Best Supporting Actresses of the 80s


1980  Mary Steenburgen
Character:  Lynda West-Dummar    Movie:  Melvin and Howard
Other Nominees:  Eileen Brennan as Doreen Lewis, Private Benjamin    Eva Le Gallienne as Pearl, Resurrection    Cathy Moriarty as Vicki Thailer-LaMotta, Raging Bull    Diana Scarwid as Louise, Inside Moves

1981  Maureen Stapleton
Character:  Emma Goldman  Movie:  Reds
Other Nominees:  Melinda Dillon as Teresa Perrone, Absence of Malice    Jane Fonda as Chelsea Thayer Wayne, On Golden Pond    Joan Hackett as Toby Landau, Only When I Laugh    Elizabeth McGovern as Evelyn Nesbit, Ragtime

1982  Jessica Lange
Character:  Julie Nichols  Movie:  Tootsie
Other Nominees:  Glenn Close as Jenny Fields, The World According to Garp    Teri Garr as Sandy Lester, Tootsie    Kim Stanley as Lillian Farmer, Frances    Lesley Ann Warren as Norma Cassady, Victor/Victoria

1983  Linda Hunt
Character:  Billy Kwan  Movie:  The Year of Living Dangerously
Other Nominees:  Cher as Dolly Pelliker, Silkwood    Glenn Close as Sarah Cooper, The Big Chill    Amy Irving as Hadass Vishkower, Yentl    Alfre Woodard as Beatrice "Geechee", Cross Creek

1984  Peggy Ashcroft
Character:  Mrs. Moore, A Passage to India
Other Nominees:  Glenn Close as Iris Gaines, The Natural    Lindsay Crouse as Margaret Lomax, Places in the Heart    Christine Lahti as Hazel Zanussi, Swing Shift    Geraldine Page as Mrs. Ritter, The Pope of Greenwich Village

1985  Anjelica Huston
Character:  Maerose Prizzi  Movie:  Prizzi's Honor
Other Nominees:  Margaret Avery as Shug Avery, The Color Purple    Amy Madigan as Sunny MacKenzie-Sobel, Twice in a Lifetime    Meg Tilly as Sister Agnes Devereaux, Agnes of God    Oprah Winfrey as Sofia Johnson, The Color Purple

1986  Dianne Wiest
Character:  Holly  Movie:  Hannah and Her Sisters
Other Nominees:  Tess Harper as Chick Boyle, Crimes of the Heart    Piper Laurie as Mrs. Norman, Children of a Lesser God    Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Carmen, The Color of Money    Maggie Smith as Charlotte Bartlett, A Room with a View

1987  Olympia Dukakis
Character:  Rose Castorini  Movie:  Moonstruck
Other Nominees:  Norma Aleandro as Florencia Sánchez Morales, Gaby: A True Story    Anne Archer as Beth Rogerson-Gallagher, Fatal Attraction    Anne Ramsey as Mrs. Lift  Movie:  Throw Momma from the Train    Ann Sothern as Letitia Benson-Doughty, The Whales of August

1988  Geena Davis
Character:  Muriel Pritchett  Movie:  The Accidental Tourist
Other Nominees:  Joan Cusack as Cyn, Working Girl    Frances McDormand as Mrs. Pell, Mississippi Burning    Michelle Pfeiffer as Madame Marie de Tourvel, Dangerous Liaisons    Sigourney Weaver as Katharine Parker, Working Girl

1989  Brenda Fricker
Character:  Bridget Fagan-Brown  Movie:  My Left Foot
Other Nominees:  Anjelica Huston as Tamara Broder, Enemies, A Love Story    Lena Olin as Masha Bloch, Enemies, A Love Story    Julia Roberts as Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie, Steel Magnolias    Dianne Wiest as Helen Buckman, Parenthood


Best Supporting Actors


More 80s Movies

Best Supporting Actress

Jessica Lange won Best Supporting Actress in 1982