awards is lengthy and legendary: over her decades-spanning profession, she’s been nominated for a document 21 Oscar nominations, profitable thrice. After taking house the Supporting Actress statuette for Kramer vs. Kramer, Streep acquired her first massive Finest Actress win for one in all her most iconic performances: because the titular character of the devastating 1982 drama Sophie’s Selection. Her subsequent function was simply as haunting: as Karen Silkwood within the 1983 thriller Silkwood, for which she earned yet one more Finest Actress nod.
Michelle Yeoh
Together with kicking main butt, Michelle Yeoh made historical past together with her starring function as Evelyn Quan Wang within the 2022 action-dramedy Every thing All over the place All at As soon as, for she turned the primary Asian performer to win the Academy Award for Finest Actress. Following that notable win in 2023, the Depraved star lent her voice to the sci-fi flick Transformers: Rise of the Beasts as Airazor, a Maximal warrior who transforms right into a peregrine falcon. That title earned largely combined opinions, and it at the moment sports activities a 51% ranking on Rotten Tomatoes.
Jessica Chastain
After dropping out on the Oscar for Zero Darkish Thirty, Jessica Chastain took the Finest Actress trophy house for her transformative function as televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker within the 2022 bio-drama The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Her subsequent challenge was far much less profitable with awards our bodies — the action-spy thriller The 355 was each a vital and business bomb, reportedly dropping Common an estimated $93 million. Robbie Collin of The Each day Telegraph wrote: “Regardless of the sturdy solid, that is the movie equal of a corn-syrup-based fizzy drink being handed off as stylish in taller, slimmer cans.”
Frances McDormand
Three-time Finest Actress winner Frances McDormand took house her first Oscar in 1997 for her immediately iconic efficiency as Minnesota police chief Marge Gunderson within the traditional Coen Brothers darkish comedy Fargo. Later that yr, the acclaimed performer joined a heavyweight lineup of actresses — together with Glenn Shut, Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Ehle — within the World Warfare II drama Paradise Highway. Nonetheless, regardless of that appearing clout, the movie acquired combined opinions, with its approval ranking at a lowly 43% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Brie Larson
Little one actor turned Marvel superhero Brie Larson took her profession to an entire new stage together with her efficiency as kidnapping sufferer Pleasure “Ma” Newsome within the 2015 survival drama Room, for which she swept the following awards season and took house the Finest Actress Oscar. In 2016, the Classes in Chemistry lead starred in one other survival drama, this time the Ben Wheatley-directed action-comedy Free Fireplace. CinemaBlend’s personal Gregory Wakeman wrote of the movie: “Free Fireplace has sufficient gun blasts and violence to entertain, however in the end lacks the requisite surprises or savvy to be something greater than a frivolous diversion.”
Olivia Colman
Olivia Colman’s Finest Actress win for her portrayal of Queen Anne within the black-comedy interval piece The Favorite was a deserved but delightfully surprising second on the 2019 Oscars. Her subsequent function was equally unusual, however much less acclaimed: she appeared alongside Kaitlyn Dever, Jim Gaffigan and Walton Goggins as snake-handling fundamentalists within the horror thriller Them That Observe. Although it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, it earned combined opinions from critics.
Cate Blanchett
Probably the most versatile actors within the trade — she’s performed Queen Elizabeth I and Bob Dylan, for crying out loud! — eight-time Oscar nominee Cate Blanchett secured her first Finest Actress win in 2014 enjoying a neurotic former socialite within the Woody Allen-directed dramedy Blue Jasmine. And talking of versatility, the Aussie star adopted that awards win with a voice function within the animated fantasy sequel Find out how to Practice Your Dragon 2, which acquired its personal Oscar nod for Finest Animated Function.
Sandra Bullock
Rom-com queen Sandra Bullock acquired her first Finest Actress nomination and win in 2010 for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy within the biographical soccer drama The Blind Aspect. Her subsequent movie credit score was the Stephen Daldry-directed 2011 drama Extraordinarily Loud & Extremely Shut, which did handle to attain a Finest Image nod however not with out controversy. Chris Krapek of The Huffington Submit referred to as the movie “not solely the worst reviewed Finest Image nominee of the final 10 years, [but] simply the worst movie of 2011.”
