Zee Cine Award for Best Actor – Female

The Zee Cine Award for Best Actor – Female is chosen by the viewers of Zee Entertainment Enterprises as part of its annual award ceremony for Hindi films, to recognise a female actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role. Following its inception in 1998, the ceremony was not held in 2009 and 2010, but resumed in 2011.^[1] The ceremony was again cancelled in 2021 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it resumed in 2023.

Zee Cine Award for Best Actress
Awarded for	Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Country	India
Presented by	Zee Entertainment Enterprises
First award	Madhuri Dixit, Dil To Pagal Hai (1998)
Currently held by	Kiara Advani, Satyaprem Ki Katha (2024)
Website	zeecineawards.com

Superlatives

Superlative	Actress	Record
Actress with most awards	Alia Bhatt	4
Actress with most consecutive wins	Alia Bhatt[a] (2018-2020; 2023)
Actress with most consecutive nominations	Alia Bhatt[b] (2017-2020; 2023-2024)	6
Actress with most nominations	Deepika Padukone	11
Actress with most nominations without ever winning	Karisma Kapoor	6
Actress with most nominations in a single year	Kajol (1999); Deepika Padukone (2014)	3
Eldest Winner	Vidya Balan (2012)	33 years
Youngest Winner	Kajol (1999); Alia Bhatt (2018)	24 years
Eldest Nominee	Hema Malini (2004)	55 years
Youngest Nominee	Zaira Wasim (2018)	17 years

• Alia Bhatt is the most awarded actress in this category with four wins, followed by Tabu, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Rani Mukerji, Kajol, Vidya Balan and Deepika Padukone, who each have two wins.
• Alia Bhatt is the actress with the most consecutive wins with four, followed by Tabu, Rani Mukerji, Vidya Balan, and Deepika Padukone who each have two consecutive wins.
• Deepika Padukone is the actress with the most nominations in this category, with eleven, followed by Kajol with nine, and Kareena Kapoor Khan, Rani Mukerji, and Alia Bhatt with eight nominations each.
• The actress with the most consecutive nominations is Alia Bhatt, who received nominations for six consecutive years.
• Kajol and Deepika Padukone are the actresses who received the most nominations in a single year, with both being nominated for three films in a single year.
• Karisma Kapoor received the most nominations in this category without ever winning, with six, followed by Preity Zinta with four, and Katrina Kaif, Sonam Kapoor, Kriti Sanon, and Shraddha Kapoor with three each.
• Vidya Balan, who won the award for the second time at the age of 33, is the eldest winner, while Hema Malini became the eldest nominee at the age of 55. Kajol and Alia Bhatt are the youngest winners, having received their first awards at the age of 24, while Zaira Wasim became the youngest nominee at the age of 17.
• Vidya Balan was the first actress to win the Zee Cine Award for Best Female Debut before winning the award for Best Actress, followed by Deepika Padukone.
• Madhuri Dixit, Rani Mukerji, and Anushka Sharma are the three actresses who have won both the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress awards.
• Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vidya Balan, Deepika Padukone, and Alia Bhatt are the four actresses who have won both the Best Actress and Best Actress (Critics) awards. Balan, Padukone, and Bhatt won both awards in the same year, with Balan winning for the same film and Padukone and Bhatt winning for two different films.
• Kajol and Tabu are the two actresses who have won both the Best Actress and Best Villain awards.

Multiple wins

The following individuals have received two or more Best Actress awards:

Wins	Actress
4	Alia Bhatt
2	Tabu, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Rani Mukerji, Kajol, Vidya Balan, Deepika Padukone

Multiple nominations

The following individuals have received two or more Best Actress nominations, including multiple nominations in a single year.

Nominations	Actress
11	Deepika Padukone
9	Kajol
8	Kareena Kapoor Khan, Rani Mukerji, Alia Bhatt
7	Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
6	Karisma Kapoor, Vidya Balan
4	Preity Zinta, Tabu, Priyanka Chopra, Anushka Sharma
3	Madhuri Dixit, Urmila Matondkar, Katrina Kaif, Sonam Kapoor, Kriti Sanon, Kiara Advani, Shraddha Kapoor
2	Juhi Chawla, Kangana Ranaut, Sridevi, Taapsee Pannu, Bhumi Pednekar

Winners and nominees

Table key

‡	Indicates the winner

1990s

Year[c]	Winner	Actor	Role(s)	Film	Ref.
1998 (1st)		Madhuri Dixit ‡	Pooja	Dil To Pagal Hai	[2] [3]
		Juhi Chawla	Madhu Saxena	Ishq
		Kajol	Isha Diwan	Gupt
		Karisma Kapoor	Nisha	Dil To Pagal Hai
			Meena Nath Malhotra	Hero No. 1
1999 (2nd)		Kajol ‡	Anjali Sharma	Kuch Kuch Hota Hai	[4]
		Juhi Chawla	Sonia Kapoor	Duplicate
		Kajol	Naina Sehgal & Sonia Sehgal (Twins)	Dushman
			Muskaan Thakur	Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya
		Rani Mukerji	Alisha Mafatlal	Ghulam

