Oldest person to win a competitive Oscar award (female)

The oldest woman to win an Oscars statuette in a competitive category is costume designer Ann Roth (USA, b. 30 Oct 1931), who took home the award for Best Costume Design at the age of 89 years 177 days on the evening of the 93rd Academy Awards on 25 April 2021. She was acknowledged for her work on the Netflix drama Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (USA, 2020), which featured an array of 1920s period dresses and suits.

Roth has over 130 movie credits in her filmography, and has produced costumes for more than 100 Broadway shows. She was given just two weeks to prepare the wardrobe for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, and described her work on the semi-biographical movie as the most challenging of her career. Compounding this was the fact that only eight photographs are known to exist of the movie's titular Ma Rainey, a real-life singer and recording artist known as the Mother of the Blues (portrayed by Viola Davis).

This was Roth's second Oscar win, from five nominations; she had previously been crowned by the Academy for her work on The English Patient (USA/UK, 1996), and had been shortlisted for The Hours (USA/UK/France/Canada/Germany, 2002), The Talented Mr. Ripley (USA, 1999) and Places in the Heart (USA, 1984).

• Her nomination on 15 March 2021, at the age of 89 years 136 days, makes Roth the second-oldest female Oscar nominee behind French film-maker Agnés Varda, who received her nod at the age of 89 years 238 days in the Best Documentary Feature category for her film Faces Places (France, 2017) when the 90th Awards were announced on 23 January 2018.
• The oldest female to take home an Oscar statuette was actress Maureen O'Hara (Ireland/USA, b. 17 August 1920), who received an Academy Honorary Award at the age of 94 years 83 days at the ceremony on 8 November 2014.
• The oldest man to win a competitive Oscar is director and screenwriter James Ivory (USA, b. 7 June 1928), who was aged 89 years 271 days when he won Best Adapted Screenplay for Call Me By Your Name (Italy/France/Brazil/USA, 2017) on 4 March 2018.
• The oldest winner overall is production designer Robert F Boyle (USA, b. 10 October 1909), who picked up his Honorary Award at the 80th Oscars ceremony on 24 February 2008 aged 98 years 137 days.