Actors Who Won Oscars For Their First Roles

Actors Who Won Oscars For Their First Roles

Winning an Oscar for anything is a huge deal, but winning an Oscar for your first film? That's extremely rare—so rare that just 24 people have ever achieved the feat with their first film. Let's review the actors who won an Oscar for their first roles.

Gale Sondergaard: Anthony Adverse

Gale Sondergaard's role in Anthony Adverse (1936) was her first, and she would win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. It was also the first time the Academy Awards would have such a category. Although Sondergaard's career lasted for 50 years, she didn't act for 20 years because her husband appeared on a list compiled of communist sympathizers by the US House Un-American Activities Committee. He was one of the hundreds of artists, writers, journalists, poets, and others who appeared on their list.

Warner Bros., Anthony Adverse (1936)

Katina Paxinou: For Whom The Bell Tolls

Although Katina Paxinou was a household name in her native Greece, in the United States, she was relatively unknown when she fled there after the outbreak of World War II. Paxinou even helped set up Greece's first national theater. She starred in For Whom The Bell Tolls (1944) alongside Ingrid Bergman and Gary Cooper. This would earn her an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. She would return to Greece in 1955.

Paramount, For Whom The Bell Tolls (1943)

Harold Russell: The Best Years Of Our Lives

The first non-professional actor to win an Oscar, Harold Russell's role in The Best Years Of Our Lives in 1947 won him an Oscar for Best Actor, but that wasn't the end of the saga of his Oscar win. The Academy Awards gave him a second Oscar for "bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans". He's also the only Oscar winner ever to sell his Oscar at an auction. It fetched $60,500 and went to an anonymous buyer.

Samuel Goldwyn Company, Wikimedia Commons

Mercedes McCambridge: All The King's Men

Mercedes McCambridge was the "world's greatest radio actress," but she would win big on TV and movie screens. Her first Oscar for Best Supporting Actress came in All the King's Men (1949), her first post-radio movie appearance. All the King's Men also won Best Picture that year.

Columbia Pictures, Wikimedia Commons

Shirley Booth: Come Back, Little Sheba

Shirley Booth had already won a Tony Award for Come Back, Little Sheba (1952) when she starred in its film adaptation, for which she received an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Actress. However, Shirley Booth's career would be short, as she only starred in five films, preferring to star on Broadway shows instead.

Paramount Pictures press photo, Wikimedia Commons

Eva Saint Marie: On The Waterfront

Beginning in the NBC back offices as a page, Eva Saint Marie worked her way up to become a star. Her first-ever role was as Edie in On The Waterfront (1954) alongside Marlon Brando. The movie would win five awards at the 1955 Oscars. Meanwhile, Eva Saint Marie would nab Best Supporting Actress.

Jim Evans, Wikimedia Commons

Delbert Mann: Marty

Delbert Mann began his directorial career in television, but after much of his early work wasn't receiving the traction he felt it should, he transitioned to film. It turned out to be a good one—his first feature, Marty (1955), was a romance drama that won him an Oscar for Best Director at the 1956 Oscars. The movie also won Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Metzger, Jack ,CC BY-SA 4.0, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Jo Van Fleet: East Of Eden

Elia Kazan recruited Jo Van Fleet to star in an adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel East Of Eden (1955). Van Fleet would win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, the first Oscar in a career that spanned 40 years.

Trailer screenshot, Wikimedia Commons

Julie Andrews: Mary Poppins

Of course, this list would be incomplete without the iconic Julie Andrews from Mary Poppins (1964). Walt Disney wanted Andrews to play the part so much that when she initially declined due to her pregnancy, he stated he would wait until she was ready. Talk about star power. It paid off. Andrews won Best Actress at the 1965 Oscars.

Disney trailer screenshot, Wikimedia Commons

Barbara Streisand: Funny Girl

This was the first film adaptation of Funny Girl (1968), a musical biographical film written by Isobel Lennart. Streisand would win an Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe for the same, sharing the award with Katharine Hepburn—the first time two women had shared the award. 

Columbia, Funny Girl (1968)

Tatum O'Neal: Paper Moon

Paper Moon (1973) was one of the first movies of the 1970s to star a father-daughter duo in Ryan and Tatum O'Neal. Tatum was just 10 years old when she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, making her the youngest person ever to win an Oscar. 

UCLA Library Special Collections, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Timothy Hutton: Ordinary People

20-year-old Timothy Hutton starred alongside some of Hollywood's biggest names of the 1980s in Ordinary People, a drama about how wealth and power can't save you from excruciating pain. Alongside Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore, Hutton would win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, making him the youngest award recipient.

Paramount, Ordinary People (1980)

Dr Haing S Ngor: The Killing Fields

Imagine being imprisoned three times by the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, only to come to America and find yourself starring in a movie as a Cambodian journalist living under that very same regime. That happened to Dr Haing S Ngor when he starred in The Killing Fields (1984). Despite having no previous acting experience, Ngor won the Best Supporting Actor at the 1985 Oscars.

Bettmann, Getty Images

Marlee Matlin: Children Of A Lesser God

Winning an Oscar is difficult enough, but to win an Oscar without the ability to hear? That takes some serious acting skill and general courageousness. Marlee Matlin never let the fact that she was deaf stop her from accomplishing her dreams. Her first-ever film, Children Of A Lesser God (1986), would win an Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Actress.

Paramount, Children of a Lesser God (1986)

Anna Paquin: The Piano

When she attended an audition for The Piano (1993), Anna Paquin was a 10-year-old girl. After catching Jane Campion's eye, she beat out 5,000 other children and got the role. The Piano was a huge success, and 11-year-old Anna Paquin won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. It was later revealed that Paquin had only attended the audition because her sister did.

Jan Chapman Productions, The Piano (1993)

Jennifer Hudson: Dreamgirls

Although many knew of Jennifer Hudson thanks to American Idol, her role in Dreamgirls (2007) would come as a huge surprise to those who hadn't given the singer much of a shout as an actress. Winning Best Supporting Actress sure put paid to the doubters, though.

Paramount, Dreamgirls (2006)

Lupita Nyong'o: 12 Years A Slave

In one of the hardest-to-watch movies of the 2010s, Lupita Nyong'o was making a name for herself. Born to Mexican and Kenyan parents, she became the first Mexican and Kenyan actress to win an Oscar, winning Best Supporting Actress for her role in 12 Years a Slave.

But that victory for Nyong'o came at great personal cost. She has spoken of the trauma she was left with following the particularly violent and gruesome scenes in 12 Years A Slave, particularly one where she was brutally whipped. The adaptation of Solomon Northrup's autobiography left no stone unturned when depicting the brutality of life as a slave in the Antebellum South.

New Regency Productions, 12 Years a Slave (2013)