When 21-year-old Kate Hudson lost her Oscar Almost famous In 2001, her stepfather, Kurt Russell, told her: “Congratulations – you can now move on with your career.”
It’s wise for the actress, who has now received her second Oscar nomination Song Song Blue At 46 years old, she has shared over the years regarding her growth as an actress and creative force in the business. However, it also points out the bitter irony that sometimes comes with winning an Oscar for a certain demographic. Earning the highest honor in your field, even just at the beginning of your career, can make the path forward more complicated, not less.
Only once in the 97-year history of the Academy Awards has a man under 30 won Best Actor. pianistAdrien Brody, who was 29 years old. By contrast, the Academy has chosen dozens of leading ladies in their 20s over the past century — from 22-year-old Janet Gaynor at the first-ever Oscars to Mickey Madison, who succeeded in selecting her. Anura Victory just weeks before her 26th birthday last year.
Of course, Hollywood has historically not been as forgiving of actresses as they move deeper into their careers — and the bright lights on stage on Hollywood’s biggest night aren’t helping matters. “I think it’s hard for anyone, especially if you’re 26,” Gwyneth Paltrow told me last December after her Oscar win. Shakespeare in love. “I couldn’t fully comprehend what it all meant — and then also, ‘Where do I go from here?’ You feel like people have stopped supporting you. I just didn’t know where to go. … I didn’t know what I was supposed to do next.”
This applies even to cases of double success. Jennifer Lawrence, the second-youngest Best Actress winner at 22 years old silver linings playbooksimultaneously emerged as a box office star with Hunger Games. Eventually, she stopped acting for about three years because “the attention on me was too great and too much,” she said Vanity gallery in 2021. She has since returned to the scene leading independent projects such as bridge and My love dieswhile taking on the mantle as energy producer — developmental roles similarly played by other young winners like Natalie Portman, Emma Stone, and Brie Larson.
This trend reflects a necessary response to the reality of many career-launching Oscars: they can leave old-guard decision-makers ignorant and relying on entrenched biases and attitudes. As experiments like Paltrow’s become more widely known, so too does the need to take matters into your own hands. “The industry wasn’t ready for me,” says Lupita Nyong’o, who won an Oscar for her first feature film. 12 years of slaveryHe told me a few years ago. “It was really unsettling when the scenarios after I won were to play other enslaved people – but this time on a boat.” The Yale graduate credited her “stubbornness” for her confidence in saying no and waiting: “I just made a choice.”
This time last year, all eyes were on Madison to see what she would choose, putting her in that familiar, mystifying post-Oscars glow. She immediately made headlines for rejecting an offer to merge with… star wars Machine pass on Shawn Levy Starfighter PIC instead chose to continue working in the author-driven path where she made her name Anura. She will play Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen in Aaron Sorkin’s buzzy film Social network follow up, Social accountin October, and Charlie Bollinger’s dark comic book wraps up filming Mask of the Red Deathpowered by A24.
These moves are exciting. Count Madison is among that exclusive club of stars who forge their own path, taking lessons – implicitly or not – from those who have traveled the same road. Because there is life after the Oscars – win or lose.
This story appeared in the March 11 issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to subscribe.
