BIFA Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a British Independent Film

1990s

• 1998 – Kathy Burke – Nil by Mouth as Valerie
• * Louise Goodall – My Name Is Joe as Sarah Downie
• * Rachel Griffiths – My Son the Fanatic as Bettina/ Sandra
• * Samantha Morton – Under the Skin as Iris Kelly
• * Emma Thompson – The Winter Guest as Frances
• 1999 – Emily Watson – Hilary and Jackie as Jackie Du Pré
• * Lara Belmont – The War Zone as Jessie
• * Rachel Griffiths – Hilary and Jackie as Hilary Du Pré
• * Jane Horrocks – Little Voice as LV
• * Gina McKee – Wonderland as Nadia

  2000s

• 2000 – Gillian Anderson – The House of Mirth as Lily Bart
• * Kate Ashfield – The Low Down as Ruby
• * Brenda Blethyn – Saving Grace as Grace Trevethyn
• * Emily Watson – The Luzhin Defence as Natalia Katkov
• 2001 – Kate Ashfield – Late Night Shopping as Jody
• * Susan Lynch – Beautiful Creatures as Dorothy
• * Samantha Morton – Pandaemonium as Sara Coleridge
• * Kate Winslet – Enigma as Hester Wallace
• 2002 – Samantha Morton – Morvern Callar as Movern Callar
• * Elaine Cassidy – Disco Pigs as Rent/Sinead
• * Shirley Henderson – Villa des Roses as Ella
• * Harriet Walter – Villa des Roses as Olive Burrell
• 2003 – Olivia Williams – The Heart of Me as Madeleine
• * Kate Ashfield – This Little Life as Sadie McGregor
• * Helena Bonham Carter – The Heart of Me as Dinah
• * Samantha Morton – In America as Sarah
• * Tilda Swinton – Young Adam as Ella Gault
• 2004 – Imelda Staunton – Vera Drake as Vera Rose Drake
• * Eva Birthistle – Ae Fond Kiss... as Roisin Hanlon
• * Scarlett Johansson – Girl with a Pearl Earring as Griet
• * Natalie Press – My Summer of Love as Mona
• * Anne Reid – The Mother as May
• 2005 – Rachel Weisz – The Constant Gardener as Tessa Quayle
• * Joan Allen – Yes as She
• * Judi Dench – Mrs Henderson Presents as Mrs. Henderson
• * Natasha Richardson – Asylum as Stella Raphael
• * Emily Watson – Wah-Wah as Ruby Compton
• 2006 – Kate Dickie – Red Road as Jackie Morrison
• * Juliette Binoche – Breaking and Entering as Amira Simić
• * Frances de la Tour – The History Boys as Mrs. Lintott
• * Helen Mirren – The Queen as Queen Elizabeth
• * Robin Wright – Breaking and Entering as Liv
• 2007 – Judi Dench – Notes on a Scandal as Barbara Covett
• * Tannishtha Chatterjee – Brick Lane as Nazneen Ahmed
• * Anne Hathaway – Becoming Jane as Jane Austen
• * Sophia Myles – Hallam Foe as Kate Breck
• * Kierston Wareing – It's a Free World... as Angela

  2008–2009

2010s