Awards for Debut Acting or Directing Performances on film
Individuals who won Academy Awards for their film debut acting performances:
Best Actor
None
Best Actress
Shirley Booth (Come Back, Little Sheba, 1952)
Julie Andrews (Mary Poppins, 1964)
Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl, 1968)
Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God, 1986)
Best Supporting Actor
Harold Russell (The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946)
Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People, 1980)
Haing S. Ngor (The Killing Fields, 1984)
Best Supporting Actress
Gale Sondergaard (Anthony Adverse, 1936)
Katina Paxinou (For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1943)
Mercedes McCambridge (All the King’s Men, 1949)
Eva Marie Saint (On the Waterfront, 1954)
Jo Van Fleet (East of Eden, 1955)
Tatum O’Neal (Paper Moon, 1973)
Anna Paquin (The Piano, 1993)
Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls, 2006)
Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave, 2013)
Honorary Award
Harold Russell (The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946)
Juvenile Award
Claude Jarman Jr. (The Yearling, 1946)
Vincent Winter (The Little Kidnappers, 1954)
Individuals who won Oscar Awards for debut direction:
Best Director
Delbert Mann (Marty, 1955)
Jerome Robbins (West Side Story, 1961)
Robert Redford (Ordinary People, 1980)
James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment, 1983)
Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves, 1990)
Sam Mendes (American Beauty, 1999)
Best Picture: Big Five Winners
Three films have received the Big Five Academy Awards: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay (Original or Adapted).
It Happened One Night (1934)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Most Consecutive awards
Any awards
Walt Disney was awarded a record of 10 awards in the eight consecutive years from 1931/32 through 1939. Eight (listed below) are for Short Subject (Cartoon), and two were Special Awards: one for the creation of Mickey Mouse, and one recognizing the innovation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Best Actress
Two actresses have won two consecutive awards:
Luise Rainer (The Great Ziegfeld, 1936 and The Good Earth, 1937)
Katharine Hepburn (Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, 1967 and The Lion in Winter, 1968)
Best Actor
Two actors have won two consecutive awards:
Spencer Tracy – Captains Courageous (1937) and Boys Town (1938)
Tom Hanks – Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994)
Best Director
Three directors have won two consecutive awards:
John Ford – The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and How Green Was My Valley (1941)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz – A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950)
Alejandro G. Iñárritu – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) and The Revenant (2015)
Best Supporting Actor
Jason Robards won two consecutive awards for All the President’s Men in 1976 and Julia in 1977
Best Supporting Actress
No consecutive winner for Best Supporting Actress
Best Picture
David O. Selznick produced two consecutive Best Picture winners Gone with the Wind in 1939 and Rebecca in 1940. (He himself was not awarded the Oscars as at the time the statuette went to the studio instead of the producer.)
Best Original Screenplay
No consecutive winner for Best Original Screenplay
Best Adapted Screenplay
Joseph L. Mankiewicz won two consecutive adapted screenplay awards for A Letter to Three Wives in 1949 and All About Eve in 1950
Robert Bolt won for Doctor Zhivago in 1965 and A Man for All Seasons in 1966
Best Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki has won three consecutive awards for Gravity in 2013, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) in 2014 and The Revenant in 2015
Best Art Direction
Thomas Little won four consecutive awards for Best Art Direction. He won Best Art Direction, Black and White, for the films How Green Was My Valley in 1941, This Above All in 1942, and The Song of Bernadette in 1943, and then he won an Oscar the next year in 1944 for Best Art Direction, Color for the film Wilson.
Best Film Editing
Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter won for The Social Network in 2010 and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in 2011
Best Original Score
Roger Edens won three consecutive awards for composing the scores for Easter Parade (1948), On the Town (1949), and Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
Best Original Song
Three composers have won two consecutive awards for best original song, but under different award names:
Henry Mancini (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics) shared the awards for Best Music (Song) for “Moon River” from Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 1961 and “Days of Wine and Roses” from Days of Wine and Roses in 1962
Alan Menken (music) won twice consecutively for Best Music (Original Song) for “Beauty and the Beast” from Beauty and the Beast (lyrics by Howard Ashman) in 1991 and “A Whole New World” from Aladdin (lyrics by Tim Rice) in 1992
Best Visual Effects
Jim Rygiel and Randall William Cook won three consecutive visual effects Oscars for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
Best Sound Mixing
Thomas Moulton won three consecutive awards for The Snake Pit in 1948, Twelve O’Clock High in 1949, and All About Eve in 1950.
