Oscar nominations were announced this morning and 14-year-old Pilipina-American Actress Hailee Steinfeld is among those being recognized. Steinfeld wowed audiences with her performance as Mattie Ross in the Coen brothers' 2010 adaptation of True Grit, therefore, it comes as no surprise that she’d be one of the five Best Supporting Actress nominees. Steinfeld held her own in a film that also starred Hollywood heavyweights Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Josh Brolin; and has therefore made her own mark in the industry.

Steinfeld’s father is Jewish and her mother is of Pilipino, African-American, and European descent, and she hails from Thousand Oaks, California. The teenager has only been acting for a few years (since she was 8), but there is no question that she has a bright future ahead of her. Her True Grit co-star Bridges called her performance “remarkable”. Damon also has high praises for the young actress saying, “This [character] isn’t her at all. [Hailee] is very different in the movie than she is in real life — it really is a performance.”

Despite her seemingly overnight rise to fame, Steinfeld insists that she is still a regular girl because her parents and older brother make sure to keep her grounded. While filming True Grit, Steinfeld even discouraged the use of “bad words” by her older male co-stars. She made a “bad boy jar” and charged $5 for the “f” word and $1 for other curse words. Steinfeld collected $350 and matched the amount. She donated all of the money to an Alzheimer’s foundation.

The 83^rd Annual Academy Awards will be held at the Kodak Theatre on Sunday, February 27, 2011. Many people are already predicting Steinfeld to come away with the Oscar, but we’ll just have to wait and see if Steinfeld will win the Super Bowl of acting awards.

Related Links:

• IMDb

Photo from:

• Paramount Pictures