Best Production Design

Out of 1,568 nominees for Best Production Design, 13% were women.* The first woman was nominated in 1942 (Julia Heron), with the first winner in 1949 (Carmen Dillon). Thirty-one women have won an Oscar® for Best Production Design.

The percentage of women nominated in this category has increased over time. From complete absence in the 1930’s, women comprised 50% or more of nominees across the last three years. Six women of color have been nominated in this category and two have won. The first nomination for a woman of color was in 1986 (Shinobu Muraki), with the first of two wins in 2007 (Pilar Revuelta).

Thirty-seven women were nominated more than once in this category, compared to 238 men. In fact, 22 men had 10 or more nominations, with one man nominated 39 times (Cedric Gibbons). The most-nominated woman (Nancy Haigh) had 9 nominations. Overall, women were more likely to be nominated just once (64%) while just under half of men in this category (47%) received only one nomination. No women of color were nominated more than once in 96 years.

There have been 49 underrepresented nominees in the category of Best Production Design.* Out of 1,568 nominees, this means that 3% were underrepresented. There were 65 years without an underrepresented nominee in this category, including 2024. The first underrepresented nominee occurred in 1937 (Eddie Imazu). Thirteen underrepresented nominees have won in this category. The first winner was named in 1950 (Emile Kuri).

The 49 underrepresented nominees represent only 31 individuals– 71% were nominated just once. In comparison, the 1,519 nominations for white individuals went to 539 individual nominees, of which 51% were nominated once. Of those with more than one nomination, 266 were white and and 9 were underrepresented. For white nominees, the highest number of nominations was 39, compared to 8 nominations for an underrepresented individual (Emile Kuri).