Everyone is aware that it's quite unusual to be nominated before the age of 18 if you're an actor. In fact, throughout the Academy's entire history only 18 people have done it. However, it's also quite difficult to land a role in two different Best Picture nominations before you hit 18. While many well-known actors eventually gain roles in a Best Picture nominee or two, doing so before you've reached adulthood is extremely difficult. This year, Daniel Huttlestone may well join in on such a list. Huttlestone, for those who are not having any lights go off when I type that name, played Gavroche in Les Miserables two years ago and is now Jack in Into the Woods, which is right at the edge of many people's Best Picture predictions. Were he to do this, he would join a very select group of people who have accomplished such a feat.
I will note that the list below of ten actors that have done this is probably not conclusive, but it's the best I could do after a massive search through the chasms of Wikipedia. If you know any other actors, please share them in the comments and you will have both my gratitude and cited credit after I edit the post to include your factoid. Until then, however, here are ten actors that have all had two Best Picture nominees released before they turned eighteen (in alphabetical order).
First Best Picture: David Copperfield (1935), where he played the title character
Second Best Picture: Captains Courageous (1937), where he played Harvey Cheyne and somehow got top-billing over Spencer Tracy
Age at Release of Second Best Picture: 4812 days (13 years, 2 months, 3 days)
Oscar-Nominated?: No, despite the Juvenile Oscar being an option at the time and him being arguably one of the biggest Box Office draws of the 1930's, he never won an Oscar.
Other Best Picture Nominees: None-Bartholomew's career would go heavily down-the-tubes when he hit adulthood, and he would have a series of financial and personal problems for the rest of his life.
Jackie Cooper (1922-2011)
First Best Picture: Skippy (1931), where he played the title character
Second Best Picture: The Champ (1931), where he played Dink and got second billing to Wallace Beery, who won the Oscar.
Age at Release of Second Best Picture: 3342 days (9 years, 1 month, 25 days), which is the youngest any actor has ever achieved such a feat to date.
Oscar-Nominated?: Yes-Cooper became the youngest person in Oscar history to be nominated for Best Actor, though he lost to Lionel Barrymore who was 44 years his senior.
Other Best Picture Nominees: None, though he would go on to have a significant role in the Superman movies as Perry White.
First Best Picture: Three Smart Girls (1936), where she played Penny Craig
Second Best Picture: One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937), where she plays Patsy Cardwell
Age at Release of Second Best Picture: 5754 days (15 years, 9 months, 1 day)
Oscar-Nominated?: Deanna Durbin, the girl who saved Universal Studios from declaring bankruptcy, won a Juvenile Oscar in 1938 after being one of the country's biggest box office draws for several years.
Other Best Picture Nominees: Nope-Durbin enjoyed strong success in her late teens and early twenties (she was the second highest-salaried woman in the United States in 1946, second only to Bette Davis), but eventually audiences waned and she become something of a recluse despite truly magnificent roles being offered to her like the leads in Kiss Me Kate and My Fair Lady on Broadway.
Elle Fanning (1998-Present)
First Best Picture: Babel (2006), where she played the daughter of Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett
Second Best Picture: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), where she once again starred opposite Pitt and Blanchett, playing a younger version of the latter.
Age at Release of Second Best Picture: 3913 days (10 years, 8 months, 16 days)
Oscar-Nominated?: Not yet-neither she nor her sister have been nominated, though it sort of feels like one of them might strike eventually.
Other Best Picture Nominees: None to speak of, though she has a lead role in Maleficent this past year which could score a few nominations on Thursday.
First Best Picture: Cavalcade (1933), where she played Young Fanny (Cavalcade is one of the few films profiled here that actually won the Best Picture trophy)
Second Best Picture: Little Women (1933), where Granville gets an uncredited role as a classmate of Amy's.
Age at Release of Second Best Picture: 3940 days (10 years, 9 months, 14 days)
Oscar-Nominated?: Yes, Granville would go on to be one of the youngest Oscar nominees ever in 1936 when she was cited for These Three in the first year that Best Supporting Actress was a category (though she lost to Gale Sondergaard in Anthony Adverse).
Other Best Picture Nominees: None, though she had to have gotten close with Now, Voyager in 1942.
