Skip to content
Search
Search
 

Why Oscar Winners Are Getting Older

The average age of award winners for best actor and actress has been steadily climbing since the 1950s

by Meghan Bogardus, AARP The Magazine, February/March 2014

In Tinseltown, youth may not always rule. Pop-culture analyst Matthew Belinkie averaged the ages of Oscar winners in five-year increments and found an overall upward trend, especially since the 1950s. Belinkie speculates that the growing gulf between award-winning prestige pictures and crowd-pleasing popcorn flicks could be fueling the age creep. "Now movies that are made to win Oscars are designed for an older audience," he says.

See also: 50 years ago — an Oscar night to remember

Perhaps not unrelated: Oscar voters aren't getting any younger either. In 2012 the Los Angeles Times determined that the median age of members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was 62.