Saturn Award for Best Actress

Saturn Award for Best Actress
The 2023 recipient: Margot Robbie
Awarded forBest performance of the year by a female in a leading role in a genre film
CountryUnited States
Presented byAcademy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films
First awarded1974/75
Currently held byMargot Robbie for Barbie (2022/2023)
Websitewww.saturnawards.org

The Saturn Award for Best Actress is one of the annual Saturn Awards given by the American professional organization, the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The Saturn Awards are the oldest film-specialized reward of achievements in science fiction, fantasy, and horror (another award, the Hugo Award is older but includes other genres and media). The Saturn Award included the Best Actress category for the first time in the 1974 film year.

The Saturn Award for Best Actress is the oldest prize to reward actresses in science fiction, fantasy, and horror films: other awards such as the Academy and Golden Globe Awards, despite supposedly disregarding the genre, gave little recognition to acting quality at the time. In 1996 the Saturns began to reward both film and television acting, and created the Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television. For the first two years it was awarded there were no nominees announced.

The actresses with the most nominations are Jamie Lee Curtis, Jodie Foster, Natalie Portman, Naomi Watts and Sigourney Weaver, who are all tied with five. Curtis, Foster, Portman, Watts and Sandra Bullock are the only actresses to have won it twice. Portman and Michelle Yeoh are the only actresses to win both the Saturn Award and the Academy Award for Best Actress for the same film, while Weaver holds the record for most nominations for playing the same character (Ellen Ripley) with four. Foster is the youngest winner in this category, winning her first award in 1977 at age 13.