Oscar Ageism - Younger men, older women

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anonymous1980
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Post by anonymous1980 »

The front-runner status of The Social Network and the Oscar buzz for its young stars Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake, all under 30, got me thinking about the Academy bias against younger men and older women. How many actors below the age of 30 have won Oscars for acting anyway?

It turns out, in both the supporting and lead category, there are only 4: Adrien Brody (29), Cuba Gooding Jr. (29), George Chakiris (27) and Timothy Hutton (20). If you count Heath Ledger, who would've been 29 had he lived to see his victory, it's only 5.

On the other hand, actresses in their 20's routinely win Oscars.

As for older actresses being passed over for wins, it's a relatively new phenomenon. In the past 20 years, only two actresses over 50 have won: Judi Dench and Helen Mirren. Before, older actresses have won quite often. Are people writing less roles for older women?

Just some random observations that's in my mind. I could be just crazy.
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