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Grace Kelly, The Country Girl, 1954
Before she became the Princess of Monaco (in real life), Kelly became an Oscar-winning actor for playing a simple country girl. She took home Best Actress at just 25 years old, before moving on to bigger and more royal endeavors.
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Jennifer Jones, The Song of Bernadette, 1943
Fun fact: Jones is one of the few Oscar winners to actually win on her birthday (a statistic that is not well-documented). She took home the award for Best Actress at the 16th Academy Awards ceremony on March 2, 1944, the day she turned 25.
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Angelina Jolie, Girl, Interrupted, 1999
Jolie’s first (and to date, only) Oscar win came relatively early in her career, setting her up perfectly for movie stardom. She took home Best Supporting Actress for her critically acclaimed role as a diagnosed sociopath in Girl, Interrupted at age 24.
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Teresa Wright, Mrs. Miniver, 1942
Wright became one of the youngest Best Supporting Actress winners when she took home the Oscar in 1942 at 24. However, she could’ve gotten closer to making history, as she was also nominated a year prior for her debut role in The Little Foxes.
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Anne Baxter, The Razor’s Edge, 1946
When Baxter won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1946, she made history. At 23 years old, she scraped by Wright’s winning age of 24 to become the youngest winner in the category, holding onto the title for a good 16 years.
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Janet Gaynor, 7th Heaven, Street Angel, and Sunrise, 1927-28
Gaynor was the first Best Actress winner ever, taking home the award for three movies at the 1st Academy Awards (back when nominees were recognized for every film they did in a calendar year). By default, this made her the youngest winner in the category, but she held onto the title for 58 years until 1986.
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Patty Duke, The Miracle Worker, 1962
Duke won Best Supporting Actress for playing Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker, a role she originated on Broadway, in 1962, when she was 16. She was the youngest winner in the category for more than a decade, until the current record-holder took the title.