The AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role is an award presented by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA), a non-profit organisation whose aim is to "to identify, award, promote and celebrate Australia's greatest achievements in film and television." The award is presented at the annual AACTA Awards, which hand out accolades for achievements in feature film, television, documentaries and short films. From 1971-2010, the category was presented by the Australian Film Institute (AFI), the Academy's parent organisation, at the annual Australian Film Institute Awards (known as the AFI Awards). When the AFI launched the Academy in 2011, it changed the annual ceremony to the AACTA Awards, with the current award being a continuum of the AFI Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
It was presented as a special award, from 1971-1975, and accompanied with a cash prize, before it became a competitive award from 1976, onwards. Judy Davis is the most awarded and nominated actress in this category, with five wins from eight nominations, most recently for her role in The Eye of the Storm (2011).
Candidates for this award must be human and female, and cannot be nominated for the same role in the supporting actress category.
Read more about AACTA Award For Best Actress In A Leading Role: Winners and Nominees
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