Quvenzhané Wallis
Quvenzhané Wallis is an American actress and author, born on August 28, 2003, in Houma, Louisiana. She gained widespread recognition for her role as Hushpuppy in the critically acclaimed film *Beasts of the Southern Wild* (2012), which marked her first acting experience. Despite being only five years old at the time of casting—below the required age—Wallis's determination led her to audition by pretending to be older. Her performance earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress at the 2013 Academy Awards, making her the youngest nominee in that category.
Following her breakout role, Wallis continued to build her acting career with appearances in notable films such as *12 Years a Slave* (2013) and *Annie* (2014), the latter earning her a Golden Globe nomination. In addition to acting, she has published children's books, starting with *A Night Out with Mama* in 2017, and has voiced characters in animated films like *Trolls* (2016). Wallis’s vibrant personality and talent have made her a respected figure in the entertainment industry, promising a bright future ahead.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Quvenzhané Wallis
Actor
- Born: August 28, 2003
- Birthplace: Houma, Louisiana
Contribution: Quvenzhané Wallis burst onto the Hollywood scene with her widely acclaimed performance as Hushpuppy in the 2012 film Beasts of the Southern Wild. Her debut performance left audiences so entranced that the she became the youngest person ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for best actress.
Background
Quvenzhané Wallis was born on August 28, 2003, in Houma, Louisiana, to Venjie and Qulyndreia Wallis. She has three older siblings, Qunyquekya, Venjie Jr., and Vejon. Wallis’s mother and father, a truck driver and health teacher, respectively, began to recognize that their daughter was uniquely talented almost as soon as she learned to talk. A precocious young girl, Wallis demonstrated a vivid imagination and a notably outspoken, vibrant personality. She also showed that she had a flair for acting, often pretending to be a teacher with her family acting as her students.
Wallis’s jovial attitude and spirited personality made her endearing to nearly anyone who met her. Once enrolled at Honduras Elementary School in her hometown, Wallis exhibited unbridled enthusiasm and an overtly affable demeanor that made it easy for others to notice her obvious talents. When word spread across Houma that Hollywood producers were looking for a local girl to play a leading role in an upcoming film, a friend of Wallis’s mother suggested that her daughter would be a perfect fit. Her mother agreed and Wallis suddenly found herself on the brink of Hollywood stardom.
Career
The producers of Beasts of the Southern Wild faced an arduous task in casting the role of Hushpuppy, a young, imaginative, and extraordinarily strong-willed girl from the farthest reaches of the Louisiana bayou. Hoping to find an actress who was as authentic as possible, they undertook an exhaustive search for their leading lady with an ambitious casting call in the real-life bayou region.
For Wallis, the casting process should actually have ended before it even began. The official casting call was for girls between the ages of six and nine, but Wallis was only five at the time. Wallis was determined to get the part, however, and, with her mother’s help, she pretended to be six so she could get an audition—a move she thought was justified because, as she believed, Hushpuppy would have done just the same.
As she entered her first audition, Wallis was competing against two to three thousand other girls and clearly facing unlikely odds. Although she had no previous acting experience, her energetic personality and natural ability left a strong impression on the producers. After several callbacks, Wallis found herself among the top contenders for the role. Eventually, she emerged as the favorite and won the part.
In the film (directed by Benh Zeitlin), Wallis’s Hushpuppy is an adventurous young girl living with her widowed father (portrayed by Dwight Henry) in a part of the Louisiana bayou that is virtually cut off from the rest of the world and increasingly on the brink of being wiped off the map by rising sea levels. In Hushpuppy’s eyes, her world is held together delicately by a perfect natural order that must be carefully maintained if she and her father are to survive. When her father becomes ill and a massive storm threatens her small town, Hushpuppy fears that everything she knows is about to be washed away. Making matters worse, another environmental disaster in a far-off part of the world unleashes a terrifying array of prehistoric creatures from a long, ice-encased slumber that are now heading for the bayou. In the end, Hushpuppy must overcome numerous obstacles, including accepting her father’s fate, to find the truth and save the only place she has ever called home.
When it was released in 2012, Beasts of the Southern Wild garnered widespread critical praise, and Wallis was hailed for her outstanding performance. Critics were so impressed with Wallis that many predicted she would be a surefire Oscar contender. To her surprise, Wallis was indeed nominated in the best actress category for the 2013 Academy Awards, becoming the youngest person to earn that honor. Although she did not win the award (Jennifer Lawrence took home the Oscar for her role in Silver Linings Playbook), Wallis garnered much attention simply for her nomination—attention that will undoubtedly lead to future success.
Since appearing in Beasts of the Southern Wild, Wallis has continued pursuing an acting career. She appeared in the short film Boneshaker in 2013 and acted alongside Brad Pitt in the full-length film 12 Years a Slave, directed by Steve McQueen. She also played the lead role in an all African American version of Annie (2014) with Jamie Foxx, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination. In 2016, she lent her voice to the animated musical film Trolls and appeared in the music video All Night for singer Beyoncé's visual album Lemonade . She later had a recurring role on the comedy Black-ish in 2019.
In addition to her acting career, Wallis became a published author in 2017 with the release of the children's chapter books A Night Out with Mama and Shai & Emmie Star in Break an Egg! The latter book became the first in a series about two best friends. It was followed by Shai & Emmie Star in Dancy Pants! and Shai & Emmie Star in To the Rescue!, both published in 2018.
Impact
In what was not only her first feature film but also her very first acting job, Wallis proved her outstanding talent as an actress. Despite her inexperience, she received critical praise and an Oscar nod for her work in Beasts of the Southern Wild and took her first steps on what will likely be a long career path in Hollywood.
Principal Works
Beasts of the Southern Wild, 2012
Boneshaker, 2013
12 Years a Slave, 2013
Annie, 2014
Trolls, 2016
Black-ish, 2019
Bibliography
“Beasts of the Southern Wild Press Kit.” Cannes Film Festival. Festival de Cannes, 18 May 2012. Web. 22 July 2013.
McKnight, Laura. “Houma Girl to Star in Independent Film.” Daily Comet. DailyComet.com, 13 May 2010. Web. 22 July 2013.
Rottenberg, Josh. “Beasts of the Southern Wild Breakout Quvenzhané Wallis to Star in New Big-Screen Annie.” Entertainment Weekly. Entertainment Weekly, 24 Feb. 2013. Web. 22 July 2013.
Ryzik, Melena. “Ex-Outsiders, Now Basking in the Moment.” New York Times 24 Jan. 2013: C1–C2. Print.
Truitt, Brian. “Quvenzhané Wallis Makes Southern Wild Sing.” USA Today. Gannett Company, 26 June 2012. Web. 22 July 2013.