Haley Joel Osment was 11 when he was nominated for an Oscar in 1999 (Thomas from Vienna, Austria, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons).
The Academy Awards, affectionately known as the Oscars, recognize the best in the movie business. The 97th edition of the Oscars are set to be presented on March 2, 2025.
So popular are the Academy Awards that people will host Oscar parties, complete with Academy Awards pools in which participants fill out brackets to see how many category winners they can correctly identify. Why you can even place wagers on the Academy Awards through the Vegas bet app of your choice.
As much as all of the awards to be presented at this glamorous affair when the best of Hollywood is feted are worthy of respect and admiration, the Oscars that people await with the most tension and excitement are the ones that go to the best actors and actresses.
Already, there are predictions out there about who will be winning these marquee categories. Some of the greatest actors will wait a lifetime hoping to win an Oscar. Others may be nominated several times without being called up on stage to accept their winning statue.
Then there are those in the acting profession who get a chance to win an Academy Award at a young age, some even before they reach puberty. It’s a unique group to be sure.
Without further ado, here’s a look at the youngest-ever Academy Award nominees in the best actor or actress categories.
Justin Henry (8 Years, 276 days)
Henry’s role as the victimized child in the 1979 divorce drama Kramer vs Kramer is remembered as being among the most compelling performances ever delivered by a child actor. Amazingly, it was also his first acting role on the silver screen.
He remains the youngest-ever Oscar nominee in any category. He’s held this mark for 44 years.
Quvenzhané Wallis (9 years, 135 days)
Nominated for best actress in a leading role in 2012 for her portrayal of Hushpuppy in the drama film Beasts of the Southern Wild, Wallis became the youngest actress to be nominated in any category.
On top of that, she was also the first person born in the 21st century nominated for an Oscar.
Tatum O’Neal (10 years, 148 days)
Tatum O’Neal was barely 10 years old when she won the best supporting actress Oscar in 1974 (UCLA Library Special Collections, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons).
O’Neal was actually only nine years old while filming Paper Moon in 1973. She starred in the film alongside her father Ryan O’Neal playing the role of Addie Loggins. Four years earlier, O’Neal’s dad was nominated for the best actor Oscar for his role in the film Love Story.
Tatum O’Neal was nominated for the best supporting actress in 1974 and would win the Academy Award. She is the standard bearer as the youngest Oscar winner in any competitive category. O’Neal has held this record for 50 years (1974–present).
Mary Badham (10 years, 141 days)
Nominated as the best supporting actress for the 1962 film To Kill A Mockingbird, Badham’s portrayal of Scout made her the youngest Oscar nominee until O’Neal’s 1974 win.
Badham had no film experience prior to this Oscar-nominated role.
Quinn Cummings (10 years, 192 days)
Cummings’ acting experience was limited to television commercials prior to her casting as Marsha Mason’s daughter Lucy McFadden in the 1977 film The Goodbye Girl. The performance would earn Cummings an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.
She’d only appear in one other film – the 1989 flick Listen To Me.
Abigail Breslin (10 years, 284 days)
Part of a star-studded all-star cast that included Alan Arkin, Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear, Breslin stole the show in the 2006 film Little Miss Sunshine as the character of Olive Hoover. Both Kinnear and Arkin would remark on how impressed they were with Breslin’s seriousness about and commitment to her craft.
Breslin was nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar. She began acting in TV commercials at the age of three and has appeared in several mainstream movies over her career.
Patty McCormack (11 years, 181 days)
McCormack was nominated for the best supporting actress Academy Award for her performance as Rhoda Penmark, an eight-year-old psychopath and budding serial killer in the 1956 film The Bad Seed.
For six years, she held the title as the youngest person to be nominated for an Oscar. Still an active actor, McCormack has appeared in several movies and television shows such as The Streets Of San Francisco, Emergency, Dallas and in more recent times, The Sopranos.
Anna Paquin (11 years, 240 days)
Canadian-born Paquin won the best supporting actress Oscar for her role as Flora McGrath, Holly Hunter’s daughter, in the 1993 film The Piano. It made her the second-youngest person to win an Academy Award.
This was Paquin’s film debut. She was also nominated for the Golden Globes in the best supporting actress category, but did not win.
Haley Joel Osment (11 years, 311 days)
Osment’s first film role was playing Forrest Gump’s son. That came five years prior to his Oscar nomination for the best supporting actor in the 1999 film The Sixth Sense.
His portrayal as psychic child Cole Sear was both compelling and disturbing to film goers. Osment’s line from the film “I see dead people” became a pop culture catchphrase. His character is often parodied in comedy films. The phrase was ranked No. 44 on the American Film Institute’s list of 100 Movie Quotes.
Brandon deWilde (11 years, 312 days)
For 26 years, deWilde held forth as the youngest-ever male Oscar nominee. He was nominated for best supporting actor for his role as Joey Starrett in the 1953 western Shane opposite Alan Ladd.
He’d been acting on the Broadway stage since the age of seven. Tragically, deWilde was killed at the age of 30 in a 1972 car accident.