8 Stars Who Won Major Awards For Their First-Ever Acting Roles

Find out what these stars said about their big wins…

Anna Paquin was just 9-years-old when she filmed The Piano — and just a few years later, she took home the Oscar win for Best Supporting Actress. Not only did it mark her first big screen role — but it was her first time ever acting. Looking back, Anna admits she “absolutely could not” recognize the magnitude of her accomplishment at such a young age. 

“It’s still kind of weird and abstract to think about it now,” Anna shared on PeopleTV.

Jennifer Hudson may have found fame in the music industry before landing a starring role in 2006’s Dreamgirls — but it was actually her first time acting. Then in 2007, she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. And because of her inexperience, Jennifer admits she wasn’t very familiar with how the Oscars even worked before her win. 

“It sounds so harsh, but I wasn’t too familiar with the Oscars because my dream was to be a singer and win Grammys,” she shared in Dave Karger’s 50 Oscar Nights book. “So even down to the night of being there, I remember [co-star] Jamie Foxx saying, ‘The craziest thing is she has no clue to what is going on.’ I was experiencing it as I went along.”

Thousands of actors auditioned for a starring role in Primal Fear — but newcomer Edward Norton got the part, despite having no acting experience. With no other roles under his belt, his performance ended up earning him his first Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination. Looking back, his co-star Richard Gere says Edward’s inexperience worked in the film’s favor. 

“He is absolutely brilliant in the movie, I think. We didn’t design it this way but, as it turned out, having an actor that nobody knows playing the part helped us enormously as he had no baggage with him and we take him at face value, which we should in the film,” Richard shared with Arts Beat LA.

Back in 1974, Tatum O’Neal was just 10-years-old when she took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Paper Moon. Tatum, who was cast in the film alongside her father, actor Ryan O’Neal, had no acting experience prior to landing the job. While the connection surely got her foot in the door, it was her innate talent that earned her the Oscar. Despite the major accomplishment, it wasn’t a happy time in Tatum’s life, with the actress later explaining that her father’s lack of nominations created a “deep resentment.”

“You’d think an Oscar nomination would be an indelible moment, a victory to cherish and savour for a lifetime,” she shared in her memoir A Paper Life, adding that her father slapped her when he found out she was nominated. “But for me it must have been a trauma instead of a triumph.”

Marlee Matlin had performed on stage as a child but her role in Children of a Lesser God marked her first ever on screen acting job. Her debut performance ended up earning her an Oscar for Best Actress, making her the first deaf actress to ever win the award. 

“Looking back now, thinking about that moment in the lights, with my heart pounding, Oscar in my hand, all I can say is I am grateful and humbled — still to this day,” she shared with Entertainment Weekly. “Next to marrying my husband and the birth of my children, it is one of the best days ever. Twenty-five years later, it still feels just like yesterday.”

While Whoopi Goldberg had found success on stage and as a comedian, her first ever big screen role was in The Color Purple — which earned her a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama. While some say it should have gotten her an Oscar too, it was a big deal for a new actress to win the Golden Globe and marked the first time a Black actress had won in the category. 

“The very first time I got nominated for [a Golden Globe], I won it,” Whoopi shared, adding that the second time she was up for an award, her daughter ended up being Miss Golden Globe. “The Golden Globes have always had a place in my heart because they always treated me well and been kind to my family.”

Haing S. Ngor had an incredible journey to his Oscar win, first working as a gynecologist in Cambodia and later, escaping the massacre-ravaged country with just his young niece. The pair had been living in America for several years when he was scouted for his role in The Killing Fields by the film’s casting director who was attending the same wedding as him. Although he had to be convinced to take the role, it ended up earning him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, marking the first time an Asian person had won in the category. 

“He had an innate gift for acting,” casting director Pat Golden told The Hollywood Reporter of Haing, who was unfortunately killed during a robbery in 1996.

Barbra Streisand had made a name for herself on Broadway when she was cast in the film adaptation of Funny Girl, a role she had originated on stage. Despite her theater experience, Barbra had never acted on screen before. Even though it was her first time acting on the big screen, she ended up winning the Oscar for Best Actress — a tie with Katharine Hepburn. 

“I had to take out my gum and put it on the bottom of the chair and think about what the hell I was going to say and rushing to the stage, tripping on my long pants, pants that were too long and a top you could see through when the lights are on it, so I was kind of a mess, but it was lovely to receive an Academy Award, I must say,” Barbra recalled to Variety.