Best Costume Design
Of Edith Head’s eight awards won for Best Costume Design, three were won in consecutive years: in 1949 for The Heiress, in 1950 for All About Eve, and in 1951 for A Place in the Sun.
Best Short Subject (Cartoon)
Of Walt Disney’s many awards for Best Animated Short, eight of these wins were in consecutive years, for Flowers and Trees in 1931/32, Three Little Pigs in 1932/33, The Tortoise and the Hare in 1934, Three Orphan Kittens in 1935, The Country Cousin in 1936, The Old Mill in 1937, Ferdinand the Bull in 1938, and The Ugly Duckling in 1939
Best Short Subject (Two-Reel)
Of Walt Disney’s mulitple awards for Best Live Action Short, four of his wins were in consecutive years, in 1950 for In Beaver Valley, in 1951 for Nature’s Half Acre, in 1952 for Water Birds, and in 1953 for Bear Country
Best Documentary (Feature)
Walt Disney won two consecutive awards for The Living Desert in 1953 and The Vanishing Prairie in 1954
Academy Award firsts[edit]
First woman to win Best Picture
Julia Phillips for The Sting (1973)
First woman to win Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker (2009)
First woman to win Best Animated Feature
Brenda Chapman for Brave (2012)
First woman to receive an Honorary Award
6-year old Shirley Temple received a Special Award in 1934
Greta Garbo received an Honorary Award in 1954
First foreign-language film to be nominated for Best Picture
La Grand Illusion (1937), in French
First science fiction film to be nominated for Best Picture
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
First horror film to be nominated for Best Picture
The Exorcist (1973)
First animated film to be nominated for Best Picture
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
First superhero and/or comic book film to be nominated for Best Picture
Black Panther (2018)
First fantasy film to win Best Picture
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
First 3-D films to be nominated for Best Picture
Avatar and Up (2009)
First film with an entirely non-white cast to win Best Picture
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
First film with an all-black cast to win Best Picture
Moonlight (2016)
First science-fiction film to win Best Picture
The Shape of Water (2017)
First animated film to be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film
Waltz with Bashir (2008), representing Israel
First animated film to be nominated for Best Original Screenplay and for a Best Screenplay award in general
Toy Story (1995)
First animated film to be nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay
Shrek (2001)
First actress to be nominated for a performance in a 3-D film
Sandra Bullock for Gravity (2013)
First actor to be nominated for a performance in a 3-D film
Matt Damon for The Martian (2015)
First film to receive the most nominations of its year without receiving a Best Picture nomination
Dreamgirls (2006), with eight nominations
First X-rated film to win Best Picture
Midnight Cowboy (1969). It was also the first X-rated film to be nominated for Best Picture and the only one to date to have won it.
First actor to receive ten nominations for acting
Laurence Olivier received his tenth nomination (for Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor) for the film The Boys from Brazil (1978)
First actress to receive ten nominations for acting
Bette Davis received her tenth official nomination (all for Best Actress) for the film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
First actress to receive twenty nominations for acting
Meryl Streep received her twentieth nomination (for Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress) for the film Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)
First posthumous nomination for acting
Jeanne Eagels, nominated for Best Actress for The Letter (1929)
First posthumous nomination for a male actor
James Dean, nominated for Best Actor for East of Eden (1955)
First posthumous win for acting
Peter Finch won Best Actor for Network (1976)
First actress to be nominated for performing in a language other than English
Melina Mercouri was nominated for Best Actress for Never on Sunday (1960), performing in Greek
First actor to be nominated for performing in a language other than English
Marcello Mastroianni was nominated for Best Actor for Divorce, Italian Style (1962), performing in Italian
First actress to win for performing in a language other than English
Sophia Loren won Best Actress for Two Women (1961), performing in Italian
First actor to win for performing in a language other than English
Robert De Niro won Best Supporting Actor for The Godfather Part II (1974), performing in Italian
First actress to win for performing in a sign language
Marlee Matlin won Best Actress for Children of a Lesser God (1986), performing in American Sign Language
First French actress to be nominated for performing in the French language
Anouk Aimée was nominated for Best Actress for A Man and a Woman (1966)
First French actress to win for performing in the French language
Marion Cotillard won Best Actress for La Vie en rose (2007). She is the only actress to date to have won it.
