Quvenzhané Wallis

In 2013, became the youngest person ever to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance in Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012). She is also the first Academy Award nominee who was born in the 21st century.

At age 5, Nazie (her nickname), had to fib about her age to audition for her very first acting job--the starring role in Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) because the minimum age to be considered was six. She eventually beat out some 4,000 other local kids to play Hushpuppy--the indomitable child prodigy and survivalist who lives with her dying father in the backwoods bayou squalor of Louisiana. Director Benh Zeitlin told 'The Daily Beast' that when he auditioned Nazie, he immediately realized he'd discovered what he was looking for, and changed the 'Beasts' script to accommodate her strong-willed personality.

The 10th black actress to be nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. She joins the ranks of Dorothy Dandridge, Diana Ross, Cicely Tyson, Diahann Carroll, Whoopi Goldberg, Angela Bassett, Halle Berry, Gabourey Sidibe and Viola Davis.

Wallis was born in Houma, Louisiana, to Qulyndreia (Jackson) Wallis, a teacher, and Venjie Wallis, Sr. , a truck driver. She has one sister, Qunyquekya, and two brothers, Vejon and Venjie, Jr. "Quven", the first part of her name, combines the first syllables of her parents' first names. Wallis, at age five, auditioned for her very first acting job, the starring role in Beasts of the Southern Wild, even though the minimum age to be considered was six. She eventually beat out 4,000 others for the role of Hushpuppy, the indomitable child prodigy and survivalist who lives with her dying father in the backwoods bayou squalor of Louisiana. At that time, she was just six years old during the filming. Wallis is the first African-American child actor and is also the first person born in the 21st century to receive an Academy Award nomination.