10 Best Actress Oscar Wins That Are Indisputable

The Academy Awards don't always get it right when it comes to the Best Actress category, but these winners are indisputable. One of the few awards given out since the very first Oscars in 1929, Best Actress has been bestowed upon some of the greatest performers of every generation. While most wins are deserved, some blew the competition away.

Art is entirely subjective, so there is an inherent unfairness to things like the Academy Awards. Pitting two performances against one another has often caused a stir, including several actors who outright refused their wins. However, the prestige of the Oscars lends it a bit more credibility as an institution for judging the quality of cinema.

The indisputable Best Actress winners didn't just put on strong performances, but broke new ground. In their winning years, there was no other nominee that held a candle to their triumph, and it's impossible to imagine anyone else taking home the gold. Sometimes they're established stars and other times they are one-off winners, but they're all legendary.

Michelle Yeoh - Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

Michelle Yeoh's Oscar win was the culmination of a long and storied career, and Everything Everywhere All at Once is without a doubt her best work. She stars as Evelyn, a woman struggling to keep her business afloat, who is drawn into a multiversal battle. The film is touching and original, and Yeoh carries the film's emotional through line.

The film gives Yeoh opportunity to utilize her martial arts experience, but it doesn't detract from her dramatic acting. She gives Evelyn layers, and that comes from decades of plying her craft. With a movie so mind-bending, Yeoh was under even more pressure. 2022 was the year of deserving wins, and Yeoh wasn't the only person to finally be vindicated.

Charlize Theron - Monster (2003)

Historically, only men were given roles that allowed them to let go, but Charlize Theron broke the mold when she played serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster. The film recounts years of Wuornos' adult life where she eventually turned to murder to support herself. Naturally, the controversial subject immediately made the Patty Jenkins film a hot topic.

Ignoring the movie's flaws, Theron's performance is electric. She gives dimension to Wuornos, but never to the point of absolute sympathy. 2003 was a down year in general, but it's hard to see a world in which Theron doesn't win. Such roles are a bit more common now, but Theron broke new ground back in the early Aughts.

Frances McDormand - Fargo (1996)

Frances McDormand has done some of her best work with the Coen brothers, and Fargo cemented that relationship forever. McDormand plays Marge, a pregnant small-town cop who gets embroiled in a strange murder-for-hire plot that takes her to the big city. The movie is a subtle riot, finding humor in the darkness of its subject matter.

Marge is a goofy caricature of Midwestern insincerity, but she's also a brilliant tactician who grapples with sexism. It's one of the funniest '90s performances, and also one of the most dynamic. She's the fish-out-of-water that ushers the audience into the story, but she isn't a blank slate. McDormand was the most unique of the nominees by far.

Jodie Foster - The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)

The Silence of the Lambs was a rare horror film to find success at the Oscars, and it struck gold in all major categories. Young FBI agent Clarice Starling hunts for a serial killer nicknamed Buffalo Bill, and she must turn to the evil Hannibal Lecter to find him. Jodie Foster's turn as Clarice perfectly balanced Anthony Hopkins' Lecter performance.

Hopkins deservedly won Best Actor, and he often overshadows Foster's achievement. Playing Clarice required an equilibrium that isn't easy, and she had to elicit sympathy from the audience while working alongside such a bombastic performer. Foster succeeded, and Clarice is a well-rounded hero who has very human flaws. No other work was as dynamic in 1991.

Kathy Bates - Misery (1990)

Stephen King movies have had some success at the Academy Awards, but no win was more deserving than Kathy Bates in Misery. It concerns an author who, after wrecking his car, is held hostage by a superfan who demands he write his next opus. Annie Wilkes is the star of the show, and Kathy Bates makes her King's best villain.

Playing over-the-top characters isn't hard, but Bates' Wilkes is not a one-dimensional antagonist. With just her eyes, she's able to project an off-kilter nature, which makes her violent actions more terrifying. In her mind, she's the hero, which is the key to a brilliant villain performance. Misery is still scary today because of Kathy Bates' indisputable Oscar win.

Louise Fletcher - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

One of the defining films of the New Hollywood era, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest won five out of the nine Oscars it was nominated for. It concerns Randle McMurphy, a criminal who is sent to a mental hospital where he begins to stir up the patients. Louise Fletcher co-stars as Nurse Ratched, ostensibly the film's antagonist.

While Jack Nicholson's McMurphy is unhinged, Fletcher's Ratched is composed so that she needles the audience. She's evil without ever showing it, and that comes from her subtlety. Ratched is reviled as one of cinema's greatest villains, and that's because of Louise Fletcher's powerhouse work. Her Oscar win wasn't just the most indisputable of the year, but the entire decade.

Elizabeth Taylor - Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

The picture of Hollywood opulence, Elizabeth Taylor let her guard down when she played the iconic Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Adapting the Edward Albee play, the story concerns a married couple who are at each other's throats when some younger colleagues come to pay a visit. Light on plot, the movie is a platform for its performances.

Nominated for 13 Oscars, the film only took home four. Elizabeth Taylor's win was the biggest, and for good reason. Martha is the driving force of the story, and her slow disintegration into a boozy stupor pushes Taylor to the limit. She deserved the award not because it was easy, but because it was so difficult to pull off.

Julie Andrews - Mary Poppins (1964)

Though she probably should have also won for her turn in The Sound of Music, Julie Andrews' Oscar for Mary Poppins is just as indisputable. The Banks children are in need of some guidance, so their father calls upon a magical nanny to set them straight. The movie musical blends live-action and animation for a one-of-a-kind cinematic spectacle.

As the title character, Julie Andrews is tasked with being charming and commanding, and she imbues Mary with an appropriate mystery and fun. There wasn't much competition in 1964's Best Actress category, but Julie Andrews' performance is no less important. Considering the staying power of Mary Poppins, the Academy clearly got it right.

Ingrid Bergman - Gaslight (1944)

Though the film has faded somewhat from popular memory, Ingrid Bergman's performance in Gaslight is one of the defining turns from Hollywood's Golden Age. She plays Paula, an opera singer who is haunted by mysterious goings-on when she moves to London with her new husband. The classic thriller inspired the popular term "gaslighting", something that has transcended pop culture.

Acting in the 1940s often felt staged and unreal, but Bergman's human performance is what makes Gaslight so gripping. It hinted at the sweeping changes to acting that would come in the ensuing decade, and for that, it deserves recognition. Ignoring all that, Bergman simply gave the best performance of the year, which is why she snagged the Oscar.

Claudette Colbert - It Happened One Night (1934)

Released shortly before studios imposed censorship rules, It Happened One Night is surprisingly fresh for a film made in 1934. It concerns a rich socialite who tries to escape her stuffy life, only to be saddled with a silver-tongued reporter. The romantic comedy is hilarious and sexy, and is one of the peaks of the early Golden Age of Hollywood.

Claudette Colbert co-stars as Ellen (the socialite), and she holds her own next to Clark Gable. Colbert's turn in It Happened One Night is different from other Best Actress winners of the time, because she's multidimensional. The indisputable Academy Award win signified Colbert's commitment to the role, and has helped cement its legacy as a true classic.