Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress

The Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India since 1969 to an actress for the best performance within the Malayalam film industry. Until 1997, the awards were managed directly by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala. Since 1998, the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, an autonomous non-profit organisation functioning under the Department of Cultural Affairs, has been exercising control over the awards. The awardees, decided by a jury formed by the academy, are declared by the Minister for Cultural Affairs and are presented by the Chief Minister.

The 1st Kerala State Film Awards ceremony was held in 1970 with Sheela receiving the Best Actress award for her role in Kallichellamma (1969). The following year, Sharada was recognised for her performances in two films—Thriveni and Thara. Since then, several actresses have been awarded for more than one film during a year.

Throughout the years, accounting for ties and repeat winners, the government has presented a total of 54 Best Actress awards to 38 different actresses. Urvashi has been the most frequent winner, with five awards. She is followed by Sheela and Srividya with three awards each. As of 2023, nine actresses—Jayabharathi, Seema, Samyuktha Varma, Suhasini Maniratnam, Navya Nair, Meera Jasmine, Kavya Madhavan, Shweta Menon and Parvathy Thiruvothu have won the award two times. The 2005 ceremony was the only occasion when the category was tied; Kavya Madhavan and Geetu Mohandas shared the award for their performances in Perumazhakkalam, and Akale and Oridam respectively. The most recent recipient of the award is Vincy Aloshious, for the film Rekha in 2023.