Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress

The Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Play is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial London theatre.

The awards were established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in 1976, and renamed in 1984 in honour of English actor and director Laurence Olivier.

This award was introduced in 1985, as Actress of the Year, then retitled to its current name for the 1993 ceremony.

Prior to this award, from 1976 to 1984 (and again in 1988), there was a pair of awards given each year for this general category, one for Actress of the Year in a New Play and the other for Actress of the Year in a Revival.

Note: The below awards and nominations include individuals awarded and nominated under the now-defunct categories Actress of the Year in a New Play and Actress of the Year in a Revival as well as the current combined Best Actress category.

Dame Judi Dench has won this award five times, for in 1977 , 1980 , 1983 , 1987 , and 1996
Lindsay Duncan won this award twice in 1986 and 2002
Fiona Shaw won this award twice in 1989 and 1994
Juliet Stevenson won for Death and the Maiden (1992)
Claire Higgins won this award three times in 1995 , 2003 , and 2005
Janet McTeer won for A Doll's House (1997)
Zoë Wanamaker won for Electra (1998)
Dame Eileen Atkins won twice for The Unexpected Man (1999) and Honour (2005)
Julie Walters won for All My Sons (2001)
Eve Best won for the title role of Hedda Gabler (2006)
Kristin Scott Thomas won for The Seagull (2008)
Tamsin Greig won for Much Ado About Nothing (2009)
Rachel Weisz won for A Streetcar Named Desire (2010)
Ruth Wilson won for Anna Christie (2012)
Helen Mirren won for The Audience (2013)
Lesley Manville won for Ghosts (2014)
Penelope Wilton won for Taken at Midnight (2015)
Sharon D. Clarke won for Death of a Salesman (2020)
Sheila Atim won for Constellations (2022)
Jodie Comer won for Prima Facie (2023)
Sarah Snook won for The Portrait of Dorian Gray (2024)