Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress

The Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually at the Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA). It is given to honour an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a Hong Kong film.^{[Note 1]} The 1st Hong Kong Film Awards ceremony was held in 1982, with no formal nomination procedure established; the award was given to Kara Wai for her role in My Young Auntie.^[1] After the first award ceremony, a nomination system was put in place whereby no more than five nominations are made for each category and each entry is selected through two rounds of voting. Firstly, prospective nominees are marked with a weight of 50% each from HKFA voters and a hundred professional adjudicators, contributing towards a final score with which the top five nominees advance to the second round of voting. The winner is then selected via a scoring process where 55% of the vote comes from 55 professional adjudicators, 25% from representatives of the Hong Kong Performing Artistes Guild and 20% from all other HKFA Executive Committee Members.^[2]

Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress
Awarded for	Best Performance by an Actress in a leading role
Country	Hong Kong
Presented by	Hong Kong Film Awards
First award	1982 (for performances in films released in 1981/1982)
Currently held by	Michelle Wai — The Last Dance (2025)
Website	hkfaa.com

Maggie Cheung holds the title of the most awards received having been honoured on 5 separate occasions. Sylvia Chang holds the record for the most nominated actress with 12 nominations.

Winners and nominees

In the following table award nominees are listed by year corresponding to the Hong Kong Film Awards' annual presentation ceremony. At the first incarnation of the ceremony in 1982 awards were presented to winners with no nominees selected. Thereafter, the winner is chosen from a list of nominees from the chosen category.

Kara Wai was the first to win the award for her role in My Young Auntie (1981).

Maggie Cheung won the award five times for her roles in A Fishy Story (1989), Center Stage (1991), Comrades: Almost a Love Story (1996), The Soong Sisters (1997) and In the Mood for Love (2000).

Sylvia Chang won the award twice for her roles in Passion (1986) and Forever and Ever (2002).

Brigitte Lin was nominated for her role in Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain as well as on three other occasions.

Sandra Ng won in 1998 for Portland Street Blues.

Anita Yuen won the award for 2 years in a row for her roles in C'est la vie, mon chéri (1993) and He's a Woman, She's a Man (1994).

Faye Wong was nominated for her roles in Chungking Express (1995) and Chinese Odyssey 2002.

Cecilia Cheung won in 2004 for Lost in Time.

Zhang Ziyi won in 2005 for 2046 and in 2014 for The Grandmaster.

Zhou Xun won in 2006 for Perhaps Love.

Karen Mok was nominated for her roles in The God of Cookery (1997) and Wait 'til You're Older (2006).

Gong Li won in 2008 for Curse of the Golden Flower.

Shu Qi was nominated for the award in both 2010 and 2012.

Gao Yuanyuan was nominated in 2012 for her role in Don't Go Breaking My Heart

Deanie Ip won in 2012 for A Simple Life.

Miriam Yeung won in 2013 for Love in the Buff.

Zhao Wei won in 2015 for her role in Dearest.

Teresa Mo won in 2017 for her role in Tomorrow Is Another Day.

Chloe Maayan won in 2018 for her role in Three Husbands.

Zhou Dongyu won in 2020 for her role in Better Days.

Cya Liu won in 2022 for her role in Limbo.

Sammi Cheng won in 2023 for her role in Lost Love.