First Nordic actress to be nominated for acting
Greta Garbo (from Sweden) was nominated for Best Actress for Anna Christie (1930)
First Nordic actor to be nominated for acting
Max von Sydow (from Sweden) was nominated for Best Actor for Pelle the Conqueror (1988)
First Nordic actress to win for acting
Ingrid Bergman (from Sweden) won Best Actress for Gaslight (1944)
First actor from Africa to be nominated for acting
Basil Rathbone (from South Africa), nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Romeo and Juliet (1936)
First actress from Africa to win for acting
Charlize Theron (from South Africa), won Best Actress for Monster (2003)
First actress from Asia to win for acting
Miyoshi Umeki (from Japan), won Best Supporting Actress for Sayonara (1957)
First Asian (and non-Caucasian) to win Best Director
Ang Lee (from Taiwan) for Brokeback Mountain (2005)
First Australian actress to win Best Actress
Nicole Kidman for The Hours (2002) – Born in the U.S.
First Australian actor to win Best Actor
Peter Finch for Network (1976)
First French actress to win Best Actress
Claudette Colbert for It Happened One Night (1934)
First French actor to win Best Actor
Jean Dujardin for The Artist (2011)
First Italian actress to win Best Actress
Anna Magnani for The Rose Tattoo (1955)
First Italian actor to win Best Actor
Roberto Benigni for Life Is Beautiful (1998)
First German actress to win Best Actress
Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1937)
First German actor to win Best Actor
Emil Jannings (born in Switzerland) for The Way of All Flesh (1927) and The Last Command (1928)
First Austrian actor to win twice for acting
Christoph Waltz won Best Supporting Actor for Inglorious Basterds (2009) and Django Unchained (2012)
First Canadian to win in any category
Mary Pickford in the Best Actress category for Coquette in 1928/9
First Canadian actor to win in an acting category
Harold Russell for The Best Years of Our Lives in 1946
First Canadian director to win Best Director
James Cameron for Titanic in 1998
First persons from India to win in any music category
A. R. Rahman won Best Original Score and Best Original Song (“Jai Ho”) for Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Gulzar also won Best Original Song (“Jai Ho”) for Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
First Middle Eastern/North African actor to be nominated for acting
Omar Sharif, nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
First Middle Eastern movie to win Best Foreign Language Film
A Separation (2011), representing Iran
First foreign actress to be nominated twice for Best Actress for foreign-language films without the films receiving a Best Foreign Language Film nomination
Marion Cotillard (from France) won Best Actress for La Vie en Rose (2007) and was nominated for Two Days, One Night (2014)
First black filmmaker to win Best Picture
Steve McQueen won for producing 12 Years a Slave (2013)
First black filmmaker to be nominated for Best Director
John Singleton for Boyz n the Hood (1991)
First black actress to win for acting
Hattie McDaniel won Best Supporting Actress for Gone with the Wind (1939)
First black actor to win for acting
Sidney Poitier won Best Actor for Lilies of the Field (1963)
First black actress to win Best Actress
Halle Berry for Monster’s Ball (2001)
First black actress to win for film acting debut
Jennifer Hudson won Best Supporting Actress for Dreamgirls (2006)
First year in which two black actors/actresses won for acting
74th Academy Awards (in 2002, for 2001): Denzel Washington won Best Actor for Training Day; Halle Berry won Best Actress for Monster’s Ball
First black African actor to be nominated for acting
Djimon Hounsou (born in Benin, U.S.-Benin dual citizen), nominated for Best Supporting Actor for In America (2003)
