Many people have earned a special place in Oscar history by achieving a first – and Luise Rainer is one of them. The German actress made history as the first person to win multiple Academy Awards.
Luise Rainer made history in 1938 by winning the Best Actress Oscar for The Good Earth. This followed her win the previous year for The Great Ziegfeld, making her the first person to win two Academy Awards for acting. While she was the first, she certainly wasn’t the last—45 other actors have since achieved the same feat, with some even winning three times. Katharine Hepburn currently holds the record with four Oscar wins for acting.
Yet, none of those 45 actors has overtaken another record Rainer set with her second Oscar win.
Luise Rainer Is Still The Youngest Actor To Be A Two-Time Oscar Winner
Winning two Oscars is a significant achievement for anyone, but what makes Rainer’s win truly remarkable is how young she was. She was just 28 years old when she received her second acting Oscar at the 10th Academy Awards, and no one has ever won their second acting Oscar at a younger age in the 88 years since. (It’s worth noting that Billie Eilish now holds the record for the youngest two-time Oscar winner overall.)
Since Rainer won her Oscar, several younger actors have won, but none of them have ever won a second one, or if they did, it wasn’t until they were 28 or older. Jodie Foster came the closest to breaking Rainer’s record, winning her second Oscar at age 29 for her role in The Silence of the Lambs.
Only Rainer and Foster have won more than one Oscar before turning 30. Hilary Swank and Bette Davis both earned their second Academy Awards when they were exactly 30 years old.
| Youngest Two-Time Oscar Winning Actors | |
|---|---|
| Actor | Age |
| Luise Rainer | 28.1 |
| Jodie Foster | 29.3 |
| Hilary Swank | 30.6 |
| Bette Davis | 30.9 |
| Olivia de Havilland | 33.7 |
| Meryl Streep | 33.8 |
| Elizabeth Taylor | 35.1 |
| Emma Stone | 35.3 |
| Robert De Niro | 37.6 |
| Glenda Jackson | 37.9 |
Recently, several actresses have come close to breaking Rainer’s record for youngest Oscar winner, but none have succeeded. Jennifer Lawrence, who won her first Oscar at age 22 for Silver Linings Playbook, could have taken the record if she’d won for American Hustle at 23 or Joy at 25.
Saoirse Ronan was nominated for an Oscar four times before turning 25, but she hasn’t won one yet. Now, she’s older than Rainer was when she won her second Oscar, meaning she no longer qualifies for the award.
Currently, Mikey Madison is the most likely actor to surpass Rainer’s record. At 25, she won Best Actress for Anora, putting her in a strong position to claim the record. If she wins another Oscar within the next two years, she’ll become the new record holder, and she might even achieve this as early as next year with her role in Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Reckoning.
Until a younger actor wins two Oscars, Luise Rainer will continue to hold the record as the youngest person to achieve that feat.
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2026-02-28 19:42