2000s

Year[c]	Winner	Actor	Role(s)	Film	Ref.
2000 (3rd)		Aishwarya Rai ‡	Nandini Darbar	Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam	[5]
		Aishwarya Rai	Mansi Shankar	Taal
		Kajol	Nandita Rai	Dil Kya Kare
			Megha	Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain
		Karisma Kapoor	Pooja Mehra (née Makhija)	Biwi No.1
2001 (4th)		Tabu ‡	Aditi Pandit	Astitva	[6]
		Aishwarya Rai Bachchan	Preeti Vyas	Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai
		Karisma Kapoor	Fiza Ikramullah	Fiza
		Madhuri Dixit	Anjali	Pukar
		Preity Zinta	Priya Bakshi	Kya Kehna
2002 (5th)		Tabu ‡	Mumtaz Ali Ansari	Chandni Bar	[7]
		Ameesha Patel	Sakeena "Sakku" Tara Singh (née Ali)	Gadar: Ek Prem Katha
		Kajol	Anjali Sharma Raichand	Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...
		Karisma Kapoor	Zubeidaa Suleiman Seth / Zubeidaa Mehboob Alam / Rani Meenakshi Devi	Zubeidaa
		Nandita Das	Saanvri	Bawandar
2003 (6th)		Aishwarya Rai Bachchan ‡	Parvati "Paro"	Devdas	[8]
		Karisma Kapoor	Nandini	Shakti: The Power
		Madhuri Dixit	Chandramukhi	Devdas
		Rani Mukerji	Dr. Suhani Sehgal (née Sharma)	Saathiya
		Tabu	Rewa Singh	Filhaal...
2004 (7th)		Urmila Matondkar ‡	Swati	Bhoot	[9]
		Antara Mali	Chutki	Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon
		Hema Malini	Pooja Malhotra	Baghban
		Preity Zinta	Naina Catherine Kapur	Kal Ho Naa Ho
		Rani Mukerji	Priya Chopra Mathur	Chalte Chalte
2005 (8th)		Rani Mukerji ‡	Rhea Prakash	Hum Tum	[10]
		Kareena Kapoor	Aaliya	Dev
		Mallika Sherawat	Simran Sehgal	Murder
		Preity Zinta	Zaara Hayaat Khan	Veer-Zaara
		Shilpa Shetty	Tamanna Sahni	Phir Milenge
		Urmila Matondkar	Sarika Vartak	Ek Hasina Thi
2006 (9th)		Rani Mukerji ‡	Michelle McNally	Black	[11] [12]
		Konkona Sen Sharma	Madhavi Sharma	Page 3
		Preity Zinta	Ambar "Amby" Malhotra	Salaam Namaste
		Rani Mukerji	Vimmi "Babli" Saluja	Bunty Aur Babli
		Urmila Matondkar	Trisha Chaudhary	Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara
		Vidya Balan	Lalita Roy	Parineeta
2007 (10th)		Kajol ‡	Zooni Qadri (née Ali Beg)	Fanaa	[13]
		Aishwarya Rai Bachchan	Amiran (Umrao Jaan)	Umrao Jaan
		Ayesha Takia	Meera	Dor
		Bipasha Basu	Nishigandha Dasgupta	Corporate
		Kareena Kapoor	Dolly Mishra	Omkara
		Rani Mukerji	Maya Talwar	Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna
2008 (11th)		Kareena Kapoor ‡	Geet Kaur Dhillon	Jab We Met	[14]
		Aishwarya Rai Bachchan	Sujata "Suju" Desai	Guru
		Deepika Padukone	Shantipriya aka Shanti & Sandhya "Sandy" Bansal	Om Shanti Om
		Katrina Kaif	Jasmeet "Jazz" Malhotra Singh	Namastey London
		Tabu	Nina Verma	Cheeni Kum
		Vidya Balan	Avni Chaturvedi / Manjulika	Bhool Bhulaiyaa
2009	Not held

