15 Child Stars Who Sparkled Brightest at the Oscars at a Very Young Age

Winning an Oscar is considered the greatest honor in the film industry, and some have been trying to win one of the coveted statuettes for decades. It took Leonardo DiCaprio 25 years to win his. Glenn Close has been trying for more than 40 years, despite having been nominated eight times. Throughout history, however, there have been cases where the winners have only had a couple of years of experience in front of the camera.

1. Hailee Stenfield — 14 years old

The actress, who has since gained recognition for her musical career and starring roles in such productions as Bumblebee, The Edge of Seventeen, and Hawkeye, rose to fame with her performance in True Grit in 2010, earning her first and only Oscar nomination to date at the age of 14. Stenfield, who had only minor roles in short films and television productions, was chosen in a rigorous casting process, where 15,000 teenagers tried out for the role of Mattie Ross.

She competed for the Best Supporting Actress statuette against established actresses in the industry, such as Amy Adams, Helena Bonham Carter, and Melissa Leo, the latter being the actress who won the Oscar.

2. Jodie Foster — 14 years old

Jodie Foster’s legendary career began at a very young age, but until the age of 14, almost all of her roles were in children’s productions. One of the directors she had worked with was the famed Martin Scorsese, who cast her in Taxi Driver in 1976 to play the role of Iris. The film was mired in controversy due to the nature of Foster’s role. But the actress was thoroughly psychologically tested before filming began, which she carried out with a professionalism worthy of an actor with decades of experience.

The film ended up being a resounding success, receiving four Oscar nominations, although it did not win any of the awards. Jodie Foster, however, did win several awards, including two BAFTA awards for her performances in Taxi Driver and Bugsy Malone, making her the youngest actress ever to win such an award. To date, Jodie Foster holds two Oscars.

3. Bobby Driscoll — 13 years old

Between 1934 and 1960, there were ten Oscar ceremonies at which the Academy Youth Award, an honorary award given at the discretion of the Academy’s board of governors, was presented to young actors who had made a significant contribution to the industry.

The ninth recipient of the award was Bobby Driscoll in 1950. Driscoll, who faithfully represented the American ideal of the time, was the first actor to sign a contract with Disney and later starred in four films. It was one of these films, So Dear to My Heart, along with The Window, which earned him the honorary award — a miniature version of the original statuette.

4. Saoirse Ronan — 13 years old

At just 13 years old, Saoirse Ronan rose to stardom for her performance in Atonement in 2007. In fact, her character, Briony, is the main cause of the film’s conflict, due to a misunderstanding that turns into a lie that Ronan’s character maintains.

The film won one of the seven Oscars for which it was nominated, but Saoirse didn’t bring home a statuette that night. Since her first nomination, which was in the Best Supporting Actress category, the young Irish star has been nominated three other times for Best Actress, for her performances in Brooklyn, Lady Bird, and Little Women. She has yet to win her first Oscar, but her consistent nominations are a testament to her acting talent.

5. Keisha Castle-Hughes — 13 years old

Keisha Castle-Hughes’ career is the perfect epitome of starting out big. In 2002, with no acting experience, the young Australian was chosen out of ten thousand applicants to star in the film Whale Rider. In the film, Castle-Hughes plays Pai, a teenage girl who is the sole survivor in the line of succession of a whale-taming tribe. The film is a moving story that tells Pai’s personal story and her ambitions for the leadership of her tribe.

Not many people can boast an Oscar nomination for their first experience in front of the camera, but that is exactly what Castle-Hughes achieved. The Best Actress award that year was contested by, among others, Diane Keaton, Naomi Watts, and Charlize Theron, who would go on to take home the statuette.

6. Haley Joel Osment — 11 years old

The young actor, also known for his roles in films such as Pay It Forward and A.I. Artificial Intelligence, rose to fame in 1999, thanks to his well-remembered performance as Cole Sear in The Sixth Sense. The Oscar for Best Supporting Actor that year ended up going to British actor Michael Caine, who would end up sharing the set with Osment in the film Secondhand Lions a few years later. Other contenders for the award that year were Tom Cruise and Jude Law.

After several years of being active in the Hollywood world, Osment took a break from acting and public life, returning in the 2010s to play more diverse roles that took him a bit further away from the typical portrayal of a vulnerable child that made him famous in his childhood.

7. Anna Paquin — 11 years old

After its release in 1993, The Piano was one of the most awarded films at the Oscars in the following year, with 8 nominations and 3 statuettes. But the award that surpassed the rest was won by Anna Paquin, who was only 11 years old. However, the Canadian actress showed her humility in 2019 by declaring, that “it was a combination of Holly Hunter’s amazing performance, Jane Campion’s extraordinary direction, and the fact that I was in the right place at the right time. I didn’t know what I was doing.”

As of today, Paquin remains the second-youngest person to win an Oscar in a competitive category. What makes this achievement even more remarkable is that the statuette was also contested by film industry figures such as Emma Thompson and Winona Ryder.