Table key

‡	Indicates the winner

Year	Actor	Film	Character name	Refs.
1981 (1st)	Kara Wai ‡	My Young Auntie	Cheng Tai-Nan	[3]	[4]
1982 (2nd)	Becky Lam ‡	Lonely Fifteen	Bik-Kei Lam	[5]	[6]
	Cherie Chung	Eclipse	Fu Min	[7]
	Season Ma	Boat People	Cam Nuong	[8]
	Cora Miao	Boat People	Nguyen's Mistress	[8]
	Sylvia Chang	Aces Go Places	Supt. Nancy Ho	[9]
1983 (3rd)	Cecilia Yip ‡	Let's Make Laugh	Yeung Noi-dong	[10]	[11]
	So-ying Hui	Ah Ying	Ah Ying	[12]
	Liu Xiaoqing	Reign Behind a Curtain	Dowager Empress	[13]
	Cherie Chung	Hong Kong, Hong Kong	Man Si Sun	[14]
	Brigitte Lin	Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain	Countess	[15]
1984 (4th)	Siqin Gaowa ‡	Homecoming	Pearl	[16]	[17]
	Cecilia Yip	Hong Kong 1941	Han Yuk Nam	[18]
	Deanie Ip	Wrong Wedding Trail	Miss Cheng	[19]
	Sylvia Chang	Shanghai Blues	Shu-Shu	[20]
	Josephine Koo	Homecoming	Coral Zhang	[21]
1985 (5th)	Pauline Wong ‡	Love with the Perfect Stranger	Wong Gam Gam	[22]	[23]
	Pat Ha	My Name Ain't Suzie	Mary Lai Shui Mei	[24]
	Deanie Ip	The Unwritten Law	Lau Wai Lan	[25]
	Brigitte Lin	Police Story	Selina Fong	[26]
	Cora Miao	Women	Bao-er	[27]
1986 (6th)	Sylvia Chang ‡	Passion	Wendy Pai	[28]	[29]
	Sally Yeh	Peking Opera Blues	Pat Neil	[30]
	Pan Hong	The Last Emperor	Li Shuxian	[31]
	Yuk Guen Lee	Just Like Weather	Christine	[32]
	Season Ma	Silent Love	Heung Gite	[33]
1987 (7th)	Josephine Siao ‡	The Wrong Couples	Wong Mui	[34]	[35]
	Cherie Chung	An Autumn's Tale	Jennifer	[36]
	Carol Cheng	Wonder Women	Leung Ho Kau	[37]
	Joey Wang	A Chinese Ghost Story	Lit Sin Seen	[38]
	Din Long Lee	Final Victory	Ping	[39]
	Loletta Lee	Final Victory	Mimi	[39]
1988 (8th)	Anita Mui ‡	Rouge	Fleur	[40]	[41]
	Cora Miao	Keep on Dancing	Chieh Chang Chang	[42]
	Carol Cheng	Heart to Hearts	Chu Lai Ngor	[43]
	Niu Tien	The Other ½ & the Other ½	June Lee	[44]
	Maggie Cheung	As Tears Go By	Ngor	[45]
1989 (9th)	Maggie Cheung ‡	A Fishy Story	Huang	[46]	[47]
	Sylvia Chang	All About Ah-Long	Sylvia Poon	[48]
	Sylvia Chang	Eight Taels of Gold	Odds and Ends	[48]
	Carrie Ng	The First Time is the Last Time	Winnie Wong	[49]
	Bo-Bo Fung	Beyond the Sunset	May	[50]
	Carina Lau	Her Beautiful Life Lies	Carole Chang	[50]
1990 (10th)	Carol Cheng ‡	Her Fatal Ways	Cheng Shih-Nan	[51]	[52]
	Carina Lau	Days of Being Wild	Leung Fung-ying	[53]
	Maggie Cheung	Farewell China	Li Hung	[54]
	Sylvia Chang	Queen of Temple Street	Big Sis Wah	[55]
	Gong Li	A Terra-Cotta Warrior	Dong Er/ Zhu Lili	[56]
1991 (11th)	Cecilia Yip ‡	This Thing Called Love	Yee	[57]	[58]
	Carol Cheng	Her Fatal Ways 2	Cheng Shih-Nan	[59]
	Anita Mui	Au Revoir, Mon Amour	Mui Ye	[60]
	Carina Lau	Gigolo and Whore	Chung Siu-Hung	[61]
	Sharla Cheung	Dances with Dragon	Moon Chan	[62]
1992 (12th)	Maggie Cheung ‡	Center Stage	Ruan Ling-yu	[63]	[64]
	Chingmy Yau	Naked Killer	Kitty / Vivian Shang	[65]
	Brigitte Lin	Handsome Siblings	Eva Mor, daughter of Eva	[66]
	Anita Mui	Justice, My Foot!	Madam Sung	[67]
	Maggie Cheung	New Dragon Gate Inn	Jade King	[68]
	Brigitte Lin	Swordsman II	Asia the Invincible	[69]
1993 (13th)	Anita Yuen ‡	C'est La Vie Mon Cheri	Min	[70]	[71]
	Josephine Siao	Always on My Mind	Yin Tseung's wife	[72]
	Josephine Siao	The Legend	Miu Chui-Fa	[73]
	Carrie Ng	Remains of a Woman	Judy Yu	[74]
	Veronica Yip	A Roof with a View	Yip Hiu-Tung	[75]
1994 (14th)	Anita Yuen ‡	He's a Woman, She's a Man	Lam Chi Wing	[76]	[77]
	Hui Fan	One of the Lucky Ones	Maid Wo	[78]
	Faye Wong	Chungking Express	Faye	[79]
