Rooney first performed in vaudeville as a child actor, and made his film debut at the age of 6 years. He played the title character in the popular "Mickey McGuire" series of 78 short films, from age 7 to 13. At 14 and 15, he played Puck in the play and subsequent film adaptation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". At the age of 16 he began playing Andy Hardy, and gained first recognition at 17 as Whitey Marsh in "Boys Town", starring alongside Spencer Tracy. At only 19 years old of age, he was the first teenager to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance as Mickey Moran in "Babes in Arms" and became the second-youngest nominee in the category; he was awarded a special Academy Juvenile Award in 1939. Rooney received his second Academy Award Best Actor nomination for his role as Homer Macauley in "The Human Comedy". At 23, it also made him the third-youngest nominee in that very category before he was surpassed by 22-year-old Timothée Chalamet for his role as Elio Perlman in coming-of-age romantic drama "Call Me by Your Name", in 2017, 74 years later.