The prospect of attending your first Oscars ceremony is daunting, to say the least. What on earth will you wear? Who should you bring? And, if you’re lucky enough to be nominated, what should you say if you—whisper it—happen to be called up to the stage?
Ahead of the 2026 Academy Awards on March 15, we revisit some of the most jaw-dropping Oscar red-carpet debuts in history, featuring a bevy of Hollywood A-listers who navigated their first appearances like a pro—and went on to win or be nominated for their fair share of statuettes. This year’s crop of first-time nominees, for one, are just as buzzy as the last few generations of stars—Wunmi Mosaku! Rose Byrne! Jacob Elordi! Michael B. Jordan! Newbie attendees also include the likes of One Battle After Another’s Chase Infiniti and Sinners’s Miles Caton.
From a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon-era Michelle Yeoh to a 17-year-old Winona Ryder attending with her then-boyfriend Christian Slater, and Timothée Chalamet before he really went in on the awards campaign—see our shortlist of the best, below.
Photo: Getty Images1/381977
A Best Supporting Actress nominee for Taxi Driver, a 14-year-old Jodie Foster attended her first Oscars ceremony in a floral frock and pearls. 12 years later, she’d win her first Academy Award for The Accused, and her second, for The Silence of the Lambs, three years after that.
Photo: Getty Images2/381980
Two years after breaking out with Halloween, a 21-year-old Jamie Lee Curtis chose a bright red frock for the 52nd Academy Awards, where she presented the prize for Best Cinematography. Her first Oscar nomination and win would come some four decades later with Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Photo: Getty Images3/381981
Two years after Alien, Sigourney Weaver opted for a cream jumpsuit, gold jewelry, big hair, and dramatic eye makeup to present the Oscar for Best Costume Design at the 53rd Academy Awards. She’d receive three Oscar nods over the next eight years: for Aliens in 1987, and both Working Girl and Gorillas in the Mist in 1989.
Photo: Getty Images4/381984
Glenn Close, now an eight-time Oscar nominee—for The World According to Garp, The Big Chill, The Natural, Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons, Albert Nobbs, The Wife, and Hillbilly Elegy – made her Oscars debut in a gloriously ’80s puff-sleeved, embellished black gown.
Photo: Getty Images5/381986
At the tender age of 10, Angelina Jolie attended the 58th Academy Awards in frothy white, Madonna-inspired lace with her father, Jon Voight, a Best Actor nominee that year for Runaway Train. She won her own Oscar 14 years later, for Girl, Interrupted.
Photo: Getty Images6/381986
Also at the 58th Oscars, Amy Madigan chose a black dress with sheer detailing and maximalist jewellery to attend with her husband, Ed Harris, the year she received her first Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actress for Twice in a Lifetime. Her second nod in the same category would come exactly four decades later, for Weapons.
Photo: Getty Images7/381987
The year David Lynch was nominated for directing Blue Velvet, the film’s star, Isabella Rossellini, attended the Oscars to present the prize for Best Art Direction. It would take almost four more decades for her to land her first Oscar nomination, for her supporting turn in Conclave.
Photo: Getty Images8/381989
In her infamous self-designed gown, a 26-year-old Demi Moore made quite the entrance at the 61st Academy Awards, where she presented the Best Cinematography prize alongside her then-husband, Bruce Willis. Three decades later, she received her first Oscar nomination, for The Substance.
Photo: Getty Images9/381989
Heathers stars Winona Ryder (aged 17) and Christian Slater (aged 19), who were then a couple, at the 61st Academy Awards. Over the next six years, the former would collects two Oscar nods, for The Age of Innocence and Little Women.
Photo: Getty Images10/381990
A 22-year-old Julia Roberts at her first Oscars in a slip dress, chandelier earrings and a dazzling engagement ring the year she was nominated for Steel Magnolias, accompanied by her then-fiancé, Kiefer Sutherland. She was nominated the following year, too, for Pretty Woman, and won a decade after that, for Erin Brockovich.