	Chien-lien Wu	The Returning	Elaine	[80]
	Joan Chen	Red Rose White Rose	Wang Jiao-Rui	[81]
	Alice Lau	I Have a Date with Spring	Butterfly Yiu	[82]
1995 (15th)	Josephine Siao ‡	Summer Snow	May Sun	[83]	[84]
	Chingmy Yau	I'm Your Birthday Cake!	Cher	[85]
	Bo-Bo Fung	Mother of a Different Kind	Nurse Lam	[86]
	Anita Mui	Rumble in the Bronx	Elaine	[87]
	Cecilia Yip	Peace Hotel	Oman	[88]
1996 (16th)	Maggie Cheung ‡	Comrades: Almost a Love Story	Qiao Li	[89]	[90]
	Gong Li	Temptress Moon	Pang Ruyi	[91]
	Josephine Siao	Hu Du Men	Lang Kim-Sum	[92]
	Sandra Ng	4 Faces of Eve	Gam Mo/Chan Giu/Miu Si/Mei Mei	[93]
	Karen Mok	The God of Cookery	Turkey	[94]
1997 (17th)	Maggie Cheung ‡	The Soong Sisters	Soong Ching-ling	[95]	[96]
	Chien-lien Wu	Eighteen Springs	Gu Manzhen	[97]
	Shu Qi	Love Is Not a Game, But a Joke	Lee Lai-shan	[98]
	Paulyn Sun	Island of Greed	Miu-Heung	[99]
	Carina Lau	Intimates	Wan	[100]
1998 (18th)	Sandra Ng ‡	Portland Street Blues	Sister Thirteen	[101]	[102]
	Shu Qi	City of Glass	Vivian	[103]
	Fiona Leung	A Hero Never Dies	Fiona	[104]
	Anita Yuen	Till Death Do Us Part	BoBo	[105]
	Chingmy Yau	Hold You Tight	Ah Moon	[106]
1999 (19th)	Law Lan ‡	Bullets Over Summer	Granny	[107]	[108]
	Deanie Ip	Crying Heart	Mrs. Fat	[109]
	Loletta Lee	Ordinary Heroes	Sow	[110]
	Gigi Leung	Tempting Heart	Sheo-rou	[111]
	Cecilia Cheung	Fly Me to Polaris	Autumn	[112]
2000 (20th)	Maggie Cheung ‡	In the Mood for Love	Su Li-zhen	[113]	[114]
	Sammi Cheng	Needing You...	Kinki Kwok	[115]
	Qin Hailu	Durian Durian	Qin Yan	[116]
	Michelle Yeoh	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon	Yu Shu Lien	[117]
	Zhang Ziyi	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon	Jen Yu	[117]
2001 (21st)	Sylvia Chang ‡	Forever and Ever	Chi Mo's mom	[118]	[119]
	Sammi Cheng	Wu yen	Chung Wu Yen	[120]
	Anita Mui	July Rhapsody	Lam Man-Ching	[121]
	Sammi Cheng	Love on a Diet	Mini Mo	[122]
	Sammi Cheng	Fighting for Love	Siu Tong	[122]
2002 (22nd)	Angelica Lee ‡	The Eye	Man	[123]	[124]
	Sandra Ng	Golden Chicken	Kam	[125]
	Faye Wong	Chinese Odyssey 2002	Princess Wushuang	[126]
	Karena Lam	Inner Senses	Cheung Yan	[127]
	Maggie Cheung	Hero	Flying Snow	[128]
2003 (23rd)	Cecilia Cheung ‡	Lost in Time	Siu Wai	[129]	[130]
	Cecilia Cheung	Running on Karma	Lee Fung Yee	[129]
	Sandra Ng	Golden Chicken 2	Kam	[125]
	Karena Lam	The Floating Landscape	Maan	[131]
	Carina Lau	Infernal Affairs II	Mary Hon	[132]
2004 (24th)	Zhang Ziyi ‡	2046	Bai Ling	[133]	[134]
	Sylvia Chang	20 30 40	Lily	[135]
	Karena Lam	Koma	Ling	[136]
	Yuen Qiu	Kung Fu Hustle	Landlady	[137]
	Cecilia Cheung	One Nite in Mongkok	Dandan	[138]
2005 (25th)	Zhou Xun ‡	Perhaps Love	Sun Na	[139]	[140]
	Sammi Cheng	Everlasting Regret	Wang Qiyao	[141]
	Karena Lam	Home Sweet Home	Yan Hong	[142]
	Sylvia Chang	Rice Rhapsody	Jen	[143]
	Karen Mok	Wait 'Til You're Older	Tsui Man	[144]
2006 (26th)	Gong Li ‡	Curse of the Golden Flower	Empress Phoenix	[145]	[146]
	Teresa Mo	Men Suddenly in Black 2	Chang Wai-Yee	[147]
	Angelica Lee	Re-cycle	Ting-Yin	[148]
	Rene Liu	Happy Birthday	Mi	[149]
	Isabella Leong	Isabella	Bik-Yan Cheung	[150]
2007 (27th)	Siqin Gaowa ‡	The Postmodern Life of My Aunt	Ye Rutang	[151]	[152]
	Teresa Mo	Mr. Cinema	Chan Sau Ying	[153]
	Zhang Jingchu	Protégé	Jane	[154]
	Rene Liu	Kidnap	He Wanzhen	[155]
	Charlene Choi	Simply Actors	Dani Dan	[156]
2008 (28th)	Paw Hee-Ching ‡	The Way We Are	Mrs. Cheung	[157]	[158]
	Prudence Liew	True Women For Sale	Lai Chung-chung	[159]
	Barbie Shu	Connected	Grace Wong	[160]
