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JWR VerifiedFounding RecordJWR-2026-000081

First Jewish Woman to Win an Oscar

Record holder

Norma ShearerPerson

Record value

5 November 1930

Country represented: CanadaAchievement location: Los Angeles, California, United StatesAchievement date: 5 November 1930Current record

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Verified by Jewish World RecordsHow we verify records

Norma Shearer receiving the Best Actress statuette at the 3rd Academy Awards in 1930

Conrad Nagel presents Norma Shearer with the Best Actress statuette at the 3rd Academy Awards on 5 November 1930.Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences / Town and Country Magazine / Wikimedia Commons — public domainSource

Official record definition

The earliest woman who satisfied the JWR Jewish Eligibility Standard at the time of achievement and personally won a competitive Academy Award presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nominations, honorary/special awards, awards credited only to a studio or film entity, later-life conversion, and non-Academy film prizes are excluded.

Measurement methodology

chronological reconstruction of competitive Academy Award winners from official Academy ceremony records, combined with Jewish eligibility evidence at the time of achievement

Measurement point: earliest competitive Academy Award personally won by a qualifying Jewish woman

Record story

Norma Shearer became the first Jewish woman to win a competitive Oscar on 5 November 1930. At the 3rd Academy Awards ceremony held in Los Angeles, she received the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film The Divorcee. This achievement establishes the record for the "First competitive Academy Award won by a Jewish woman", as defined by the exclusion of nominations, honorary awards, or prizes credited only to a film entity.

The win is officially recorded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Jewish Women's Archive identifies Shearer as the first Jewish woman to win an Academy Award and documents her conversion to Judaism in 1927, prior to the achievement. The 'first' status was established by a chronological reconstruction of the winners from the first three Academy Awards ceremonies from official records, which confirmed no earlier Jewish woman had personally won a competitive award.

How JWR verified this record

Verification date
3 September 2026
Verification standard
JWR Verification Standard 1.0

Achievement evidence

The Academy's official page for the 3rd Academy Awards records Norma Shearer as Best Actress winner for The Divorcee at the ceremony held on 5 November 1930.

Superiority evidence

Jewish Women's Archive explicitly identifies Shearer as the first Jewish woman to win an Academy Award. JWR independently reconstructed the first three Academy Awards ceremonies from official Academy records: no earlier qualifying competitive Jewish-woman winner was identified. FIRST Enhanced Review and Independent Review passed.

Jewish Eligibility — Verified by JWR

Jewish eligibility verification

Evidence establishing that the holder qualifies as Jewish for JWR purposes.

  • Norma Shearer Becomes First Jewish Woman to Win Academy Award — Jewish Women's Archive

Achievement / record verification

Evidence establishing that the holder achieved the result and holds the record as defined.

  • The 3rd Academy Awards | 1931 — Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Superiority / counter-candidate verification

Evidence comparing the result with other candidates relevant to the record claim.

  • The 1st Academy Awards | 1929 — Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
  • The 2nd Academy Awards | 1930 — Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Jewish eligibility, achievement and superiority evidence retain their separate classifications and are never merged. Context and provenance are not presented as proof of the achievement. Restricted evidence and internal research notes are never published. Learn more about the seven-stage process on the verification page.

Sources & Verification

  • The 3rd Academy Awards | 1931

    Official recordAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences· 5 November 1930

    What this proves: Officially records Norma Shearer as Best Actress winner for The Divorcee at the 3rd Academy Awards held on 5 November 1930.

  • Norma Shearer Becomes First Jewish Woman to Win Academy Award

    Primary sourceJewish Women's Archive

    What this proves: Explicitly identifies Shearer as the first Jewish woman to win an Academy Award and documents her conversion to Judaism in 1927, before the 1930 win.

  • The 1st Academy Awards | 1929

    Official recordAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences· 16 May 1929

    What this proves: Controls the first Academy Awards ceremony and its competitive winners for the enhanced FIRST chronology review.

  • The 2nd Academy Awards | 1930

    Official recordAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences· 3 April 1930

    What this proves: Controls the second Academy Awards ceremony and its competitive winners for the enhanced FIRST chronology review.

  • 3rd Academy Awards.webm

    Institutional archiveWikimedia Commons· 5 November 1930

    What this proves: Documents a filmed portion of the 3rd Academy Awards showing Norma Shearer receiving Best Actress for The Divorcee, with Academy authorship/source context and U.S. public-domain status for pre-1931 publication.

  • Norma Shearer Best Actress November 1930 image by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — Wikimedia Commons

    Institutional archiveWikimedia Commons· 5 November 1930

    What this proves: Documents image subject, Academy authorship, 3rd Academy Awards context and public-domain status.

History

  1. Verified

    Verified according to JWR Verification Standard 1.0.

  2. Publishedv1

    Published to the official JWR registry.

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