By Johnette Jernigan, Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog, Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper
CLEVELAND, Ohio-Nine- year -old Quvenzhané Wallis (pronounced Kuh-VAHN-zuh-nay) (pictured) is the star of the popular film 'Beasts of the Southern Wild,' and the youngest Oscar nominee in history in the category of leading role in a motion picture. And she is Black and extraordinarily talented, movie critics say.
The young star faces Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence, Naomi Watts, and Riva Emmanuelle as contenders for best actress at this year's 2013 Academy Awards, which will broadcast live on ABC on Sunday, Feb. 24.
The other Black nominated this year for an Oscar in a leading role is Denzel Washington (pictured), 58, for his portrayal of an alcoholic airplane pilot in "Flight."
Washington has won two Golden Globe awards, an Academy award in 1989 for supporting actor in 'Glory,' and an Oscar for best actor in 2001 for his portrayal of a corrupt filthy mouth LAPD narcotics detective opposite Ethan Hawke in 'Training Day.'
This first time actress and Houma, LA Native, Wallis was chosen from a pool of over 3500 hopefuls for the role in the movie of head strong Hushpuppy, a child struggling to survive while taking care of her sickly father in the southern Delta as they prepare for an oncoming storm. She was five- years- old when she auditioned for this role and won the part even though she was not the preferred age of six- years- old.
'Beasts of the Southern Wild' is a 2012 American film written by Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar and directed by Zeitlin. The film is nominated this year for four academy awards for best picture, best director, best screenplay and best actress. It was released in the summer of 2012 in New York and Los Angeles and on DVD and Blu-ray in Dec. 2012.
Wallis is the daughter of a teacher and truck driver. Her parents combined their first names of Qulyndreia and Venjie added with zhané, which is Swahili for “fairy,” to create her unique name of Quvenzhané.
The movie tells the story of a fictional community in Louisiana called the "Bathtub" (a community cut off from the rest of the world by a levee) in which Hushpuppy and her sickly father Wink live and are optimistic about the future of their lives and their community, even though they know this relentless storm is approaching and will likely devastate the town.
Along with the oncoming storm, the children in the 'Bathtub' are taught by their school teacher that prehistoric creatures called Aurochs (extinct wild cattle) will attack the 'Bahtub' through melted ice caps that arise from the same ocean waters that will bring the terrible storm to the community. How Hishpuppy, her father and others in the small town react to the storm and the impact of its devastation on the Louisiana town that they live in carry the movie, one that is both entertaining and educational.
'Beasts of the Southern Wild' has garnered the support of Oprah Winfrey on her OWN Network, as well as president Obama, who describes the film as 'spectacular,' and one of his favorite films of 2012.
The film has also garnered nominations for awards in various venues from the Oscars to NAACP Image Awards. Wallis, in her role has Hushpuppy, has been nominated for several awards aside from the Oscars(some results pending), and has won 10 career awards thus far.
Currently the youngest female to win an Oscar in a lead actress role is Tatum O’Neal for her performance as Addie Loggins in the 1973 film 'Paper Moon,' where she starred opposite her father, actor Ryan O'Neal. At that time she was 10-years-old.
The youngest ever to get nominated for an Oscar was Justin Henry, who had a supporting role in the 1979 Oscar best film of Kramer vs. Kramer, which was released in 1979. Henry.l who lost to Melvyn Douglas for the movie 'Being There,' played then seven- year -old billy, a kid in the middle of a hostile divorce between legendary actors Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep.
What’s next for this child actress prodigy? She will star in the upcoming 'Twelve Years a Slave' alongside Brad Pitt, and she is collaborating with the Sundance Institute on a short film entitled “Boneshaker.”
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