The Maharashtra State Film Award for Best Actress is an award, begun in 1962, presented annually at the Maharashtra State Film Awards of India to an actor for best performance in a Marathi cinema. The awardees are decided by a jury constituted every year. They are announced by the Minister for Cultural Affairs and are presented by the Chief Minister.
The inaugural award was named as "Smita Patil Award for Best Actress" and was awarded to Sulochana for the film Prapanch, directed by Madhukar Pathak.
Winners
Jayshree Gadkar (top) and Sonali Kulkarni (bottom) are the most frequent winners with five and four awards respectively.
As of 2024, Varsha Usgaonkar and Ashwini Bhave remains the youngest recipient of the honour; they were awarded for the film Gammat Jammat in 1987 and Aahuti in 1992 respectively when they were 20. The most eldest recipient was Suhas Joshi; she was awarded for her film Tu Tithe Mee in 1998.
The most recent recipient is Sonali Kulkarni for her performance in Ticha Shahar Hona.[16]