The Best Supporting Actress award should actually be titled "the best performance by an actress in a supporting role."

In 1936, the acting awards were expanded to start recognizing supporting roles. Best Supporting Actress Oscars are traditionally given to actors who stand out in small roles.

It is quite common that the winner in the Best Supporting Actress category is either an older and established performer, or very young and inexperienced. First-time nominees often win in this category.

The Top Best Supporting Actress Winners:

These are only two actresses with two Best Supporting Actress awards - both were two-for-three in this category:

Top Best Supporting Actress Oscar Winners	Best Supporting Actress Wins
Shelley Winters 4 career nominations (3 B.S.A. noms), 2 wins	The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) A Patch of Blue (1965)
Dianne Wiest 3 career nominations (3 B.S.A. noms), 2 wins	Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) Bullets Over Broadway (1994) Note: Dianne Wiest is also the only winner as Best Supporting Actress to have received more than one Oscar for work in a single director's films (Woody Allen directed both of her award-winning films).

The Most Best Supporting Actress Nominations (and Wins):

One actress has received six Best Supporting Actress nominations (without winning), while seven other actresses have received four Best Supporting Actress nominations (four of them won subsequent awards).

The actress with the most Best Supporting Actress nominations (with no wins) is Thelma Ritter, followed by Amy Adams.

Actresses with the most Best Supporting Actress nominations (in parentheses) include:

• Thelma Ritter (6) - no wins; nominated for All About Eve (1950), The Mating Season (1951), With a Song in My Heart (1952), Pickup on South Street (1953), Pillow Talk (1959) and Birdman of Alcatraz (1962); nominations were in a 12-year span from 1950-1962 (four nominations were consecutive in a streak from 1950-1953)
  
  
• Amy Adams (5) - no wins; nominated for Junebug (2005), Doubt (2008), The Fighter (2010), The Master (2012) and Vice (2018)
  
  
• Ethel Barrymore (4) - with one win (None But the Lonely Heart (1944)); also nominated for The Spiral Staircase (1945), The Paradine Case (1947), Pinky (1949)
• Lee Grant (4) - with one win (Shampoo (1975)); also nominated for Detective Story (1951), The Landlord (1970), Voyage of the Damned (1976)
• Maggie Smith (4) - with one win (California Suite (1978)); also nominated for Othello (1965), A Room With a View (1985), Gosford Park (2001)
• Maureen Stapleton (4) - with one win (Reds (1981)); also nominated for Lonelyhearts (1958), Airport (1970), Interiors (1978)
• Meryl Streep (4) - with one win (Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)); also nominated for The Deer Hunter (1978), Adaptation (2002), and Into the Woods (2014)
  
  
• Agnes Moorehead (4) - no wins; nominated for The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), Mrs. Parkington (1944), Johnny Belinda (1948), Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
• Geraldine Page (4) - no wins; nominated for Hondo (1953), You're a Big Boy Now (1966), Pete 'n' Tillie (1972), The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984)
  
  
• Shelley Winters (3) - with two wins (The Diary of Anne Frank (1959), A Patch of Blue (1965)); also nominated for The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
• Dianne Wiest (3) - with two wins (Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Bullets Over Broadway (1994)); also nominated for Parenthood (1989)
  
  
• Anne Revere (3) - with one win (National Velvet (1945)); also nominated for The Song of Bernadette (1943), Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
• Celeste Holm (3) - with one win (Gentleman's Agreement (1947)); also nominated for Come to the Stable (1949), All About Eve (1950)
• Claire Trevor (3) - with one win (Key Largo (1948)); also nominated for Dead End (1937), The High and the Mighty (1954)
• Marisa Tomei (3) - with one win (My Cousin Vinny (1992)); also nominated for In the Bedroom (2001), The Wrestler (2008)
• Cate Blanchett (3) - with one win (The Aviator (2004)); also nominated for Notes on a Scandal (2006), I'm Not There (2007)
• Octavia Spencer (3) - with one win (The Help (2011)); also nominated for Hidden Figures (2016) and The Shape of Water (2017)
  
