Some people just come out the gate winners.
1. Not only did Harold Russell win Best Supporting Actor for his first-ever acting role in The Best Years of Our Lives in 1947, he simultaneously became the first person to win two Oscars for the same part.
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It was the first part the first the former soldier took after coming home wounded from World War II. Allegedly convinced he wouldn't win an award on merit alone, the Academy voted for Russell to receive an honourary Oscar for "bringing aid and comfort to disabled veterans through the medium of motion pictures." This award had the supposed aim of "thanking veterans."
Harold received the honourary Oscar alongside his Best Supporting Actor award. He later became the first person to sell an Oscar, accepting a cool $55k from a collector in 1992.
3. Lupita Nyong'o's 2014 Best Supporting Actress Oscar came after her breakout Hollywood movie role in 12 Years A Slave.
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She had appeared in some TV shows and had had smaller roles in movies — makes sense, as she studied at the Yale School of Drama. But she landed her first huge big-screen part before she'd even graduated, and promptly earned her first Oscar.
4. After a glittering stage career, Shirley Booth netted the 1952 Best Actress award for her first-ever movie role.
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She'd already won two Tony awards before she landed the Oscar, but her first-ever movie role in Come Back, Little Sheba earned her an Academy Award, too. She was also the first actress to win an Oscar and a Tony for the same role.
7. Barbara Streisand won Best Actress for her first off-stage acting role in Funny Girl.
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She'd already played the character on stage before accepting the movie role; she dazzled in the film adaptation, tying with Katharine Hepburn for Best Actress in the 1969 Oscars.
8. In 1974, Tatum O'Neal won a Supporting Actress Oscar for her first movie role in Paper Moon. She was only 10 years old.
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She starred opposite her father, Ryan O'Neal, in the movie; he did not receive a nomination, while she won. This caused some tension in the family, the actor says.
10. Haing S. Ngor's debut acting role in The Killing Fields earned him Best Supporting Actor in 1985 (making him the first Asian Oscar Winner in that category).
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11. Not only did Marlee Matlin win Best Actress in 1987 with her first movie Children of a Lesser God, but she was also the only ever deaf actor to have won any Oscar until 2022.
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She had acted on stage throughout her childhood and netted an Oscar with her first-ever movie role.
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