Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film
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The Young Artist Award for Best Performance by a Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film is one of the
Young Artist Award The Young Artist Award (originally known as the Youth in Film Award) is an accolade presented by the Young Artist Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to honor excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young ...
s presented annually by the Young Artist Association to recognize a young actor under the age of 21, who has delivered an outstanding performance in a
leading role A leading actor, leading actress, or simply lead (), plays the role of the protagonist of a film, television show or play. The word ''lead'' may also refer to the largest role in the piece, and ''leading actor'' may refer to a person who typic ...
while working within the
film industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post ...
. In its early years, the award was also known as the Youth in Film Award for Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture, as well as by numerous other variations to its title over the years, however, the spirit of the award has remained essentially the same since its inception. Winners are selected by secret ballot of the 125 members of the Young Artist Association as well as former Youth in Film Award/Young Artist Award winners.


History

Throughout the past 34 years, accounting for ties, category splits, and repeat winners, the Young Artist Association has presented a total of 43 "Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film" awards to 40 different actors. Winners of the award receive the traditional Young Artist Award statuette; a gilded figure of a man displaying a
star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...
above its head, reminiscent of a miniature child-sized
Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...
. The first recipient was
Dennis Christopher Dennis Christopher (born Dennis Carrelli; December 2, 1955) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in ''Breaking Away'' (1979), '' Fade to Black'' (1980), ''Chariots of Fire'' (1981), '' It'' (1990) and ''Django Unchained'' (2012) ...
, who was honored at the 1st Youth in Film Awards ceremony (1979) for his performance in ''
Breaking Away ''Breaking Away'' is a 1979 American coming of age comedy-drama film produced and directed by Peter Yates and written by Steve Tesich. It follows a group of four male teenagers in Bloomington, Indiana, who have recently graduated from high sc ...
''. The most recent recipient was
Tom Holland Thomas Stanley Holland (born 1 June 1996) is an English actor. His accolades include a British Academy Film Award, three Saturn Awards, a Guinness World Record and an appearance on the ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 Europe list. Some publications h ...
, who was honored at the
34th Young Artist Awards The 34th Young Artist Awards ceremony, presented by the Young Artist Association, honored excellence of young performers between the ages of 5 to 21 in the fields of film, television and theatre for the 2012 calendar year. The 34th annual ceremon ...
ceremony (2012) for his performance in '' The Impossible''. Throughout the history of the award, the "Best Young Actor in a Feature Film" category has been "split" several times. Until the
3rd Youth in Film Awards The 3rd Youth in Film Awards ceremony (now known as the Young Artist Awards), presented by the Youth in Film Association, honored outstanding youth performers in the fields of film, television and music for the 1980-1981 season, and took place i ...
ceremony (1981), nominations for the "Best Young Actor in a Feature Film" award included all actors, regardless of whether the performance could be perceived to be in either a leading or supporting role. At the 4th Youth in Film Awards ceremony (1982), however, the "Best Supporting Young Actor in a Feature Film" category (not listed on this page) was specifically introduced as a separate award. In the late 1980s, the category was split for three ceremonies; the
9th Youth In Film Awards The 9th Youth in Film Awards ceremony (now known as the Young Artist Awards), presented by the Youth in Film Association, honored outstanding youth performers under the age of 21 in the fields of film, television and music for the 1986-1987 season ...
ceremony (1987), the 10th Youth in Film Awards ceremony (1988), and the 15th Youth in Film Awards ceremony (1993). During these three years, the Young Artist Association split the category into a total of four sub-categories; "Best Young Male Superstar in a Motion Picture", "Best Young Actor in a Motion Picture: Drama", "Best Young Actor in a Motion Picture: Comedy or Fantasy", and "Best Young Actor in a Motion Picture: Horror or Mystery" (all listed on this page). However, the association would once again "merge" these various sub-categories back together after the 15th Youth in Film Awards. Beginning with the
14th Youth in Film Awards The 14th Youth in Film Awards ceremony (now known as the Young Artist Awards), presented by the Youth in Film Association, honored outstanding youth performers under the age of 21 in the fields of film, television, theater and music for the 1991 ...
, the association once again split the category, this time creating a new category to recognize young film actors age 10 and under in their own separate category. The "Best Young Actor Age 10 and Under in a Feature Film" category (not listed on this page) would become a permanent fixture of the Young Artist Awards and, as of 2012, is still awarded annually. Despite the creation of the "10 and Under" category, some "leading" young actors under the age of 10 have continued to be nominated as "Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film".