  
• Gladys Cooper (3) - no wins; nominated for Now, Voyager (1942), The Song of Bernadette (1943), My Fair Lady (1964)
• Angela Lansbury (3) - no wins; nominated for Gaslight (1944), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
• Glenn Close (3) - no wins; nominated for The World According to Garp (1982), The Big Chill (1983), The Natural (1984); all three nominations were in consecutive years (1982-1984)
• Diane Ladd (3) - no wins; nominated for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Wild at Heart (1990), Rambling Rose (1991)
• Frances McDormand (3) - no wins; nominated for Mississippi Burning (1988), Almost Famous (2000), North Country (2005)
• Kathy Bates (3) - no wins; nominated for Primary Colors (1998), About Schmidt (2002), Richard Jewell (2019)
  
  
• Teresa Wright (2) - with one win (Mrs. Miniver (1942)); also nominated for The Little Foxes (1941) - these two were consecutive nominations

Post-Humous Best Supporting Actress Oscar Nominees/Winners:

There have been no post-humous nominees for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar Academy Award.

Film Debut Nominees/Winners for Best Supporting Actress Oscars:

Only nine actresses have won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for their debut performance (in a feature film) in a substantial film role, while many others (a sampling) received a Best Supporting Actress nomination for a substantial role in a film debut (or during the first year of their career):

• (1) Gale Sondergaard in Anthony Adverse (1936) (win) - she won the first year of the Best Supporting Actress category was honored
• Miliza Korjus in The Great Waltz (1938) (nomination)
• Teresa Wright in The Little Foxes (1941) (nomination)
• Patricia Collinge in The Little Foxes (1941) (nomination)
• (2) Katina Paxinou in For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) (win)
• Angela Lansbury in Gaslight (1944) (nomination)
• (3) Mercedes McCambridge in All the King's Men (1949) (win)
• Lee Grant in Detective Story (1951) (nomination)
• Colette Marchand in Moulin Rouge (1952) (nomination)
• (4) Eva Marie Saint in On the Waterfront (1954) (win)
• (5) Jo Van Fleet in East of Eden (1955) (win)
• Diane Varsi in Peyton Place (1957) (nomination)
• Miyoshi Umeki in Sayonara (1957) (win)
• Maureen Stapleton in Lonelyhearts (1958) (nomination) (she finally won for Reds (1981))
• Mary Badham in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) (nomination)
• Vivien Merchant in Alfie (1966) (nomination)
• Jocelyne LaGarde in Hawaii (1966) (nomination)
• Sondra Locke in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968) (nomination)
• Goldie Hawn in Cactus Flower (1969) (win)
• Catherine Burns in Last Summer (1969) (nomination)
• (6) Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon (1973) (win)
• Leslie Browne in The Turning Point (1977) (nomination)
• Cathy Moriarty in Raging Bull (1980) (nomination)
• Oprah Winfrey in The Color Purple (1985) (nomination)
• (7) Anna Paquin in The Piano (1993) (win)
• (8) Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls (2006) (win)
• Mo'Nique in Precious (2009) (win)
• (9) Lupita Nyong'o in 12 Years a Slave (2013) (win)

Actresses Winning at Least One Statuette in Both the Lead and Supporting Categories:

There are many actresses who have won only one Best Supporting Actress award. Seven actresses have won acting awards in both the lead (BA) and supporting (BSA) categories:

• Helen Hayes, Best Actress (The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931/32)), Best Supporting Actress (Airport (1970)) - her only two career nominations
• Ingrid Bergman, Best Actress (Gaslight (1944) and Anastasia (1956)), Best Supporting Actress (Murder on the Orient Express (1974)) - the only star to receive a Best Supporting Actress Oscar after winning two Best Actress Academy Awards
• Maggie Smith, Best Actress (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)), Best Supporting Actress (California Suite (1978))
• Meryl Streep, Best Supporting Actress (Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)), Best Actress (Sophie's Choice (1982))
• Jessica Lange, Best Supporting Actress (Tootsie (1982)), Best Actress (Blue Sky (1994))
• Cate Blanchett, Best Supporting Actress (The Aviator (2004)), Best Actress (Blue Jasmine (2013))
• Renee Zellweger, Best Supporting Actress (Cold Mountain (2003)), Best Actress (Judy (2019))

Back-to-Back Winners:

No Best Supporting Actress has won two Academy Awards in a row. Jason Robards is the only star to win back-to-back Best Supporting Actor Oscars.