First black writer to win for screenwriting
Geoffrey S. Fletcher won Best Adapted Screenplay for Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire (2009)
First African American to receive an Honorary Award
James Baskett received a Special Award for his portrayal of Uncle Remus in Song of the South (1946)
First Latin American director to win Best Director
Alfonso Cuarón from Mexico won for Gravity in 2014
First Latin American actress to be nominated for Best Actress
Fernanda Montenegro from Brazil was nominated for Best Actress for Central Station (1998)
First Latin American actor to win Best Actor
José Ferrer from Puerto Rico won for Cyrano de Bergerac in 1950
First Muslim actor to win in an acting category
Mahershala Ali for Moonlight in 2016
First child actor to receive an Academy Award nomination[14]
Jackie Cooper, age 9, was nominated for Best Actor for Skippy (1931)
First short film to win an Academy Award outside of the Short Film categories
The Red Balloon (1956) for Best Original Screenplay
First professional athlete to win an Academy Award
Kobe Bryant for Best Animated Short Film, Dear Basketball (2017)
Age-related records[edit]
Youngest winner of an acting award
Tatum O’Neal, age 10 (Best Supporting Actress, Paper Moon, 1973)
Youngest nominee for an acting award
Justin Henry, age 8 (Best Supporting Actor, Kramer vs. Kramer, 1979)
Youngest female winner of a lead acting award
Marlee Matlin, age 21 (Best Actress, Children of a Lesser God, 1986)
Youngest male winner of a lead acting award
Adrien Brody, age 29 (Best Actor, The Pianist, 2002)
Youngest male nominee for a lead acting award
Jackie Cooper, age 9 (Best Actor, Skippy, 1931)
Youngest female nominee for a lead acting award
Quvenzhané Wallis, age 9 (Best Actress, Beasts of the Southern Wild, 2012)[15][16] (also first person born in the 21st century to be nominated for an Academy Award)
Youngest winner of an Oscar
Shirley Temple, age 6, who was awarded the inaugural (now retired) non-competitive Academy Juvenile Award in 1934
Youngest winner of Best Director
Damien Chazelle, age 32 (La La Land, 2016)
Youngest nominee for Best Director
John Singleton, age 24 (Boyz n the Hood, 1991)
Oldest winner of Best Director
Clint Eastwood, age 74 (Million Dollar Baby, 2004)
Oldest nominee for Best Director
John Huston, age 79 (Prizzi’s Honor, 1985)
Oldest winner of an acting award
Christopher Plummer, age 82 (Best Supporting Actor, Beginners, 2011)
Oldest woman to win best Actress Award
Jessica Tandy, age 80 (Best Actress, Driving Miss Daisy, 1989)
Oldest man to win Best Actor Award
Henry Fonda, age 76 (Best Actor, On Golden Pond, 1981)
Oldest nominee for an acting award
Christopher Plummer, age 88 (Best Supporting Actor, All the Money in the World, 2017)
Oldest nominee for a lead acting award
Emmanuelle Riva, age 85 (Best Actress, Amour, 2012)
Oldest competitive Oscar winner
James Ivory, age 89 (Best Adapted Screenplay, Call Me by Your Name, 2017).
Oscar: Age–Oldest competitive Oscar nominee
Agnès Varda, age 89 (Best Documentary, Faces Places, 2017)
Earliest-born Oscar winner by birth year
George Arliss, born 10 April 1868 (Academy Award for Best Actor, Disraeli, 1929)
Earliest-born Oscar nominee by birth year
May Robson, born 19 April 1858 (Academy Award for Best Actress, Lady for a Day, 1933)
Oscar: Year where all four Acting winners had the oldest age average
1981 with a combined average age of 70.5 years old.
Henry Fonda (aged 77)
John Gielgud (also 77)
Katharine Hepburn (72)
Maureen Stapleton (56)
Oscar: Year where all four Acting winners had the youngest age average
1980 with a combined average age of 29 years old.
Sissy Spacek (aged 31)
Robert De Niro (37)
Timothy Hutton (20)
Mary Steenburgen (28)
