CELEBRITY SPOTLIGHT - Quvenzhane Wallis

At the last night's announcement of the Oscar nominees, there was one surprising candidate for the Best Actress in a leading role category. 9 year old Quvanzhane Wallis is nominated for her performance in Beasts of the Southern Wild. (Don't ask me how to pronounce her name because I really don't know how) And she is today's feature for Celebrity Spotlight.

Quvenzhane Wallis is the star in the critically acclaimed fantasy drama Beasts of the Southern Wild released last June 2012. The movie was directed Benh Zeitlin and written by Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar.

Quvenzhane or Nayzie was 6 years old when she filmed the movie. The film which was a sensation at the Sundance Film Festival and is also nominated for 4 awards at the 85th Academy including Best Actress in  leading role for the young Nayzie. 

Wallis is the youngest ever to be nominated for the category. The youngest nominee for Best Actress before Wallis was Keisha Castle Hughes who was nominated when she was 12 for The Whale Rider back in 2003.  Most child actors who were nominated and won are in the Supporting category. The list includes Anna Paquin (The Piano) who was eleven when she won, Tatum O'neal (Paper Moon) who was 10 years old, Jodie Foster who was fourteen when she was nominated as best supporting actress for The Taxi Driver. The only minor who has won yet for the Best Actress in a lead category is Patty Duke who was 16 when she won for her performance as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker.

Will Quvenzhane Wallis be the youngest recipient ever of this award? Well, we have to find out on the awards night on February.

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