December 10, 2020
Over the past 92 years, 238 filmmakers have been nominated for the Best Director Oscar. This Hollywood elite is composed of 168 nominees and 70 winners.
Many of the 70 winners have won multiple Oscar Awards and/or nominations.
Several of the 168 nominees have also been multiple candidates.
Except for the first year, in which two Best Directors were given (one for comedy, the other for drama), each year the category of Best Director has consisted of five nominees.
In theory, the directors are nominated regardless of genre, nationality, and the language in which their films were made.
In practice, however, this category is dominated by U.S. born filmmakers, who are nominated for English-speaking films.
Even foreign directors, such as Italian Bernardo Bertolucci, have been nominated (Last Tango in Paris, 1973) and have won (The Last Emperor, in 1987) for English-speaking films that are largely backed by American financing.
Oscar Winning Directors (A-Z)
Allen, Woody
mother bookkeeper; father jewelry engraver and waiter
Attenborough, Richard
Avildsen, John G.
Beatty, Warren
Benton Robert
Bertolucci, Bernardo (Italian for English)
Bigelow, Kathryn
Bong, Joon-ho (Korean for Korean film)
Borzage, Frank
10. Boyle, Danny
Brooks, James L.
Cameron, James
Capra, Frank
Chazelle, Damien
Cimino, Michael
Coen, Ethan
Coen, Joel
Coppola, Francis Ford
Costner, Kevin
20. Cuaron, Alfonso (Mexican, won for both English and Mexican)
Cukor, George
Curtiz, Michael
Del Toro, Guillermo (Mexican for English-speaking)
Demme, Jonathan
Dieterle, William
Eastwood, Clint
Fleming, Victor
Ford, John
Forman, Milos (Czech for English-speaking)
30. Fosse, Bob
Friedkin, William
Gibson, Mel
Hazanovicius, Michel
Hill, George Roy
Hooper, Tom
Howard, Ron
Huston, John
Inarritu, Alejandro
Jackson, Peter
40. Kazan, Elia
Lean, David
Lee, Ang (Taiwan for English)
Levinson, Barry
Lloyd, Frank
McCarey, Leo
Mankiewicz, Joseph L.
Mann, Delbert
Mendes, Sam
Milestone, Lewis
50. Minghella, Anthony
Minnelli, Vincente
Nichols, Mike
Polanski, Roman (Polish for English)
Pollack, Sydney
Redford, Robert
Reed, Carol
Richardson, Tony
Robbins, Jerome
Schafflner, Franklin
60. Schlesinger, John
Scorsese, Martin
Soderbergh, Steven
Spielberg, Steven
Stevens, George
Stone, Oliver
Taurog, Norman
Wilder, Billy
Wise, Robert
Wyler, William
Zemeckis, Robert
Zinnemann, Fred
Foreign Directors
Bong, Joon-ho (Korean for Korean film)
Foreign Born Directors
UK (British, Irish, Welsh)
Occupational Inheritance:
Parents (father or mother) Directors
Parents in the Arts Professions:
No Occupational Inheritance:
Allen, Woody
Social Class
Lower (working) Class
Middle Class:
Upper-Middle Class:
Upper Class