	Zhou Xun	Painted Skin	Xiao Wei	[161]
	Karena Lam	Claustrophobia	Pearl	[162]
2009 (29th)	Kara Wai ‡	At the End of Daybreak	Tak's mother	[163]	[164]
	Zhang Jingchu	Night and Fog	Wong Hiu Ling	[165]
	Zhao Wei	Mulan	Hua Mulan	[166]
	Shu Qi	Look for a Star	Milan Sit	[167]
	Sandra Ng	Echoes of the Rainbow	Mrs. Law	[168]
2010 (30th)	Carina Lau ‡	Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame	Empress Wu Zetian	[169]	[170]
	Josie Ho	Dream Home	Cheng Lai-Sheung	[171]
	Fiona Sit	Break Up Club	Flora	[172]
	Miriam Yeung	Love in a Puff	Cherie	[173]
	Tang Wei	Crossing Hennessy	Oi-lin	[174]
2011 (31st)	Deanie Ip ‡	A Simple Life	Sister Peach	[175]	[176]
	Shu Qi	A Beautiful Life	Li Pei-ru	[177]
	Tang Wei	Dragon	Yu	[178]
	Gao Yuanyuan	Don't Go Breaking My Heart	Zixin	[179]
	Zhou Xun	Flying Swords of Dragon Gate	Ling Yan-qiu	[180]
2012 (32nd)	Miriam Yeung ‡	Love in the Buff	Cherie	[181]	[182]
	Sammi Cheng	Romancing in Thin Air	Sue	[183]
	Elanne Kong	Love Lifting	Li Li	[184]
	Zhou Xun	The Great Magician	Liu Yin	[185]
	Zhou Xun	The Silent War	Xue Ning	[186]
2013 (33rd)	Ziyi Zhang ‡	The Grandmaster	Gong Er	[187]	[188]
	Tang Wei	Finding Mr. Right	Wen Jia-jia	[189]
	Sammi Cheng	Blind Detective	Goldie Ho	[190]
	Hee Ching Paw	Rigor Mortis	Mui	[191]
	Cherry Ngan	The Way We Dance	Lam Fa/ Fleur	[192]
2014 (34th)	Zhao Wei ‡	Dearest	Li Hongqin	[193]	[194]
	Sandra Ng	Golden Chickensss	Kam	[195]
	Tang Wei	The Golden Era	Zhang Naiying	[196]
	Zhou Xun	Women Who Flirt	Zhang Hui	[197]
	Charlene Choi	Sara	Sara	[198]
2015 (35th)	Jessie Li ‡	Port of Call	Wang Jiamei	[199]	[200]
	Miriam Yeung	Little Big Master	Lui Wai-hung	[201]
	Tang Wei	A Tale of Three Cities	Chen Yuerong	[202]
	Sylvia Chang	Office	Winnie Chang	[203]
	Karena Lam	Heaven in the Dark	Michelle	[204]
2016 (36th)	Kara Wai‡	Happiness‡	Aunt Fanny	[205]	[206]
	Zhou Dongyu	Soul Mate	Ansheng	[207]
	Ma Sichun	Soul Mate	Qiyue
	Nina Paw	Show Me Your Love	Yau Ngan	[208]
	Tang Wei	Book of Love	Jiao	[209]
2017 (37th)	Teresa Mo ‡	Tomorrow Is Another Day ‡	Mrs Wong	[210]	[211]
	Sylvia Chang	Love Education	Yue Huiying	[212]
	Zhou Xun	Our Time Will Come	Lan	[213]
	Stephy Tang	The Empty Hands	Mari Hirakawa	[214]
	Chrissie Chau	29+1	Christy Lam	[215]
2018 (38th)	Chloe Maayan ‡	Three Husbands ‡	Ah Mui		[216]
	Charlene Choi	The Lady Improper	Siu Man
	Zhang Jingchu	Project Gutenberg	Yuen Man
	Jennifer Yu	Distinction	Qian Siying
	Crisel Consunji	Still Human	Evelyn Santos
2019 (39th)	Zhou Dongyu ‡	Better Days ‡	Chen Nian		[217]
	Sammi Cheng	Fagara	Acacia Ha
	Sammi Cheng	Fatal Visit	Ling
	Cecilia Choi	Beyond The Dream	Yan / Yip Lam
	Stephy Tang	My Prince Edward	Fong
2020-21 (40th)	Cya Liu‡	Limbo‡	Wong To	[218]	[219]
	Chrissie Chau	Madalena	Lena
	Louise Wong	Anita	Anita Mui
	Sandra Ng	Zero to Hero	So's mother
	Gong Li	Leap	Coach Lang Ping
2023 (41st)	Sammi Cheng ‡	Lost Love ‡	Tin Mei		[220]
	Louisa So	The Sparring Partner	Carrie Yau
	Teresa Mo	Mama's Affair	Mei Fung
	Angela Yuen	The Narrow Road	Candy
	Sylvia Chang	A Light Never Goes Out	Mei Hsiang
2024 (42nd)	Jennifer Yu ‡	In Broad Daylight ‡	Kay		[221]
	Kay Tse	Band Four	Cat
	Michelle Wai	Ready O/R Rot	Heidi
	Louise Wong	A Guilty Conscience	Jolene Tsang
	Chung Suet Ying	The Lyricist Wannabe	Law Wing Sze
2025 (43rd)	Michelle Wai ‡	The Last Dance ‡	Yuet		[222]
	Patra Au	All Shall Be Well	Angie
	Natalie Hsu	Last Song for You	Summer
	Chung Suet Ying	The Way We Talk	Sophie Fong
	Hedwig Tam	Montages of a Modern Motherhood	Jing

