Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Daytime Drama

The Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Daytime Drama is an award held by the daytime television magazine Soap Opera Digest. It was first awarded at the 1st Soap Opera Digest Award ceremony in 1984.^[1] It is given to honor an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role while working within the soap opera genre industry. The winners are decided by the fans who read the magazine.

Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Daytime Drama
Awarded for	Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actress in a Daytime Drama Series
Country	United States
Presented by	Soap Opera Digest
First award	1984
Final award	2005
Currently held by	Tamara Braun General Hospital (2005)

Deidre Hall holds the most wins, winning in 1984, 1985 and 1995. Hall is followed by Kim Zimmer who won twice in 1988 and 2000.

Winners

Year	Recipients	Program	Role	Network	Ref
1984	Deidre Hall‡	Days of Our Lives	Marlena Evans	NBC	[1]
1985	Deidre Hall‡	Days of Our Lives	Marlena Evans	NBC	[2]
1986	Patsy Pease‡	Days of Our Lives	Kimberly Brady	NBC	[3]
1988	Kim Zimmer‡	Guiding Light	Reva Shayne	CBS	[4]
1989	Jeanne Cooper‡	The Young and the Restless	Katherine Chancellor	CBS	[5]
1990	Marcy Walker‡	Santa Barbara	Eden Capwell	NBC	[6]
1991	Finola Hughes‡	General Hospital	Anna Devane	ABC	[7]
1992	Anne Heche‡	Another World	Marley Hudson/Vicky Hudson	NBC	[8]
1993	Susan Lucci‡	All My Children	Erica Kane	ABC	[9]
1994	Jess Walton‡	The Young and the Restless	Jill Abbott	CBS	[10]
1995	Deidre Hall‡	Days of Our Lives	Marlena Evans	NBC	[11][12]
1996	Robin Strasser‡	One Life to Live	Dorian Lord	ABC	[13]
1997	Genie Francis‡	General Hospital	Laura Spencer	ABC	[14][15]
1998	Vanessa Marcil‡	General Hospital	Brenda Barrett	ABC	[16]
1999	Lynn Herring‡	Port Charles	Lucy Coe	ABC	[17]
2000	Kim Zimmer‡	Guiding Light	Reva Shayne	CBS	[18]
2001	Melody Thomas Scott‡	The Young and the Restless	Nikki Newman	CBS	[19]
2003	Michelle Stafford‡	The Young and the Restless	Phyllis Summers Abbott	CBS	[20]
2005	Tamara Braun‡	General Hospital	Carly Corinthos	ABC	[21]

Total awards won

Wins	Series
4	Days of Our Lives
	General Hospital
	The Young and the Restless
2	Guiding Light
1	Santa Barbara
	Another World
	All My Children
	Port Charles
	One Life to Live

Multiple wins

Wins	Actress
3	Deidre Hall
2	Kim Zimmer