Which actress has won the most Oscars?

The Oscars is that one night of the year where Hollywood pats itself on the back for being, well, Hollywood.

They’re not always about recognizing the absolute best. The Oscars are as much about politics, timing, and it’s impossible not to take notice.

Actress with the Most Oscar Wins

While everyone’s busy throwing their bets behind their favorites, the real reigning queen of the Oscars remains…not Meryl (though she’s close), not Daniel Day-Lewis, not Jack Nicholson. Nope, it’s Katharine Hepburn. With four wins for Best Actress, she’s the most decorated actor in the history of the Oscars. And she did it all while thumbing her nose at Hollywood conventions, blazing her own trail, and — get this — never showing up to accept a single one of her awards. Iconic doesn’t even begin to cover it. She only appeared at the Oscars once, in 1974, to present the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to producer Lawrence Weingarten.

Hepburn’s first win came in 1934, for Morning Glory. She played Eva Lovelace, a small-town girl with big Broadway dreams, and she brought an edge to the character that audiences weren’t used to seeing. Eva was ambitious, cunning, and flawed. And the Academy noticed. At just 26 years old, Hepburn became an Oscar winner, solidifying her status as one of the brightest young stars.

By the late 1930s, Hepburn’s career hit a wall. A combination of underperforming films and her fiercely independent reputation earned her the label of “box office poison.” To put it bluntly, Hollywood didn’t know what to do with a woman who wouldn’t play by its rules. But Katharine Hepburn wasn’t about to fade into obscurity. She staged one of the greatest comebacks in film history with The Philadelphia Story in 1940. While this performance didn’t win her an Oscar, it re-established her as a leading lady — and, more importantly, as a power player. She even had the foresight to buy the rights to the play and essentially sell herself as part of the package to MGM.

In the 1960s, Hepburn was back to being Hollywood royalty. Her second Oscar win came for Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner in 1968. The film tackled the still-controversial topic of interracial marriage in America, with Hepburn playing Christina Drayton, a liberal mother grappling with her daughter’s engagement to a Black man. It was a timely, bold film, and Hepburn’s performance was the emotional anchor holding it all together.

Just one year later, Hepburn delivered another Oscar-winning performance in The Lion in Winter (1969). This time, she played Eleanor of Aquitaine, a razor-sharp queen in a medieval power struggle with her husband, King Henry II (played by Peter O’Toole). The role demanded a commanding presence, and Hepburn delivered in spades. What’s remarkable about this win is that it tied her with Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl) — something that’s only happened a handful of times in Oscar history.

And then there’s On Golden Pond (1982), her fourth and final Oscar win, which came nearly 50 years after her first. By this point, Hepburn was in her seventies, but she was still every bit as captivating as she’d been in her youth. Ultimately, Hepburn proved that women actresses could be compelling and complex