List of awards and nominations received by Elaine May

The following is a list of awards and nominations received by American comedian, writer, director, producer and actor Elaine May.

She began her career as a improvisational comedian with Mike Nichols during the 1960s. Together, they performed onstage from clubs in Greenwich Village to the Broadway stage. They released multiple comedy albums, receiving four Grammy Award nominations and winning the Best Comedy Album award in 1962 for An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May. For her work on film, she has received two Academy Award nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for her work on Warren Beatty's Heaven Can Wait (1978) and Mike Nichols' Primary Colors (1998). She received an Academy Honorary Award in 2021. For her work on the Broadway stage, she received a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play for Kenneth Lonergan's revival of The Waverly Gallery in 2019.

In 2013, May was awarded the National Medal of Arts for her lifetime contributions to American comedy by President Barack Obama in a ceremony in the White House. She was awarded for her "groundbreaking wit and a keen understanding of how humor can illuminate our lives, Ms. May has evoked untold joy, challenged expectations, and elevated spirits across our Nation." In 2019, May's film A New Leaf was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".