Katharine Hepburn
Hollywood icon Katherine Hepburn earned 4 Academy Awards for Finest Actress out of 12 nominations throughout her illustrious movie profession—a document for any performer. The main girl’s first Oscar win was in 1934 for the Pre-Code drama Morning Glory (the remaining would come later within the star’s life), which she adopted up with John Cromwell’s Spitfire. Some viewers discovered Hepburn miscast as “hillbilly” religion healer Set off Hicks — the movie has a 35% viewers rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman did not win the Finest Actress Oscar for one in all her most beloved performances, as cabaret star Satine in Moulin Rouge! however she as a substitute secured the large win solely a yr later for taking part in English author Virginia Woolf in The Hours. The Babygirl star’s first post-award challenge was the 2003 avant-garde thriller Dogville, written and directed by Lars von Trier. Although the movie prompted fairly a polarizing response from critics on the time of launch, it did find yourself on a number of best-of-the-decade roundups, together with The Guardian and Paste.
Jennifer Lawrence
In the event that they did not already love her from her work in the David O. Russell dramedy Silver Linings Playbook, the world actually fell for Jennifer Lawrence when she charmingly tripped up the steps to just accept her Finest Actress statuette in 2013. That fall, she would reprise her function as Katniss Everdeen within the second Mockingjay film, The Starvation Video games: Catching Fireplace, which is extensively thought-about one of the best installment of The Starvation Video games movie collection (it is acquired a strong 90% Rotten Tomatoes ranking) and earned Lawrence a Critics’ Selection nod.
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren is a regal onscreen presence it doesn’t matter what the function, however her efficiency as Queen Elizabeth II within the 2006 docudrama The Queen welcomed her among the many Hollywood royalty often known as Oscar winners. Nonetheless, regardless of the movie title, she did not strike gold together with her subsequent challenge: the Nicolas Cage-led journey flick Nationwide Treasure: Guide of Secrets and techniques, alongside Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel, Ed Harris and Diane Kruger. Per Rotten Tomatoes, critic consensus mentioned of the 35% “Rotten” film: “A proficient solid goes to waste within the unbelievable Nationwide Treasure: Guide of Secrets and techniques.”
Jodie Foster
Considered one of Hollywood’s most acclaimed youngster stars — she was solely 12 years previous when she starred reverse Robert De Niro within the Martin Scorsese masterpiece Taxi Driver, incomes her first Oscar nomination for Finest Supporting Actress — Jodie Foster efficiently segued into extra grownup fare with the 1988 authorized drama The Accused. As an assault survivor Sarah Tobias, Foster acquired a Finest Actress win—it would not be her final, with the star profitable the identical award for her subsequent movie launch, one of many best horror films of all time, The Silence of the Lambs.
Halle Berry
Halle Berry made Oscar historical past when she turned the primary African-American lady ever to win the Academy Award for Finest Actress, for her efficiency as a struggling widow in 2001’s Monster’s Ball. After turning into an Oscar winner, Berry turned a Bond Lady — bikini-sporting NSA agent Jinx, to be actual — within the 2002 spy flick Die One other Day, reverse Pierce Brosnan as 007. Nonetheless, the latter is extensively thought-about to be the worst entry in James Bond’s canon.
Julie Andrews
A legendary performer throughout each display and stage, Julie Andrews gained her Finest Actress Oscar in 1964 for a very iconic function: because the titular nanny extraordinaire in Mary Poppins. And she or he did not cease there — the very subsequent yr, she would get yet one more Academy Award nomination for an equally beloved character, as The Sound of Music‘s Maria, the candy, singing governess to the Von Trapp household. Speak about an epic filmography!
Kathy Bates
Top-of-the-line Kathy Bates performances, as obsessive superfan Annie Wilkes within the 1990 Stephen King thriller Distress, earned the proficient actress her first Academy Award nomination and win. (She would have three extra Oscar nods throughout her decades-spanning profession.) Bates’ subsequent movie function was within the South African drama The Highway to Mecca, based mostly on the Athol Fugard play of the identical title — the performer was praised for each her appearing and her accent work.
