Last year, on Oscar night, 51-year-old Adrien Brody won the Best Actor award for The Brutalist. He beat out 29-year-old Timothée Chalamet, who was nominated for his role in Bob Dylan: A Complete Stranger. Chalamet had just won the Screen Actors Guild Award, so the possibility of him winning the Oscar seemed quite real. But it didn't happen. In the history of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, only one actor under the age of 30 has won the Best Actor Oscar. And that was Adrien Brody himself, in 2003 for The Pianist.
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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has always been keen to recognise young actresses in the Best Actress category. Marlee Matlin won an Oscar at the age of 21 for Children of a Lesser God in 1987. Jennifer Lawrence won at the age of 22 for her work on the 2013 film The Gathering of Rays of Hope. Last year, 25-year-old Mikey Madison won an Oscar for Anora. At the same time, young actors have always been treated differently. For decades, male acting in Hollywood has been judged primarily by experience and age. Women have been much more often perceived through the prism of youth and physical attractiveness.
Timothée Chalamet in the movie “Marty Supreme. Genius of Combinations”
This year's awards season is gradually changing that pattern. This year, the front-runner in the male acting categories is Timothée Chalamet. He has already won the Critics' Choice Award, the Golden Globe and a number of other film critics' awards for his role as an obsessed table tennis player in “Marty Supreme.” In these circumstances, it would be unlikely that he would not win a BAFTA, a SAG Award, now officially called the Actor Award (Screen Actors Guild Award), and an Oscar.
Timothée Chalamet is not the only young heartthrob to be in the spotlight this season. Jacob Elordi was a surprise winner at the Critics' Choice Awards. He played the fragile and vulnerable Creature in the film “Frankenstein”. The actor won the award for best supporting actor, beating out Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn, Adam Sandler and Stellan Skarsgård. Skarsgård later took revenge at the Golden Globes. At the same time, the Swedish actor is not nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award. This leaves Jacob Elordi with a real chance of winning and further participation in the fight for the Oscars.
Jacob Elordi in the movie “Frankenstein”
If he wins at 28, Jacob Elordi would become the second-youngest person in the history of the award to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. The record still belongs to Timothy Gatton. He was 20 when he won for the film “Ordinary People” in 1981. George Chakiris for “West Side Story” in 1962, Cuba Gooding Jr. for “Jerry Maguire” in 1997 and Heath Ledger for “The Dark Knight” in 2009 received the award at the age of 29. All other winners in this category were over 30. By comparison, in the category “Best Supporting Actress” the Academy has repeatedly awarded very young actresses. They include 10-year-old Tatum O'Neal for “Paper Moon,” 11-year-old Anna Paquin for “The Piano,” 16-year-old Patty Duke for “The One Who Made a Miracle,” as well as Anne Baxter, Teresa Wright, Goldie Hawn and Angelina Jolie, all of whom won the award before the age of 25.
Besides their age, Timothée Chalamet and Jacob Elordi have one more thing in common. As is often the case with young actors who are popular with female audiences and are associated with the fashion industry, they have long been not taken seriously in the professional world. Timothée Chalamet regularly appears in the media as Kylie Jenner's boyfriend, the hero of viral exits in bright costumes and a figure of modern pop culture. Jacob Elordi became famous thanks to the romantic Netflix franchise “The Kissing Booth”. He is openly interested in fashion, wears Bottega Veneta bags and played Heathcliff in the new film adaptation of “Wuthering Heights” directed by Emerald Fennell. This decision has already caused active discussions and controversial reactions.
However, the history of cinema shows that such an image is not an obstacle to serious professional recognition. Emma Stone, who started with the comedies “The Powerpuff Girls” and “Welcome to Zombieland”, later became a two-time Oscar winner. Jennifer Lawrence received her first award less than four years after the start of a major film career. In this context, ignoring Chalamet or Elordi would be unjustified. Their acting works received clearly positive reviews from critics and confirmed their professional level.
Michael B. Jordan in the movie “Sinners”
Michael B. Jordan is joining this trend. The actor is 38 years old. For a long time, he was perceived primarily as an action star due to his participation in the Creed and Black Panther franchises. The film Sinners was a transition to a new stage in Michael B. Jordan's career. For his dual role, he received a number of critical awards and nominations for the Golden Globe, Critics' Choice Awards and Actor Awards. The actor also received his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
Paul Mescal in the movie “Hamnet”
Among the peers of Timothée Chalamet and Jacob Elordi, it is worth mentioning Paul Mescal separately. The actor is 29 years old, and throughout the season he was considered one of the most likely candidates for an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor for his portrayal of William Shakespeare in the film “Hamnet”. For this work, Mescal received nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award, BAFTA, Critics' Choice Awards and Golden Globe, which only increased the expectations of his appearance among the Oscar nominees. However, the decision of the American Film Academy not to include the actor in the final list came as a surprise to many. Especially considering that Mescal already has an Oscar nomination – in 2023 for the film “After the Sun”. For a wide audience, he is still associated with the TV series “Normal People” and his participation in “Gladiator II”, but this season clearly showed that Mescal is increasingly perceived as a serious dramatic actor. Additional interest in his future career is aroused by the upcoming role of Paul McCartney in the biopics about The Beatles.
Based on material from vogue.co.uk