Multiple wins and nominations

The following individuals received two or more Best Actress awards: Wins Actress Years 5 Maggie Cheung 1990, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2001 3 Kara Wai 1982, 2010, 2017 2 Anita Yuen 1994, 1995 Cecilia Yip 1984, 1992 Josephine Siao 1988, 1996 Siqin Gaowa 1985, 2008 Sylvia Chang 1987, 2002 Ziyi Zhang 2005, 2014

The following individuals received five or more Best Actress nominations: Nominations Actress 12 Sylvia Chang 10 Sammi Cheng 9 Maggie Cheung 7 Sandra Ng Zhou Xun 6 Carina Lau Karena Lam Tang Wei 5 Anita Mui Josephine Siao

Age superlatives

Record	Actress	Film	Age (in years)	Ref.
Oldest winner	Law Lan	Bullets Over Summer	66	[223]
Oldest nominee	Sylvia Chang	A Light Never Goes Out	69	[224]
Youngest winner	Becky Lam	Lonely Fifteen	17	[223]
Youngest nominee	Becky Lam	Lonely Fifteen	17

Notes

^{^} A film is considered to be a "Hong Kong film" by meeting at least 2 of the following criteria:^[2]

1. The film's director is a Hong Kong resident that holds a Hong Kong Identity Card
2. At least one of the film's production companies are legally registered in Hong Kong SAR.
3. At least one person involved in the film's production from any six separate award categories who are Hong Kong resident holding a Hong Kong Identity Card.