Multiple Nominations:

No single performer has ever won two performing awards in the same year. There have been a total of twelve performers who are double nominees - that means that they have received two acting nominations in the same year. Three were actors and nine were actresses (wins are marked with *). (See the Best Supporting Actor page for further information on male double nominees.) Of the 12 performers (actors and actresses) who've been recognized with nods for two performances in the same year, seven of them ended up winning one of the trophies.

Double nominees usually win in one category. Often, actresses have been nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress for different films in the same year. In 1938, Fay Bainter received the first simultaneous nominations of any performer in lead and supporting categories (wins are marked with *). Three of the eight actresses won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, and only one (Holly Hunter) of the eight won the Best Actress Oscar, while Sigourney Weaver, Emma Thompson, Julianne Moore, Cate Blanchett and Scarlet Johansson lost both bids.

• Fay Bainter (Best Actress for White Banners (1938) and Best Supporting Actress for Jezebel (1938)*)
• Teresa Wright (Best Actress for The Pride of the Yankees (1942) and Best Supporting Actress for Mrs. Miniver (1942)*)
• Jessica Lange (Best Actress for Frances (1982) and Best Supporting Actress for Tootsie (1982)*)
• Sigourney Weaver (Best Actress for Gorillas in the Mist (1987) and Best Supporting Actress for Working Girl (1987))
• Holly Hunter (Best Actress for The Piano (1993)* and Best Supporting Actress for The Firm (1993))
• Emma Thompson (Best Actress for The Remains of the Day (1993) and Best Supporting Actress for In the Name of the Father (1993))
• Julianne Moore (Best Actress for Far From Heaven (2002) and Best Supporting Actress for The Hours (2002))
• Cate Blanchett (Best Actress for Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) and Best Supporting Actress for I'm Not There (2007))
• Scarlett Johansson (Best Actress for Marriage Story (2019) and Best Supporting Actress for Jojo Rabbit (2019))

African-American (or Black) Notables:

There have only been twenty-four nominations for black performers for Best Supporting Actress (with only eight winners), divided amongst twenty-one different performers. A few nominees were nominated more than once (Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer):

#	Best Supporting Actress Nominee	Film
1	Hattie McDaniel	Gone With The Wind (1939) (win)
2	Ethel Waters	Pinky (1949)
3	Juanita Moore	Imitation of Life (1959)
4	Bea Richards	Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
5	Alfre Woodard	Cross Creek (1983)
6	Margaret Avery	The Color Purple (1985)
7	Oprah Winfrey	The Color Purple (1985)
8	Whoopi Goldberg	Ghost (1990) (win)
9	Marianne Jean-Baptiste	Secrets & Lies (1996)
10	Queen Latifah	Chicago (2002)
11	Sophie Okonedo	Hotel Rwanda (2004)
12	Jennifer Hudson	Dreamgirls (2006) (win)
13	Ruby Dee	American Gangster (2007)
14	Viola Davis	Doubt (2008)
15	Taraji P. Henson	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
16	Mo'Nique	Precious (2009) (win)
17	Octavia Spencer	The Help (2011) (win)
18	Lupita Nyong'o	12 Years a Slave (2013) (win)
19	Viola Davis	Fences (2016) (win)
20	Naomie Harris	Moonlight (2016)
21	Octavia Spencer	Hidden Figures (2016)
22	Octavia Spencer	The Shape of Water (2017)
23	Mary J. Blige	Mudbound (2017)
24	Regina King	If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) (win)

Only fourteen black performers have won the Oscar in the supporting category (six Best Supporting Actor, eight Best Supporting Actress). Only eight African-American (or black) actresses have won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar:

• Hattie McDaniel for Gone With The Wind (1939) - the first
• Whoopi Goldberg for Ghost (1990) - 51 years later!
• Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls (2006)
• Mo'Nique for Precious (2009)
• Octavia Spencer for The Help (2011)
• Lupita Nyong'o for 12 Years a Slave (2013)
• Viola Davis for Fences (2016)
• Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

Only nineteen awards have been won by African-Americans (or blacks) in both lead and supporting categories (four Best Actor, one Best Actress, six Best Supporting Actor, and eight Best Supporting Actress).

