Katharine Hepburn holds the record. Four Best Actress Statuettes. No one else has even come close to that level of dominance at the Academy Awards. She took home gold for Morning Glory in 1933, then sat through the years until Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner in 1967, followed by The Lion in Winter in 1968, and finally On Golden Pond in 1981. That last one? She was 74. Just to put the sheer scale of her reign into perspective, Frances McDormand sits in second place. Three wins. Fargo. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Nomadland. It’s a long gap between first and second. But if you’re looking for who else has cracked the double-digit mark of wins in this category, the list is surprisingly tight. Only a select few actresses have managed to return to the stage twice to accept the award.
The Modern Titans
Meryl Streep is the name that usually pops up first when people ask about multiple Oscar winners for best actress. Her streak started with Sophie’s Choice in 1982. It ended, or rather, paused, for nearly three decades. Then came The Iron Lady in 2011. She’s won two. She’s been nominated for eighteen times. That’s the kind of longevity that borders on the supernatural.
Emma Stone is the newest addition to the two-win club. She took home her first statue for La La Land in 2016. You probably remember the balloon float, the champagne, the chaos. Seven years later, Poor Things secured her second. Stone’s wins span different eras of Hollywood, bridging the musical revival with the current wave of surreal, auteur-driven cinema.
Hilary Swank also landed two wins. Boys Don’t Cry in 1999. Million Dollar Baby in 2004. Both roles required her to disappear entirely into characters defined by physical and emotional transformation. Swank’s wins are separated by five years, a tight window compared to Hepburn’s four-decade span.
The Legacy Winners
Before the modern era, Ingrid Bergman was already a legend. She won for Gaslight in 1944 and Anastasia in 1956. Bergman’s career was marked by controversy and triumph in equal measure. She won for Anastasia while still under contract to a studio that had blacklisted her for marrying Roberto Rossellini. The Academy didn’t care about the scandal. They just saw the performance.
Bette Davis is another icon. Her wins came early and often in terms of impact. Dangerous in 1935. Jezebel in 1938. Davis brought a ferocity to the screen that was rare for the time. She didn’t just act; she commanded. Her two wins cemented her status as one of the greatest performers of the golden age.
Jane Fonda won for Klute in 1971 and Coming Home in 1978. Fonda’s wins reflect her willingness to
