From Shirley Temple to Tatum O'Neal, meet the youngest Oscar winners who made history (2024)

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As the winners of Oscars 2024 have been announced, many worthy victories in 23 categories walked away with their trophies. The 96th Academy Awards celebrated the best of the best in the world of movies from 2023 in which Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell scripted history. Billie and Finneas became the youngest two-time winners in Academy Awards history. They were honoured with the best song trophy for the track “What Was I Made For?”

However, Billie and Finneas are not the only young artists who have been presented with this magnificent award. For some artists, it was a milestone that they achieved even before puberty hit them. In this article, we have compiled a list of the youngest Oscar winners in history:

1- Tatum O’Neal

Actress Tatum O’Neal was only 10 years old when she won a competitive Oscar in 1974. She became the youngest person to win the award. Tatum was recognised as the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in “Paper Moon.” In the film, she starred opposite her real-life father, Ryan O’Neal.

2- Shirley Temple

A child actress, Shirley Temple received the first-ever Academy Juvenile Award in 1934. She was just 6 years old. Following her victory, the honorary juvenile award was given intermittently over the next 26 years to eleven other child actors and actresses below 18.

3- Anna Paquin

Anna Paquin emerged as the second-youngest person to win at the Academy Awards only after Tatum O’Neal, who was one year younger at the time the award was presented to her. Anna, in 1994, clinched the Oscar award for Best Supporting Actress in Jane Campion’s The Piano at the age of 11.

4- Markéta Irglová

Markéta Irglová is one of the youngest recipients who won Best Original Song in 2008 alongside her ‘Once’ co-star Glen Hansard. She bagged the award for co-producing the song “Falling Slowly” from the film Once. She was only 19 when she achieved the milestone in her career.

5- Timothy Hutton

The youngest man to ever win an Academy Award is Timothy Hutton who was honoured for his role in Robert Redford’s Ordinary People in 1981. He beat co-star Judd Hirsh in the Best Supporting Actor category at just 20. More than 40 years later, Hutton still is the youngest man to win the Best Supporting Actor.

6- Adrien Brody

As for the main award for leads, the youngest ever Best Actor winner was Adrien Brody,who rightfully took the award home in 2002 for his remarkable performance in ‘The Pianist’. The actor still holds the distinction as he is the only one under 30 to achieve such a huge milestone.

7- Marlee Matlin

Marlee Matlin was just 21 when she turned heads in her first-ever role as Sarah Norman in the film Children of a Lesser God. In the film, she plays a former student who is now a janitor at a school for the deaf. In the school, she meets a new teacher James which leads to various events. Matlin’s victory came as a record breaker as she was not only the youngest winner in the Best Actress category but also the first deaf performer to win an Academy Award.

The 96th Academy Awards took place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

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