8. Abigail Breslin — 10 years old

The inspirational story of Olive Hoover, the tender girl who dreams of being part of a beauty pageant in Little Miss Sunshine, was a total success at the box office, even though it almost didn’t get made. With a budget of eight million dollars that paled in comparison to other acclaimed productions that year, such as Babel and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Breslin’s breakout film managed to capture the adulation of the public and critics, who considered it one of the most beloved films of 2006.

The fact that Abigail didn’t take home the statuette is not important, as the story of Little Miss Sunshine taught the world to appreciate life and not to look at it as a competition. Similarly, Breslin shone at the Oscar ceremony, co-presenting with Jaden Smith for Best Short Film and Best Animated Short Film.

9. Quinn Cummings — 10 years old

Despite having only two films to her credit, Quinn Cummings proved her acting skills in The Goodbye Girl, playing Lucy, the daughter of the film’s leading lady. The film, released in 1977, was the first romantic comedy to break the $100 million mark at the US box office and earned Cummings and Richard Dreyfuss a nomination, the latter being the only one to win the award.

Although Quinn Cummings’ career in front of the film and television cameras ended in the early 1990s, she has remained active in other endeavors, most notably as a book author.

10. Tatum O’Neal — 10 years old

To date, the youngest person to receive an Oscar in a competitive category is actress Tatum O’Neal, for her performance in Paper Moon. In the film, O’Neal stars alongside her father, Ryan O’Neal, playing a pair of con men. Of the four nominations Paper Moon had at the 1974 awards, the only one to take home the statuette was Tatum, who made her film debut in the movie.

After her successful debut, O’Neal continued to accumulate roles in the industry, but with more luck in television than in film, thanks to special appearances or recurring roles in productions such as Sex and the City, Rescue Me, and Criminal Minds. However, when O’Neal was asked if she dreams of winning a second Oscar, her answer was that she doesn’t. “For me, the biggest achievement would be to give the best audition I can give, get that role I really wanted, and be self-sufficient on my own merits,” she said.

11. Quvenzhané Wallis — 9 years old

Quvenzhané Wallis’s performance in Beasts of the Southern Wild, released in 2012, is full of notable achievements. Firstly, most young people are nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category, but Wallis received a nomination in the Best Actress category, making her the youngest actress in history to receive such a nomination. She was also the first person to be born in the 21st century to have received the nomination.

But perhaps most surprising of all, Quvenzhané was only five years old when she auditioned for the role. In fact, she had to lie about her age, as the minimum age to be part of the selection process was six. Nevertheless, the young actress was chosen out of four thousand people to be part of the hit film.

12. Jackie Cooper — 9 years old

One of the longest-standing records in Oscar history is held by Jackie Cooper, as he remains the youngest child to be nominated in the competitive Best Actor category, a nomination that occurred more than ninety years ago for his performance as the mischievous character in the 1931 film Skippy.

His nomination occurred only in the fourth edition of the awards, and while he did not win the statuette, he made history as the first young actor to receive an Oscar nomination. Cooper continued to act after his nomination, maintaining a prolific career until the late 1980s.

13. Margaret O’Brien — 8 years old

Unlike many young people who receive an honorary nomination or award for a role that propels them to stardom, Margaret O’Brien was already an established young actress. After making her debut at the age of four in the film Babes on Broadway, O’Brien became an iconic actress of the 1940s, displaying an impressive film repertoire at her young age. In 1944, Margaret O’Brien was part of the films The Canterville Ghost, Music for Millions, and Meet Me in St. Louis, which was enough to earn her the Academy Award for Youth.

Her honorary statuette is also the subject of a peculiar story, as it was stolen. It is presumed that someone working in O’Brien’s family home took the award. Luckily, decades after giving it up for lost, she was reunited with the statuette.

14. Justin Henry — 8 years old

Justin Henry was the one to receive a nomination for his first acting job, who still holds the record for being the youngest person nominated in any competitive category, at just eight years old in Kramer vs Kramer. Worldwide, it was the highest-grossing film of 1979, and part of that is due to the production’s stellar cast, starring Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep who play a couple amid a divorce.

The film was the big winner at the following year’s Oscar ceremony, topping the list of nominations and awards with 9 and 5 statuettes, respectively. Kramer vs Kramer took almost every major award it contested, including awards for Hoffman and Streep. While Justin Henry did not win any awards, his performance remains one of the film’s high points.

15. Shirley Temple — 6 years old

The youngest person to ever receive any kind of recognition from the Academy is the legendary Shirley Temple. Her career began when she was just 3 years old, and she soon became one of the highest-grossing stars in Hollywood. Bright Eyes, from 1934, was her first film made especially for her. It offered her the opportunity to showcase her singing, dancing, and acting talents.

Bright Eyes was just one of many films in which Temple shone in 1934. The list includes her film debut, Stand Up and Cheer! as well as the productions Sorrowful Jones and Baby, Take a Bow. Her level of stardom was such that the Academy decided to recognize her as the first person to receive the Juvenile Award, precisely because of her contributions to the entertainment industry, in 1934. In the mid-1980s, the Academy decided to give her a full-size statuette to replace the miniature version given to Youth Award winners.

Every year, millions of movie fans literally freeze in front of TV screens and watch the Academy Awards ceremony for several hours. That’s why we took a risk and held a small investigation, and we found many interesting facts.