Quvenzhané Wallis holds the record as the youngest actress to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar at age 9 (Photo by Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)
In 2013 a small independent film was released called A wonderful girl became one of the history-making sensations of awards season Oscars. The young protagonist of this title, a girl of just 9 years old, is called Quvenzhane Wallis, She was the youngest actress to compete for the golden statuette as best actress.Critics, scholars and the public were completely devoted to his endearing work in this southern drama with fantastical undertones about existentialism and climate change.
The most striking thing is that Wallis, who was also the first African-American girl and the first person born in the 21st century to compete for the Oscar, He did the casting and shot the film at a much younger age., when I was only 5 years old and didn’t even meet the requirements for the position. Although they were looking for a little girl, it was determined that the protagonist of “A Wonderful Girl” should be at least 6 years old, but the little girl, with the support of her family, managed to gain access by hiding her age and a unique achievement in the industry.
“It turned out my audition was in a library. My mother received a call from one of her friends, but it was for a girl between six and nine years old. Then my mother said she couldn’t go because she was only five years old,” the actress said in a 2012 interview for Roger Ebert about getting into Hollywood at such a young age. “But we went and acted like we had nothing to do, we weren’t doing anything wrong.” And we just snuck in, because I was about a year younger, and walked out like we hadn’t done anything.“.
A year later, when Wallis was already six years old, “A Wonderful Girl” was created by the film’s team under the direction of the director Benh Zeitlin, he missed the detail of his age. The little girl’s work was so captivating that she managed to convince more than 4,000 candidates who showed up for the audition. And despite the struggles someone her age might have when faced with a world as complicated as Hollywood, His family fully supported him so that he could showcase his talent.. In fact, Wallis explained in the interview that the biggest obstacle for him was having to miss school to film, a problem the production team solved by providing him with a tutor.
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The film sat in limbo for several years and it wasn’t until its presentation at the Sundance Festival in January 2012, where it won the Grand Jury Prize, that a studio like 20th Century Fox became interested in purchasing it. That was The beginning of an outstanding career that made her stand out through awards and reviewswon awards at prestigious competitions such as Cannes, which catapulted her into the future Oscars, In addition to the nomination for “Quvenzhané Wallis”, he was also nominated for other awards such as “Best Film”, “Best Director” and “Best Adapted Screenplay”. However, This steep rise was a mirage for the aspiring actress.which after this film showed how Hollywood quickly forgot him and his historic achievement.
He appeared in other prestigious films such as: 12 years of slaverythe Steve McQueen drama, which won the award Oscar a year later, but he did so in a small role in which he was unable to showcase his acting skills to the same extent as in A Wonderful Girl. Then he was offered to play the main role Annie in 2014, which despite being a remake of a classic film and musical, ultimately turned out to be a failed project that received neither critical nor public support. He continued to work in dramas like The best in my life with Russell Crowe and Amanda Seyfried in 2015, but we were already faced with smaller titles that made us lose track.
Quvenzhané Wallis is now a 20-year-old woman who has expanded her career into literature. (Photo by Josh Brasted/WireImage)
In recent years it has been omitted from dubbings like that of Trollsin video clips from Beyoncein some episodes of Black-Ish And American horror story and is one of the protagonists of swagger, the AppleTV+ sports series. But while she’s kept herself afloat in the industry, these works have little in common with what we’d imagine a young talent making history at the Oscars would be. At the end, Wallis has suffered the fate of many other Hollywood prodigies.She experienced firsthand how the industry only saw her as a child star and did not give her the opportunity to shine in roles as a teenager or adult.
Luckily, the actress has opened other fronts to expand her artistic career beyond acting. For example, In 2015 she became a children’s book authorsigned a contract with a publisher called Simon & Schuster and created a saga called Shai & Emmieabout two friends who are destined to become stars, where she tries to capture her own experiences.
He also published other individual books such as: An evening with momwith that in 2018 justified her intention to further explore the profession of writing. “Reading is very important,” Wallis said in a statement she sent to the press (via CBS) following her foray into literature. “It allows people to create a visual experience in their mind of what is happening in the story. I hope all readers enjoy letting their imaginations run wild with me and taking a journey into my books.”
On the other hand, if we look at their social networks, we can see that they do it too He introduces himself as a “singer” and “athlete”.exactly two virtues that she has already shown us in films like “Annie” or series like “Swagger” and with which she shows that even today, at the age of 20, she continues to work at the top of her abilities, to pursue her dreams and doors opens, wherever her talent lies she leads.
And despite the fact that Hollywood has turned its back on him, that seems clear Quvenzhane Wallis She still has a lot to say and won’t give up.
This article was written exclusively for Yahoo en Español by Cine 54.
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