Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female

The Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female is given in recognition of achievements by actresses in leading roles in independent films.
Winners and Nominees
1980s
*1985: Geraldine Page - The Trip to Bountiful
**Rosanna Arquette - After Hours
**Laura Dern - Smooth Talk
**Lori Singer - Trouble in Mind
*1986: Isabella Rossellini - Blue Velvet
**Elpidia Carrillo - Salvador
**Patricia Charbonneau - Desert Hearts
**Laura Dern - Blue Velvet
**Tracy Camilla Johns - She's Gotta Have It
*1987: Sally Kirkland - Anna
**Lillian Gish - The Whales of August
**Debra Sandlund - '
**Louise Smith - Working Girls
**Joanne Woodward - The Glass Menagerie
*1988: Jodie Foster - Five Corners
**Ricki Lake - Hairspray
**Nobu McCarthy - The Wash
**Julia Roberts - Mystic Pizza
**Meg Ryan - Promised Land
*1989: Andie MacDowell - Sex, Lies, and Videotape
**Annabella Sciorra - True Love
**Youki Kudoh - Mystery Train
**Kelly Lynch - Drugstore Cowboy
**Winona Ryder - Heathers
1990s
*1990: Anjelica Huston - The Grifters
**Mary Alice - To Sleep with Anger
**Eszter Balint - Bail Jumper
**Carolyn Farina - Metropolitan
**Joanne Woodward - Mr. & Mrs. Bridge
*1991: Judy Davis - Impromptu
**Patsy Kensit - Twenty-One
**Mimi Rogers - The Rapture
**Lili Taylor - Bright Angel
**Lily Tomlin - The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe
*1992: Fairuza Balk - Gas Food Lodging
**Edie Falco - Laws of Gravity
**Catherine Keener - Johnny Suede
**Sheryl Lee - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
**Cynda Williams - One False Move
*1993: Ashley Judd - Ruby in Paradise
**Suzy Amis - The Ballad of Little Jo
**May Chin - The Wedding Banquet
**Ariyan A. Johnson - Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.
**Emma Thompson - Much Ado About Nothing
*1994: Linda Fiorentino - The Last Seduction
**Jennifer Jason Leigh - Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
**Karen Sillas - What Happened Was...
**Lauren Vélez - I Like It Like That
**Wu Chien-lien - Eat Drink Man Woman
*1995: Elisabeth Shue - Leaving Las Vegas
**Jennifer Jason Leigh - Georgia
**Elina Löwensohn - Nadja
**Julianne Moore - Safe
**Lili Taylor - The Addiction
*1996: Frances McDormand - Fargo
**María Conchita Alonso - Caught
**Scarlett Johansson - Manny & Lo
**Catherine Keener - Walking and Talking
**Renée Zellweger - The Whole Wide World
*1997: Julie Christie - Afterglow
**Stacy Edwards - In the Company of Men
**Alison Folland - All Over Me
**Robin Wright Penn - Loved
**Lisa Harrow - Sunday
*1998: Ally Sheedy - High Art
**Katrin Cartlidge - Claire Dolan
**Christina Ricci - The Opposite of Sex
**Robin Tunney - Niagara, Niagara
**Alfre Woodard - Down in the Delta
*1999: Hilary Swank - '
**Diane Lane - A Walk on the Moon
**Janet McTeer - Tumbleweeds
**Susan Traylor - Valerie Flake
**Reese Witherspoon - Election
2000s
* 2000: Ellen Burstyn - Requiem for a Dream
** Joan Allen - The Contender
** Sanaa Lathan - Love & Basketball
** Laura Linney - You Can Count on Me
** Kelly Macdonald - Two Family House
* 2001: Sissy Spacek - In the Bedroom
** Kim Dickens - Things Behind the Sun
** Molly Parker - The Center of the World
** Tilda Swinton - The Deep End
** Kerry Washington - Lift
* 2002: Julianne Moore - Far from Heaven
** Jennifer Aniston - The Good Girl
** Maggie Gyllenhaal - Secretary
** Catherine Keener - Lovely & Amazing
** Parker Posey - Personal Velocity: Three Portraits
* 2003: Charlize Theron - Monster
** Agnes Bruckner - Blue Car
** Zooey Deschanel - All the Real Girls
** Samantha Morton - In America
** Elisabeth Moss - Virgin
* 2004: Catalina Sandino Moreno - Maria Full of Grace
** Kimberly Elise - Woman Thou Art Loosed
** Vera Farmiga - Down to the Bone
** Judy Marte - On the Outs
** Kyra Sedgwick - Cavedweller
* 2005: Felicity Huffman - Transamerica
** Dina Korzun - Forty Shades of Blue
** Laura Linney - The Squid and the Whale
** S. Epatha Merkerson - Lackawanna Blues
** Cyndi Williams - Room
* 2006: Shareeka Epps - Half Nelson
** Catherine O'Hara - For Your Consideration
** Elizabeth Reaser - Sweet Land
** Michelle Williams - Land of Plenty
** Robin Wright Penn - Sorry, Haters
* 2007: Ellen Page - Juno
** Angelina Jolie - A Mighty Heart
** Sienna Miller - Interview
** Parker Posey - Broken English
** Tang Wei - Lust, Caution
* 2008: Melissa Leo - Frozen River
**Summer Bishil - Towelhead
**Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
**Tarra Riggs - Ballast
**Michelle Williams - Wendy and Lucy
* 2009: Gabourey Sidibe - '
**Maria Bello - Downloading Nancy
**Nisreen Faour - Amreeka
**Helen Mirren - The Last Station
**Gwyneth Paltrow - Two Lovers

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