Nine-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis received an Oscar nomination for her leading role in Beasts of the Southern Wild, making her the youngest performer to ever be nominated in the leading actress category.

Auditioning for the lead role when she was only 5 years old, Quvenzhané was 6 when filming began in 2010.

Beasts of the Southern Wild was Quvenzhané’s first time acting.  In the moving role, she plays a “little girl with a wild imagination struggling to survive in the southern Delta with her ailing father as a storm approaches.”

Beasts of the Southern Wild won the ‘Grand Jury Prize’ at the Sundance Independent Film Festival and won the Camera d’Or for best first film at the Cannes Film Festival.

Wallis will be competing for the best actress trophy alongside heavy hitters like Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) and Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty).