Best Director
1929 to 2026 · 484 nominations
Most nominated in this category
- 1William Wyler12 noms3
- 2Martin Scorsese10 noms1
- 3Steven Spielberg9 noms2
- 4Billy Wilder8 noms2
- 5David Lean7 noms2
- 6Fred Zinnemann7 noms2
- 7Woody Allen7 noms1
- 8Frank Capra6 noms3
- 9John Ford5 noms4
- 10Elia Kazan5 noms2
Year by year
2020s7 ceremonies, tap to open
- 2026Also nominated
Chloé Zhao (Hamnet), Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme), Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value), Ryan Coogler (Sinners)
- 2025Also nominated
James Mangold (A Complete Unknown), Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez), Brady Corbet (The Brutalist), Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)
- 2024Also nominated
Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall), Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon), Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things), Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest)
- 2023
- Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
Also nominatedTodd Field (Tár), Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin), Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans), Ruben Östlund (Triangle of Sadness)
- 2022Also nominated
Kenneth Branagh (Belfast), Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car), Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza), Steven Spielberg (West Side Story)
- 2021Also nominated
Thomas Vinterberg (Another Round), David Fincher (Mank), Lee Isaac Chung (Minari), Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman)
- 2020Also nominated
Sam Mendes (1917), Todd Phillips (Joker), Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood), Martin Scorsese (The Irishman)
2010s10 ceremonies, tap to open
- 2019Also nominated
Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman), Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War), Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite), Adam McKay (Vice)
- 2018Also nominated
Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk), Jordan Peele (Get Out), Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird), Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread)
- 2017Also nominated
Denis Villeneuve (Arrival), Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge), Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea), Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)
- 2016Also nominated
George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road), Lenny Abrahamson (Room), Tom McCarthy (Spotlight), Adam McKay (The Big Short)
- 2015Also nominated
Richard Linklater (Boyhood), Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher), Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game)
- 2014Also nominated
Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), David O. Russell (American Hustle), Alexander Payne (Nebraska), Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street)
- 2013Also nominated
Michael Haneke (Amour), Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Steven Spielberg (Lincoln), David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)
- 2012Also nominated
Martin Scorsese (Hugo), Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris), Alexander Payne (The Descendants), Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life)
- 2011Also nominated
Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), David O. Russell (The Fighter), David Fincher (The Social Network), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (True Grit)
- 2010Also nominated
James Cameron (Avatar), Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds), Lee Daniels (Precious), Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)
2000s10 ceremonies, tap to open
- 2009Also nominated
Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon), Gus Van Sant (Milk), David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Stephen Daldry (The Reader)
- 2008
- Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Also nominatedJason Reitman (Juno), Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton), Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood)
- 2007Also nominated
Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel), Clint Eastwood (Letters from Iwo Jima), Stephen Frears (The Queen), Paul Greengrass (United 93)
