The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 9th Academy Awards to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role in a film released that year. The award is traditionally presented by the previous year's Best Supporting Actor winner. However, in recent years, it has shifted towards being presented by previous years' Best Supporting Actress winners instead. In lieu of the traditional Oscar statuette, supporting acting recipients were given plaques up until the 16th Academy Awards, when statuettes were awarded to each category instead.
The Best Supporting Actress award has been presented a total of 89 times, to 87 actresses. The first winner was Gale Sondergaard for her role in Anthony Adverse (1936). The most recent winner is Zoe Saldaña for her role as Rita Mora Castro in Emilia Pérez (2024). The record for most wins is two, held jointly by Dianne Wiest and Shelley Winters. Each other recipient has only won once, in this category. Thelma Ritter has received the most nominations in the category, with six, followed closely by Amy Adams with five, although neither has ever won—yet, in the latter's instance. Hattie McDaniel, whom the Academy sat in the back of the room, made history in 1940 when she became the first person of color to win an Oscar in any category, for her performance as Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939). Tatum O'Neal remains the youngest person to win a competitive acting Oscar at 10 years old, for her role in Paper Moon (1973). With five minutes and two seconds of screentime (the majority in one scene), Beatrice Straight's performance in Network (1976) holds the record for the shortest to win an Oscar.