Hilary Swank
Earlier than there have been transgender characters like Emilia Pérez (Emilia Pérez), Sin-Dee Rella (Tangerine), or Raymond Rayon (Dallas Consumers Membership), there was Brandon Teena, the real-life trans man on the middle of the 1999 drama Boys Do not Cry. Hilary Swank’s harrowing, career-making efficiency as Teena earned the star her first Finest Actress award, with critics like Leisure Weekly‘s Owen Gleiberman calling the actress a “revelation” within the movie. Reactions to her subsequent film, the 2000 supernatural thriller The Reward, had been way more combined. A. O. Scott of The New York Instances wrote: “The image is saved from mediocrity by [director Sam] Raimi’s easy competence, and by the unusually top quality of the appearing.”
Renée Zellweger
After prior Finest Actress nominations for 2 of her finest films, Bridget Jones’ Diary and Chicago — plus a Finest Supporting Actress win for Chilly Mountain — Renée Zellweger lastly acquired her massive Finest Actress win for her portrayal of Judy Garland in Rupert Goold’s Judy. After taking a multi-year break from appearing, Zellweger’s much-anticipated subsequent movie credit score shall be a return to a beloved function, in Bridget Jones: Mad Concerning the Boy.
Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman was so convincing as a troubled ballerina within the 2010 psychological thriller Black Swan that she thought the movie was a docudrama whereas making it. So, it is no shock, then, that her tour-de-force efficiency garnered the star an Academy Award for Finest Actress. Ever one to maintain you guessing genre-wise, Portman’s subsequent function was within the 2011 stoner fantasy-comedy Your Highness, which sadly was a field workplace bomb and acquired largely damaging opinions from critics.
Cher
The “Goddess of Pop” Cher formally added the title of “Oscar winner” to her already legendary showbiz profession together with her 1988 Finest Actress triumph for one in all her finest films, the acclaimed rom-com Moonstruck. Her subsequent film function got here two years later as Rachel Flax, the saucy single mother to younger Winona Ryder and Christina Ricci within the 1990 dramedy Mermaids. The heartfelt title has been dubbed an “underappreciated Nineties coming-of-age gem” by The Guardian, which singled out Cher’s efficiency as “nothing in need of magical.”
Kate Winslet
One of many best performers of her technology, it took Kate Winslet a whopping six Oscar nominations earlier than she lastly took house the Academy Award for Finest Actress, for taking part in a former Nazi camp guard in 2008’s The Reader. Her subsequent onscreen function was within the 2011 black comedy Carnage, by disgraced director Roman Polanski. The movie acquired constructive opinions, with critics praising the performances of the solid, together with Winslet’s — she earned a Golden Globe nod for Finest Actress in a Motional Image Musical or Comedy.
Julia Roberts
After a decade that solidified her as rom-com royalty, Julia Roberts proved her dramatic bonafides by profitable the Finest Actress Oscar for taking part in the title function within the 2000 authorized drama Erin Brockovich, one in all her finest films. America’s Sweetheart returned to her romantic comedy roots together with her subsequent movie, fittingly entitled America’s Sweethearts, although critics weren’t too candy on the film. It solely holds a 33% approval ranking at Rotten Tomatoes, with the location’s consensus studying: “Regardless of its well-known solid, the film lacks sympathetic characters and is barely humorous in spurts.”
Susan Sarandon
After Oscar nominations for Atlantic Metropolis, Thelma & Louise, Lorenzo’s Oil and The Shopper, Susan Sarandon was lastly named Finest Actress by the Academy for taking part in Sister Helen Prejean in 1995’s Useless Man Strolling. Her subsequent movie was the decidedly lighter youngsters’ flick James and the Big Peach, during which Sarandon voiced the character of Miss Spider. The movie acquired typically constructive opinions from critics, with Randy Newman’s rating incomes an Oscar nod; nonetheless, the movie was a field workplace failure, grossing $300,000 lower than its finances.
