Black Reel Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress

The Black Reel Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress was an award presented annually by the Black Reel Awards (BRAs). It was given to honor an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role while working within the film industry.

Erykah Badu was the first winner of The Cider House Rules at the 1st Annual Black Reel Awards in 2000. Since its inception, the award has been given out to 21 actresses. Viola Davis is the current record holder with most wins in this category with two, while Octavia Spencer holds the record for most nominations in this category with six. Janelle Monáe and Kerry Washington have the most nominations in this category without a win. Monáe is the only actress to earn multiple nominations in the same year for Moonlight and Hidden Figures at the 17th Annual Black Reel Awards.

Gloria Foster became the first posthumous acting nominee in Black Reel Awards history when she earned a nomination for The Matrix Reloaded at the 4th Annual Black Reel Awards. Eartha Kitt is the first and only actress to earn a nomination in this category for an animated performance prior to the introduction of the Outstanding Voice Performance category in 2009.

At age 25, Jennifer Hudson became the youngest winner in this category for Dreamgirls and at age 62, Phylicia Rashad became the oldest winner in this category for For Colored Girls.

The award was discontinued at the 24th Black Reel Awards and merged with Outstanding Supporting Actor in favor of a single gender-neutral award, Outstanding Supporting Performance.

Winners and nominees
Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold.

Multiple wins

 * 2 Wins
 * Viola Davis

Multiple nominations

 * 6 Nominations
 * Octavia Spencer


 * 5 Nominations
 * Angela Bassett
 * Viola Davis


 * 4 Nominations
 * Janelle Monae
 * Kerry Washington


 * 3 Nominations
 * Naomie Harris
 * Lupita Nyong'o
 * Gabrielle Union


 * 2 Nominations
 * Joy Bryant
 * Rosario Dawson
 * Shareeka Epps
 * Taraji P. Henson
 * Regina King
 * Queen Latifah
 * Nia Long
 * Zoe Saldana
 * Tessa Thompson

Multiple nominations from the same film

 * Mo'Nique (winner), Mariah Carey and Paula Patton in Precious (2010)
 * Phylicia Rashad (winner), Janet Jackson and Kerry Washington in For Colored Girls (2011)
 * Pernell Walker and Kim Wayans in Pariah (2011)
 * Naomie Harris & Janelle Monae in Moonlight (2017)
 * Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong'o & Letitia Wright in Black Panther (2019)
 * Ariana DeBose & Rita Moreno in West Side Story (2022)