The Most Nominations for a Black Actress:

2016 was the first year that a single acting category (Best Supporting Actress) featured three black nominees:

• Viola Davis for Fences (2016) (win), Naomie Harris for Moonlight (2016), and Octavia Spencer for Hidden Figures (2016).
• Viola Davis' third career nomination (and first win) - Best Supporting Actress for Fences (2016) was a record for a black actress. She became the first black actress to earn three Oscar nominations. She was previously nominated for her performances in Doubt (2008) (supporting) and The Help (2011) (lead). She also became the first black actress to win an Emmy, a Tony and an Oscar.
• Octavia Spencer duplicated Davis' feat of having three Oscar nominations when she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for The Shape of Water (2017). Spencer was previously nominated twice for Best Supporting Actress: Hidden Figures (2016) and The Help (2011) (win).

Latino, Asian and Other Ethnic-Minority (Non-English) Performers:

There have been very few ethnic/minority (or non-English) performance wins for Best Supporting Actress. They include:

• Lupita Nyong'o in 12 Years a Slave (2013)
  [Note: Nyong'o is of Kenyan descent, but was born in Mexico City and identifies herself as Kenyan Mexican]
• Spanish-born actress Penelope Cruz won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as temptress ex-wife Maria Elena in Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) - with her win, Cruz became the first Spanish-born actress to win an Oscar; in the role, she spoke both English and Spanish
• Australian Cate Blanchett won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator (2004)
• Catherine Zeta-Jones (Welsh) won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Chicago (2002)
• Angelina Jolie - with part Haudenosaunee (some sources say Iroquian Indian) heritage, won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Girl, Interrupted (1999)
• Queens NY-born American actress Mercedes Ruehl (of Cuban and Irish extraction) won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in The Fisher King (1991)
• Brenda Fricker (Irish) won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in My Left Foot (1989)
• Puerto Rican Rita Moreno won the Best Supporting Actress award for her performance in West Side Story (1961) - she was the first Hispanic/Latino actress to win an acting Academy Award Oscar
• 22 year old Japanese-born Miyoshi Umeki won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Sayonara (1957) - she was the first Asian actress to be nominated for (and win) an Oscar award

Notable ethnic/minority performance nominations for Best Supporting Actress include:

• British-Nigerian actress Cynthia Erivo for Harriet (2019), a biopic of slave-turned abolitionist Harriet Tubman
• Mexican actress Marina de Tavira (with her first nomination) for her role as Sra. Sofia, an upper-middle class Mexico City wife in a strained marriage with her husband Antonio, in Roma (2018, Mex./US) [Note: With nominations for both Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira, it marked the first time two Latina actresses were nominated in the same year. Also, de Tavira was only the second Best Supporting Actress nominated for a Foreign Language performance]
• Swedish actress Alicia Vikander, nominated for her role as sympathetic wife Gerda Wegener in The Danish Girl (2015) - she was the first Nordic actress nominated at the Oscars since Lena Olin in 1989
• Australian actress Jacki Weaver, again nominated for her role as concerned mother Dolores in Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
• Argentine-French actress Bérénice Bejo nominated as Best Supporting Actress as silent film fan and rising female star Peppy Miller in The Artist (2011)
• Australian actress Jacki Weaver nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role as terrifying Melbourne crime family matriarch Janine "Smurf" Cody, in writer/director David Michôd's noirish crime film Animal Kingdom (2010)
• Spanish-born actress Penelope Cruz was also nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role as Carla, the passionate mistress of a married film director, in Rob Marshall's big budget musical flop Nine (2009)
• Mexican-born Adriana Barraza was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role as careless Mexican housekeeper Amelie in Babel (2006)
• Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role as isolated, depressed and troubled deaf-mute Tokyo teen-aged (speaking with sign-language) girl Chieko in Babel (2006)
• Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashloo was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her performance in House of Sand and Fog (2003) - she was the first Iranian-Middle Eastern actress to be nominated for an Oscar
• Half-Chinese Jennifer Tilly was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role in Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
  
