Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress

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! style="width:25%;"| Actor

! style="width:35%;"| Play

! style="width:30%;"| Character

| Yvonne Bryceland

| The Road to Mecca

| Miss Helen

| Martine

| Martine

| The Castle

| Skinner

| Saved

| Pam

| Lindsay Duncan

| Les Liaisons Dangereuses

| Marquise de Merteuil

| Woman in Mind

| Susan

| As You Like It, Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Troilus and Cressida

| Rosalind / Madame de Tourvel / Cressida

| The Bay at Nice

| Valentina Nrovka

| Judi Dench

| Antony and Cleopatra

| Cleopatra

| A Lie of the Mind

| Beth

| Lettice and Lovage and Coming in to Land

| Lettice Douffet / Halina

| Yerma

| Yerma

| Fiona Shaw

| Electra, As You Like It and The Good Person of Szechwan

| Electra / Celia / Shen Te

| Prin

| Prin

| Shadowlands

| Joy

| Single Spies

| Elizabeth II

! style="width:10%;"| Year

! style="width:25%;"| Actor

! style="width:35%;"| Play

! style="width:30%;"| Character

| Kathryn Hunter

| The Visit

| Claire Zachanassian

| Scenes from a Marriage

| Marianne

| Coriolanus

| Volumnia

| After the Fall

| Maggie

| Juliet Stevenson

| Death and the Maiden

| Paulina

| Uncle Vanya

| Yelena

| Talking Heads

| Miss Schofield

| Hedda Gabler

| Hedda Gabler Tesman

| Alison Steadman

| The Rise and Fall of Little Voice

| Mari

| Six Degrees of Separation

| Ouisa Kittredge

| The Gift of the Gorgon

| Helen

| The Rise and Fall of Little Voice

| Little Voice

| Fiona Shaw

| Machinal

| Young Woman

| The Skriker

| Skriker

| Medea

| Medea

| The Deep Blue Sea

| Hester Collyer

| Clare Higgins

| Sweet Bird of Youth

| Alexandra Del Lago

| Les Parents terribles

| Leo

| Les Parents terribles

| Yvonne

| Broken Glass

| Sylvia Gellburg

| Judi Dench

| Absolute Hell

| Christine Foskett

| Mother Courage

| Mother Courage

| The Glass Menagerie

| Amanda Wingfield

| Skylight

| Kyra Hollis

| Janet McTeer

| A Doll's House

| Nora Helmer

| John Gabriel Borkman

| Mrs. Gunhild Borkman

| John Gabriel Borkman

| Ella Rentheim

| Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

| Martha

| Zoë Wanamaker

| Electra

| Electra

| Amy's View

| Esme Allen

| Closer

| Anna

| A Delicate Balance

| Claire

| Eileen Atkins

| The Unexpected Man

| Woman

| Our Lady of Sligo

| Mai O'Hara

| Filumena Marturano

| Filumena

| The Blue Room

| Various Characters

| Britannicus and Phèdre

| Agrippina / Phaedra

! style="width:10%;"| Year

! style="width:25%;"| Actor

! style="width:35%;"| Play

! style="width:30%;"| Character

| Janie Dee

| Comic Potential

| Jacie Triplethree

| The Real Thing

| Annie

| The Lady in the Van

| Miss Shepherd

| The Memory of Water

| Teresa

| Julie Walters

| All My Sons

| Kate Keller

| Long Day's Journey Into Night

| Mary Tyrone

| Orpheus Descending

| Lady Torrance

| My Zinc Bed

| Elsa

| Life x 3

| Sonia

| Lindsay Duncan

| Private Lives

| Amanda Prynne

| Mouth to Mouth

| Laura

| A Day in the Death of Joe Egg

| Sheila

| Boston Marriage

| Anna

| Clare Higgins

| Vincent in Brixton

| Ursula Loyer

| Frozen

| Nancy

| Proof

| Catherine

| Uncle Vanya

| Sonya

| Eileen Atkins

| Honour

| Honor

| Mourning Becomes Electra

| Christine Mannon

| Through the Leaves

| Martha

| After Miss Julie

| Miss Julie

| Three Sisters

| Masha

| Clare Higgins

| Hecuba

| Hecuba

| Suddenly, Last Summer

| Catharine

| His Dark Materials

| Lyra

