Hailey Steinfeld might have missed out on her Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in True Grit, but Anna Paquin was more fortunate. Her debut appearance in Jane Campion's The Piano saw her picking up the golden statue at just 11 years old. In The Piano she plays Flora McGrath, daughter of a mute woman (played by Holly Hunter) who finds solace in music. Paquin acts as her interpreter, bridging the gap of communication lost through words and serving as a vessel for her mother's frustrations and desires. It's a performance which shares Steinfeld's inherent maturity in True Grit, another story in which children are caught up in the drama of adult life. Paquin might not have had the most exemplary career in the years since - she's perhaps best known today for her leading role in the intermittently entertaining HBO series True Blood, which concluded last year - proving that getting off to a great start isn't always a good thing.