• Brooklyn-born Puerto Rican Rosie Perez was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Fearless (1993)
• Swedish-born Lena Olin was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role in Enemies: A Love Story (1989)
• Argentinian actress Norma Aleandro was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role in Gaby: A True Story (1987) - it was the first South American actress nomination ever
• Half-Chinese Meg Tilly was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role in Agnes of God (1985)
• Italian actress Valentina Cortese was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role in Day for Night (1973, Fr./It.), the winner of Best Foreign Language film; Cortese was the first Supporting Actress nominated for a Foreign Language performance
• Mexican-American Susan Kohner (daughter of Mexican actress Lupita Tovar) was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role as a light-skinned black girl in Imitation of Life (1959)
• Mexican-born Katy Jurado was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role in Broken Lance (1954)

Best Supporting Actress Oscar Winners/Nominees: Prostitute Roles

A large number of actresses have won the supporting actress Oscar for portraying hookers (girls of the night, party girls, whores, call girls, madams, etc.) or loose women (mistresses, promiscuous ladies, etc.), for example:

• Anne Baxter won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as tragic, alcoholic Sophie Nelson - a thrown-away woman who turned to prostitution after the car-crash death of her husband and child in The Razor's Edge (1946)
• Claire Trevor won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as a faded, torch-singing floozy turned into a gangster's (Edward G. Robinson) pathetic alcoholic mistress Gaye Dawn in Key Largo (1948)
• Donna Reed won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her against-type role as dark-haired, sailor port 'club' hostess ("prostitute" - a working girl/nightclub singer) (Alma) Lorene at the New Congress Club in Honolulu servicing soldiers in From Here to Eternity (1953)
• Jo Van Fleet won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as a wizened brothel madam and love-starved James Dean's estranged and mysterious mother Kate in East of Eden (1955)
• Dorothy Malone won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as alcoholic Robert Stack's wild, sexually provocative, nymphomaniacal, trampy and spoiled rich sister Marylee Hadley in Written on the Wind (1956)
• Shirley Jones won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her against-type role as blonde Lulu Bains - Gantry's (Burt Lancaster) former dishevelled girlfriend/turned hustling, blackmailing prostitute who sought revenge in Elmer Gantry (1960)
• Mira Sorvino won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as bubble-headed, naive prostitute/porno star Linda Ash ('Judy Cum'), the birth mother of divorced sportswriter Woody Allen's adopted son in Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
• Kim Basinger won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as glamorous, sultry movie-star look-a-like (a la Veronica Lake) - high-priced prostitute Lynn Bracken in L.A. Confidential (1997)
• (Jodie Foster was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as 12 year-old runaway and prostitute Iris Steensman in Taxi Driver (1976))

Shortest:

The shortest performance to win an Oscar was in the Best Supporting Actress category:

• Beatrice Straight won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for less than eight minutes of screen time in Network (1976), with only 8 speaking parts (of approx. 260 words).
  (Runner up: Judi Dench for about ten minutes of screen time as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love (1998), with 14 speaking parts (of approx. 446 words).)

The shortest performance to be nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar:

• Hermione Baddeley was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Room At the Top (1959), with approximately only 2 minutes and 20 seconds of screen time

Non-Speaking Role Nominees/Winners:

• 16 year old Patty Duke won Best Supporting Actress for portraying Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker (1962), a role that required her to speak only one word in the last scene - "water." She was also the first minor to win a competitive Oscar.
• Samantha Morton was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role as the shy, waifish, mute laundress Hattie in Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
• Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role as isolated, depressed and troubled deaf-mute Tokyo teen-aged (speaking with sign-language) girl Chieko in Babel (2006)
• Argentine-French actress Bérénice Bejo was nominated for her non-speaking role in the modern-day silent film The Artist (2011)

Related Oscar Winners and Nominees: Father-Son, Father-Daughter, Mother-Daughter

Father-son acting nominees include:

• Kirk Douglas (for Champion (1949), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), and Lust for Life (1956)), and Michael Douglas (for Wall Street (1987))
• Raymond Massey (for Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)) and Daniel Massey for Star! (1980))

The only father-son/daughter Oscar nominees are Henry Fonda, Peter Fonda (nominated as Best Actor for Ulee's Gold (1997)), and Jane Fonda. Henry and Jane are also the only father-daughter duo nominated for the same film: On Golden Pond (1981).

Winning father-daughter acting combos include:

• Jon Voight (Best Actor for Coming Home (1978)) and Angelina Jolie (Best Supporting Actress for Girl, Interrupted (1999))
• Henry Fonda (Best Actor for On Golden Pond (1981) and Jane Fonda (Best Actress for Klute (1971) and Coming Home (1978))

Nominated father-daughter acting combos also include:

• Ryan O'Neal (Best Actor for Love Story (1970)) and Tatum O'Neal (Best Supporting Actress for Paper Moon (1973)).

