NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture

NAACP Image Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture
NAACP Image Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture
	The 2025 recipient: Kerry Washington
Awarded for	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture
Location	Pasadena, California
Presented by	NAACP
First award	Estelle Evans for The Learning Tree (1969)
Currently held by	Kerry Washington for The Six Triple Eight (2024)

Last updated November 14, 2025

This article lists the winners and nominees for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture. The award has also been called Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture. Out of 12 films which featured African-Americans in leading roles in 1980, Cicely Tyson was the only female in that category. She played opposite Richard Pryor in Bustin' Loose . Because of this, she and officials at the annual NAACP Image Awards program decided that she should not accept the award.

Winners and nominees

For each year in the tables below, the winner is listed first and highlighted in bold.

1960s

Year	Actress	Film	Ref
1969	Estelle Evans	The Learning Tree

1970s

Year	Actress	Film	Ref
1970	Barbara McNair	If He Hollers Let Him Go
1971	Jane Fonda	Klute	^[1]
	Virginia Capers	Big Jake
	Susan Clark	Skin Game
	Rosalind Cash	The Omega Man
	Stephanie Faulkner	The Bus Is Coming
	Diana Sands	Doctors' Wives
1972	Diana Ross	Lady Sings The Blues
1973	—
1974	Ester Anderson	A Warm December	^[2]
	Yvonne Elliman	Jesus Christ Superstar
	Paula Kelly	The Spook Who Sat by the Door
	Janet MacLachlan	Maurie
	Paulene Myers	Maurie
1975	Diahann Carroll	Claudine	^[3]
	Rosalind Cash	Uptown Saturday Night
	Vonetta McGee	Thomasine & Bushrod
	Madge Sinclair	Conrack
	Clarice Taylor	Five on the Black Hand Side
1976	Denise Nicholas	Let's Do It Again
1977	Cicely Tyson	The River Niger
1978	Cicely Tyson	A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich
1979	Mavis Washington	Fastbreak

1980s

Year	Actress	Film	Ref
1980	Irene Cara	Fame	^{[ citation needed ]}
1981	—
1982	Jayne Kennedy	Body and Soul	^{[ citation needed ]}
	Wilhelmenia Fernandez	Diva
	Rosalind Cash	Wrong is Right
1983	Jennifer Beals	Flashdance	^{[ citation needed ]}
	Pam Grier	Tough Enough
	Diahnne Abbott	The King of Comedy
1984	Alfre Woodard	Cross Creek	^{[ citation needed ]}
1985	Tina Turner	Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome	^{[ citation needed ]}
1986	Whoopi Goldberg	The Color Purple	^{[ citation needed ]}
1987	Traci Wolfe	Lethal Weapon	^{[ citation needed ]}
	Nichelle Nichols	Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
	Helen Martin	Hollywood Shuffle
	Kelly Jo Minter	Summer School
	Sandra Reaves-Phillips	'Round Midnight
1988	Whoopi Goldberg	Fatal Beauty	^[4]^[5]
	Pam Grier	Above the Law
	C.C.H. Pounder	Bagdad Café
	Beverly Todd	Moving
1989	Ruby Dee	Do the Right Thing	^[6]^[7]
	Whoopi Goldberg	Clara's Heart
	Sheryl Lee Ralph	The Mighty Quinn
	Beverly Todd	Lean on Me

