- Acting Oscar Winners By Age: Youngest & Oldest Winners
- Best Actor Oscar Winners By Age
- Best Actress Oscar Winners By Age
- Best Supporting Actor Oscar Winners By Age
- Best Supporting Actress Oscar Winners By Age
Have you ever wondered who the youngest and oldest acting Oscars winners are? I have many times, so this time, I jumped to Wikipedia and started looking at previous winners.
I was surprised to learn that Tatum O’Neal won an Academy Award at the age of only 10! This wasn’t the only interesting fact I discovered. This article features average ages, as well as the oldest and youngest winners (and nominees) of all acting Oscars, including best actor/actress and best supporting actor/actress.
Keep reading for some interesting observations, and the latest Oscars betting picks purely based on age.
Without further ado, let’s dive into this experiment!
Best Actor Academy Award Winners By Age
Here’s an overview of the Best Actor category by age:
Sources: https://www.statista.com/statistics/321329/age-academy-awards-nominees-winners-acting/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Actor
It’s interesting to note that the age is rising! The last five years have delivered the highest average age, but the numbers are skewed by Sir Anthony Hopkins, who won at age 83 in 2020.
As a whole, you should be looking for someone between the age of 40 and 50. Here’s what the Best Actor Oscar odds tell us for 2024, and the ages of the contenders.
Best Actor
- Cillian Murphy | 47 years old | -1200 to win Best Actor
- Paul Giamatti | 56 years old | +600 to win Best Actor
- Bradley Cooper | 49 years old | +200 to win Best Actor
- Colman Domingo | 54 years old | +8000 to win Best Actor
- Jeffrey Wright | 58 years old | +8000 to win Best Actor
These men are very close to the expected winning age, but Cillian Murphy and Bradley Cooper are pretty much perfect from that perspective. The Irishman is a huge favorite, so I’m not sure that backing him at the current odds make sense
At the same time, Murphy basically carried one of the best movies of the year and fits the average age well. It’s hard going against him, so I have to back the most likely winner here.
Best Actress Academy Award Winners By Age
Here’s how the data looks for the Academy Award for Best Actress:
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Actress, https://www.statista.com/statistics/321329/age-academy-awards-nominees-winners-acting/
The Best Actress winners are much younger on average compared to the men’s category, with the average age of the winner standing at 39. The fluctuations are also bigger if you analyze the chart.
The common theme is that the winners are recently getting older, so you should probably look at the 40-50 range, based on the trend.
It’s also interesting to note that both the youngest and oldest nominees were fighting for the Oscar in the same year (2013), but neither won. What about this year? Here are the odds and the ages of the potential winner:
Best Supporting Actress
- Lily Gladstone | 37 years old | -140 to win Best Actress
- Emma Stone | 35 years old | +110 to win Best Actress
- Sandra Huller | 45 years old | +3000 to win Best Actress
- Carey Mulligan | 38 years old | +5000 to win Best Actress
- Annette Bening | 65 years old | +5000 to win Best Actress
The top two favorites are on the younger side, considering the latest trends. In fact, we have only one nominee in the 40-50 range — that seems to be the most successful in the past 5-10 years.
Sandra Huller is the third most likely winner according to the odds. She’s nominated for the movie Anatomy of a Fall and the perfect age (45), so let’s back her.
Best Supporting Actor Academy Award Winners By Age
It’s time to move on to the supporting acting categories, starting with the Best Supporting Actor:
Sources: https://www.statista.com/statistics/321329/age-academy-awards-nominees-winners-acting/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Supporting_Actor
This is the Oscars acting category with the oldest average winners. The number stands at 50 and has been fairly consistent throughout the years. It’s curious that Christopher Plummer holds the records for both the oldest winner and oldest nominee, but in different years.
Overall, it looks like 45-55 is the optimal range for picking a winner. Here are the odds and ages of this year’s nominees:
Best Supporting Actor
- Robert Downey Jr. | 58 years old | -5000 to win Best Supporting Actor
- Ryan Gosling | 43 years old | +1000 to win Best Supporting Actor
- Robert De Niro | 80 years old | +2000 to win Best Supporting Actor
- Mark Ruffalo | 56 years old | +2000 to win Best Supporting Actor
- Sterling K. Brown | 47 years old | +3000 to win Best Supporting Actor
Robert Downey Jr. is the overwhelming favorite in this category for his performance in Oppenheimer. The low odds combined with the fact that he’s over the age range we’re looking for gives me enough reason to skip him.
Funny enough, we only have one nominee in the 45-55 range, and that’s the underdog, Sterling K Brown. The odds are high, and he matches the age bracket, so that’s my pick here.
Best Supporting Actress Academy Award Winners By Age
Finally, we have the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Let’s explore the interesting numbers related to the winners’ age:
Sources: https://www.statista.com/statistics/321329/age-academy-awards-nominees-winners-acting/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Supporting_Actress
This category has produced the youngest Oscar acting winner, ever after Tatum O’Neal won for Paper Moon, at age 10. That’s only appropriate for the category that seems the most volatile.
You would normally expect the winner to be somewhere in the 35-45 age bracket, but we’ve seen strong fluctuations. The latest trend suggests that more experienced actresses win in this category and are often over the age of 50.
Ariana DeBose is the only winner under that number in the last four years, so any strong contender older than 50 would be ideal. Let’s see if we have one in 2024:
Best Supporting Actress
- Da’Vine Joy Randolph | 37 years old | -8000 to win Best Supporting Actress
- Danielle Brooks | 34 years old | +2000 to win Best Supporting Actress
- Emily Blunt | 40 years old | +2000 to win Best Supporting Actress
- America Ferrera | 39 years old | +2000 to win Best Supporting Actress
- Jodie Foster | 61 years old | +4000 to win Best Supporting Actress
The short answer is no. No one fits the criteria. We have a very strong contender in this category, and that’s Da’Vine Joy Randolph for her performance in The Holdovers. However, she’s significantly below the age bracket we’re looking for. The same applies to everyone, outside of Jodie Foster.
The veteran has two Oscars already, but both are in the Best Actress category. Maybe it’s time for one in the supporting category? The odds are high enough and the age fits, so I’ds give it a go with a small wager.