Michael, Vanessa, and Lynn Redgrave are the only father-daughter/daughter group among acting nominees. Michael's single nomination was for Mourning Becomes Electra (1947).

The only mother-daughter duo to have won performance Oscars are:

• Judy Garland (a special juvenile award winner) for The Wizard of Oz (1939)
• Liza Minnelli (as Best Actress) for Cabaret (1972)
  (Note: Vincente Minnelli (Garland's husband and Minnelli's father) also won a Best Director Oscar for Gigi (1958))

The first and only mother-daughter acting pair nominated for the same film in Oscar history:

• Diane Ladd and Laura Dern both received nominations for Rambling Rose (1991).
  (Note: Add to that the fact that father Bruce Dern was Oscar-nominated (Best Supporting Actor for Coming Home (1978)) - that makes them the only mother-father-daughter acting group with Oscar nominations)

Films with Three Best Supporting Actress Nominees:

Only one film has had three nominees for Best Supporting Actress:

• Tom Jones (1963) - Diane Cilento, Edith Evans, and Joyce Redman (all lost to Margaret Rutherford for The V.I.P.'s (1963))

Other Notables:

Opposite Gender Role Nominees (With Two Winners)

• (Note: Katharine Hepburn was not nominated for her cross-dressing role in Sylvia Scarlett (1935))
• Dustin Hoffman was nominated as Best Actor for Tootsie (1982), for his role as unemployed actor Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels
• Julie Andrews was nominated as Best Actress for Victor/Victoria (1982), for her role as a British singer/transvestite ("a woman impersonating a man impersonating a woman") - the title role
• Linda Hunt won Best Supporting Actress for director Peter Weir's The Year of Living Dangerously (1983) for playing a man (Chinese-Australian photographer Billy Kwan) - she was the first (and only) person to win an Oscar for playing a gender-switched character role - a character of the opposite sex
• (Note: Barbra Streisand was not nominated for her role as Yentl/Anshel in Yentl (1983))
• Gwyneth Paltrow's Best Actress Oscar for Shakespeare in Love (1998) was for playing cross-dressing Viola De Lesseps/Thomas Kent
• Hilary Swank's Best Actress Oscar for Boys Don't Cry (1999) was for playing a member of the opposite sex, although she was a pre-operative transsexual, biologically female
  
• Janet McTeer was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for Albert Nobbs (2011), as Hubert Page, a cross-dressing woman passing as a man - and married to another woman
• Glenn Close was a Best Actress nominee for Albert Nobbs (2011) as the title character Albert Nobbs, a hotel waiter trapped after masquerading as a man in late 19th century and early 20th century Ireland
• Jared Leto's Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Dallas Buyers Club (2013) was as transformed transgender (or transvestite) prostitute Rayon, infected with HIV and dying of AIDS

For four years in a row (1978-1981), the Best Supporting Actress winner's initials were M.S.: Maggie Smith, Meryl Streep, Mary Steenbergen, Maureen Stapleton.

Cate Blanchett's Best Supporting Actress Oscar win for The Aviator (2004) in her role as Katharine Hepburn marked the first time a performer won an Oscar for playing an Oscar-winning actress.

Ruth Gordon, a Broadway playwright (Years Ago, Over Twenty-One), stage actress (Tony Award-nominated in 1956 for The Matchmaker), Oscar-nominated screenwriter (A Double Life (1947), Adam's Rib (1949) and Pat and Mike (1952), co-scripted with husband Garson Kanin), book author (Myself Among Others, An Open Book, and My Side), Golden Globe Award winner (Best Supporting Actress for Inside Daisy Clover (1965) for which she also had an Oscar nomination), and Emmy Award winner (for a 1978 episode of Taxi) won Best Supporting Actress (and a Golden Globe) for her performance in Rosemary's Baby (1968). She was also nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance as Maude in Harold and Maude (1971).

Youngest and Oldest Best Supporting Actresses: Nominees and Winners

Note: The calculated time is from date of birth to the date of either (1) the nominations announcement, or (2) the date of the awards ceremony.