LOS ANGELES - The Academy Awards have been kind to actresses making their big-screen debuts. But men in debut performances? Not so much.
With her supporting-actress nomination for the Western "True Grit," 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld is the 73rd first-time performer to compete for an Oscar in the show's 83-year history.
Fifty-year-old veteran Melissa Leo is considered the favorite to win supporting actress for "The Fighter." But Steinfeld is nominated in the category that has been especially competitive for beginners — and for child actors.
Of the 72 previous Hollywood novices nominated for Oscars, 31 were up for supporting actress. Eight won, including Jennifer Hudson for 2006's "Dreamgirls," Eva Marie Saint for 1954's "On the Waterfront" and Jo Van Fleet for 1955's "East of Eden."
Two first-timers who won supporting actress were even younger than Steinfeld — 10-year-old Tatum O'Neal for 1973's "Paper Moon" and 11-year-old Anna Paquin for 1993's "The Piano." The only other child actor to win an Oscar, 16-year-old Patty Duke, also earned it in the supporting-actress category, for 1962's "The Miracle Worker."
Men in debut roles have earned 22 nominations for supporting actor, but only one took the Oscar, Haing S. Ngor for 1984's "The Killing Fields" (that was a fruitful year for male big-screen debuts; along with Ngor, two others were nominated for supporting actor, Adolph Caesar in "A Soldier's Story" and John Malkovich in "Places in the Heart").
Debut actresses do well at Oscars; not so for men (AP)
