1980s
- 1980 – Judy Davis – My Brilliant Career
- Shirley MacLaine – Being There
- Bette Midler – The Rose as Mary Rose Foster
- Meryl Streep – Kramer vs. Kramer as Joanna Kramer
- 1981 – Meryl Streep – The French Lieutenant's Woman as Sarah/Anna
- Mary Tyler Moore – Ordinary People as Beth Jarrett
- Maggie Smith – Quartet
- Sissy Spacek – Coal Miner's Daughter as Loretta Lynn
- 1982 – Katharine Hepburn – On Golden Pond as Ethel Thayer
- Diane Keaton – Reds as Louise Bryant
- Jennifer Kendal – 36 Chowringhee Lane
- Sissy Spacek – Missing
- 1983 – Julie Walters – Educating Rita as Rita
- Jessica Lange – Tootsie as Julie Nichols
- Phyllis Logan – Another Time, Another Place
- Meryl Streep – Sophie's Choice as Sophie Zawistowska
- 1984 – Maggie Smith – A Private Function
- Shirley MacLaine – Terms of Endearment as Aurora Greenway
- Helen Mirren – Cal
- Meryl Streep – Silkwood as Karen Silkwood
- 1985 – Peggy Ashcroft – A Passage to India
- Mia Farrow – The Purple Rose of Cairo
- Kelly McGillis – Witness
- Alexandra Pigg – Letter to Brezhnev
- 1986 – Maggie Smith – A Room with a View
- Mia Farrow – Hannah and Her Sisters as Hannah
- Meryl Streep – Out of Africa as Karen Blixen
- Cathy Tyson – Mona Lisa
- 1987 – Anne Bancroft – 84 Charing Cross Road
- Emily Lloyd – Wish You Were Here
- Sarah Miles – Hope and Glory
- Julie Walters – Personal Services
- 1988 – Maggie Smith – The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
- Stéphane Audran – Babettes gæstebud
- Cher – Moonstruck as Loretta Castorini
- Jamie Lee Curtis – A Fish Called Wanda as Wanda
- 1989 – Pauline Collins – Shirley Valentine as Shirley Valentine Bradshaw
- Glenn Close – Dangerous Liaisons
- Jodie Foster – The Accused as Sarah Tobias
- Melanie Griffith – Working Girl as Tess McGill
Read more about this topic: BAFTA Award For Best Actress In A Leading Role, Winners and Nominees