The Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951. Previously, there was a single award for "Best Actress in a Motion Picture" but the splitting allowed for recognition of it and the Best Actress - Drama.

The formal title has varied since its inception and as of 2005 is officially called: "Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy".

Past winners

• 1951 - Judy Holliday, Born Yesterday
• 1952 - June Allyson, Too Young to Kiss
• 1953 - Susan Hayward, With a Song in My Heart
• 1954 - Ethel Merman, Call Me Madam
• 1955 - Judy Garland, A Star is Born
• 1956 - Jean Simmons, Guys and Dolls
• 1957 - Deborah Kerr, The King and I
• 1958 - Kay Kendall, Les Girls
• 1959 - Rosalind Russell, Auntie Mame
• 1960 - Marilyn Monroe, Some Like It Hot
• 1961 - Shirley MacLaine, The Apartment
• 1962 - Rosalind Russell, A Majority of One
• 1963 - Rosalind Russell, Gypsy
• 1964 - Shirley MacLaine, Irma la Douce
• 1965 - Julie Andrews, Mary Poppins
• 1966 - Julie Andrews, The Sound of Music
• 1967 - Lynn Redgrave, Georgy Girl
• 1968 - Anne Bancroft, The Graduate
• 1969 - Barbra Streisand, Funny Girl
• 1970 - Patty Duke, Me, Natalie
• 1971 - Carrie Snodgress, Diary of a Mad Housewife
• 1972 - Twiggy, The Boy Friend
• 1973 - Liza Minnelli, Cabaret
• 1974 - Glenda Jackson, A Touch of Class
• 1975 - Raquel Welch, The Three Musketeers
• 1976 - Ann-Margret, Tommy
• 1977 - Barbra Streisand, A Star is Born
• 1978 - Diane Keaton, Annie Hall; Marsha Mason, The Goodbye Girl
• 1979 - Ellen Burstyn, Same Time, Next Year; Maggie Smith, California Suite
• 1980 - Bette Midler, The Rose
• 1981 - Sissy Spacek, Coal Miner's Daughter
• 1982 - Bernadette Peters, Pennies from Heaven
• 1983 - Julie Andrews, Victor/Victoria
• 1984 - Julie Walters, Educating Rita
• 1985 - Kathleen Turner, Romancing the Stone
• 1986 - Kathleen Turner, Prizzi's Honor
• 1987 - Sissy Spacek, Crimes of the Heart
• 1988 - Cher, Moonstruck
• 1989 - Melanie Griffith, Working Girl
• 1990 - Jessica Tandy, Driving Miss Daisy
• 1991 - Julia Roberts, Pretty Woman
• 1992 - Bette Midler, For the Boys
• 1993 - Miranda Richardson, Enchanted April
• 1994 - Angela Bassett, What's Love Go To Do With It
• 1995 - Jamie Lee Curtis, True Lies
• 1996 - Nicole Kidman, To Die For
• 1997 - Madonna, Evita
• 1998 - Helen Hunt, As Good As It Gets
• 1999 - Gwyneth Paltrow, Shakespeare In Love
• 2000 - Janet McTeer, Tumbleweeds
• 2001 - Renée Zellweger, Nurse Betty
• 2002 - Nicole Kidman, Moulin Rouge!
• 2003 - Renée Zellweger, Chicago
• 2004 - Diane Keaton, Something's Gotta Give
• 2005 - Annette Bening, Being Julia