Oscars 2024: Billie Eilish becomes the youngest two-time Oscar winner in history
Thanks to James Bond and Barbie, Billie Eilish has made history as the youngest person to ever win two Academy Awards after taking her second prize in the ‘Best Original Song’ category.
Prior to this year’s edition of the ceremony, only three people had ever won a pair of Oscars before turning 30. The first was Luise Rainer, when she won back-to-back ‘Best Actress’ statues for The Great Ziegfeld and The Good Earth in 1937 and 1938.
That feat wouldn’t be matched for over 50 years before Jodie Foster took her second Oscar for ‘Best Actress’ at the age of 29 for The Silence of the Lambs in 1992, the same age as Hilary Swank when she scooped her second for Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby in 2005.
However, two new names have been added to the list, after Eilish and her brother Finneas O’Connell followed up their win for James Bond title track ‘No Time to Die’ with another gong for Barbie song ‘What Was I Made For?’.
As a result, not only have the sibling duo become the youngest people to be named as two-time Oscar winners while still in their 20s, Eilish is now the most youthful recipient of two Academy accolades at the age of only 22.
Realistically, she’s got another seven years to build up a lead that would be nigh-on unassailable at this point, and having gone two-for-two already by contributing to the soundtracks for No Time to Die and Barbie, she’ll no doubt be fielding plenty of offers from movies hoping to secure her services.
‘What Was I Made For?’ was always the clear favourite to snag ‘Best Original Song’, and that’s exactly what it did, making a little bit of history in the process.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.