NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture

This article lists the winners and nominees for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture. The award has also been called Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture. Out of 12 films which featured African-Americans in leading roles in 1980, Cicely Tyson was the only female in that category. She played opposite Richard Pryor in Bustin' Loose. Because of this, she and officials at the annual NAACP Image Awards program decided that she should not accept the award.

Winners and nominees
For each year in the tables below, the winner is listed first and highlighted in bold.

Wins

 * 5 wins
 * Angela Bassett


 * 4 wins
 * Viola Davis
 * Whoopi Goldberg


 * 2 wins
 * Halle Berry
 * Taraji P. Henson
 * Cicely Tyson
 * Sanaa Lathan

Nominations

 * 11 nominations
 * Halle Berry


 * 9 nominations
 * Angela Bassett


 * 7 nominations
 * Viola Davis
 * Whoopi Goldberg


 * 6 nominations
 * Queen Latifah
 * Alfre Woodard


 * 5 nominations
 * Sanaa Lathan


 * 4 nominations
 * Taraji P. Henson
 * Zoe Saldana


 * 3 nominations
 * Rosalind Cash
 * Rosario Dawson
 * Pam Grier
 * Vivica A. Fox
 * Whitney Houston
 * Nia Long
 * Keke Palmer
 * Kerry Washington


 * 2 nominations
 * Jennifer Beals
 * Beyoncé
 * Ruby Dee
 * Kimberly Elise
 * Robin Givens
 * Jennifer Hudson
 * Janet Jackson
 * Regina King
 * Amandla Stenberg
 * Jada Pinkett Smith
 * Tessa Thompson
 * Beverly Todd
 * Cicely Tyson
 * Gabrielle Union
 * Quvenzhané Wallis
 * Vanessa Williams