- 2006Also nominated
Bennett Miller (Capote), Paul Haggis (Crash), George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck.), Steven Spielberg (Munich)
- 2005Also nominated
Taylor Hackford (Ray), Alexander Payne (Sideways), Martin Scorsese (The Aviator), Mike Leigh (Vera Drake)
- 2004Also nominated
Fernando Meirelles (City of God), Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation), Peter Weir (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World), Clint Eastwood (Mystic River)
- 2003Also nominated
Rob Marshall (Chicago), Martin Scorsese (Gangs of New York), Pedro Almodóvar (Talk to Her), Stephen Daldry (The Hours)
- 2002Also nominated
Ridley Scott (Black Hawk Down), Robert Altman (Gosford Park), David Lynch (Mulholland Drive), Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring)
- 2001Also nominated
Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot), Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich), Ridley Scott (Gladiator)
- 2000Also nominated
Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich), Lasse Hallström (The Cider House Rules), Michael Mann (The Insider), M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense)
1990s10 ceremonies, tap to open
- 1999Also nominated
Roberto Benigni (Life Is Beautiful), John Madden (Shakespeare in Love), Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line), Peter Weir (The Truman Show)
- 1998Also nominated
Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting), Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential), Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty), Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter)
- 1997Also nominated
Joel Coen (Fargo), Mike Leigh (Secrets & Lies), Scott Hicks (Shine), Milos Forman (The People vs. Larry Flynt)
- 1996Also nominated
Chris Noonan (Babe), Tim Robbins (Dead Man Walking), Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas), Michael Radford (The Postman)
- 1995Also nominated
Woody Allen (Bullets Over Broadway), Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction), Robert Redford (Quiz Show), Krzysztof Kieslowski (Three Colors: Red)
- 1994Also nominated
Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father), Robert Altman (Short Cuts), Jane Campion (The Piano), James Ivory (The Remains of the Day)
- 1993Also nominated
James Ivory (Howards End), Martin Brest (Scent of a Woman), Neil Jordan (The Crying Game), Robert Altman (The Player)
- 1992Also nominated
John Singleton (Boyz n the Hood), Barry Levinson (Bugsy), Oliver Stone (JFK), Ridley Scott (Thelma & Louise)
- 1991Also nominated
Martin Scorsese (GoodFellas), Barbet Schroeder (Reversal of Fortune), Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather Part III), Stephen Frears (The Grifters)
- 1990Also nominated
Woody Allen (Crimes and Misdemeanors), Peter Weir (Dead Poets Society), Kenneth Branagh (Henry V), Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot)
1980s10 ceremonies, tap to open
- 1989Also nominated
Charles Crichton (A Fish Called Wanda), Alan Parker (Mississippi Burning), Martin Scorsese (The Last Temptation of Christ), Mike Nichols (Working Girl)
- 1988Also nominated
Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction), John Boorman (Hope and Glory), Norman Jewison (Moonstruck), Lasse Hallström (My Life as a Dog)
- 1987Also nominated
James Ivory (A Room with a View), David Lynch (Blue Velvet), Woody Allen (Hannah and Her Sisters), Roland Joffé (The Mission)
- 1986Also nominated
Hector Babenco (Kiss of the Spider Woman), John Huston (Prizzi's Honor), Akira Kurosawa (Ran), Peter Weir (Witness)
- 1985Also nominated
David Lean (A Passage to India), Woody Allen (Broadway Danny Rose), Robert Benton (Places in the Heart), Roland Joffé (The Killing Fields)
- 1984Also nominated
Ingmar Bergman (Fanny and Alexander), Mike Nichols (Silkwood), Bruce Beresford (Tender Mercies), Peter Yates (The Dresser)
- 1983Also nominated
Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot), Steven Spielberg (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial), Sidney Lumet (The Verdict), Sydney Pollack (Tootsie)
- 1982Also nominated
Louis Malle (Atlantic City), Hugh Hudson (Chariots of Fire), Mark Rydell (On Golden Pond), Steven Spielberg (Raiders of the Lost Ark)
- 1981Also nominated
Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull), Roman Polanski (Tess), David Lynch (The Elephant Man), Richard Rush (The Stunt Man)
- 1980Also nominated
Bob Fosse (All That Jazz), Francis Coppola (Apocalypse Now), Peter Yates (Breaking Away), Edouard Molinaro (La Cage aux Folles)
1970s10 ceremonies, tap to open
- 1979Also nominated
Hal Ashby (Coming Home), Warren Beatty, Buck Henry (Heaven Can Wait), Woody Allen (Interiors), Alan Parker (Midnight Express)
- 1978Also nominated
Steven Spielberg (Close Encounters of the Third Kind), Fred Zinnemann (Julia), George Lucas (Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope), Herbert Ross (The Turning Point)
- 1977Also nominated
Alan J. Pakula (All the President's Men), Ingmar Bergman (Face to Face), Sidney Lumet (Network), Lina Wertmüller (Seven Beauties)
- 1976Also nominated
Federico Fellini (Amarcord), Stanley Kubrick (Barry Lyndon), Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon), Robert Altman (Nashville)
- 1975Also nominated
John Cassavetes (A Woman Under the Influence), Roman Polanski (Chinatown), Francois Truffaut (Day for Night), Bob Fosse (Lenny)
- 1974Also nominated
George Lucas (American Graffiti), Ingmar Bergman (Cries & Whispers), Bernardo Bertolucci (Last Tango in Paris), William Friedkin (The Exorcist)
- 1973Also nominated
John Boorman (Deliverance), Joseph L. Mankiewicz (Sleuth), Jan Troell (The Emigrants), Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather)
- 1972Also nominated
Stanley Kubrick (A Clockwork Orange), Norman Jewison (Fiddler on the Roof), John Schlesinger (Sunday Bloody Sunday), Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show)
- 1971Also nominated
Arthur Hiller (Love Story), Robert Altman (M*A*S*H), Federico Fellini (Satyricon), Ken Russell (Women in Love)
- 1970Also nominated
Arthur Penn (Alice's Restaurant), George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), Sydney Pollack (They Shoot Horses, Don't They?), Costa-Gavras (Z)
1960s10 ceremonies, tap to open
- 1969Also nominated
Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey), Franco Zeffirelli (Romeo and Juliet), Gillo Pontecorvo (The Battle of Algiers), Anthony Harvey (The Lion in Winter)
- 1968Also nominated
Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde), Stanley Kramer (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner), Richard Brooks (In Cold Blood), Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night)
- 1967Also nominated
Claude Lelouch (A Man and a Woman), Michelangelo Antonioni (Blow-Up), Richard Brooks (The Professionals), Mike Nichols (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)
- 1966Also nominated
John Schlesinger (Darling), David Lean (Doctor Zhivago), William Wyler (The Collector), Hiroshi Teshigahara (Woman in the Dunes)
- 1965Also nominated
Peter Glenville (Becket), Stanley Kubrick (Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb), Robert Stevenson (Mary Poppins), Michael Cacoyannis (Zorba the Greek)
- 1964Also nominated
Federico Fellini (8½), Elia Kazan (America America), Martin Ritt (Hud), Otto Preminger (The Cardinal)
- 1963Also nominated
Frank Perry (David and Lisa), Pietro Germi (Divorce Italian Style), Arthur Penn (The Miracle Worker), Robert Mulligan (To Kill a Mockingbird)
- 1962
- Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins
Also nominatedStanley Kramer (Judgment at Nuremberg), Federico Fellini (La Dolce Vita), J. Lee Thompson (The Guns of Navarone), Robert Rossen (The Hustler)
- 1961Also nominated
Jules Dassin (Never on Sunday), Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho), Jack Cardiff (Sons and Lovers), Fred Zinnemann (The Sundowners)
- 1960Also nominated
Jack Clayton (Room at the Top), Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot), George Stevens (The Diary of Anne Frank), Fred Zinnemann (The Nun's Story)
1950s10 ceremonies, tap to open
- 1959Also nominated
Richard Brooks (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Robert Wise (I Want to Live!), Stanley Kramer (The Defiant Ones), Mark Robson (The Inn of the Sixth Happiness)
- 1958Also nominated
Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men), Mark Robson (Peyton Place), Joshua Logan (Sayonara), Billy Wilder (Witness for the Prosecution)
- 1957Also nominated
Michael Anderson (Around the World in 80 Days), William Wyler (Friendly Persuasion), Walter Lang (The King and I), King Vidor (War and Peace)