| Bombshells

| Performer

| Eve Best

| Hedda Gabler

| Hedda Gabler Tesman

| Death of a Salesman

| Linda Loman

| As You Like It

| Rosalind

| Mary Stuart

| Mary, Queen of Scots

| Mary Stuart

| Elizabeth I of England

| Tamsin Greig

| Much Ado About Nothing

| Beatrice

| A Moon for the Misbegotten

| Josie

| Rock 'n' Roll

| Eleanor / Esme

| Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

| Martha

| Kristin Scott Thomas

| The Seagull

| Arkadina

| Saint Joan

| Joan of Arc

| Othello

| Desdemona

| Happy Days

| Winnie

| John Gabriel Borkman

| Ella Rentheim

| Margaret Tyzack

| The Chalk Garden

| Mrs St. Maugham

| August: Osage County

| Violet Weston

| That Face

| Martha

| The Chalk Garden

| Miss Madrigal

! style="width:10%;"| Year

! style="width:25%;"| Actor

! style="width:35%;"| Play

! style="width:30%;"| Character

| Rachel Weisz

| A Streetcar Named Desire

| Blanche DuBois

| A Doll's House

| Nora Helmer

| The Mountaintop

| Camae

| Entertaining Mr Sloane

| Kath

| Duet for One

| Stephanie Anderson

| Nancy Carroll

| After the Dance

| Joan

| End of the Rainbow

| Judy Garland

| The Little Dog Laughed

| Diane

| Clybourne Park

| Bev

| Ruth Wilson

| Anna Christie

| Anna Christie

| Noises Off

| Dotty Otley

| Grief

| Dorothy

| Betrayal

| Emma

| The Ladykillers

| Mrs Wilberforce

| Helen Mirren

| The Audience

| Queen Elizabeth II

| A Doll's House

| Nora Helmer

| The Effect

| Connie

| Old Times

| Kate / Anna

| Lesley Manville

| Ghosts

| Mrs. Helene Alving

| The Pride

| Sylvia

| Private Lives

| Amanda Prynne

| Peter and Alice

| Alice Liddell

| Penelope Wilton

| Taken at Midnight

| Irmgard Litten

| A Streetcar Named Desire

| Blanche DuBois

| Electra

| Electra

| Good People

| Margie Walsh

| Denise Gough

| People, Places and Things

| Emma

| Nell Gwynn

| Nell Gwynn

| Photograph 51

| Rosalind Franklin

| Les Liaisons dangereuses

| Marquise de Merteuil

| Oresteia

| Clytemnestra

| Billie Piper

| Yerma

| Yerma

| King Lear

| King Lear

| The Glass Menagerie

| Amanda Wingfield

| Hedda Gabler

| Hedda Gabler Tesman

|Laura Donnelly

|The Ferryman

|Caitlin Carney

|Long Day's Journey into Night

|Mary Tyrone

|Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill

|Billie Holiday

|Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

|Martha

|Patsy Ferran

|Summer and Smoke

|Alma Winemiller

|All About Eve

|Margo Channing

|The Height of the Storm

|Madeleine

|Antony and Cleopatra

|Cleopatra

|Home, I'm Darling

|Judy

! style="width:10%;"| Year

! style="width:25%;"| Actor

! style="width:35%;"| Play

! style="width:30%;"| Character

| Sharon D. Clarke

| Death of a Salesman

| Linda Loman

| Rosmersholm

| Rebecca West

| The Doctor

| The Doctor

| Fleabag

| Fleabag

| Sheila Atim

| Constellations

| Marianne

| 2:22 A Ghost Story

| Jenny

| Anna X

| Anna

| Hamlet

| Hamlet

| Jodie Comer

| Prima Facie

| Tessa

| A Streetcar Named Desire

| Blanche DuBois

| My Neighbour Totoro

| Mei

| Phaedra {{small|(new version by Simon Stone)}}

| Helen

| The Corn Is Green

| Miss Moffat

| Sarah Snook

| The Picture of Dorian Gray

| Performer / Various

| The Hills of California

| Veronica / Joan

| Medea

| Medea

| Plaza Suite

| Karen Nash / Muriel Tate / Norma Hubley

| Shirley Valentine

| Shirley Valentine

| Lesley Manville

| Oedipus

| Jocasta

| Shifters

| Des

| Machinal

| Young Woman

| A Tupperware of Ashes

| Queenie

| Oedipus

| Jocasta