The New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress is one of the awards given by the New York Film Critics Circle to honor the finest achievements in filmmaking.

Winners

1930s

• 1935 – Greta Garbo - Anna Karenina
• 1936 – Luise Rainer - The Great Ziegfeld
• 1937 – Greta Garbo - Camille
• 1938 – Margaret Sullavan - Three Comrades
• 1939 – Vivien Leigh - Gone with the Wind

1940s

• 1940 – Katharine Hepburn - The Philadelphia Story
• 1941 – Joan Fontaine - Suspicion
• 1942 – Agnes Moorehead - The Magnificent Ambersons
• 1943 – Ida Lupino - The Hard Way
• 1944 – Tallulah Bankhead - Lifeboat
• 1945 – Ingrid Bergman - The Bells of St. Mary's and Spellbound
• 1946 – Celia Johnson - Brief Encounter
• 1947 – Deborah Kerr - Black Narcissus and I See a Dark Stranger
• 1948 – Olivia de Havilland - The Snake Pit
• 1949 – Olivia de Havilland - The Heiress

1950s

• 1950 – Bette Davis - All About Eve
• 1951 – Vivien Leigh - A Streetcar Named Desire
• 1952 – Shirley Booth - Come Back, Little Sheba
• 1953 – Audrey Hepburn - Roman Holiday
• 1954 – Grace Kelly - The Country Girl and Dial M for Murder and Rear Window
• 1955 – Anna Magnani - The Rose Tattoo
• 1956 – Ingrid Bergman - Anastasia
• 1957 – Deborah Kerr - Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison
• 1958 – Susan Hayward - I Want to Live!
• 1959 – Audrey Hepburn - The Nun's Story

1960s

• 1960 – Deborah Kerr - The Sundowners
• 1961 – Sophia Loren - Two Women
• 1962 – No Award
• 1963 – Patricia Neal - Hud
• 1964 – Kim Stanley - Séance on a Wet Afternoon
• 1965 – Julie Christie - Darling
• 1966 – Elizabeth Taylor - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Lynn Redgrave - Georgy Girl
• 1967 – Edith Evans - The Whisperers
• 1968 – Joanne Woodward - Rachel, Rachel
• 1969 – Jane Fonda - They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

1970s

• 1970 – Glenda Jackson - Women in Love
• 1971 – Jane Fonda - Klute
• 1972 – Liv Ullmann - Cries and Whispers and The Emigrants
• 1973 – Joanne Woodward - Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams
• 1974 – Liv Ullmann - Scenes from a Marriage
• 1975 – Isabelle Adjani - The Story of Adele H.
• 1976 – Liv Ullmann - Face to Face
• 1977 – Diane Keaton - Annie Hall
• 1978 – Ingrid Bergman - Autumn Sonata
• 1979 – Sally Field - Norma Rae

1980s

• 1980 – Sissy Spacek - Coal Miner's Daughter
• 1981 – Glenda Jackson - Stevie
• 1982 – Meryl Streep - Sophie's Choice
• 1983 – Shirley MacLaine - Terms of Endearment
• 1984 – Peggy Ashcroft - A Passage to India
• 1985 – Norma Aleandro - The Official Story
• 1986 – Sissy Spacek - Crimes of the Heart
• 1987 – Holly Hunter - Broadcast News
• 1988 – Meryl Streep - A Cry in the Dark
• 1989 – Michelle Pfeiffer - The Fabulous Baker Boys

1990s

• 1990 – Joanne Woodward - Mr. and Mrs. Bridge
• 1991 – Jodie Foster - The Silence of the Lambs
• 1992 – Emma Thompson - Howards End
• 1993 – Holly Hunter - The Piano
• 1994 – Linda Fiorentino - The Last Seduction
• 1995 – Jennifer Jason Leigh - Georgia
• 1996 – Emily Watson - Breaking the Waves
• 1997 – Julie Christie - Afterglow
• 1998 – Cameron Diaz - There's Something About Mary
• 1999 – Hilary Swank - Boys Don't Cry

2000s

• 2000 – Laura Linney - You Can Count On Me
• 2001 – Sissy Spacek - In the Bedroom
• 2002 – Diane Lane - Unfaithful
• 2003 – Hope Davis - American Splendor and The Secret Lives of Dentists
• 2004 – Imelda Staunton - Vera Drake
• 2005 – Reese Witherspoon - Walk the Line
• 2006 – Helen Mirren - The Queen
• 2007 – Julie Christie - Away from Her