Did you know Jared Leto was 42? I didn’t. Anyway, enough of that: here’s why he’ll win the Best Supporting Actor award at this Sunday’s Oscars for his turn as Rayon in the also-nominated Dallas Buyers Club.

Matthew McConaughey and Jared LetoJared Leto WILL take hom Supporting Actor for his role alongside McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club

Nowadays, Leto spends most of his time fronting his indie-rock venture, 30 Seconds to Mars, but his acting work doesn’t come second: he was widely considered to be deserved of a nomination for Darren Aronofsky’s 2000 Requiem for a Dream and has recently been picking up awards for his latest performance alongside Matthew Mcconaughey.

Usually, the Best Supporting Actor award recognised an older talent; an aging gent not likely to lead a film again, or someone who simply had to walk home with an Oscar but couldn’t get past a precocious talent in the Best Actor category.

It’s important – at this point - to thank Richard Corliss of Time who put the legwork in and did the following research.

Christopher Plummer took the award home for Beginners. Aged 82, he became the oldest actor to take home an acting Oscar. John Houseman (70), George B, (78), Melvyn Douglas (78), John Gielgud (76), Don Ameche, (76), Jack Palance, (71) and Alan Arkin (71) are other examples of older gents taking home the gong. Ages in brackets are at the time of winning.

Arkin, again, was a Supporting Actor nominee last year for Argo aged 78. Aside from Arkin, that category contained Robert De Niro, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tommy Lee Jones and Christoph Waltz. The average age was 63.

Of course, this year’s nominees for the same award buck that trend; it’s full of upcoming talents and young stars. Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips), Bradley Cooper (American Hustle), Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave), Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street) and Leto (Dallas Buyers Club) compete.

Aside from putting in the best supporting performance – a close run thing with Fassbender’s Edwin Epps – Leto, as the eldest nominee, will take home the gong.

Watch our interview with Jared Leto: