29 Photos Of Celebrities At Their Very First Oscars
Even the spotlight-repugnant among us can't ignore the impossibly starry allure of the Academy Awards. Not without issue in recent years, where mishaps have overshadowed its main purpose, the Oscars still remains Hollywood's most important night of the year, making household names out of upstarts and making cinema history with each and every accolade recipient.
But, like everything, there's a first Oscars for everyone in attendance. And with the 2024 ceremony shortly commencing, there's no time like the present to wander Memory Lane and see a baby-faced Meryl Streep, Margot Robbie and Beyoncé attending their very first awards. Cuteness is abound when it comes to those who first attended as children (Drew Barrymore is impossibly sweet!), while others' first turns will remind you of the expansive nature of their careers and the sheer volume of Academy Awards that now line the walls of their homes.
Here, 29 Oscar debuts to reminisce and enjoy.
Meryl Streep - 1979
The 21-time Oscar nominee first attended the Academy Awards in 1979 when she was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category for The Deer Hunter.
Drew Barrymore - 1983
Drew Barrymore made her first Oscars red carpet appearance back in 1983 following the release of E.T., when she was just eight years old. The star attended with her mother, who wore a matching white fluffy stole for the occasion.
Whoopi Goldberg - 1985
The actor received her first nomination in 1985 for her role as Celie in The Colour Purple.
Julia Roberts - 1990
In 1990, Roberts attended her first Oscars - for which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in Steel Magnolias.
Nicole Kidman - 1991
Arriving with then-husband Tom Cruise, Kidman first made an appearance in the early 1990s. In 2003, she won her first Oscar for The Hours.
Gwyneth Paltrow - 1994
Though she didn't win an Oscar until 1999, the star attended in 1994 and posed with film director James Ivory.
Leonardo DiCaprio - 1994
A 20-year-old DiCaprio attended the awards in 1994 when he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor award for What's Eating Gilbert Grape? This began a long few years of fan-fury as DiCaprio repeatedly lost out on an Oscar. That was until (five nominations later) he finally won for The Revenant in 2016.
Halle Berry - 1996
Years before she and Denzel Washington became the first black actors to win the Best Actor and Best Actress Oscars at the same time (in 2002) Berry attended in the late Nineties.
Kate Winslet - 1996
A couple of years before Titanic swept the board when it came to Oscars nominations, Winslet was nominated for Sense and Sensibility. The English actor represented British fashion on the red carpet wearing a two-tone pink dress and cape by Vivienne Westwood.
Jennifer Lopez - 1997
The star attended her first Oscars in 1997, the same year she started to gain recognition thanks to her role as Selena in the biopic of the same name.
Cate Blanchett - 1999
The Australian actor made her Oscars debut the same year she received her first nomination. Blanchett was up for Best Actress for her role as Queen Elizabeth I but was pipped to the post by Gwyneth Paltrow.
Dakota Johnson - 2000
Years before Dakota Johnson attended the Oscars as an actor in her own right, she hit the red carpet with mother Melanie Griffith and stepfather Antonio Banderas for the 72nd Academy Awards in 2000.
Reese Witherspoon - 2002
Hot on the heels of her breakout role in Legally Blonde, Witherspoon attended the 2002 Oscars. Four years later she won the Best Actress award for Walk The Line.
Beyoncé - 2005
The superstar's first Oscars were memorable for a whole host of reasons, from one of her first public appearances with Jay-Z to her red-carpet perfect Versace black dress to her performance at the show where she sang a medley of songs.
Saoirse Ronan - 2008
The Irish actor was just 13 when she first attended the Oscars after being nominated for the Supporting Actress category for her role in Atonement.
Kristen Stewart - 2009
The Twilight star attended her very first Oscars in 2009, and has been a firm fixture on the red carpet ever since. It wasn't until 2022, however, that the actor received her first Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Diana, Princess of Wales in Spencer.
Zoë Kravitz - 2010
The ELLE UK cover star first attended the Oscars with her father Lenny in 2010.
Jennifer Lawrence - 2011
Lawrence first attended the Oscars - wearing a red Calvin Klein dress - after receiving her first nomination for Winter's Bone. She's since been nominated three more times and won in 2013 for Silver Lining's Playbook.
Emma Stone - 2012
One of our favourite's on the red carpet, Emma Stone, wore this beautiful high-neck Giambattista Valli dress at her first Oscars in 2012.
Lady Gaga - 2014
Lady Gaga opted for a pale pink gown by Atelier Versace for her first Oscars red-carpet appearance, cutting a far more classic and low-key figure than we have come to expect in the years since.
Margot Robbie - 2014
In the year after her Hollywood breakout role in Martin Scorsese's Wolf of Wall Street, a brunette Margot Robbie attended the prestigious ceremony wearing a strapless Saint Laurent gown.
Zendaya - 2015
The multi-hyphenate attended her first-ever Academy Awards in 2015, wearing a white Vivienne Westwood gown and her hair in long dreadlocks.
Timothée Chalamet - 2018
Aged just 22, the star of Call Me By Your Name was both a first-time attendee and nominee at the 2018 Oscars – and incidentally, he was also the youngest actor to be nominated for Best Actor in almost 80 years.
Billie Eilish - 2020
Billie Eilish threw the red carpet dressing rulebook out of the window for her first ever Oscars in 2020, eschewing the typical glitzy gown in favour of a white Chanel tweed suit, cut-off lace gloves, trainers and neon yellow hair. So rock 'n' roll.
Emily Blunt - 2007
The actor first attended in 2007 wearing a bedazzling Calvin Klein gown.
Greta Gerwig - 2018
The American director attended her first Oscars in 2018, the year she was nominated for Best Director for Lady Bird.
Florence Pugh - 2020
Pugh chose a tiered Louis Vuitton gown for her Oscars debut, when she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Little Women.
Rihanna - 2023
The multi-hyphenate superstar first attended the Academy Awards in 2023 wearing a custom creation by Alaïa. Pregnant with her second child at the time, Rihanna performed her nominated song 'Lift Me Up' on the night.
Angelina Jolie - 1986
The actor attended her first Oscars wearing a white lace gown as she supported her actor father Jon Voight.
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