Best Director

Photo depicts Oscar® winners from 2019-2023. Getty Images; Neilson Barnard/Getty Images; Pool via Getty Images; Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Gender

Of the 491 nominees in the category of Best Director, 2% or 11 have been women. Of the 98 years examined, 88 were devoid of women. Seven of these 11 nominations for Best Director occurred after 2010. There has only been one year where 2 women have been nominated for Best Director. That year was 2021.

The women nominated for Best Director were: Lina Wertmüller (1977), Jane Campion (1994, 2022), Sofia Coppola (2004), Kathryn Bigelow (2010), Greta Gerwig (2018), Chloé Zhao (2021, 2026), Emerald Fennell (2021), Justine Triet (2024), and Coralie Fargeat (2025). Three women have won the award, which is 3% of all winners, and one was a woman of color (Chloé Zhao).

Only two women were nominated twice in this category: Jane Campion and Chloé Zhao. In contrast, 101 men–or 21% of all nominees–have been nominated more than once across the history of the Academy Awards®. The most-nominated men were William Wyler (12 nominations, 3 wins), Martin Scorsese (10 nominations, 1 win), and Steven Spielberg (9 nominations, 2 wins).

WOMEN NOMINATED FOR BEST DIRECTOR IN 98 YEARS

NAME	FILM TITLE	YEAR
Lina Wertmüller	SEVEN BEAUTIES	1977
Jane Campion	THE PIANO	1994
Sofia Coppola	LOST IN TRANSLATION

Thirty-one of the 491 nominees for Best Director were from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups.* This is 6% of all nominees. There were 74 years when no underrepresented nominees were named for this category, including 2025. The first underrepresented director was nominated in 1966 (Hiroshi Teshigahara). Ten underrepresented directors have won this award– 10% of all winners. The first winner was in 2006 (Ang Lee). From 2012 to 2023, there was at least one underrepresented director nominated every year for the award. A total of 5 underrepresented directors have been nominated more than once, compared to 98 white directors.

Best Director

Gender

Race & Ethnicity