Best Director

Of the 481 nominees in the category of Best Director, less than 2% or 9 have been women.* This is a ratio of 52 men nominated to every 1 woman. Of the 96 years examined, 88 were devoid of women. Five of women’s 9 nominations for Best Director have 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), Emerald Fennell (2021), and Justine Triet (2024). Three women have won the award, which is 3% of all winners, and one was a woman of color (Chloé Zhao).

The only woman nominated twice in this category was Jane Campion. 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 Scorcese (10 nominations, 1 win), and Steven Spielberg (9 nominations, 2 wins).

Twenty-eight of the 481 nominees for Best Director were from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups.* This is 6% of all nominees. There were 73 years when no underrepresented nominees were named for this category, including 2024. 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 4 underrepresented directors have been nominated more than once, compared to 98 white directors.