4 Stars Who Won Oscars Young – See How They’ve Changed
4 Celebs Who Won Oscars at a Young Age – Here’s What They Look Like Now
Over the years, a number of actresses have made history by becoming youthful Oscar winners. One of these celebrities was so young that she was unaware of her achievement until it was delivered to her.
The 97th Academy Awards (Oscars), which had their inaugural presentation on May 16, 1929, kicked off March 2025. It then recognized motion pictures that came out between August 1, 1927, and August 1, 1928.
Four notable female Oscar winners have since won the prize at an early age. Here’s a look at their present looks and who they are.
O’Brien, Margaret
Born as Angela Maxine O’Brien, Margaret O’Brien was born in San Diego, California, on January 15, 1937. She wasn’t pressured into acting by her parents like other child stars were. Her journey into Hollywood, on the other hand, was accidental.
O’Brien previously disclosed in an interview that her mother, Gladys Flores, had lost her husband only a few months after she was born. The well-known Spanish dancer Flores previously costarred with Eduardo Cansino in a production.
She brought her two-year-old kid and their family dog to the picture shoot when she wanted headshots but didn’t have a babysitter.
Famous photographer Paul Hesse liked their dog so much that he snapped pictures of it for the Saturday Evening Post’s next cover. As O’Brien explained, “He said, ‘The baby’s not bad either, she’s kind of cute,’ and we made the cover.”
She later appeared on seven additional covers with the family pet. After scouts from MGM Studio saw the covers, she made her child star debut. With a cameo in the 1941 movie “Babes on Broadway,” the actress was given a seven-year contract with the studio.
O’Brien gained notoriety and stardom immediately after being chosen for the 1942 film “Journey for Margaret.” She was so affected by the movie that she decided to change her name to “Margaret.” She continued to be one of Hollywood’s most well-known child stars until the 1940s.
As Tootie Smith, she gave a standout performance in the 1944 film “Meet Me in St. Louis.” She became one of the youngest Oscar winners in 1945 when her performance earned her the Academy’s special Juvenile Award for Outstanding Child Actress of 1944.
O’Brien never encountered harassment in the workplace, in contrast to Shirley Temple. In her memoirs, Temple once stated that Arthur Freed, a senior producer at MGM, allegedly harassed her when she was twelve.
O’Brien revealed in a 2022 interview that she solely had positive memories of her childhood on the MGM lot. She gave her mother credit for keeping her alive while working as a child performer in Hollywood.
She noted that, as one of the last living celebrities from Hollywood’s Golden Age, “I was very fortunate to have a mother that spoke up to [studio head] Louis B. Mayer.” She went on to say that she thought Judy Garland’s mother was scared to follow suit.
“I believe Judy [Garland’s mother] was hesitant to speak up and didn’t express herself to Judy as she ought to have. Judy said that about her mother, so I’m not saying anything out of turn,” she explained.
According to reports, studio execs harassed Garland, O’Brien’s co-star who portrayed her elder sister in “Meet Me in St. Louis,” on a regular basis. Due to criticism regarding her weight, Garland was forced to work long hours and take barbiturates and amphetamines.
“That was all taken away when I got to the studio,” O’Brien remembered. When I arrived, there were no medications, diet pills, or anything like, and the school teachers were on the property. Regretfully, they were unaware of the detrimental effects of diet medications until recently.
O’Brien, at 20 years old, discussed leaving her child-star persona in a 1957 newspaper article. She admitted, “One of the most difficult things about having been a child actress is trying to convince people that you are no longer a child.”
Thankfully, television facilitated her transition by enabling her to escape the awkward age, something that the movies were unable to provide for her.
O’Brien, who is currently 88, received recognition for her contributions to the profession from the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) Foundation. Her ability to take on positions that needed more experience than her years was acknowledged by the foundation.
She gained so much admiration and affection from her fans and coworkers that she was dubbed “America’s favorite sweetheart.” Her dolls, caps, paper dolls, coloring books, and several other memorabilia items are still collected by fans all over the world.
One admirer wrote, “She was and STILL is the most adorable child star of all time!” after viewing her interview with Martha Guptill at the 2013 Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention. As one person put it, “She was unnatural! It’s good to know she’s still with us, and she’s a great little actor.
O’Neal Tatum
Another well-known actress who won an Oscar at a very young age is Tatum O’Neal. Born on November 5, 1963, she is also a producer and novelist. Her mother, Joanna Moore, was an elderly Hollywood actress, and her father was a criminally convicted movie stuntman.
The actress was received by the couple seven months after their marriage, and they named her after her maternal grandmother in the South. Her father married Leigh Taylor-Young the same day she was three years old, and her parents separated when her brother was two.
Unfortunately, her father’s criminal past and public infidelity contributed to his loss of custody. She and her brother were exposed to circumstances that no child should have to go through while growing up in a commune in California with their mother.
Her father did, however, obtain full custody of his children in 1970 after learning of the appalling circumstances, which included the actress sharing a bed with a baby who was still bedwetting. Before O’Neal got her largest acting role, he got her a tutor.
It was Polly Platt, the ex-wife of Peter Bogdanovich, the director of Paramount, who recommended O’Neal for “Paper Moon.” Then, Bogdanovich went to see her father, Ryan O’Neal, who was acting in TV shows like “Peyton Place.” The filmmaker took a gamble on the young child without even putting her through a screen test.
“I knew Peter made good movies, honest movies, heartfelt movies,” her father recalled. This was her first chance to try to focus her thoughts and energy on something positive, and this film would provide her with love, which she had never had enough of. She would be able to feel truly proud of herself for once.