2010s

Year[c]	Winner	Actor	Role(s)	Film	Ref.
2010	Not held
2011 (12th)		Vidya Balan ‡	Krishna Verma	Ishqiya	[15]
		Aishwarya Rai Bachchan	Sofia D'Souza	Guzaarish
		Anushka Sharma	Shruti Kakkar	Band Baaja Baaraat
		Deepika Padukone	Aaliya Khan	Break Ke Baad
		Kajol	Mandira Khan (née Rathore)	My Name Is Khan
		Kareena Kapoor	Daboo	Golmaal 3
		Katrina Kaif	Indu Pratap (née Seksaria)	Raajneeti
2012 (13th)		Vidya Balan ‡	Reshma / Silk	The Dirty Picture	[16]
		Kangana Ranaut	Tanuja Trivedi a.k.a. "Tanu"	Tanu Weds Manu
		Kareena Kapoor	Divya Rana / Chhaya	Bodyguard
		Katrina Kaif	Laila	Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
		Priyanka Chopra	Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes (also known as Saheb, Suzi, Sultana, Anna and Sunaina)	7 Khoon Maaf
2013 (14th)		Priyanka Chopra ‡	Jhilmil Chatterjee	Barfi	[17]
		Deepika Padukone	Veronica Malaney	Cocktail
		Kareena Kapoor	Rosie / Simran	Talaash: The Answer Lies Within
		Sridevi	Shashi Godbole	English Vinglish
		Vidya Balan	Vidya Bagchi	Kahaani
2014 (15th)		Deepika Padukone ‡	Meenalochni "Meenamma" Azhagusundaram	Chennai Express	[18]
		Deepika Padukone	Leela Sanera	Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela
			Naina Talwar	Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani
		Parineeti Chopra	Gayatri	Shuddh Desi Romance
		Shraddha Kapoor	Aarohi Shirke	Aashiqui 2
		Sonam Kapoor	Zoya Haider	Raanjhanaa
2016 (16th)		Deepika Padukone ‡	Mastani	Bajirao Mastani	[19]
		Anushka Sharma	Meera	NH10
		Deepika Padukone	Piku Banerjee	Piku
		Kangana Ranaut	Tanuja "Tanu" Sharma / Kusum "Datto" Sangwan	Tanu Weds Manu: Returns
		Priyanka Chopra	Kashibai	Bajirao Mastani
			Ayesha Mehra	Dil Dhadakne Do
2017[d] (17th)		Anushka Sharma ‡	Aarfa Ali Khan (née Hussain)	Sultan	[21]
		Alia Bhatt	Kaira	Dear Zindagi
			Bauria a.k.a. Mary Jane	Udta Punjab
		Fatima Sana Shaikh	Geeta Phogat	Dangal
		Sonam Kapoor	Neerja Bhanot	Neerja
		Taapsee Pannu	Minal Arora	Pink
2018[e] (18th)		Alia Bhatt ‡	Vaidehi Trivedi	Badrinath Ki Dulhania	[23]
		Bhumi Pednekar	Jaya Sharma (née Joshi)	Toilet: Ek Prem Katha
		Kriti Sanon	Bitti Mishra	Bareilly Ki Barfi
		Sridevi	Devki Sabarwal	Mom
		Vidya Balan	Sulochana "Sulu" Dubey	Tumhari Sulu
		Zaira Wasim	Insia Malik	Secret Superstar
2019 (19th)		Alia Bhatt ‡	Sehmat Syed (née Khan)	Raazi
		Anushka Sharma	Mamta Sharma	Sui Dhaaga
		Deepika Padukone	Padmavati	Padmaavat
		Kareena Kapoor	Kalindi Puri	Veere Di Wedding
		Sonam Kapoor	Avni Sharma
		Taapsee Pannu	Advocate Aarti Malhotra	Mulk

2020s

Year[c]	Winner	Actor	Role(s)	Film	Ref.
2020 (20th)		Alia Bhatt ‡	Safeena Firdausi	Gully Boy	[24]
		Kareena Kapoor	Deepti Batra	Good Newwz
		Kiara Advani	Dr. Preeti Sikka	Kabir Singh
		Kriti Sanon	Rashmi Trivedi	Luka Chuppi
		Rakul Preet Singh	Ayesha Khurana	De De Pyaar De
		Shraddha Kapoor	Maya Sharma	Chhichhore
2021	Not held
2022
2023 (21st)		Alia Bhatt ‡	Badrunissa Sheikh	Darlings	[25]
		Alia Bhatt	Gangubai Kathiawadi	Gangubai Kathiawadi
		Bhumi Pednekar	Sumi Singh	Badhaai Do
		Deepika Padukone	Alisha Khanna	Gehraiyaan
		Kiara Advani	Reet Thakur	Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2
		Kriti Sanon	Dr. Anika	Bhediya
2024 (22nd)		Kiara Advani ‡	Katha Kapadia	Satyaprem Ki Katha	[26]
		Alia Bhatt	Rani Chatterjee	Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani
		Deepika Padukone	Rubina "Rubai" Mohsin	Pathaan
		Shraddha Kapoor	Nisha "Tinni" Malhotra	Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar
		Rani Mukerji	Debika Chatterjee	Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway
		Nayanthara	Narmada Rai	Jawan
2025 (23rd)		Shraddha Kapoor ‡	Unnamed	Stree 2
		Kriti Sanon	Sifra	Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya
		Triptii Dimri	Saloni Bagga	Bad Newz
		Kareena kapoor	Jasmine Kohli	Crew
		Yami Gautam	Zooni Haksar	Article 370
		Katrina Kaif	Maria	Merry Christmas

See also

• Zee Cine Awards
• Bollywood
• Cinema of India

Notes

1. There was no award ceremony in 2021 and 2022. Bhatt won the award for three consecutive years, from 2018–2020, and again in 2023.
2. There was no award ceremony in 2021 and 2022. Bhatt received nominations for four consecutive years, from 2017–2020, and again from 2023-2024.
3. Refers to the year in which the ceremony was held.
4. Held on 11 March 2017.^[20]
5. Held on 19 December 2017.^[22]