Helen Hayes, The Sin of Madelon Claudet
Eventually an EGOT winner, the star of stage and screen won her Oscar playing a wrongfully imprisoned woman who turns to theft and prostitution to make ends meet to feed her son.
Elizabeth Taylor, BUtterfield 8 and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
The screen legend won her first Oscar for her role as a model/call girl who meets a tragic fate. For Oscar No. 2 she abandoned all trappings of glamour to play the verbally abusive Martha opposite the put-upon George, played by her real-life love Richard Burton.
Grace Kelly, The Country Girl
One of the most beautiful screen stars ever, Kelly went as plain as possible to play the long-suffering wife of an alcoholic actor who's trying jump-start his fading career.
Sophia Loren, Two Women
One of the world's all-time great beauties, the Italian star plays a widow who along with her daughter is gang-raped by a group of Moroccan soldiers—in a church—while on their way back to Rome after the Allies pushed the Germans out of Italy.
Meryl Streep, Sophie's Choice
The 19-time Oscar nominee (lead and supporting) won the first of her two Best Actress Oscars in 1983 for playing a tortured Holocaust survivor.
Susan Sarandon, Dead Man Walking
As a no-frills nun counseling a death row inmate played by Sean Penn, Sarandon won her first Oscar in 1996 on her fifth nomination.
Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovich
The makeup artist did the exact opposite of what one usually does with Roberts and emphasized everything to help, er, shape her role as the real-life legal assistant turned crusader who helps win millions for the residents of a small town who were exposed to contaminated water for years.
Hilary Swank, Boys Don't Cry and Million Dollar Baby
The two-time Oscar winner utterly transformed herself to play real-life transgender man Brandon Teena and then again to play a boxer in Clint Eastwood's Best Picture winner.
Halle Berry, Monster's Ball
The Oscar was hers in 2002 after her gritty role as a woman who meets with one tragedy after another and falls in love with the racist prison guard who helped execute her husband on death row.
Nicole Kidman, The Hours
Denzel Washington said it himself when he announced the Best Actress winner "by a nose" in 2003.
Charlize Theron, Monster
The stunning star rendered herself unrecognizable to convincingly play the damaged soul that was real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos.
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Makeup and prostheses combined to turn the French beauty into beloved singer Édith Piaf, who battled depression and substance abuse and tragically died at 47.
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
The already petite actress lost 20 pounds to play a tortured ballerina who's starting to lose her grip on reality.
Brie Larson, Room
The 2016 Oscar winner gave a heartbreaking performance as a woman who's raising her son in the one room where she's been held captive for seven years.