NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
| NAACP Image Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture | |
|---|---|
 The 2022 recipient: Viola Davis
| |
| Awarded for | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture |
| Location | Baltimore, Maryland |
| Presented by | NAACP |
| First awarded | Estelle Evans for The Learning Tree (1969) |
| Currently held by | Viola Davis for The Woman King (2022) |
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 | |
| 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 | |
| Yvonne Elliman | Jesus Christ Superstar | ||
| Paula Kelly | The Spook Who Sat by the Door | ||
| Janet MacLachlan | Maurie | ||
| Paulene Myers | Maurie | ||
| 1975 | Diahann Carroll | Claudine | |
| 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
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
Multiple wins and nominations
Wins
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Nominations
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