It takes serious skill to deliver an Oscar-winning performance, and it’s even more impressive when performers achieve this without ever having attended drama school. While plenty ofAcademy Awardwinners have a long history of studying acting, theater, and the art of drama, there are also a select few who managed this astounding feat on sheer raw talent alone. Whether it was non-professional actors giving their very first performance orchild starswho carved out a career while still in elementary school, all these Oscar winners have managed something special.
The bestOscar-winning performanceswere categorized by raw emotion, a commitment to the role, and strong characterization, and this is something that can be achieved without ever attending drama school. Some of these performers representthe youngest Oscar winnersever, aschild stars have defied the odds several times and won Hollywood’s most coveted prize. While there are plenty of positives to attending drama school, these actors proved it’s not a necessity to become an Oscar winner.
10Anna Paquin
Best Supporting Actress for The Piano (1993)
As the second youngest Oscar winner in history, Anna Paquin didn’t have time to go to drama school before winning an Academy Award because she was too busy attending elementary school. At just 11 years old, Paquin took home the coveted award for her role inNew Zealand director Jane Campion’s powerful and evocative historical dramaThe Piano. As the young interpreter to her mute mother (Holly Hunter), Paquin’s beautiful performance showcased a maturity and empathy far beyond her years as she gave a voice to her voiceless mom.
At just ten years old, Tatum O’Neal became the youngest person to ever gain a competitive Oscar for her extraordinary performance inPaper Moon.
Without any professional acting experience, Paquin learned aboutThe Pianothrough a newspaper advert for an open audition, and despite her only other role being a skunk in the school play, she gained the part ahead of 5,000 other hopeful young actresses (viaLA Times.) While Paquin has yet to earn another Oscar, her impressive resume includes everything from theX-Menfranchise toThe Irishman, and she’s remained a notable name in Hollywood ever since.
9Jennifer Lawrence
Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
One thing many of the youngest Oscar winners of all time have in common is that they never went to drama school, as they just jumped head-first into a Hollywood career. This was certainly the case for Jennifer Lawrence, who became the second-youngest Best Actress at age 22 for her role inSilver Linings Playbook. Lawrence’s acting career stemmed not from an in-depth study but from being discovered while on vacation with her family in New York at the age of 14 (viaVanity Fair), which encouraged her to gain her earliest roles on television.
WhileLawrence won the Young Artist Award for Outstanding Young Performer in 2009 at just 19for her regular role as Lauren onThe Bill Engvall Show, it was not until she starred inWinter’s Bonein 2010 that she had a real Hollywood breakthrough. From there, Lawrence joinedThe Hunger Gamesfranchise, earned an Academy Award, and continued developing her talents across comedy, drama, fantasy, and sci-fi films. As one of the most famous actresses on the planet, Lawrence’s rise to the top was impressively rapid.
8Joaquin Phoenix
Best Actor for Joker (2019)
Joaquin Phoenix is one of the most sought-after actors working today whose impressive body of work features collaborations with all-time great directors like Paul Thomas Anderson, Ridley Scott, Spike Jonze, and Ari Aster. As a performer who always tackles challenging and complex characters, one would think that Phoenix would have a drama school background, although this was not the case. Instead,Phoenix came from a family of performersand, despite having a difficult upbringing, followed in his siblings' footsteps, such as his late brother River Phoenix, to pursue an acting career.
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While Phoenix did not earn an Academy Award until the release of Todd Philip’sJokerin 2019, that was actually his fourth nomination for an Oscar. With a vast and varied body of work, Phoenix was first nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 2001 for his role inGladiatorand later earned Best Actor nods forWalk the LineandThe Master, before he finally won forJoker. Without any professional training, Phoenix’s decision to pursue acting fared far better than his tongue-in-cheek and brief time as a rapper.
7Matthew McConaughey
Best Actor for Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
With seemingly endless natural charisma and everyman charm, viewers may have guessed that Matthew McConaughey managed to carve out his astounding career without a drama school background to fall back on. Instead, McConaughey started working in television commercials in the early 1990s before gaining a part in Richard Linklater’sDazed and Confused, a movie featuring several famous future faces in minor roles, like Renée Zellweger.
As a surprise hit that signaled a watershed moment in the history of independent cinema, McConaughey gained serious prominence off the back ofDazed and Confusedand became a major rom-com star of the 2000s. While McConaughey’s early career was impressive, it was his second act that truly stood out ashe reinvented himself as a major dramatic actor with his Oscar-winning turn inDallas Buyers Club. From there, McConaughey had plenty more acclaimed roles in everything fromThe Wolf of Wall Streetto the HBO seriesTrue Detective, a development the media dubbed “The McConaissance."
6Haing S. Ngor
Best Supporting Actor for The Killing Fields (1984)
While several Oscar winners have never attended drama school, few had the credentials to play a role quite like Haing S. Ngor. As a Cambodian-born actor, Ngor won Best Supporting Actor for his role as Cambodian-American journalist Dith Pran in the biographical drama filmThe Killing Fields,a film that dramatized the brutal circumstances of the Khmer Rouge regime, a devastating one-party government that killed millions of its own people through mass executions, forced labor, and starvation that is now known as the Cambodian genocide.
While Ngor had no previous acting experience, he did live through the genocide himself, surviving three terms in a concentration camp and using his medical knowledge to keep his fellow countrymen alive (viaNgor.) With a deep connection to the story told inThe Killing Fields, Ngor gave an astounding performance and became the first actor of Asian descent to win the award. Sadly, Ngor’s life was filled with tragedy as he was later shot and killed by a street gang in Los Angeles in 1996.
5Harold Russell
Best Supporting Actor for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Despite earning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his incredible role in the World War II dramaThe Best Years of Our Lives, Harold Russell was not a professional actor. With a military background, Russell spent the years that most young performers were at drama school fighting in a war and was left without his hands after being injured by defective fuse-detonated TNT explosives. This life-altering accident meant Russell was given two hooks for hands, a characteristic shared by his character Homer Parrish inThe Best Years of Our Lives.
Russell was perfectly cast in his role as a high school athlete frustrated by the loss of independence his hooked hands resulted in, although he was faithfully supported by his loving wife, who added poignancy to this WWII story. However, there’s more to Russell’s Oscar story, as the Academy did not think he was likely to win in his category and gave him anAcademy Honorary Award for bringing hope and courage to fellow veterans. Russell then shocked everyone by actually winning Best Supporting Actor and became the only person to win two Oscars for the same role.
4Jennifer Hudson
Best Supporting Actress for Dreamgirls (2006)
There are countless examples of musicians using their fame to kickstart acting careers, although the number who have managed to successfully pull this off are few and far between, and those who became literal Oscar winners are practically unheard of. One performer who managed this lofty achievement was Jennifer Hudson, the popular singer who, rather than attend drama school, went onAmerican Idolinstead. Hudson’s time on the show made her a major name in the world of music and gained her a role in the film adaptation of the hit musicalDreamgirls.
Hudson’s role inDreamgirlswon her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actorand this was far from where her accolades end. As one of the few performers to achieve the elusive title of EGOT winner, Hudson boasts an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. With hit albums, acclaimed film roles, Broadway musicals, and even her own talk show calledThe Jennifer Hudson Show, this famed musician proved that artists don’t need to go to drama school to leave a major mark on popular culture.
3Russell Crowe
Best Actor for Gladiator (2001)
The New Zealand-born actor Russell Crowe is one of the biggest names in Hollywood, and his acclaimed performances for directors like Ridley Scott have gained him widespread accolades. With three Academy Award nominations, Russell took home the award for Best Actor in 2001 for playing Maximus Decimus Meridius inGladiator. While over-the-top roles in epic historical dramas such as this would fit right in among a drama student’s repertoire, Crowe actually never attended drama school.
While it’s true that Crowe got his start without studying acting, he did consider attending the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art when he was a young man, although somebody talked him out of it. Crowe said he “talked to a guy who was then the head of technical support at NIDA” and “he told me it’d be a waste of time” (viaNew York Newsday.)Crowe said he was told that he was already an actor and that attending drama school would have “nothing to teach you but bad habits,”so he skipped drama school altogether.
2Christian Bale
Best Supporting Actor for The Fighter (2011)
Although Christian Bale is known as an incredibly dedicated artist whose method acting style has led to transformative performances, this commitment to his roles did not stem from attending drama school. Instead, Bale got the best education a young actor could have asked for when he was cast among 4,000 hopeful actors to star in Steven Spielberg’sEmpire of the Sunat the age of 13. With a career that started with childhood stardom,Bale has never left the spotlight and only became a more impressive performer as the years went on.
As a self-taught actor, Bale proved his skills as an adult with his iconic portrayal of Patrick Bateman inAmerican Psycho. With a career-defining performance as Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan’sThe Dark Knighttrilogy, Bale earned Academy Award nominations forAmerican Hustle,The Big Short, andVice. While it would beThe Fighterthat earned Bale his lone Oscar win, this was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to his impressive filmography.
1Emma Stone
Two-time Best Actress winner
While many viewers first encountered Emma Stone from her breakout performance in the 2000s comedySuperbad, she has since proved herself one of the most capable, exciting, and unique actresses in Hollywood. With a career that started with minor TV roles when she was just a teenager, such as inMalcolm in the MiddleandLucky Louie, Stone has since given awe-inspiring performances that earned her two Academy Awards by the time she was 35. Asa two-time Best Actress winner forLa La LandandPoor Things, Stone pulled off this astounding achievement without ever going to drama school.
Part of the reason Stone has had such a successful career is that she knows how to pick parts that are both challenging and entertaining. With equal skill for comedic and dramatic roles, Stone has taken Hollywood by storm and her acclaimed collaborations with directors like Yorgos Lanthimos has only made her career more interesting. While it’s unknown what the future holds for Stone, with two Oscars to her name already, there’s a strong chance she could makeAcademy Awardhistory if she can repeat this feat a few more times.
