# First-time Oscar winners **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 26, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366 "2006-04-26T22:08:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/1 "2006-04-26T22:08:56Z")
Has anyone won the Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, or Best Supporting Actress Academy Awards for their debut film performance? How about Best Director for a first-time director? Or Best Original/Adapted Screenplay for a first-time screenwriter? ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/2 "2006-04-26T22:27:20Z")
I believe Marlee Matlin’s Best Actress award was for her debut performance. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/3 "2006-04-26T22:30:43Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#): > > I believe Marlee Matlin’s Best Actress award was for her debut performance. [Anna Paquin](http://imdb.com/name/nm0001593/) has only one previous credit listed on her IMDB page before “the Piano” (best supporting actress - and I think, the youngest person to win one as well). It’s a voice only credit, so “the Piano” - her oscar-winning performance - is her first ‘face’ appearance. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/4 "2006-04-26T22:33:59Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > How about Best Director for a first-time director? [Delbert Mann did it](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0542720/) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/5 "2006-04-26T22:34:11Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > It’s a voice only credit, so “the Piano” - her oscar-winning performance - is her first ‘face’ appearance. Paquin’s role in Castle in the Sky came well after the Piano (something like 2003, IIRC) - it’s just she was redubbing a movie that was 20-odd years old at that point. The Piano is her first movie role, period. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/6 "2006-04-26T22:42:39Z")
Does Audrey Hepburn count? She had done some small bit parts in films, but her first starring role in _Roman Holiday_ won her Best Actress? ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/7 "2006-04-26T22:46:40Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Does Audrey Hepburn count? She had done some small bit parts in films, but her first starring role in _Roman Holiday_ won her Best Actress? Nope. I’m asking about people who have never acted on screen before. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/8 "2006-04-26T22:53:32Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > [Anna Paquin](http://imdb.com/name/nm0001593/) has only one previous credit listed on her IMDB page before “the Piano” (best supporting actress - and I think, the youngest person to win one as well). Nope. Tatum O’Neal is still the youngest Oscar winner for _Paper Moon_, which was also her debut performance. Haing S. Ngor won a Best Supporting Actor award for his debut role in _The Killing Fields_. I swear I was going to start this exact thread yesterday… ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/9 "2006-04-26T23:16:33Z")
Wasn’t \*Funny Girl \*Streisand’s first role? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/10 "2006-04-26T23:20:09Z")
Yes, but Babs only won a half-Oscar. I keed, I keed. She tied (within three votes, a tie under AMPAS rules) with Katharine Hepburn for _A Lion In Winter_, which was I think the only tie… ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/11 "2006-04-26T23:22:26Z")
Yup on Barbra Streisand. She tied with Katharine Hepburn in Lion in Winter (definitely \*not \* her first role). ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/12 "2006-04-26T23:23:37Z")
Dammit, Otto! ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/13 "2006-04-26T23:31:45Z")
Harold Russell in **Best Years of Our Lives**. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/14 "2006-04-26T23:37:38Z")
And he’s also unique for winning two Oscars for the same role. ---
**Author:** ![Acqua\_Minerale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@Acqua\_Minerale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acqua_Minerale)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/15 "2006-04-26T23:56:35Z")
Charlie Kaufman won Best Original Screenplay for Being John Malkovich his first produced screenplay. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/16 "2006-04-26T23:59:32Z")
Orson Welles: Best original screenplay (shared) for “Citizen Kane” Mel Brooks: Best original screenplay for "The Producers Robert Redford: Best director for “Ordinary People” (the first film he directed) Jerome Robbins: Best director (shared) for “West Side Story.” ---
**Author:** ![Acqua\_Minerale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@Acqua\_Minerale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acqua_Minerale)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/17 "2006-04-27T00:04:25Z")
Not catagory you listed but Stanely Kubrick won for his first and only credit for special effects. ---
**Author:** ![Acqua\_Minerale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@Acqua\_Minerale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acqua_Minerale)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/18 "2006-04-27T00:10:11Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Orson Welles: Best original screenplay (shared) for “Citizen Kane” > Mel Brooks: Best original screenplay for "The Producers > Robert Redford: Best director for “Ordinary People” (the first film he directed) > Jerome Robbins: Best director (shared) for “West Side Story.” Welles had written two produced screenplays (one original) before Citizen Kane. But both were shorts. Brooks wrote The Critic. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/19 "2006-04-27T01:27:43Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Dammit, Otto! (I am so glad you drew attention to this. I’m going to spoil it now and scold him for having Lupus.) ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/20 "2006-04-27T02:09:59Z")
> [@Cat Fight](#): > > (I am so glad you drew attention to this. I’m going to spoil it now and scold him for having Lupus.) Um, what? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366.md?page=2)