22 Oscar winners who were child stars

Oscar dreams that started small for these stars

There are not many careers where people get hands-on experience at a young age, and even fewer where artists learn the technical side of the craft while developing their own talents. For some of these stars, Oscar gold came early in their careers, while others waited decades for recognition. Here are 22 child stars who went on to win Oscars.

Jodie Foster

Pictured here at the age of 10 in 1972's Napoleon and Samantha, Jodie Foster spent her childhood acting. The star won her first Oscar in her 20s, landing the award for Best Actress in 1989 for The Accused.

Anna Paquin

Anna Paquin not only started as a child actor, she won her first Oscar before she even hit her teens. Pictured here in 1993's The Piano, the star was 11 when she landed the award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her turn as Flora McGrath.

Jennifer Connelly

Pictured here in 1984's Once Upon a Time in America, Jennifer Connelly kicked off her acting career in her teens. The star, who made her on-screen debut at the age of 11, won her first Oscar in 2002, landing the Best Actress in a Supporting Role award for A Beautiful Mind.

Angelina Jolie

The daughter of Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand, Angelina Jolie was introduced to Hollywood at an early age. Pictured here in 1982's Lookin' to Get Out, the actress made her on-screen debut when she was 7. She picked up her first Oscar 18 years later, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Girl, Interrupted.

Anne Hathaway

Anne Hathaway first hit the small screen at the age of 16, appearing in episodes of Get Real in 1999. Nearly 15 years later, the actress won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Les Misérables.

Helen Hunt

Helen Hunt made her acting debut at age 10, appearing in 1973's Pioneer Woman (pictured here). Twenty-five years later, Hunt earned her first Oscar, winning Best Actress for As Good as It Gets.

Nicole Kidman

A 16-year-old Nicole Kidman made her first on-screen appearances in the 1980s in Skin Deep, Chase Through the Night, and Bush Christmas (pictured here). In 2003, Kidman won her first Academy Award, picking up the Oscar for Best Actress for The Hours.

Adrien Brody

Fans first met Adrien Brody in the 1980s, when the then-teenage actor was appearing in Home at Last (pictured above), New York Stories, and Annie McGuire. In 2003, the star won his first Oscar, landing the Best Actor award for The Pianist.

Jeff Bridges

Jeff Bridges first appeared on-screen as an infant, making his debut in 1951's The Company She Keeps. Pictured here in Sea Hunt in 1958, Bridges won his first Oscar in 2010, nabbing the award for Best Actor for Crazy Heart.

Reese Witherspoon

In 1991, a teenage Reese Witherspoon made her acting debut, hitting the big screen in The Man in the Moon and popping up in the TV movie Wildflower. Fifteen years later, Witherspoon won her first Oscar, earning the Best Actress award for Walk the Line.

Natalie Portman

Viewers first met Natalie Portman when she was just 13 years old, making her debut in Léon: The Professional (pictured here). More than a decade later, the actress landed her first Oscar, winning Best Actress for Black Swan.

Jennifer Lawrence

Long before Jennifer Lawrence was accepting the Best Actress Oscar in 2013 for Silver Linings Playbook, she was spending her teens filling her résumé with bit parts in episodes of Monk (pictured here), Cold Case, and Medium.

Hilary Swank

Hilary Swank landed her first acting gigs in her teens, appearing in episodes of Evening Shade, Growing Pains (pictured here), and Camp Wilder. She won her first Oscar in 2000, picking up the award for Best Actress for Boys Don't Cry.

Kate Winslet

After five nominations, Kate Winslet nabbed her first Academy Award in 2009, winning the Oscar for Best Actress for The Reader. She made her acting debut in her teens, appearing in episodes of Dark Season (pictured here), Anglo-Saxon Attitudes, and Get Back.

Christian Bale

Not many actors can say one of their first gigs was working on a Steven Spielberg film, but a young Christian Bale earned the first Best Performance by a Juvenile Actor award from the National Board of Review for his work in Empire of the Sun (pictured here) before winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2011 for The Fighter.

Brie Larson

Brie Larson became Hollywood royalty when she won the Oscar for Best Actress in 2016 for her role in Room, but the actress officially got her start nearly 20 years earlier. Larson popped up in episodes of To Have & to Hold and Touched by an Angel (pictured here) when she was a child.

Leonardo DiCaprio

A young Leonardo DiCaprio filled his childhood with acting projects, making early appearances in The New Lassie, The Outsiders, Parenthood, Growing Pains, and Critters 3. Decades later and after four previous nominations, DiCaprio finally won his first Oscar in 2016, nabbing the Best Actor statuette for The Revenant.

Emma Stone

Many actors have an early drive to make it in Hollywood, but few make a PowerPoint presentation to convince their parents they should allow them move to Los Angeles to do exactly that. Emma Stone's gambit paid off, but before dancing to a Best Actress Oscar for 2016's La La Land, she appeared on VH1's In Search of the Partridge Family, Malcolm in the Middle, and Medium (pictured here).

Casey Affleck

Casey Affleck fans might know of his early appearances in quintessential '90s films To Die For and Chasing Amy, but before earning an Academy Award for Best Actor for 2016's Manchester by the Sea, Affleck made his first appearance on the small screen in a PBS adaption of the play Lemon Sky in 1988, which was soon followed by an appearance as a young Bobby Kennedy in the 1990 ABC miniseries The Kennedys of Massachusetts (pictured here).

Regina King

Before her breakout role as Shalika in John Singleton's Boyz n the Hood in 1991, Regina King starred in the highly-rated sitcom 227, part of the NBC Thursday night juggernaut that dominated the 1980s (pictured here). Speaking about the show ahead of her 2019 Best Supporting Actress win for If Beale Street Could Talk, King said, "227 was priceless for me. It was my foundation. Just being with Marla Gibbs, Hal Williams, Alaina Reed, Jackée — it was school."

Laura Dern

Laura Dern's first foray into film was as inglorious as it is for many actors: she was an uncredited extra. After brief appearances in White Lightning and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore — both of which starred her mother, Diane Ladd — in the early-1970s, Dern made her solo jump to the big screen with 1980's Foxes and 1982's Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (pictured left) as a teen. Fast forward to 2020, and Dern is not just an Oscar winner for her portrayal of a cutthroat divorce lawyer, she is one of the most in-demand and interesting actresses working today.

Joaquin Phoenix

Acting is in the family, and middle child Joaquin Phoenix made a name for himself early with roles in SpaceCamp and Parenthood (pictured left) as Leaf Phoenix. "Leaf" was left behind in Phoenix's star turn in Gus Van Sant's 1995 To Die For, and just a few years later Joaquin earned his first Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for Gladiator, which was followed by his first Best Actor nom for Walk the Line in 2006, and his second in 2013 for The Master. Great roles and performances, but ha-ha, Phoenix earned his first Academy Award for Joker in 2020.

Related: Why the Joker is now a prestige film role