11 Youngest Oscar Nominees in the History of Hollywood

December 22, 2022 1:09 pm

They became famous at a very young age.

Justin Henry (Kramer vs. Kramer) – 8 years old

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Justin received his first and only nomination back in 1979, starring with Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep in the drama Kramer vs. Kramer.

Justin lost the fight for the statuette, but still holds the record as the youngest actor nominated for an Academy award.

Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) – 9 years old

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For 9-year-old Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild was her first feature film and it got her first Oscar nomination.

Beasts of the Southern Wild received a total of four nominations for the award, winning nothing. But Quvenzhané herself holds the record for being the youngest actress ever nominated for an Oscar.

Jackie Cooper (Skippy) – 9 years old

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Jackie Cooper was nominated for Best Actor in 1931 when he was just 9 years old, and held the title of youngest Oscar nominee for nearly half a century.

Cooper's career turned out to be very successful, he always had roles to play. In the 1980s he managed to get a part in one of the first popular movie franchises about the adventures of Superman.

Tatum O'Neal (Paper Moon) – 10 years old

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Tatum O'Neal received her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1973 – and, amazingly, managed to win.

To this day, although almost half a century has passed and Tatum's record as the youngest Oscar winner in history can't be beaten by anyone.

Mary Badham (To Kill a Mockingbird) – 10 years old

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Back in 1962 Mary received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for the role in To Kill a Mockingbird, a drama that got a total of eight nominations winning three of them.

Unfortunately, Mary did not manage to get a statuette, but her fellow actor, Gregory Peck, took home an Oscar for Best Actor.

Quinn Cummings (The Goodbye Girl) – 10 years old

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Like Mary Badham, Quinn received her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, in 1977.

The 10-year-old girl lost out to Vanessa Redgrave (Julia) that year, but her colleague, Richard Dreyfuss, did manage to win an Oscar for The Goodbye Girl in the Best Actor category.

Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) – 10 years old

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In 2006 the charm of 10-year-old little Miss Sunshine Abigail Breslin won the hearts of both the audience and the U.S. Academy Awards. The movie received four Oscar nominations.

Unfortunately the fight for Best Picture Award was predictably lost to Scorsese’s The Departed, while Abigail herself lost the Award for Best Supporting Actress to Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls).

Patricia McCormack (The Bad Seed) – 11 years old

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An Oscar nomination at the age of 11 is an impressive achievement, which unfortunately remained the only one in Patricia McCormack's career.

In 1957, the young actress lost the fight for the statuette, and later in her life she never managed to get an Oscar nomination again.

Anna Paquin (The Piano) – 11 years old

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The 1993 film The Piano received a total of eight Oscar nominations, and among them was a nomination (that she successfully won) for a young Anna Paquin, the future star of X-Men and True Blood.

Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense) – 11 years old

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Being an 11-years-old boy, Haley played on par with Bruce Willis and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 2000. Sadly, The Sixth Sense, which was a breakthrough for director M. Night Shyamalan, failed to win any of the six nominations.

Regrettably, Haley had no chance at all – the statuette eventually went to Michael Caine for his supporting role in The Cider House Rules.

Brandon deWilde (Shane) – 11 years old

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Brandon's career could have been exceptionally successful – already at age 11, in 1953, he received his first Oscar nomination for Shane, which in total got nominated in six categories.

Unfortunately, the young Brandon failed to win an Oscar, being second to Frank Sinatra. And later in 1972, at the age of 30, he died in an accident. By that time he had starred in more than 40 films. Interesting fact: A scene from Shane can be seen in Logan (2017), which was also nominated for an Oscar.