20 of the Youngest Actors to Nab Oscar Nominations (Including One Record-Holder Who Was Nominated at Age 8!)

Justin Henry

Justin Henry, who played Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman’s son Billy in 1979’s Kramer vs. Kramer, earned an Oscar nomination at just 8 years old for his part, which was also his first time acting. The nomination made him the youngest Oscar acting nominee of all time, a record he still holds.

Henry has acted off and on since his nomination, with credits including 1984’s Sixteen Candles, two episodes of ER in 1997 and a 2010 episode of Brothers & Sisters, among other films and TV appearances.

Quvenzhané Wallis

When Quvenzhané Wallis was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance as Hushpuppy in 2012’s Beasts of the Southern Wild, she became the youngest-ever female actress to do so. Initially cast in the part when she was just 5 years old — the Louisiana native lied and said she was 6, the minimum age casting directors were looking at — Wallis was 9 years old when she received her Oscar nomination in 2013.

Wallis earned her nomination the same year as the woman who now holds the record for being the oldest Best Actress nominee — Emmanuelle Riva. At age 85, French actress Riva was nominated for 2012’s Amour.

Since her historic nomination, Wallis has continued to act, leading the 2014 remake of Annie as the titular character, appearing in Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade and standalone music video for “All Night” and starring on the AppleTV+ basketball series Swagger from 2021 to 2023.

Mary Badham

Playing the iconic role of Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird alongside Gregory Peck’s Atticus, Mary Badham picked up a Best Supporting Actress nomination in 1962 at 10 years old.

With no prior acting experience or credits to her name, Badham was Oscar-nominated for her feature film debut. She went on to appear on an episode of Dr. Kildare and The Twilight Zone, acted in two more films (both in 1966) and then retired from acting for almost 40 years. When To Kill a Mockingbird was adapted into a Broadway play, Badham attended a performance in 2019 and met with the cast.

Tatum O’Neal

Tatum O’Neal is the youngest Oscar winner of all time, winning the award for Best Supporting Actress at age 10 in 1974. She earned the honor for her role in Paper Moon, starring opposite her famous father, Ryan O’Neal.

Paper Moon was Tatum’s first on-screen credit, while her dad had already been in the business for over a decade (with his own Best Actor Oscar nomination for Love Story in 1971). Tatum went on to star in 1976’s The Bad News Bears and 1978’s International Velvet, transitioning from child roles to those of teen and later adult characters in her 50-plus-year acting career.

Quinn Cummings

In her feature debut, Quinn Cummings played Lucy, daughter to Marsha Mason’s dancer/divorcee Paula, in the 1977 Neil Simon-penned rom-com The Goodbye Girl. Cummings and Mason snagged supporting and lead actress Oscar nominations. Costar Richard Dreyfuss walked away with the Best Actor Oscar, becoming the youngest male actor to do so at age 30. (Adrien Brody would later break that record, winning the Academy Award in 2003 for his performance in The Pianist when he was 29.)

Though her first time on the silver screen, Cummings was an established child actor already, having starred in commercials and some TV movies. She continued acting throughout the ’80s and early ’90s, with her last on-screen appearance being a 1992 episode of Evening Shade. Since retiring from acting at 25, Cummings has authored a few books.

Abigail Breslin

It wasn’t her first big-time role, but the 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine made 10-year-old Abigail Breslin a household name with her character’s empowering beauty pageant dance routine to “Super Freak” and earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination.

Breslin made her feature film debut in M. Night Shyamalan’s 2002 sci-fi thriller Signs and has worked steadily in film and TV ever since, notably playing Little Rock in the Zombieland franchise and Chanel #5 on Scream Queens.

Anna Paquin

A child growing up in New Zealand, Anna Paquin’s sister saw an advertisement seeking a young actress for the film The Piano. They both auditioned, and Paquin’s sister didn’t get the part, but Paquin did. Even though she had no professional acting experience, the movie and Paquin’s performance were a major success. At 11, she went on to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1993.

Paquin continues to work in film and TV, with more than 30 years and 50 credits under her acting belt, including playing Rogue in the original X-Men trilogy (2000–2006) and starring as Sookie Stackhouse on HBO’s True Blood during its seven-season run from 2008 to 2014.

Haley Joel Osment

When Haley Joel Osment nabbed a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for 1999’s The Sixth Sense at age 11, audiences took note. 

