Winning an Oscar in a competitive category is often the height of an actor’s career, even though a few exceptions may have had their regrets. There are many milestones among the winners, such as the only Oscar-nominated brothers, and hopes for the first Asian American to be nominated for the Best Actor award.

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There has been a lot of discussion going into 2021 about awarding the late Chadwick Boseman a posthumous Oscar as a fitting cap on an incredible career.

For these young actors, the award came early in their careers and lives, and for some, it kicked off a great run in Hollywood. For others, it was a pinnacle that overshadowed anything else they did.

10 Tatum O'Neal Won Best Supporting Actress For 'Paper Moon' At Age 10 In 1973

Tatum O’Neal became the youngest Oscar winner at age ten for her stunning take as child con artist Addie Pray in Paper Moon. She starred opposite her father, Ryan O’Neal, who didn’t show up to the Oscar awards when she won. Her interview with a UK paper is quoted in the New York Post. “People say that he was jealous and maybe that was it,” she told the British newspaper “Obviously, I wish he’d been there. He’s just really selfish.”

9 Anna Paquin Surprised Everyone With Her Best Supporting Actress Win At 11 (1993)

When 11-year old Anna Paquin took home the statue for Best Supporting Actress at the 1993 Oscar Awards show, she surprised most critics, since she was competing against people like Emma Thompson, Rosie Perez and Winona Ryder. Anna had gotten the part by snagging an audition by chance, and was a complete unknown at the time, although she’d been working as a child actress for some time. She was so excited she ran to the stage and could barely speak.

8 Patty Duke Won Best Supporting Actress At 16 As Blind Helen Heller In 'The Miracle Worker' (1962)

Patty Duke won a Supporting Actress Oscar at the age of 16, but she'd been acting since the age of 8, when her mother turned her over to John and Ethel Ross. Her father was an alcoholic, and her family life was troubled, but the Rosses were exploitative and abusive talent managers. Her Oscar win for portraying Helen Keller was a bright spot in a troubled life. After a career in movies and TV, she was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, and became a mental health advocate.

7 Timothy Hutton Won Best Supporting Actor For 'Ordinary People' In 1980

Timothy Hutton was 20 when he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1980's Ordinary People, directed by Robert Redford and starring Mary Tyler Moore and Donald Sutherland. It was his first feature film appearance, and he also won a Golden Globe for the role.

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While he has continued to work steadily, he's appeared largely in other supporting roles, with notable exceptions in Taps, The Falcon and the Snowman, and The Dark Half. He's also appeared on Broadway and on TV, notably in the NBC series Kidnapped.

6 Marlee Matlin Was Youngest And First Deaf Best Actress Winner At 21 In 1986

Actress Marlee Matlin lost 80% of her hearing at the age of 18 months, but she was still acting by the age of seven. She was discovered at an International Center on Deafness and the Arts by Henry Winkler (the Fonz). That led to her getting the role in Children of a Lesser God, where she played a deaf woman who falls in love with a man who can hear. She's had a steady career mostly on TV, but nothing like the prominence of that Oscar win when she was only 21.

5 JLaw Was Only 22 When She Won Best Actress For 'Silver Linings Playbook' (2012)

Jennifer Lawrence was spotted by a talent agent at the age of 14 while on vacation with her parents in New York City. After work on TV and indie movies, she burst into the public eye with roles as Mystique in the X-Men and Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games series. She showed her acting chops in the drama Silver Linings Playbook, and it won her the Oscar. Jennifer went on to become the highest-paid actress in the world for two years' running in 2015 and 2016, among other accolades.

4 Janet Gaynor Won Best Actress For '7th Heaven,' 'Street Angel,' And 'Sunrise' (1927/28)

Janet Gaynor began working in movies as an extra, but directors quickly spotted her talent. She signed with Fox Film Corporation in 1926 at age 20, and became one of its biggest stars. Her Oscar win at age 22 came at the very first Academy Awards ceremony, held in 1929, and honoring films that debuted in 1927 and 1928. She was in three of them.

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A low-key affair by today's standards, the awards were presented at a private dinner party at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles.

3 Anne Baxter Won Best Supporting Actress For The Razor’s Edge At 23

Anne Baxter won her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1946, just after the end of the Second World War in a movie about its after effects. In The Razor's Edge, traumatized airforce pilot Larry Darrell searches for the meaning of life, based on the story by W. Somerset Maugham. Baxter played Sophie, a childhood friend of Larry's who witnesses his transformation over time. Anne went on to a stellar career in Hollywood, working with top directors of the day like Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder and Fritz Lang.

2 Joan Fontaine Took The Best Actress Oscar From Her Sister At 24

Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland, another Hollywood legend, were sisters, and Tinseltown rumor had it that the two had a huge falling out when they were both nominated for Oscars for Best Actress at the 14th Academy Awards in 1942. Fontaine was the winner for her role in Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion, where she starred opposite Cary Grant. Fontaine had most of her starring roles in the 1940s and 1950s, including 1948's Letter from an Unknown Woman, the role she is perhaps best known for.

1 Teresa Wright Won Best Supporting Actress At 24 After Being Discovered On Broadway

Teresa Wright is no longer a household name, but she was nominated for three Oscars, winning for a supporting role in the war drama Mrs. Miniver. She won the award at the age of 24 in 1943. Her career began on the stage, including a two-year stint in a Broadway play. That's where she caught the eye of famed Hollywood producer Samuel Goldwyn, who hired her on the spot for a role in Bette Davis' The Little Foxes, and a five-year contract.

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