- 1956Also nominated
John Sturges (Bad Day at Black Rock), Elia Kazan (East of Eden), Joshua Logan (Picnic), David Lean (Summertime)
- 1955Also nominated
Alfred Hitchcock (Rear Window), Billy Wilder (Sabrina), George Seaton (The Country Girl), William Wellman (The High and the Mighty)
- 1954Also nominated
Charles Walters (Lili), William Wyler (Roman Holiday), George Stevens (Shane), Billy Wilder (Stalag 17)
- 1953Also nominated
Joseph L. Mankiewicz (5 Fingers), Fred Zinnemann (High Noon), John Huston (Moulin Rouge), Cecil B. DeMille (The Greatest Show on Earth)
- 1952Also nominated
Elia Kazan (A Streetcar Named Desire), Vincente Minnelli (An American in Paris), William Wyler (Detective Story), John Huston (The African Queen)
- 1951Also nominated
George Cukor (Born Yesterday), Billy Wilder (Sunset Boulevard), John Huston (The Asphalt Jungle), Carol Reed (The Third Man)
- 1950Also nominated
Robert Rossen (All the King's Men), William A. Wellman (Battleground), Carol Reed (The Fallen Idol), William Wyler (The Heiress)
1940s10 ceremonies, tap to open
- 1949Also nominated
Laurence Olivier (Hamlet), Jean Negulesco (Johnny Belinda), Fred Zinnemann (The Search), Anatole Litvak (The Snake Pit)
- 1948Also nominated
George Cukor (A Double Life), Edward Dmytryk (Crossfire), David Lean (Great Expectations), Henry Koster (The Bishop's Wife)
- 1947Also nominated
David Lean (Brief Encounter), Frank Capra (It's a Wonderful Life), Robert Siodmak (The Killers), Clarence Brown (The Yearling)
- 1946Also nominated
Clarence Brown (National Velvet), Alfred Hitchcock (Spellbound), Leo McCarey (The Bells of St. Mary's), Jean Renoir (The Southerner)
- 1945Also nominated
Billy Wilder (Double Indemnity), Otto Preminger (Laura), Alfred Hitchcock (Lifeboat), Henry King (Wilson)
- 1944Also nominated
Ernst Lubitsch (Heaven Can Wait), Clarence Brown (The Human Comedy), George Stevens (The More the Merrier), Henry King (The Song of Bernadette)
- 1943Also nominated
Sam Wood (Kings Row), Mervyn LeRoy (Random Harvest), John Farrow (Wake Island), Michael Curtiz (Yankee Doodle Dandy)
- 1942Also nominated
Orson Welles (Citizen Kane), Alexander Hall (Here Comes Mr. Jordan), Howard Hawks (Sergeant York), William Wyler (The Little Foxes)
- 1941Also nominated
Sam Wood (Kitty Foyle), Alfred Hitchcock (Rebecca), William Wyler (The Letter), George Cukor (The Philadelphia Story)
- 1940Also nominated
Sam Wood (Goodbye, Mr. Chips), Frank Capra (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington), John Ford (Stagecoach), William Wyler (Wuthering Heights)
1930s10 ceremonies, tap to open
- 1939Also nominated
Michael Curtiz (Angels with Dirty Faces), Norman Taurog (Boys Town), Michael Curtiz (Four Daughters), King Vidor (The Citadel)
- 1938Also nominated
William Wellman (A Star Is Born), Gregory La Cava (Stage Door), Sidney Franklin (The Good Earth), William Dieterle (The Life of Emile Zola)
- 1937Also nominated
William Wyler (Dodsworth), Gregory La Cava (My Man Godfrey), W. S. Van Dyke (San Francisco), Robert Z. Leonard (The Great Ziegfeld)
- 1936Also nominated
Michael Curtiz (Captain Blood), Frank Lloyd (Mutiny on the Bounty), Henry Hathaway (The Lives of a Bengal Lancer)
- 1935Also nominated
Victor Schertzinger (One Night of Love), W. S. Van Dyke (The Thin Man)
- 1934Also nominated
Frank Capra (Lady for a Day), George Cukor (Little Women)
- 1932Also nominated
Josef Von Sternberg (Shanghai Express), King Vidor (The Champ)
- 1931Also nominated
Clarence Brown (A Free Soul), Wesley Ruggles (Cimarron), Josef Von Sternberg (Morocco), Lewis Milestone (The Front Page)
- 1930Also nominated
Clarence Brown (Anna Christie), King Vidor (Hallelujah), Robert Leonard (The Divorcee), Ernst Lubitsch (The Love Parade)
- 1930
NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL NOMINATION. There were no announcements of nominations, no certificates of nomination or honorable mention, and only the winners (*) were revealed during the awards banquet on April 3, 1930.
Also nominatedFrank Lloyd (Drag), Irving Cummings (In Old Arizona), Lionel Barrymore (Madame X), Harry Beaumont (The Broadway Melody), Ernst Lubitsch (The Patriot)
1920s1 ceremonies, tap to open
- 1929Best Director (Dramatic Picture)Also nominated
Herbert Brenon (Sorrell and Son), King Vidor (The Crowd)