National Film Award for Best Actress
The National Film Award for Best Actress is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India since 1968 to an actress for the best performance in a leading role within the Indian film industry. The National Film Awards were called the "State Awards for Films" when established in 1954. The State Awards instituted the "Best Actress" category in 1968 as the "Urvashi Award for the Best Actress"; in 1975, the "Urvashi Award" was renamed as the "Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Actress". Throughout the years, accounting for ties and repeat winners, the Government of India has presented a total of 55 Best Actress awards to 44 different actresses.
Until 1974, winners of the National Film Award received a figurine and certificate; since 1975, they have been awarded with a "Rajat Kamal", certificate and a cash prize that amounted to in 2012. Although the Indian film industry produces films in more than 20 languages and dialects, the actresses whose performances have won awards have worked in ten major languages: Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, English , Marathi, Assamese and Urdu.
The first recipient was Nargis Dutt from Bollywood, who was honoured at the 15th National Film Awards for her performance in Raat Aur Din. The actress who won the most number of Rajat Kamal awards is Shabana Azmi with five wins, followed by Sharada with three. As of 2019, five actresses—Smita Patil, Archana, Shobana, Tabu, and Kangana Ranaut have won the award two times. Sharada, Archana and Shobana are the only three actresses to get the award for performing in two different languages. Sharada was bestowed with the awards for her performances in two Malayalam films: Thulabharam and Swayamvaram in 1968 and 1972 respectively, and in 1978 for the Telugu film Nimajjanam. Archana was first honoured in 1987 for the Tamil film Veedu and was awarded for the second time in 1988 for the Telugu film Daasi. Shobana received her first award for the Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu in 1993, and her second for the English film Mitr, My Friend in 2001. As of 2019, the late Monisha Unni remains the youngest recipient of the honour; she was awarded for the Malayalam film Nakhakshathangal in 1986 when she was 16. Indrani Haldar and Rituparna Sengupta are the only two actresses to be honoured for the same film—Dahan. The most recent recipient is Keerthy Suresh, who was honoured at the 66th National Film Awards for her performance in the 2018 Telugu film Mahanati.
Key
Recipients
| Year | Recipient | Role | Work | Language | Refs. |
| 1967 | Nargis Dutt | Varuna / Peggy | Raat Aur Din | Hindi | |
| 1968 | Sharada | Vijaya | Thulabharam | Malayalam | |
| 1969 | Madhabi Mukherjee | Supriya | Dibratrir Kabya | Bengali | |
| 1970 | Rehana Sultan | Salma Ahmed | Dastak | Hindi | |
| 1971 | Waheeda Rehman | Reshma | Reshma Aur Shera | Hindi | |
| 1972 | Sharada | Sita | Swayamvaram | Malayalam | |
| 1973 | Nandini Bhaktavatsala | Kamali | Kaadu | Kannada | |
| 1974 | Shabana Azmi | Lakshmi | Ankur | Hindi | |
| 1975 | Sharmila Tagore | Chanda Thapa, Kajli | Mausam | Hindi | |
| 1976 | Lakshmi | Ganga | Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal | Tamil | |
| 1977 | Smita Patil | Urvashi / Usha | ' | Hindi | |
| 1978 | Sharada | Bharathi | Nimajjanam | Telugu | |
| 1979 | Shoba | Kuppamma | Pasi | Tamil | |
| 1980 | Smita Patil | Amma | Chakra | Hindi | |
| 1981 | Rekha | Amiran | Umrao Jaan | Urdu | |
| 1982 | Shabana Azmi | Pooja Inder Malhotra | Arth | Hindi | |
| 1983 | Shabana Azmi | Jamini | Khandhar | Hindi | |
| 1984 | Shabana Azmi | Rama | Paar | Hindi | |
| 1985 | Suhasini | Sindhu | Sindhu Bhairavi | Tamil | |
| 1986 | Monisha Unni | Gouri | Nakhakshathangal | Malayalam | |
| 1987 | Archana | Sudha | Veedu | Tamil | |
| 1988 | Archana | Kamalakshi | Daasi | Telugu | |
| 1989 | Sreelekha Mukherji | Lakkhi | Parshuramer Kuthar | Bengali | |
| 1990 | Vijayashanti | Vyjayanthi | Karthavyam | Telugu | |
| 1991 | Moloya Goswami | Ritu | Firingoti | Assamese | |
| 1992 | Dimple Kapadia | Shanichari | Rudaali | Hindi | |
| 1993 | Shobana | Ganga | Manichitrathazhu | Malayalam | |
| 1994 | Debashree Roy | Dr. Aditi Sen | Unishe April | Bengali | |
| 1995 | Seema Biswas | Phoolan Devi | Bandit Queen | Hindi | |
| 1996 | Tabu | Virender Kaur | Maachis | Hindi | |
| 1997 | Indrani Haldar | Jhinuk | Dahan | Bengali | |
| 1997 | Rituparna Sengupta | Romita Chaudhury | Dahan | Bengali | |
| 1998 | Shabana Azmi | Rambhi | Godmother | Hindi | |
| 1999 | Kirron Kher | Banalata | Bariwali | Bengali | |
| 2000 | Raveena Tandon | Durga Saikia | Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence | Hindi | |
| 2001 | Tabu | Mumtaz Ali Ansari | Chandni Bar | Hindi | |
| 2001 | Shobana | Lakshmi | Mitr, My Friend | English | |
| 2002 | Konkona Sen Sharma | Meenakshi S. Iyer | Mr. and Mrs. Iyer | English | |
| 2003 | Meera Jasmine | Shahina | ' | Malayalam | |
| 2004 | Tara | Hasina | Hasina | Kannada | |
| 2005 | Sarika | Shernaz | Parzania | English | |
| 2006 | Priyamani | Muththazhagu | Paruthiveeran | Tamil | |
| 2007 | Umashree | Gulabi | Gulabi Talkies | Kannada | |
| 2008 | Priyanka Chopra | Meghna Mathur | Fashion | Hindi | |
| 2009 | Ananya Chatterjee | Shikha | Abohomaan | Bengali | |
| 2010 | Mitalee Jagtap Varadkar | Shirmi | Baboo Band Baaja | Marathi | |
| 2010 | Saranya Ponvannan | Veerayi | Thenmerku Paruvakaatru | Tamil | |
| 2011 | Vidya Balan | Reshma | The Dirty Picture | Hindi | |
| 2012 | Usha Jadhav | Yashoda | Dhag | Marathi | |
| 2013 | Geetanjali Thapa | Kamala | Liar's Dice | Hindi | |
| 2014 | Kangana Ranaut | Rani Mehra | Queen | Hindi | |
| 2015 | Kangana Ranaut | Tanuja "Tanu" Trivedi, Kusum "Datto" Sangwan | Tanu Weds Manu Returns | Hindi | |
| 2016 | Surabhi Lakshmi | Mother | Minnaminungu – the Firefly | Malayalam | |
| 2017 | Sridevi | Devki Sabarwal | Mom | Hindi | |
| 2018 | Keerthy Suresh | Savitri | Mahanati | Telugu |