First person to win an Oscar for a self-directed performance

According to Official Guinness Records,

The first actor to direct himself in an Oscar-winning performance is Laurence Olivier (UK) who directed himself in the lead role of Hamlet (UK 1948) and went on to win an American Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and Best Picture (the first non-American movie to do so) at the AMPAS Theater, Los Angeles, California, USA on 24 March 1949. The only other actor to achieve this feat is Roberto Benigni (Italy) in Life is Beautiful (Italy 1997).

For a complete list of 1949 records, please visit 1949 Guinness Records in United States.

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