Superlatives

Although today the Young Artist Association has strict age requirements regarding which nominees are eligible for a Young Artist Award nomination, the association did not originally have such specific age restrictions. Today, candidates eligible for a Young Artist Award nomination must be between the ages of 5 and 21 at the time of principal production of the project for which they are nominated. However, the eldest winner of the "Best Young Actor in a Feature Film" award is
Dennis Christopher Dennis Christopher (born Dennis Carrelli; December 2, 1955) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in ''Breaking Away'' (1979), '' Fade to Black'' (1980), ''Chariots of Fire'' (1981), '' It'' (1990) and ''Django Unchained'' (2012) ...
, who was 23 years old the night he won for his performance in ''
Breaking Away ''Breaking Away'' is a 1979 American coming of age comedy-drama film produced and directed by Peter Yates and written by Steve Tesich. It follows a group of four male teenagers in Bloomington, Indiana, who have recently graduated from high sc ...
'' at the 1st Youth in Film Awards ceremony (1979). The youngest winner of a "Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film" award is
Mason Gamble Mason Gamble (born January 16, 1986) is an American former actor. He is mostly famous for his interpretation of Dennis Mitchell in the 1993 film '' Dennis the Menace'', selected over an estimate of 20,000 children who had auditioned. He played ...
, who was 8 years old the night he won for his performance in '' Dennis the Menace'' at the 15th Youth in Film Awards ceremony (1993). The following list of superlatives is of winners/nominees in the "Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film" category. Wins/nominations in other Young Artist Award feature film categories, such as "Best Supporting Young Actor in a Feature Film", "Best Young Actor Age 10 and Under in a Feature Film", and "Best Leading Young Actor in an International Feature Film", are not included. Superlative winners/nominees are listed alphabetically.


Winners and nominees

For the first twenty-three ceremonies, due to the numerous "Television" awards also presented by the Young Artist Association, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years to recognize the traditional television season. For example, the 1st Youth in Film Awards, presented in October 1979, recognized performers who appeared on television shows and in feature films that were released between September 1, 1978 and August 31, 1979. Starting with the 24th Young Artist Awards, presented in March 2003, the period of eligibility became the full previous calendar year, from January 1 to December 31, similar to the eligibility requirement used by the
Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
. Following the Young Artist Association's practice, the films below are listed by year of their qualifying run, which is the year the film was released in the United States, and not by the date of the ceremony, which has traditionally taken place the following calendar year beginning with the 10th Youth in Film Awards ceremony which recognized performances during the 1987/1988 season and took place in 1989. ★ Winners are listed first and highlighted in gold, followed by the other nominees in the category for that year.


1970s


1980s


1990s


2000s


2010s


See also

*
Academy Juvenile Award The Academy Juvenile Award, also known informally as the Juvenile Oscar, was a Special Honorary Academy Award bestowed at the discretion of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to specifically recogni ...
* Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Young Performer *
Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor The Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor is one of the annual awards given by the American professional organization the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. The Saturn Awards are the oldest film-specialized awards t ...
*
Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actress in a Feature Film The Young Artist Award for Best Performance by a Leading Young Actress in a Feature Film is one of the Young Artist Awards presented annually by the Young Artist Association to recognize a young actress under the age of 21, who has delivered an o ...


References


External links

*
Young Artist Awards
photographs at LIFE.com {{Young Artist Awards Film awards for lead actor Awards established in 1979 Young Artist Awards