18 days till Oscar
Wednesday, January 22, 2020 at 8:07AM by Nathaniel R
18 is today's magic number. Everyone knows that Oscar's acting branch sometimes takes a shine to little kids for acting nominations (almost always it requires a Best Picture nomination for the movie that houses them) but how often do they nominate kids who've just become adults? Not too often! There have only been three 18 year olds who've ever been nominated* and curiously none were in Best Picture nominees. Still, all of them gave unforgettable performances and the latter two could have easily be argued as "shoulda wons" in their year. They are...
• Mariel Hemingway in Manhattan (1979), Best Supporting Actress
• River Phoenix in Running on Empty (1988), Best "Supporting" Actor
• Juliette Lews in Cape Fear (1991), Best Supporting Actress
Fact: No 18 year-olds have ever been nominated in either lead acting category.
* It's possible we missed an 18 year old in Supporting Actress (though we could only think of 19 and 20 year olds like Angela Lansbury and Saoirse Ronan beyond the 16 and under famous inclusions) since it's the category that is most favourable to teenage nominees and most trivia and articles list don't go beyond age 15 or 16 in that category. If we did we trust you'll tell us who in the comments.
Reader Comments (24)
Phoenix was clearly the lead. Juliette was dating Brad Pitt back then, remember?
River Phoenix’s nomination was richly deserved but nonetheless definitely category fraud. I wonder if he would have been nominated had they campaigned him as a lead? I don’t think that was a particularly crowded year for Best Actor, so I would guess he still would’ve been nominated.
Edwin: 1988 was considered crowded for the time. William Hurt was a surprise snub.
Jeremy Irons, Willem Dafoe, Harrison Ford... and John Malkovich! His Valmont was divisive but it's one hell of a performance.
1988 keeps coming back.
Mike in Canada - I was too young to be aware of the Oscar buzz in ‘88, but just going by who got nominated and awarded by other awards bodies and critic groups that year, I wouldn’t have guessed William Hurt was even in the running, so that’s interesting to hear. My assumption was that Forest Whitaker was the 6th place guy in Best Actor that year.
It’s always fascinating to hear about who/what had buzz in past years.
Hilarious that Mercedes Ruehl does not have to share her supporting actress legacy with JLO. Since her small role in Hustlers is the last time large swaths of the public has seen her at the multiplex.
I believe Rooney (BABES IN ARMS) and DiCaprio (WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE) were 18 during production on their respective films and 19 by Oscar season - but indeed, Phoenix and Lewis are the lone 18-year-olds to score Oscar noms at that age.
Whitaker had more buzz than Hurt, that's for sure, but Hurt was almost a default nominee in the 80s. Deservedly, I would add.
William Hurt is one of my all-time favorites. Like Michael Douglas and Richard Gere, an actor who starred opposite some really phenomenal leading ladies and never pulled focus while maintaining his own excellence.
I love Running on Empty, but River Phoenix was lead. Christine Lahti should have been nominated in supporting actress.
Juliette Lewis's performance in Cape Fear is an example of a performance that has really aged well. She is someone who really deserves a great comeback role.
Phoenix and Lewis are two of the most deserving nominees ever. The winners those years (Kevin Kline and Mercedes Ruehl) also gave wonderful performances. Juliette Lewis is a seriously GREAT actress that nobody seems to know what to do with...it's a crime she doesn't work more.
This should have been phoenix’s first of two deserving lead nominations.
And If it wasn’t for irons great performance in dead ringers he should have been even 2 time winner in his short and tragic career !
Lewis was also great in cape fear but i’m ok with ruehl winning
Just watched the horror movie Ma, with Octavia Spencer and was happy to see Juliette Lewis in a good supporting role. Always really liked her, she's got a certain spark that's unlike that of anyone else.
My beloved Juliette Lewis fans, you must watch her in The Act, that miniseries with Patty Arquette. It's pure joy for actressexuals. The cast includes Sevigny, Margo Martindale, Rachel Ticotin and Brooke Smith.
Two notes..
Caught up with "Running on Empty" for the first time on on cable last year and Phoenix is seriously excellent. Like, you can't deny the performance would be nominated the second you saw it. Such a tragedy he is gone. Can't remember if he seemed lead or supporting, but Christine Lahti was great, too. And D.A. Adam Schiff as grandpa!
Juliette Lewis seriously needs to headline some high-quality indie drama. She was phonemenal in a small role in last year's "Ma" -- you can almost sense a "Frozen River"/"American Woman"-type movie breaking out offscreen with her in it. She was great and made me miss her performances.
Lewis is great but after 91 she seemed to solidify into the manic cute girl Natural Born Killers,Kalifornia,What's Eating Gilbert Grape,That Night and hardly ever left it,maybe Strange Days let her explore her persona a bit more,this became her type then she became hard to cast except in spunky supporting roles,she elevated Ma beyond what that role required.
Yes, Phoenix is without question Lead in Running on Empty. As much as Timothy Hutton was Lead in Ordinary People.
I remember thinking Rhuel had a really large part in The Fisher King, too.
Lewis, however, was in a movie that has become a cult classic and has that scene with DeNiro that has become one of the classic scenes of the history of movies. Hers is the performance people remembers the most to this day as far as the nominated actresses that year.
As far as her noteworthy performances of late:
Ma - She's not given a lot to do and the actress playing her daughter is really wooden, but she gives as much complexity to her role and plays opposite Spencer really well.
The Act - Reminiscent of her cameo in the Hillary Swank vehicle Conviction. Lewis plays her role with white-trash authenticity.
Camping - This series had issues with direction and tone, but Lewis was its absolute highlight. She was a great antagonist and had hilarious scenes and line deliveries. It's probably her best comedic performance.
August: Osage County - This movie seems to have no director and it needed one badly! But Lewis creates a great counter-point to all the other characters who are really uptight and dramatic. She is the only one who gives the mother any affection (after Meryl's monologue about the boots). I just wish the director had given that moment the attention it deserved. It's almost off-screen...
Hysterical Blindness - Going back a little more, this TV movie, had it been released in theaters, would have been a real contender for Best Actress (Thurman) and supporting actresses (Lewis and Gena Rowlands). The relationship between Thurman and Lewis feels grounded and the two are having a blast playing these Jersey girls. Lewis really shines here.
I hope she can headline an out-of-nowhere, instant critic-darling indie sometime soon, one that is a vehicle for her talents. Problem is, these screenplays are not greenly. It seems like we get 2 or 3 movies like that (headlined by a not bankable actress) per year (Diane being one example from last year).
Like Cameron Diaz, Juliette Lewis is another actress who would have done brilliantly in one of the roles that David O. Russell kept giving inexplicably to Jennifer Lawrence from 2012-14.
@ Troy
Absolutely! In Silver Lining Playbook, I saw not only "Lewisisms" in Lawrence's performance, but it did feel like it had been tailor-made for Lewis. Lawrence was "acting" her emotional imbalance, though she was much better in the scenes she was not vulnerable, but bossy.
Another role that would've been perfect for Lewis was Nurse Betty. I remember being kinda upset as I watched it and even enjoyed some of what Renee was doing, but couldn't stop thinking Lewis would've killed in that role.
as much as I loved Elisabeth Shue in Leaving Las Vegas, I could've totally seen Juliette Lewis in that role too!
One more! Mariel Hemingway was born November 22, 1961. The Oscars where she nominated for Manhattan were held on April 14, 1980.
James -- thanks for the catch!
River sure was pretty!! 😘
He shld've been nom n won for My Own Private Idaho in 1991!!