Margaret O'Brien

Margaret O'Brien is one of those child actors who makes you genuinely forget she's a kid — there's a raw emotional intelligence in her work that still feels startling today. Her breakdown scene in Meet Me in St. Louis, where little Tootie destroys the snow family on Christmas Eve, is the kind of moment that makes you put down whatever you're doing and just watch. It's no surprise the Academy invented a special Juvenile Award in 1944 just to honor her — the regular categories probably felt unfair to the adults. Born in San Diego in 1937, she was churning out MGM films practically before she could read a full script, and she held her own opposite Judy Garland, which is saying something. She's earned her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame many times over, and honestly remains underrated in the broader conversation about great screen acting.

Name (English)

Margaret O'Brien

Name (Japanese)

マーガレット・オブライエン

Reading

まーがれっと・おぶらいえん

Born

January 15, 1937 (age 89)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Capricorn / Ox

Origin

San Diego, California, United States

Occupation

stage actor / television actor / film actor / actor

Awards & achievements

• 1945 Academy Juvenile Award
• star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
• Academy Honorary Award

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttps://www.missmargaretobrien.com/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%9E%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AC%E3%83%AC%E3%83%83%E3%83%88%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AA%E3%83%96%E3%83%A9%E3%82%A4%E3%82%A8%E3%83%B3

Tags

• California
• stage actor
• television actor
• film actor

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.