Young Hollywood has certainly provided years of entertainment but how well have they been rewarded for it?

In this Virtually Rick, the youngest Oscar winners of all time! And the winner is? La-La Land! I’m kidding…..let’s get virtual!

Directors first…

And speaking of La-La,  in 2016 Damien Chazelle was 32, the youngest Best Director winner with the aforementioned film, knocking Norman Taurog off the podium after his 89-year reign for helming the 1931 film, Skippy. He was 32, but older than Chazelle by 222 days. Ah, Math!  

The youngest nominated director is a different story since 1991, a 24-year-old John Singleton snagged it with Boyz N The Hood. Interestingly Orson Welles was only 26 when he was nominated for Citizen Kane. Just 26? He was an actual 'rosebud.'

Enough about directing.  

You need actors in a film and the youngest Best Supporting Males nominated were Justin Henry for Kramer Vs. Kramer in 1980. He was only 8! Oh and Haley Joel Osment was an ancient 11 for 2000’s The Sixth Sense.

The Winners Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People and George Chakiris for West Side Story were both in their 20’s for best supporting males. How positively elderly!

Especially when you realise that in 1974, her role in Paper Moon made Tatum O’Neal as an Actress in a Supporting Role both the youngest nominee and winner ever at the age of 10! I think I got my first swimming badge when I was her age.

When It comes to Best Actor Winner - Richard Dreyfuss held on for 25 years, for The Goodbye Girl and he was a geriatric 30 years old! But Adrien Brody snuck in at the tender age of 29 for The Pianist in 2002 and he’s still the youngest Best Actor winner ever.

What about Best Male Actor nominations? Well Jackie Cooper is really the youngest of all our group, at the age of 9 for Skippy back in ’31 and still holding. The closest we’ve come in recent years to upskittling his reign was Timothée Chalamet the lead in Call Me By My Name in 2017, he was 22. 

And the nominations for Best Actress? Isabelle Adjani held it for 28 years for The Story Of Adele H, when she was 20 until a 13-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes with Whale Rider in 2004 then Quvenzhané Wallis came along in 2013 for The Beast Of The Southern Wild, she was only 9!

But now the winners.

There’s 22-year-old Janet Gaynor for her leading role win in 7th Heaven, Street Angel, and Sunrise. She held the most youthful place for 58 years until the youngest Best Actress in a leading role won the top spot and she’s still there now. That was 33 years ago, in 1987 for her lead in Children Of A Lesser God, Marlee Matlin was only 21! No-one has since unseated her.

So it seems that one of the Oscars' powers is to really help you stay younger for longer. I mean look at Oscar himself - still only 91 years old but such a lovely, golden tan!