The Silver Bear for Best Actress (German: Silberner Bär/Beste Darstellerin) was an award presented at the Berlin International Film Festival from 1956 to 2020. It was given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance and was chosen by the International Jury from the films in the Competition slate at the festival. Beginning with the 71st Berlin International Film Festival, the award was replaced with two gender-neutral categories, Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance and Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance.
At the 6th Berlin International Film Festival held in 1956, Elsa Martinelli was the first winner of this award for her performance in Donatella, and Paula Beer was the last winner in this category for her role in Undine at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival in 2020. Shirley MacLaine is the only actress to win the award twice, in 1959 for Ask Any Girl and in 1971 for Desperate Characters. Sandra Hüller, the 2006 winner for Requiem, had won Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance in 2026 for Rose.
History
The award was first presented in 1956 and could be for lead or supporting roles. The prize was not awarded on four occasions (1969, 1973–74, and 1990). In 1970, no awards were given as the festival was called off mid-way due to the controversy over the official selection film, o.k. by Michael Verhoeven, which led to the resignation of the international jury. In 2011, the entire female cast of A Separation received the award. Shirley MacLaine has won the most awards in this category, with two.
Sachiko Hidari is the only actress to win a joint award for her roles in two different films in the same competition; she won in 1964 for her performances in The Insect Woman and She and He.
The last of this award was given out in 2020, after which it was replaced with gender-neutral categories, Best Leading Performance and Best Supporting Performance, the following year.
Winners
1950s
| Year | Actress | Role(s) | English Title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | Elsa Martinelli | Donatella | Donatella | |
| 1957 | Yvonne Mitchell | Amy Preston | Woman in a Dressing Gown | |
| 1958 | Anna Magnani | Gioia | Wild Is the Wind | |
| 1959 | Shirley MacLaine | Meg Wheeler | Ask Any Girl |
1960s
| Year | Actress | Role(s) | English Title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Juliette Mayniel | Annette | The Fair | |
| 1961 | Anna Karina | Angela Récamier | A Woman Is a Woman | |
| 1962 | Rita Gam | Estelle Rigault | No Exit | |
| Viveca Lindfors | Inès Serrano | |||
| 1963 | Bibi Andersson | The Girl | The Mistress | |
| 1964 | Sachiko Hidari [A] | Tome Matsuki | The Insect Woman | |
| Naoko Ishikawa | She and He | |||
| 1965 | Madhur Jaffrey | Manjula | Shakespeare Wallah | |
| 1966 | Lola Albright | Marie Greene | Lord Love a Duck | |
| 1967 | Edith Evans | Maggie Ross | The Whisperers | |
| 1968 | Stéphane Audran | Frédérique | Les Biches |
1970s
| Year | Actress | Role(s) | English Title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Shirley MacLaine | Sophie Bentwood | Desperate Characters | |
| Simone Signoret | Clémence Bouin | Le Chat | ||
| 1972 | Elizabeth Taylor | Jimmie Jean Jackson | Hammersmith Is Out | |
| 1975 | Kinuyo Tanaka | Osaki Yamakawa | Sandakan No. 8 | |
| 1976 | Jadwiga Barańska | Barbara Niechcic | Nights and Days | |
| 1977 | Lily Tomlin | Margo Sperling | The Late Show | |
| 1978 | Gena Rowlands | Myrtle Gordon | Opening Night | |
| 1979 | Hanna Schygulla | Maria Braun | The Marriage of Maria Braun |
1980s
| Year | Actress | Role(s) | English Title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Renate Krößner | Ingrid “Sunny” Sommer | Solo Sunny | |
| 1981 | Barbara Grabowska | Kama | Fever | |
| 1982 | Katrin Sass | Nina Kern | Bürgschaft für ein Jahr | |
| 1983 | Yevgeniya Glushenko | Vera Silkova | Love by Request | |
| 1984 | Inna Churikova | Vera Nikolaevna | Wartime Romance | |
| 1985 | Jo Kennedy | Mary | Wrong World | |
| 1986 | Marcélia Cartaxo | Macabéa | Hour of the Star | |
| Charlotte Valandrey | Nadia | Red Kiss | ||
| 1987 | Ana Beatriz Nogueira | Vera Bauer | Vera | |
| 1988 | Holly Hunter | Jane Craig | Broadcast News | |
| 1989 | Isabelle Adjani | Camille Claudel | Camille Claudel |
1990s
| Year | Actress | Role(s) | English Title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Victoria Abril | Luisa | Lovers | |
| 1992 | Maggie Cheung | Ruan Lingyu | Center Stage | |
| 1993 | Michelle Pfeiffer | Lurene Hallett | Love Field | |
| 1994 | Crissy Rock | Maggie Conlan | Ladybird, Ladybird | |
| 1995 | Josephine Siao | May Sun | Summer Snow | |
| 1996 | Anouk Grinberg | Marie Abarth | My Man | |
| 1997 | Juliette Binoche | Hana | The English Patient | |
| 1998 | Fernanda Montenegro | Isadora Teixeira | Central Station | |
| 1999 | Juliane Köhler | Lilly Wust (Aimée) | Aimée & Jaguar | |
| Maria Schrader | Felice Schragenheim (Jaguar) |
2000s
| Year | Actress | Role(s) | English Title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Bibiana Beglau | Rita Vogt | The Legend of Rita | |
| Nadja Uhl | Tatjana | |||
| 2001 | Kerry Fox | Claire | Intimacy | |
| 2002 | Halle Berry | Leticia Musgrove | Monster's Ball | |
| 2003 | Nicole Kidman | Virginia Woolf | The Hours | |
| Julianne Moore | Laura Brown | |||
| Meryl Streep | Clarissa Vaughan | |||
| 2004 | Catalina Sandino Moreno | María Álvarez | Maria Full of Grace | |
| Charlize Theron | Aileen Wuornos | Monster | ||
| 2005 | Julia Jentsch | Sophie Scholl | Sophie Scholl – The Final Days | |
| 2006 | Sandra Hüller | Michaela Klingler | Requiem | |
| 2007 | Nina Hoss | Yella Fichte | Yella | |
| 2008 | Sally Hawkins | Pauline "Poppy" Cross | Happy-Go-Lucky | |
| 2009 | Birgit Minichmayr | Gitti | Everyone Else |
2010s
| Year | Actress | Role(s) | English Title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Shinobu Terajima | Shigeko Kurokawa | Caterpillar | |
| 2011 | Leila Hatami [B] | Simin | A Separation | |
| Sareh Bayat [B] | Razieh | |||
| Sarina Farhadi [B] | Termeh | |||
| Kimia Hosseini [B] | Somayeh | |||
| 2012 | Rachel Mwanza | Komona | War Witch | |
| 2013 | Paulina García | Gloria Cumplido | Gloria | |
| 2014 | Haru Kuroki | Taki Nunomiya | The Little House | |
| 2015 | Charlotte Rampling | Kate Mercer | 45 Years | |
| 2016 | Trine Dyrholm | Anna | The Commune | |
| 2017 | Kim Min-hee | Young-hee | On the Beach at Night Alone | |
| 2018 | Ana Brun | Chela | The Heiresses | |
| 2019 | Yong Mei | Wang Liyun | So Long, My Son |
2020s
| Year | Actress | Role(s) | English Title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Paula Beer | Undine Wibeau | Undine |
Multiple winners
The following actress is the only person to have received multiple Best Actress awards:
| Wins | Actress | Nationality | Films |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Shirley MacLaine | United States | Ask Any Girl (1959), Desperate Characters (1971) |