Marion Cotillard
French film star Marion Cotillard turned the primary actor to win an Academy Award for a French-language efficiency for her transformative flip as legendary singer Édith Piaf within the 2007 music biopic La Vie en Rose. Her subsequent movie credit score was one other biographical drama — this time, the Michael Mann-directed gangster movie Public Enemies, alongside Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. Although many critics praised the main performances, opinions had been combined, with the title holding a 68% Rotten Tomatoes ranking.
Marlee Matlin
Marlee Matlin’s appearing debut in 1986’s Youngsters of a Lesser God noticed the actress making Oscar historical past not as soon as however twice: she turned the primary deaf performer to ever win an Academy Award, in addition to the youngest winner within the Finest Actress class. The CODA star adopted up that momentous victory with the 1987 Western Walker, starring Ed Harris, Richard Masur and Peter Boyle. The historic drama was nominated for the Golden Bear on the thirty eighth Berlin Worldwide Movie Pageant however acquired very polarized opinions and was a failure on the field workplace.
Gwyneth Paltrow
Enjoyable reality: Gwyneth Paltrow wasn’t initially purported to star as Viola de Lesseps within the 1998 Bard-inspired romantic comedy Shakespeare in Love — Julia Roberts was. However Gwyn is little question grateful the latter in the end left the manufacturing, because the function gained her a Finest Actress Oscar. Her subsequent challenge was equally acclaimed: 1999’s Anthony Minghella-helmed thriller The Proficient Mr. Ripley scored 5 Academy Award nominations.
Audrey Hepburn
Display legend Audrey Hepburn gained her first Oscar in 1953 for her debut starring function, as Princess Ann within the traditional black-and-white comedy Roman Vacation. The British magnificence would later be nominated 4 extra occasions for movies like her first post-award challenge, the 1954 Billy Wilder-directed dramedy Sabrina, in addition to The Nun’s Story, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Wait Till Darkish.
Sally Area
The Academy likes her, they actually like her — sure, Sally Area has gained not one however two Finest Actress statuettes, the primary being for her inspiring efficiency in 1979’s Norma Rae and the second 5 years later for an additional one in all her finest movies, Locations within the Coronary heart. Following her first win, Area reprised her function as Carrie, or “Frog,” in 1980’s Smoky and the Bandit II reverse her real-life love Burt Reynolds. Although the sequel was a field workplace success, prompting a 3rd movie, it acquired virtually totally damaging opinions from critics.
Charlize Theron
Top-of-the-line Charlize Theron roles was additionally the star’s most remarkably unrecognizable: the South African-born actress earned a Finest Actress Oscar for her portrayal of real-life prostitute and serial killer Aileen Wuornos within the 2003 crime drama Monster. Her subsequent big-screen efficiency was the 2004 battle drama Head within the Clouds, which noticed Theron appearing reverse her then-romantic companion Stuart Townsend. The movie was a vital and field workplace failure; within the San Francisco Chronicle, Walter Addiego wrote: “If not for the presence of Charlize Theron, it is laborious to think about this movie would have attracted wherever close to the type of consideration it is gotten.”
Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon proved she was greater than only a musical sidekick together with her Oscar-winning efficiency as June Carter Money within the 2005 Johnny Money biopic Stroll the Line. The Legally Blonde star was subsequent seen within the harrowing 2007 political thriller Rendition reverse Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep and Peter Sarsgaard. Nonetheless, “the spectacular solid can not rescue Rendition, which explores advanced points in woefully simplified phrases,” reads the critics’ consensus on Rotten Tomatoes, with the movie at a paltry 47% approval ranking.
Elizabeth Taylor
Via a lot of the mid-Twentieth century, celluloid icon Elizabeth Taylor was one in all MGM’s most bankable stars. In reality, her remaining movie for the studio — 1960’s Butterfield 8, enjoying glamorous name lady Gloria Wandrous — earned the film star her first Academy Award for Finest Actress. Her subsequent efficiency was simply as iconic: because the titular Egyptian queen within the 1963 historic epic Cleopatra, which acquired 9 Oscar nominations and 4 wins, although, alas, none for Taylor particularly.