7 Oscar Winners Who Won For Their First Movie Ever

At 21, Marlee Matlin was also the youngest best actress winner when she won in 1987 for Children of a Lesser God, her first film (she is also still the only deaf winner of the award).

Other Debut Film Winners

• Gale Sondergaard for Anthony Adverse, 1936
• Katina Paxinou for For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1944
• Eva Marie Saint for On the Waterfront, 1955
• Jo Van Fleet for East of Eden, 1956
• Harold Russell for The Best Years of Our Lives, 1947
• Haing S. Ngor for The Killing Fields, 1985
• Mercedes McCambridge for All the King’s Men, 1950
• Shirley Booth for Come Back, Little Sheba, 1953