Though it takes a special kind of kid to make “I see dead people” convincing, Osment was already an on-screen pro, having been acting for half his life already with more than two dozen credits before earning Academy recognition, including 1994’s Forrest Gump and major roles on two sitcoms (Thunder Alley and The Jeff Foxworthy Show).

Osment hasn’t slowed down since The Sixth Sense, also earning critical acclaim for playing a human-like robot child in 2001’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence. He does voice work in addition to on-screen acting in his 30-plus year career, including portraying J.D. Vance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2024.

Linda Blair

The Academy rarely recognizes horror films. However, 1973’s The Exorcist ended up with 10 nominations, including Best Picture (a first for the genre) and Best Supporting Actress for then-13-year-old Linda Blair.

Based on the William Peter Blatty novel of the same name, the story centers on a possessed young girl named Regan (Blair) and the two Catholic priests who perform an exorcism to rid Regan of the demon that has taken over her body. 

Weighty — and scary — subject matter for a tween, Blair got the role of Regan with just a couple of prior credits under her belt. She’s continued acting ever since, popping up as a guest star on TV series and appearing in several films. She’s reprised the role of Blair in two Exorcist sequels: Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) and The Exorcist: Believer (2023).

Keisha Castle-Hughes

Nominated at age 13 for playing Paikea Apirana in 2002’s Whale Rider, Keisha Castle-Hughes was, at one point, the youngest Best Actress nominee in history, holding that record from 2004 to 2013 until Wallis took the mantle.

In her acting debut, New Zealander Castle-Hughes was not only the youngest nominee ever in her category but also the first Māori actor of Tainui and Ngāpuhi descent to be nominated for an Oscar.

Castle-Hughes has continued acting, playing the Queen of Naboo in 2005’s Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith and Obara Sand on three seasons of Game of Thrones. She has starred as FBI Special Agent Hana Gibson on CBS’ FBI: Most Wanted since 2020.

Saoirse Ronan

Already a four-time Oscar nominee by 25, Saoirse Ronan’s first nomination came at age 13 — for Best Supporting Actress — for her role as young Briony Tallis in 2007’s Atonement.

She followed that up with three nominations in the Best Actress in a Leading Role category for Brooklyn (2015), Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019) — the latter two films both written and directed by Greta Gerwig.

Ronan is the second youngest actor of all time to earn four nominations by such a young age, per The Hollywood Reporter. Edging her out by a few months is Jennifer Lawrence, who also has four nominations (and one win for 2012’s Silver Linings Playbook).

Jodie Foster

Born in 1962, Jodie Foster’s first on-screen credit came in 1969, and she amassed nearly 30 more before playing Iris, a teenage sex worker in the Martin Scorsese-directed 1976 film Taxi Driver. She was only 12 years old during filming, with the star-turning role leading to a shift in her career from child actor to more mature roles. Foster received her first Oscar nomination (Best Supporting Actress) for the part at age 14.

Although she didn’t win the Academy Award for Taxi Driver, Foster has since earned two Best Actress Oscars — while under the age of 30 — for playing rape survivor Sarah Tobias in 1988’s The Accused and FBI trainee Clarice Starling in 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs. She was nominated again for Best Actress in 1995 for the titular Nell and Best Supporting Actress in 2024 for portraying real-life athletic coach Bonnie Stoll in Nyad.

Hailee Steinfeld

Hailee Steinfeld nabbed the biggest role of her career when she was just 13 years old, as Mattie Ross in the Coen Brothers’ 2010 film True Grit. At 14, she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress — though arguably her role, as a girl searching for her father’s murderer in the Wild West, was a lead part.

Though True Grit wasn’t her first on-screen acting gig, the Western marked Steinfeld’s feature film debut. She’s gone on to have a huge career, joining the Pitch Perfect franchise for the second and third installments.

Steinfeld also starred as Emily Dickinson on the AppleTV+ series Dickinson, voiced Gwen Stacy in the animated Spider-Verse films, played Kate Bishop in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and released two EPs and over 20 singles as a recording artist.

River Phoenix

Acting since the age of 12, River Phoenix began his career on a TV dramedy series adaptation of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Other TV roles led to his first feature in 1985’s Explorers, followed by his breakout role in 1986’s Stand by Me.

He became a first-time Oscar nominee while still a teen for the 1988 Sidney Lumet-directed Running on Empty, playing the oldest son in a fugitive family who wants a life of his own that isn’t one on the run.