Roddy McDowall (1928-1998)
First Best Picture: How Green Was My Valley (1941), where he plays Huw, Maureen O'Hara's younger brother in the film that famously beat Citizen Kane for the Best Picture trophy.
Second Best Picture: The Pied Piper (1942), a largely forgotten film from 20th Century FOX where McDowall plays a character named Ronnie
Age at Release of Second Best Picture: 5086 days (13 years, 11 months, 4 days)
Oscar-Nominated?: No, though he came extraordinarily close in 1963. A mix-up when FOX was submitting for lead vs. supporting for Cleopatra caused McDowall, who was personally popular and just had received a Golden Globe nomination, to be submitted as lead when he was clearly supporting. Had that not happened, he probably would have gotten his sole Oscar nod, and perhaps even beaten Melvyn Douglas in Hud.
Other Best Picture Nominees: For the first time, yes! McDowall stayed active for most of his life, and went on to star in two Best Picture nominees: The Longest Day (1962) and Cleopatra (1963).
First Best Picture: Forrest Gump (1994), where Osment played the title character's son (the film went on to win Best Picture)
Second Best Picture: The Sixth Sense (1999), where Osment became a star by seeing dead people.
Age at Release of Second Best Picture: 4131 days (11 years, 3 months, 23 days)
Oscar-Nominated?: Yes, Osment became one of the youngest nominees ever when he landed a nomination for playing Cole in The Sixth Sense, though he lost the award to Michael Caine in The Cider House Rules.
Other Best Picture Nominees: None to speak of, though I've always thought he gave an Oscar-worthy piece of work in AI and he's apparently quite funny in The Spoils of Babylon.
Mickey Rooney (1920-2014)
First Best Picture: A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), where Rooney played Puck opposite the likes of Dick Powell, Olivia de Havilland, and Anita Louise
Second Best Picture: Boys Town (1938), though unlike with Captains Courageous Spencer Tracy got top-billing here.
Age at Release of Second Best Picture: 6560 days (17 years, 11 months, 17 days)-Mickey makes this list by just under two weeks.
Oscar-Nominated?: Rooney is by far the biggest star on this list, and went on to win a Juvenile Award in 1938 (alongside Deanna Durbin), as well as four Oscar nominations. Two were as a lead: Babes in Arms in 1939 (losing to Robert Donat) and The Human Comedy in 1943 (losing to Paul Lukas) and two in supporting: The Bold and the Brave in 1956 (losing to Anthony Quinn) and The Black Stallion in 1979 (losing to Melvyn Douglas). Rooney won an Honorary Oscar at the 1982 Oscars as well.
Other Best Picture Nominees: Rooney made so many movies I may have missed one, but by my count the only other Best Picture nominee he was in was The Human Comedy in 1943.
First Best Picture: Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012), where she played the main character of Hushpuppy
Second Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave (2013), where she had a blink-and-you'll-miss-it role as Solomon Northup's daughter (the film of course won Best Picture)
Age at Release of Second Best Picture: 3655 days (10 years, 2 days)
Oscar-Nominated?: Wallis received an Oscar nomination and became the youngest person ever nominated for Best Actress with Beasts of the Southern Wild but lost to Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook.
Other Best Picture Nominees: None so far, but she may well win a Golden Globe tonight, as she's nominated for Annie.
Virginia Weidler (1927-1968)
First Best Picture: All This and Heaven Too (1940), where she plays one of Charles Boyer's daughters
Second Best Picture: The Philadelphia Story (1940), where she plays the younger sister of Kate Hepburn and has a very memorable turn on the piano.
Age at Release of Second Best Picture: 5029 days (13 years, 9 months, 5 days)
Oscar-Nominated?: Nope, and she also missed out on the Juvenile Award despite no one winning it in 1940 and she being a prime contender considering she had two roles in Best Picture nominees.
Other Best Picture Nominees: None-Weidler largely retired and became extremely private (in a similar fashion to Deanna Durbin), never doing interviews after her retirement at the age of sixteen.
And there you have it folks-feeling a bit unaccomplished? Do you think that Daniel Huttlestone will be able to join this list on Thursday, or will Into the Woods remain at-large? Which of these actors was the most surprising? And if you have any others, please let me know and I will credit you in the article!
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