The Oscar for Best Supporting Actress went to O’Neal at the age of ten for her role as Addie Loggins in the 1973 film “Paper Moon.” She became the youngest recipient of a competitive Academy Award as a result. In the movie, she costarred with her father.
Roles like Amanda Wurlitzer in 1976’s “The Bad News Bears,” Nickelodeon, and Little Darlings in 1980 helped her career advance. Afterwards, she appeared as a guest on programs such as “Sex and the City,” “8 Simple Rules,” and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.”
Unfortunately, a highly monitored personal life was a part of stardom. She went from being a movie star as a teenager to becoming a media figure who was frequently described as a “wild child.” She started dating tennis player John McEnroe when she was 21 years old, which sparked a tabloid frenzy because the duo was always being trailed by paparazzi.
Their relationship suffered as a result of the media attention, and O’Neal’s battles with addiction gained notoriety over time. She briefly lost custody of the three children she and McEnroe shared as a result of substance usage.
O’Neal struggled with rheumatoid arthritis-related chronic discomfort during the COVID-19 lockdown. She was supplied morphine by a doctor who was either ignorant of or unconcerned about her history of addiction. She acknowledged in a 2025 interview that she didn’t want to be around at that time, not even for her kids.
“I love them so much, but I’d given so much already,” O’Neal recalled. You know, there was a part of me that didn’t want to go.” She almost died in May 2020 after taking too many drugs in her residence in Century City, which resulted in a serious stroke.
She spent the next six weeks in a coma. She couldn’t see, communicate, or even walk when she woke up. Even though her recuperatio
n has been drawn out and challenging, she is nevertheless gradually relearning basic skills.
Tatum O’Neal has a different perspective now that the incident happened. “I don’t want to hurt myself now,” she said. I truly don’t want to use drugs again at this time.
Paquin, Anna
On July 24, 1982, Anna Paquin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Her father, Brian, is a Canadian physical education teacher, and her mother, Mary Brophy, is an English teacher from Wellington, New Zealand.
She relocated to her mother’s homeland when she was four years old, and at nine years old, she had her first acting job in the 1993 film “The Piano.” She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress the next year for her performance.
Paquin was the first millennial to receive both an Oscar nomination and a win for her acting. She outperformed veteran actresses Emma Thompson in “The Name of the Father,” Winona Ryder in “The Age of Innocence,” Rosie Perez in “Fearless,” and Holly Hunter in “The Firm.”
The young actress was seen staring around in disbelief in a video taken at the 66th Academy Awards as Gene Hackman named Paquin as the winner. She fought to control her emotions before giving her award speech, and the audience laughed.
The young actress praised the Academy and those who helped make “this all possible,” such as Beanie, Pat Quirk, and Eddie Campbell, who looked after her well while she was filming. She relocated to Los Angeles when she was sixteen, where she finished her final two years of high school, earning her diploma in 2000.
Later, she moved to New York to spend a year at Columbia University. She appeared on stage in New York and London from 2001 to 2004 before securing a leading part in the 2008 film “True Blood.” Up to the end of the popular series in 2014, Paquin starred in it.
Her use of a cane to attend the premiere of “A Bit of Light” in 2024 garnered media attention. The actress, who was 41 at the time, acknowledged that the previous two years had been difficult because of unidentified health problems that limited her mobility. She was accompanied by her husband, Stephen Moyer.
Paquin admitted to having trouble speaking, but he stated, “It hasn’t been easy.” She is anticipated to fully recover, a source later clarified. She is still working in the field now, and in July she will turn 43.
Mills, Hayley
On April 18, 1946, Hayley Mills was born in Marylebone, London, England. Her mother, Mary Hayley Bell, was a renowned playwright and novelist, while her father, Sir John, was an actor. Her sister went on to become an actor as well.
Mills was bright, gregarious, and humorous as a child since she had spent a lot of time with her parents and their friends. But after being sent to boarding school when she was nine, she started acting more reticently with her classmates. Taking part in school theatrical productions gave her a sense of peace.
She was playing at home when filmmaker J. Lee Thompson saw her talent in 1958. She costarred with her father in “Tiger Bay” (1959), which he cast her in right away. She received praise from critics and won an award at the Berlin Film Festival for her performance.
Hollywood took notice of her recognition and offered her a five-year deal with Walt Disney. “Pollyanna” (1960), her debut Disney feature, was a box office hit and won her the special Juvenile Academy Award at the age of 14.
According to Mills, she didn’t know she had won the Oscar until it showed up at her house. She had missed the 1961 event because she was attending boarding school in England at the time.
“I didn’t know very much about the Oscars,” she said, looking back on the incident. To be honest, I knew very little about anything. Thus, everything came as a huge surprise.
“Oh, that’s sweet,” Mills remembers her saying in response to the recognition. “What is that?” She didn’t begin to appreciate what she had for a few years. Fortunately, the actress has positive recollections of her childhood acting career.
“I worked with amazing, seasoned actors and actresses and great directors,” she remarked. It goes without saying that you shouldn’t be performing if you can’t put on a passably good show with that kind of backing. I began performing when the kids were younger.
Hayley Mills wrote about her experiences in Hollywood by the time she was seventy years old in her 2021 memoir, “Forever Young.” She discussed the lessons she had learnt and her early career in it. She talked candidly about “sleepwalking” in her early work.
It is just at this point that she is genuinely starting to comprehend and accept responsibility for the extraordinary and uncommon occurrences that molded her existence.
Celebrities gathered at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on March 2, 2025, to recognize films made in 2024, as the Academy Awards continue to be one of Hollywood’s most anticipated nights.