Photo: Getty Images11/381991
A year after Days of Thunder, a ringletted, 23-year-old Nicole Kidman attended the 63rd Academy Awards with her husband, four-time Oscar nominee Tom Cruise. She would eventually go on to top him, with five nods and one win, for The Hours.
Photo: Getty Images12/381992
A 25-year-old Laura Dern channels old Hollywood at the 64th Academy Awards with her date, co-star Vincent Spano, the year she received her first nomination, for Rambling Rose. She would get her second more than two decades later, for Wild, before winning for Marriage Story in 2020.
Photo: Getty Images13/381992
Just days after the release of Basic Instinct, Sharon Stone has a ball at the 64th Oscars, while in attendance to present the prize for Best Sound Effects Editing. Four years later, she was nominated herself, for Casino.
Photo: Getty Images14/381993
Emma Thompson and her mother at the 65th Oscars, the year she was nominated for and won her first statuette for Howards End. The following year, she earned two more nods—for In the Name of the Father and The Remains of the Day—and secured her second Oscar two years after that, for adapting Sense and Sensibility.
Photo: Getty Images15/381994
A 21-year-old Gwyneth Paltrow chose a strapless, silver column gown and pearl choker for her first Oscars, five years before she wore candy floss-pink Ralph Lauren and won for Shakespeare in Love.
Photo: Getty Images16/381996
Halle Berry is a vision in lavender at her first Oscars, six years before making history as the first woman of color to win the Best Actress prize, with Monster’s Ball.
Photo: Getty Images17/381996
Future Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner (for Boyhood in 2015), Patricia Arquette, aged 27, poses with her then-husband, Nicolas Cage, as he celebrates his Best Actor win for Leaving Las Vegas.
Photo: Getty Images18/381996
At the same ceremony, a 20-year-old Kate Winslet dazzles in a Barbie-pink ball gown, the year she was nominated for her first statuette, for Sense and Sensibility. Over the next two decades, she landed seven more nominations and one win, for The Reader.
Photo: Getty Images19/381999
Three years after Jerry Maguire, but before she earned two Oscar nods (for Bridget Jones’s Diary in 2002 and Chicago in 2003) and took home two prizes (for Cold Mountain in 2004 and Judy in 2020), Renée Zellweger attended the 71st Academy Awards to introduce one of the Best Song performances.
Photo: Getty Images20/381999
Her future Chicago co-star, Catherine Zeta-Jones, then best known for The Mask of Zorro, made her Oscars debut at the same ceremony, coincidentally to introduce another Best Song nominee. She would win a statuette for playing Velma Kelly four years later.
Photo: Getty Images21/381999
The other future Oscar winner and red-carpet regular to make her first appearance at the ceremony in 1999? Cate Blanchett, then a first-time Academy Award nominee for Elizabeth. Over the next three decades, she would rack up eight more nods and two wins, for The Aviator and Blue Jasmine.
Photo: Getty Images22/382000
In an electric blue strapless gown, a 25-year-old Penélope Cruz, the star of All About My Mother, attended the 72nd Academy Awards to present the Best Foreign Language Film prize to her friend and collaborator Pedro Almodóvar. Seven years later, she would receive her first Oscar nod for Volver, before winning two years after that, for Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
Photo: Getty Images23/382001
Two decades before her historic Best Actress Oscar win for Everything Everywhere All At Once, Michelle Yeoh attended the 73rd Academy Awards to present the prize for Best Visual Effects. That year, her latest release, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, racked up four wins from its 10 nods.
Photo: Getty Images24/382002
A year after Legally Blonde, a 26-year-old Reese Witherspoon attended the 74th Academy Awards with her then-husband, Ryan Phillippe, with whom she presented the Best Makeup prize. She would win her own statuette four years later, for Walk the Line.
Photo: Getty Images25/382002
At the same ceremony, a 19-year-old Kirsten Dunst made her debut, too, shortly before going on to star in Spider-Man. (She presented the Best Visual Effects prize alongside co-star Tobey Maguire). She’d receive her first Oscar nomination 20 years later, for The Power of the Dog.
