Houma’s wunderkind actress gets Oscar bid

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Houma native Quvenzhané Wallis became the youngest nominee ever for the best leading actress Academy Award on Thursday, notching one of four such honors garnered by the Terrebonne Parish-shot and -inspired “Beasts of the Southern Wild.”

Quvenzhané, a 9-year-old fourth-grader at Elysian Fields School, was 6 years old when the film was shot and had no previous acting experience. She played Hushpuppy, a same-age character who must navigate nature’s threats to her home and father.


Quvenzhané was in Los Angeles last week, so she was unable to be reached for comment. She told the Gumbo Entertainment Guide in June that she liked Hushpuppy because “She’s nice. She just cared about every thing,” and that she hoped to continue acting because “you get to meet different people and different directors.”


Jessica Chastain in “Zero Dark Thirty,” Jennifer Lawrence in “Silver Linings Playbook,” Emmanuelle Riva in “Amour” and Naomi Watts in “The Impossible” are also nominated for best actress.

Quvenzhané is not the youngest nominee ever in all Academy Award categories. Jackie Cooper was 125 days younger when he was nominated for his role in “Skippy” in 1931. But with an Oscar, Quvenzhané would become the youngest winner in the Academy’s history.


The Houma star will appear alongside Brad Pitt, Paul Giamatti and Sarah Paulson in Steve McQueen’s “Twelve Years a Slave,” due to premier this year.


“Beasts” received three other nominations at the ceremony last week, including Best Picture. Director Benh Zeitlin is a candidate for best director and for best adapted screenplay alongside co-writer Lucy Alibar.

The 85th Academy Awards ceremony, broadcast on ABC, begins at 6 p.m., Feb. 24.


The other Best Picture candidates are “Amour,” “Argo,” “Django Unchained” “Les Misérables,” “Life of Pi,” “Lincoln,” “Silver Linings Playbook,” and “Zero Dark Thirty.”

Told through the assured voice of Hushpuppy, “Beasts of the Southern Wild” is a story of survival, maturation and determination. In the face of a hurricane and health complications, she and her father, Wink (Dwight Henry), must cope with side effects of living a primal lifestyle disconnected from society in their aptly named, fictional community the Bathtub.

The story touches on inspiration Zeitlin gleaned while living and filming in Terrebonne Parish. Zeitlin and Alibar collaborated on the script while residing in Point-aux-Chenes. For research, they made trips to Isle de Jean Charles, a community whose inhabitants’ refusal to leave the ridge is encapsulated in the screenplay.

“I just looked at the map and started driving to the end of every town (in coastal Louisiana),” Zeitlin told the Gumbo Entertainment Guide in June. “When I got down to the end of Point-aux-Chenes, it sort of felt like there’s a real tenacious, vibrant community that’s still holding out right at the edge. I was really inspired by that.

“It’s a tragic story, but it’s also really inspiring, the people that are still (on Isle de Jean Charles) holding on.”

“Beasts” was Zeitlin’s first feature-length film, coming it at 93 minutes. The screenplay was adapted from Alibar’s stage play “Juicy and Delicious,” which dealt with similar interpersonal and mythical themes from the vantage point of a young boy. Zeitlin approached Alibar to adjust the script for a film focusing on Louisiana’s eroding coastline.

The movie won the Grand Jury Prize and the Excellence in Cinematography Award at Sundance 2012 and many other accolades. It has also been nominated for four Spirit Awards, which will be presented live Feb. 23 on IFC.

Daughter and father Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) and Wink (Dwight Henry) are pictured in this “Beasts of the Southern WIld” screenshot. Quvenzhané, a 9-year-old student at Elysian Fields School, is nominated for a best-actress Oscar.

COURTESY PHOTO