1990s

Year	Actress	Film	Ref
1990	—
1991	—
1992	Whoopi Goldberg	The Long Walk Home	^[8]
	Tyra Ferrell	Boyz n the Hood
	Ruby Dee	Jungle Fever
	Lonette McKee	Jungle Fever
	Mary Alice	To Sleep with Anger
	Robin Givens	A Rage in Harlem
1993	Whoopi Goldberg	Sister Act	^[9]
	Halle Berry	Boomerang
	Robin Givens	Boomerang
	Alfre Woodard	Grand Canyon
	Rosie Perez	White Men Can't Jump
1994	Angela Bassett	What's Love Got to Do with It	^[10]
	Whitney Houston	The Bodyguard
	Janet Jackson	Poetic Justice
	Leleti Khumalo	Sarafina!
	Alfre Woodard	Bopha!
1995	—
1996	Angela Bassett	Waiting to Exhale	^[11]
	Jennifer Beals	Devil in a Blue Dress
	Halle Berry	Losing Isaiah
	Whoopi Goldberg	Boys on the Side
	Whitney Houston	Waiting to Exhale
1997	Whitney Houston	The Preacher's Wife	^[12]
	Whoopi Goldberg	Ghosts of Mississippi
	Queen Latifah	Set It Off
	Jada Pinkett Smith	Set It Off
	Phylicia Rashad	Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored
1998	Vanessa Williams	Soul Food
	Vivica A. Fox	Soul Food
	Pam Grier	Jackie Brown
	Nia Long	Love Jones
	Lynn Whitfield	Eve's Bayou
1999	Angela Bassett	How Stella Got Her Groove Back	^[13]
	Halle Berry	Bulworth
	Regina King	Enemy of the State
	Oprah Winfrey	Beloved
	Alfre Woodard	Down in the Delta

2000s

Year	Actress	Film	Ref
2000	Nia Long	The Best Man
	Monica Calhoun	The Best Man
	Rosario Dawson	Light It Up
	Lisa Gay Hamilton	True Crime
	Debbi Morgan	The Hurricane
2001	Sanaa Lathan	Love and Basketball
	Angela Bassett	Boesman and Lena
	Nia Long	Big Momma's House
	Jada Pinkett Smith	Bamboozled
	Vanessa Williams	Shaft
2002	Halle Berry	Swordfish
	Vivica A. Fox	Two Can Play That Game
	Whoopi Goldberg	Kingdom Come
	Regina King	Down to Earth
	Alfre Woodard	K-PAX
2003	Angela Bassett	Sunshine State
	Vivica A. Fox	Juwanna Mann
	Sanaa Lathan	Brown Sugar
	Jennifer Lopez	Maid in Manhattan
	Thandie Newton	The Truth About Charlie
2004	Queen Latifah	Bringing Down the House	^[14]
	Halle Berry	Gothika
	Beyoncé	The Fighting Temptations
	Keisha Castle-Hughes	Whale Rider
	Gabrielle Union	Deliver Us from Eva
2005	Kerry Washington	Ray
	Angela Bassett	Mr. 3000
	Kimberly Elise	Woman Thou Art Loosed
	Irma P. Hall	The Ladykillers
	Gabrielle Union	Breakin' All the Rules
2006	Kimberly Elise	Diary of a Mad Black Woman
	Rosario Dawson	Rent
	Queen Latifah	Beauty Shop
	Zoe Saldana	Guess Who
	Zhang Ziyi	Memoirs of a Geisha
2007	Keke Palmer	Akeelah and the Bee
	Beyoncé	Dreamgirls
	Penélope Cruz	Volver
	Sanaa Lathan	Something New
	Queen Latifah	Last Holiday
2008	Jurnee Smollett	The Great Debaters
	Halle Berry	Things We Lost in the Fire
	Taraji P. Henson	Talk to Me
	Angelina Jolie	A Mighty Heart
	Jill Scott	Why Did I Get Married?
2009	Rosario Dawson	Seven Pounds
	Angela Bassett	Meet the Browns
	Dakota Fanning	The Secret Life of Bees
	Queen Latifah	The Secret Life of Bees
	Alfre Woodard	The Family That Preys

2010s

Year	Actress	Film	Ref
2010	Gabourey Sidibe	Precious
	Sandra Bullock	The Blind Side
	Taraji P. Henson	I Can Do Bad All By Myself
	Sophie Okonedo	Skin
	Anika Noni Rose	The Princess and the Frog
2011	Halle Berry	Frankie & Alice
	Janet Jackson	Why Did I Get Married Too?
	Queen Latifah	Just Wright
	Zoe Saldana	The Losers
	Kerry Washington	Night Catches Us
2012	Viola Davis	The Help
	Paula Patton	Jumping the Broom
	Adepero Oduye	Pariah
	Zoe Saldana	Colombiana
	Emma Stone	The Help
2013	Viola Davis	Won't Back Down	^[15]
	Halle Berry	Cloud Atlas
	Emayatzy Corinealdi	Middle of Nowhere
	Loretta Devine	In the Hive
	Quvenzhané Wallis	Beasts of the Southern Wild
2014	Angela Bassett	Black Nativity	^[16]
	Nicole Beharie	42
	Halle Berry	The Call
	Jennifer Hudson	Winnie Mandela
	Kerry Washington	Peeples
2015	Taraji P. Henson	No Good Deed	^[17]
	Viola Davis	The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby
	Gugu Mbatha-Raw	Belle
	Tessa Thompson	Dear White People
	Quvenzhané Wallis	Annie
2016	Sanaa Lathan	The Perfect Guy	^[18]
	Viola Davis	Lila & Eve
	Keke Palmer	Brotherly Love
	Teyonah Parris	Chi-Raq
	Zoe Saldana	Infinitely Polar Bear
2017	Taraji P. Henson	Hidden Figures	^[19]
	Angela Bassett	London Has Fallen
	Madina Nalwanga	Queen of Katwe
	Ruth Negga	Loving
	Tika Sumpter	Southside with You
2018	Octavia Spencer	Gifted	^[20]
	Halle Berry	Kidnap
	Danai Gurira	All Eyez on Me
	Natalie Paul	Crown Heights
	Amandla Stenberg	Everything, Everything
2019	Amandla Stenberg	The Hate U Give
	Viola Davis	Widows
	Sanaa Lathan	Nappily Ever After
	KiKi Layne	If Beale Street Could Talk
	Constance Wu	Crazy Rich Asians

2020s

Year	Actress	Film	Ref
2020	Lupita Nyong'o	Us
	Cynthia Erivo	Harriet
	Naomie Harris	Black and Blue
	Jodie Turner-Smith	Queen & Slim
	Alfre Woodard	Clemency
2021	Viola Davis	Ma Rainey's Black Bottom	^[21]
	Issa Rae	The Photograph
	Janelle Monáe	Antebellum
	Madalen Mills	Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
	Tracee Ellis Ross	The High Note
2022	Jennifer Hudson	Respect	^[22]
	Andra Day	The United States vs. Billie Holiday
	Halle Berry	Bruised
	Tessa Thompson	Passing
	Zendaya	Malcolm & Marie
2023	Viola Davis	The Woman King	^[23]
	Danielle Deadwyler	Till
	Regina Hall	Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.
	Keke Palmer	Alice
	Letitia Wright	Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
2024	Fantasia Barrino	The Color Purple	^[24]
	Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor	Origin
	Halle Bailey	The Little Mermaid
	Teyana Taylor	A Thousand and One
	Yara Shahidi	Sitting in Bars with Cake
2025	Kerry Washington	The Six Triple Eight
	Cynthia Erivo	Wicked
	Regina King	Shirley
	Lupita Nyong'o	A Quiet Place: Day One
	Lashana Lynch	Bob Marley: One Love