Photo: Getty Images26/382005
Nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Hotel Rwanda, Sophie Okonedo arrived at the 77th Academy Awards in a strapless, floor-length white gown.
Photo: Getty Images27/382008
A 13-year-old Saoirse Ronan chose a lace-embellished, emerald-green gown for the 80th Oscars, the year she was first nominated, for Atonement. Since then, she’s been recognized three more times, for Brooklyn, Lady Bird, and Little Women.
Photo: Getty Images28/382009
Viola Davis, resplendent in gold lamé at the 81st Oscars with her husband, Julius Tennon, the year she received her first nomination, for Doubt. She was acknowledged again in 2012 for The Help, before winning in 2017, for Fences.
Photo: Getty Images29/382009
A year after Mamma Mia!, a 23-year-old Amanda Seyfried brought the glamour to (and served as a presenter at) the 81st Oscars. Her first nod came 12 years later, with Mank.
Photo: Getty Images30/382010
In what is perhaps the most specifically 2010 Oscars look of all time, a 24-year-old, pixie-cropped Carey Mulligan arrived at the 82nd Academy Awards to celebrate her first nod, for An Education. Over the next decade and a half, she’d earn two more nominations, for Promising Young Woman and Maestro.
Photo: Getty Images31/382010
A 19-year-old Kristen Stewart opted for a figure-skimming, floor-length frock for the 82nd Oscars, where the Twilight breakout acted as a presenter alongside her co-star Taylor Lautner. Her first nod would come more than a decade later, for Spencer.
Photo: Getty Images32/382012
At the 84th Oscars, a 23-year-old Emma Stone—then best known as a comic scene-stealer in the likes of Superbad, Zombieland, Easy A and Crazy, Stupid, Love—made a splash in dramatic Giambattista Valli couture, the year her latest movie, The Help, received four nominations. She presented the Best Visual Effects prize with Ben Stiller, and made the most of her moment on stage. In the years since, she’s racked up two Best Actress wins, for La La Land and Poor Things, as well as eight nominations in total including 2026’s Bugonia. This makes her the youngest woman to ever receive so many nods.
Photo: Getty Images33/382013
You’ll remember her collectsing her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Danish Girl in canary yellow Louis Vuitton in 2016, but three years before that, Alicia Vikander, aged 24, stunned in a bejeweled naked dress at the 85th Academy Awards, the year Anna Karenina was nominated for four prizes.
Photo: Getty Images34/382014
Five years before she dueted with Bradley Cooper on the Oscars stage and collectsed her Best Original Song prize for “Shallow,” a 28-year-old Lady Gaga made her Oscars debut at the 86th Academy Awards.
Photo: Getty Images35/382014
A 23-year-old Margot Robbie—now thrice Oscar nominated, for I, Tonya in 2018, Bombshell in 2020 and Barbie in 2024—was almost unrecognizable at her first Academy Awards ceremony, with jet-black hair and a berry lip, the year The Wolf of Wall Street received five nominations.
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2018
A 22-year-old Timothee Chalamet, in his white Berluti suit, was the third-youngest nominee in the Best Actor category, and the youngest since Mickey Rooney in 1939. Up for his breakout role as Elio Perlman in Call Me by Your Name, he lost out, but it ignited a fire we’re seeing come to the fore in his run for Marty Supreme.
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2022
Jessie Buckley scooped her first nomination for Best Supporting Actress for the 2022 movie The Lost Daughter. The years since have seen the Irish actor come into her own as a leading woman and with a refined, high-fashion sense of style courtesy of Danielle Goldberg. Having stormed 2026’s awards season—winning four (!) so far for her leading role in Hamnet—it’s looking bright and positive for March 15.
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2025
First-time nominee, first-time winner Mikey Madison appeared in swathed in sugary pink Dior, picking up the Best Actress award for her breakout role in Anora. Her follow-ups see her set to star in Alejandro Landes’s Reptilia opposite Kirsten Dunst, and is rumored to be appearing in The Social Network sequel, The Social Reckoning, as whistleblower Frances Haugen. Having articulated a desire to take on roles that “terrify” her, more awards nods seem promising.
