Do art any art historians consider self-taught artists to be actual artists?

Picasso, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Frank Franzetta & many more.

=Nah. 

What like Van Gogh?  Nah..

Of course they do.

Certainly we consider skilled and talented self-taught artists to be "actual" artists.  You don't HAVE to attend an art school to become a successful and recognized artist, though it helps in terms of developing talent.

But folk art is real art, as is outsider art. They may not appeal to everyone, but they are entirely valid forms of artistic expression.

Yes it’s a genre called Outsider Art