Multiple wins and nominations

Wins

5 wins

Angela Bassett

4 wins

2 wins

Nominations

11 nominations

Halle Berry

9 nominations

Angela Bassett

7 nominations

6 nominations

5 nominations

Sanaa Lathan

4 nominations

3 nominations

2 nominations

References

↑ "1971 Image Award Winners". IMDb. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
↑ "1974 Image Award Winners". IMDb. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
↑ "1975 Image Award Winners". IMDb. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
↑ Snow, Shaun (11 November 1988). "1988 Image Award Nominees". LA Times . Retrieved August 3, 2016.
↑ "Nominees for 21st Image Awards Announced". Los Angeles Times . 11 November 1988.
↑ Snow, Shauna (11 November 1988). "Nominees for 21st Image Awards Announced". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
↑ "NAACP Image Award Nominees Announced". Associated Press News .
↑ "NAACP Image Award Nominees Announced". The Associated Press . October 16, 1991. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
↑ "1994 Image Award Winners". IMDb. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
↑ "1995 Image Award Winners". IMDb. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
↑ Snow, Shauna (22 February 1996). "5 Films Head Nominations for NAACP Image Awards". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
↑ "1997 Image Award Winners". IMDb. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
↑ "The Crisis". The Crisis Publishing Company, Inc. 1 April 1999. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
↑ "2004 Image Award Winners". IMDb. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
↑ Couch, Aaron (February 1, 2013). "2013 Image Winners". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved August 2, 2016.
↑ Couch, Aaron (February 22, 2014). "2014 Image Winners". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved August 2, 2016.
↑ Washington, Arlene (February 6, 2015). "2015 Image Winners". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved August 2, 2016.
↑ "2016 Image Winners". Variety . 6 February 2016. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
↑ Hipes, Patrick (December 13, 2016). "Ruth Negga, Angela Bassett and Taraji P. Henson nominated". Deadline . Retrieved January 2, 2017.
↑ Variety Staff (January 15, 2018). "NAACP Image Awards: The Complete Winners List". Variety . Retrieved January 19, 2018.
↑ "2021 NAACP Image Awards: The Complete Winners List". Entertainment Tonight . March 29, 2021.
↑ "NAACP Image Awards 2022 Full Winners List: 'The Harder They Fall,' Jennifer Hudson and Will Smith Take Top Honors". Variety . February 26, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
↑ "Angela Bassett, 'Abbott Elementary' Win Top Honors at 2023 NAACP Image Awards". Variety . February 25, 2023. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
↑ "Fantasia Barrino Brings NAACP Image Awards Crowd To Their Feet With 1 Electric Song". HuffPost. 2024-03-17. Retrieved 2024-03-17.

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[1] "1971 Image Award Winners". IMDb. Retrieved August 2, 2016.

[2] "1974 Image Award Winners". IMDb. Retrieved May 17, 2016.

[3] "1975 Image Award Winners". IMDb. Retrieved August 2, 2016.

[4] Snow, Shaun (11 November 1988). "1988 Image Award Nominees". LA Times . Retrieved August 3, 2016.

[5] "Nominees for 21st Image Awards Announced". Los Angeles Times . 11 November 1988.

[6] Snow, Shauna (11 November 1988). "Nominees for 21st Image Awards Announced". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 21 January 2017.

[7] "NAACP Image Award Nominees Announced". Associated Press News .

[8] "NAACP Image Award Nominees Announced". The Associated Press . October 16, 1991. Retrieved November 10, 2022.

[9] "1994 Image Award Winners". IMDb. Retrieved August 2, 2016.

[10] "1995 Image Award Winners". IMDb. Retrieved August 2, 2016.

[11] Snow, Shauna (22 February 1996). "5 Films Head Nominations for NAACP Image Awards". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 21 January 2017.

[12] "1997 Image Award Winners". IMDb. Retrieved August 2, 2016.

[13] "The Crisis". The Crisis Publishing Company, Inc. 1 April 1999. Retrieved 21 January 2017.

[14] "2004 Image Award Winners". IMDb. Retrieved August 2, 2016.

[15] Couch, Aaron (February 1, 2013). "2013 Image Winners". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved August 2, 2016.

[16] Couch, Aaron (February 22, 2014). "2014 Image Winners". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved August 2, 2016.

[17] Washington, Arlene (February 6, 2015). "2015 Image Winners". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved August 2, 2016.

[18] "2016 Image Winners". Variety . 6 February 2016. Retrieved August 2, 2016.

[19] Hipes, Patrick (December 13, 2016). "Ruth Negga, Angela Bassett and Taraji P. Henson nominated". Deadline . Retrieved January 2, 2017.

[20] Variety Staff (January 15, 2018). "NAACP Image Awards: The Complete Winners List". Variety . Retrieved January 19, 2018.

[21] "2021 NAACP Image Awards: The Complete Winners List". Entertainment Tonight . March 29, 2021.

[22] "NAACP Image Awards 2022 Full Winners List: 'The Harder They Fall,' Jennifer Hudson and Will Smith Take Top Honors". Variety . February 26, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022.

[23] "Angela Bassett, 'Abbott Elementary' Win Top Honors at 2023 NAACP Image Awards". Variety . February 25, 2023. Retrieved February 26, 2023.

[24] "Fantasia Barrino Brings NAACP Image Awards Crowd To Their Feet With 1 Electric Song". HuffPost. 2024-03-17. Retrieved 2024-03-17.

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