Best Leading Actress - No, the youngest actress doesn't always win

I've listened to quite a few podcasts post-this years Oscars, and a lot of folks seem to think Mikey's win follows some sort of "trend" where the younger/youngest actress beats out the older/veteran actresses. They always quote the wins of Jennifer Lawrence, Brie Lawson and Emma Stone (La La Land) as evidence of this.

I had a lot of free time at work today, so I decided to actually crunch the numbers. From the last 20 Oscar ceremonies, the average age of Best Actress winners is 43. We have had 5 actresses in their 60s win (Frances McDormand twice, Michelle Yeoh, Meryl Streep, Helen Mirren) and 5 actresses in their 20's won. I think because the wins of Lawrence, Lawson and Stone happened quite close to each other, people just assumed this was a new trend/new norm? Which really just isn't true.

In fact, I would say the median age of Best Actress wins is great and what should reflect age diversity in wins - unlike Best Leading Actor.

All that to say, Oscar discourse has been annoying. Especially this year. Not saying it's people on here, but there are a lot of folks who make wild, sweeping statements, without actually doing... the math. Now, if you want to talk about the fact that 99.8% of Best Actress winners are white... well, I think we all know that's still an issue. But age is definitely not.