An acclaimed young actor from a family full of talent (his siblings include actor Joaquin Phoenix and musician Rain Phoenix), River tragically died from a drug overdose when he was 23.

Leonardo DiCaprio

The first of Leonardo DiCaprio’s six nominations for acting (he’s got a seventh for producing) came when he was just a few years into what has since become a 30-plus-year career.

After double-digit episode arcs on early-’90s TV series Parenthood and Growing Pains, DiCaprio had a big year on the big screen in 1993 with This Boy’s Life and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. The latter film would bring him his first Oscar nomination — and the only one for a supporting performance rather than a lead — playing Arnold “Arnie” Grape, the intellectually disabled younger brother of the title character.

DiCaprio wouldn’t win an Oscar for acting until his fifth rodeo, named Best Actor in 2016 for The Revenant. He was nominated again in 2020 for Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, and it’s safe to assume the star will likely appear on Oscar ballots down the line, as he is one of the biggest success stories for child actors who seamlessly transitioned into adult roles.

Timothy Hutton

Though Timothy Hutton’s first on-screen appearance was an uncredited role in one of his father’s films (1965’s Never Too Late), his proper feature film debut in 1980’s Ordinary People was what earned him his first Oscar nomination — and win — for Best Supporting Actor.

Hutton held his own in the film alongside veteran actors Mary Tyler Moore, Donald Sutherland and Judd Hirsh for Robert Redford’s first directorial outing, which ended up winning four Oscars (including Best Picture). He holds the record for being the youngest winner in the supporting actor category at 20, with the next closest actors on the list being almost a decade older.

Nearing 50 years into his acting career, Hutton has continued to star in a slew of films and TV series, including all five seasons of Leverage, three seasons of the anthology American Crime and Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House.

Keira Knightley

As the daughter of two actors, it’s not surprising Keira Knightley followed her parent’s footsteps into show business. Knightley had already appeared in a Star Wars prequel (The Phantom Menace) and the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie (The Curse of the Black Pearl) by the time she earned her first Oscar nomination for playing Elizabeth Bennet in Joe Wright’s 2005 adaptation of the Jane Austen classic, Pride & Prejudice. (Insert Mr. Darcy hand flex here.)

Knightley was nominated again in 2015 for her supporting performance in The Imitation Game as real-life cryptanalyst and numismatist Joan Clarke.

Elliot Page

Canadian actor Elliot Page started his career at age 10 in the 1997 TV movie Pit Pony, which was later expanded into a TV series of the same name, on which he appeared for both seasons.

A feature film career soon blossomed for Page, leading indies (2005’s Hard Candy and Mouth to Mouth) and becoming a superhero (Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand) before landing the titular role in 2007’s Juno, for which he was nominated for an Oscar as Best Actress at age 20.

Page came out as transgender in 2020, sharing that his preferred pronouns are “he/they.” Since his Oscar nomination, Page’s on-screen career has included a steady stream of big-budget blockbusters such as Christopher Nolan’s Inception, 2023’s Close to You and the popular Netflix series The Umbrella Academy.

Jennifer Lawrence

After making her on-screen debut on a 2006 episode of Monk, Lawrence became a first-time Best Actress Oscar nominee in 2011 at age 20 for the gripping indie drama Winter’s Bone. She’d be nominated in that same category twice more in 2013 for Silver Linings Playbook (clinching a win) and in 2016 for Joy. Lawrence also earned a 2014 nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her work in David O’Russell’s American Hustle.

Though Lawrence didn’t start acting on TV and in film until she was 16 — which is late compared to the other actors on this list — she has the distinction of being the youngest actor of all time to earn four acting Oscar nominations by age 25. She’s also the second youngest actress to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, earning her statue when she was 22. (Marlee Matlin has held the record since 1987, winning for Children of a Lesser God at age 21.)

Lucas Hedges

The latest addition to the young Oscar nominee club, Lucas Hedges earned the honor by playing a teenager who lost his father in 2016’s Manchester by the Sea. He was 20 years old when he was nominated.

“It’s just simply not real,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017 after the nominations came out. “It can’t be real. There’s just no way!”

Hedges made his feature film debut when he was 10 in 2007’s Dan in Real Life, directed and co-written by his father, Peter Hedges (a 2003 Oscar nominee for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, for About a Boy). The father-son duo paired up again for the 2018 family drama Ben Is Back.