From Frank Borzage in 1929 to Ang Lee in 2013, the Academy Awards have recognized outstanding achievement by movie directors throughout the years.
Multiple winners of the Best Director Oscar have included Frank Capra, John Ford, Clint Eastwood, and Steven Spielberg.
Best Director Academy Award Winners
| 2013 Ang Lee ("Life Of Pi") | |
| Other Nominees: Michael Haneke (Amour); Benh Zeitlin (Beasts Of The Southern Wild); Steve Spielberg (Lincoln); David O Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) | |
| 2012 Michel Hazanavicious ("The Artist") | |
| Other Nominees: Alexander Payne (The Descendants); Martin Scorsese (Hugo); Woody Allen (Midnight In Paris); Terrence Malick (The Tree Of Life) | |
| 2011 Tom Hooper ("The King's Speech") | |
| Other Nominees: Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan); David O Russell (The Fighter); David Fincher (The Social Network); True Grit (Joel & Ethan Coen) | |
| 2010 Kathryn Bigelow ("The Hurt Locker") |    |
| Other Nominees: James Cameron (Avatar); Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds); Lee Daniels (Precious); Jason Reitman (Up In The Air) | |
| 2009 Danny Boyle ("Slumdog Millionaire") |  |
| Other Nominees: Curious Case Of Benjamin Button; Frost/Nixon; Milk; The Reader | |
| 2008 Joel and Ethan Coen ("No Country For Old Men") |  |
| Other Nominees: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; Juno; Michael Clayton; There Will Be Blood | |
| 2007 Martin Scorsese ("The Departed") |  |
| Other Nominees: Babel; Letters From Iwo Jima; The Queen; United 93 | |
| 2006 Ang Lee ("Brokeback Mountain") |  |
| Other Nominees: Bennett Miller (Capote); Paul Haggis (Crash); George Clooney (Good Night and Good Luck); Steven Spielberg (Munich) | |
| 2005 Clint Eastwood ("Million Dollar Baby") |  |
| Other Nominees: Martin Scorsese (The Aviator); Taylor Hackford (Ray); Alexander Payne (Sideways); Mike Leigh (Vera Drake) | |
| 2004 Peter Jackson ("Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King") |  |
| Other Nominees: Fernando Meirelles (City of God); Sofia Coppola (Lost In Translation); Peter Weir (Master and Commander); Clint Eastwood (Mystic River) | |
| 2003 Roman Polanski ("The Pianist") |  |
| Other Nominees: Rob Marshall (Chicago); Martin Scorsese (Gangs of New York); Stephen Daldry (The Hours); Pedro Almodvar (Talk To Her) | |
| 2002 Ron Howard ("A Beautiful Mind") |  |
| Other Nominees: Ridley Scott (Black Hawk Down); Robert Altman (Gosford Park); Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings); David Lynch (Mulholland Drive) | |
| 2001 Steven Soderbergh ("Traffic") | |
| Other Nominees: Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot); Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon); Stephen Soderbergh (Erin Brokovich); Ridley Scott (Gladiator) | |
| 2000 Sam Mendes ("American Beauty") |  |
| Other Nominees: Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich); Lasse Hallstrom (The Cider House Rules); Michael Mann (The Insider); M Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) | |
| 1999 Steven Spielberg ("Saving Private Ryan") |  |
| Other Nominees: Roberto Benigni (Life Is Beautiful); John Madden (Shakespeare In Love); Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line); Peter Weir (The Truman Show) | |
| 1998 James Cameron ("Titanic") |  |
| Other Nominees: Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty); Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter); Curtis Hanson (LA Confidential); Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting) | |
| 1997 Anthony Minghella ("The English Patient") |  |
| Other Nominees: Joel Coen (Fargo); Milos Forman (The People vs Larry Flint); Mike Leigh (Secrets and Lies); Scott Hicks (Shine) | |
| 1996 Mel Gibson ("Braveheart") |  |
| Other Nominees: Chris Noonan (Babe); Tim Robbins (Dead Man Walking); Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas); Michael Radford (The Postman) | |
| 1995 Robert Zemeckis ("Forrest Gump") |  |
| Other Nominees: Woody Allen (Bullets over Broadway); Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction); Robert Redford (Quiz Show); Krzysztof Kieslowski (Red) | |
| 1994 Steven Spielberg ("Schindler's List") |  |
| Other Nominees: Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father); Jane Campion (The Piano); James Ivory (The Remains of the Day); Robert Altman (Short Cuts) | |
| 1993 Clint Eastwood ("Unforgiven") |  |
| Other Nominees: Robert Altman (The Player); Martin Brest (Scent of a Woman); James Ivory (Howards End); Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) | |
| 1992 Jonathan Demme ("The Silence Of The Lambs") |  |
| Other Nominees: Barry Levinson (Bugsy); Ridley Scott (Thelma and Louise); John Singleton (Boyz N the Hood); Oliver Stone (JFK) | |
| 1991 Kevin Costner ("Dances With Wolves") |  |
| Other Nominees: Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather Part III); Stephen Frears (The Grifters); Barbet Schroeder (Reversal of Fortune); Martin Scorsese (Good Fellas) | |
| 1990 Oliver Stone ("Born on the Fourth of July") | |
| Other Nominees: Woody Allen (Crimes and Misdemeanors); Kenneth Branagh (Henry V); Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot); Peter Weir (Dead Poets Society) | |
| 1989 Barry Levinson ("Rain Man") |  |
| Other Nominees: Charles Crichton (A Fish Called Wanda); Mike Nichols (Working Girl); Alan Parker (Mississippi Burning); Martin Scorsese (The Last Temptation of Christ) | |
| 1988 Bernardo Bertolucci ("The Last Emperor") |  |
| Other Nominees: John Boorman (Hope and Glory); Lasse Hallstrom (My Life As A Dog); Norman Jewison (Moonstruck); Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction) | |
| 1987 Oliver Stone ("Platoon") |  |
| Other Nominees: David Lynch (Blue Velvet); Woody Allen (Hannah and Her Sisters); Roland Joffe (The Mission); James Ivory (A Room With A View) | |
| 1986 Sydney Pollack ("Out Of Africa") |  |
| Other Nominees: Hector Babenco (Kiss of the Spider Woman); John Huston (Prizzi's Honor); Akira Kurosawa (Ran); Peter Weir (Witness) | |
| 1985 Milos Forman ("Amadeus") |  |
| Other Nominees: Woody Allen (Broadway Danny Rose); Roland Joffe (The Killing Fields); David Lean (A Passage To India); Robert Benton (Places in the Heart) | |
| 1984 James L Brooks ("Terms Of Endearment") |  |
| Other Nominees: Peter Yates (The Dresser); Ingmar Bergman (Fanny & Alexander); Mike Nichols (Silkwood); Bruce Beresford (Tender Mercies) | |
| 1983 Richard Attenborough ("Gandhi") | |
| Other Nominees: Wolfgang Peterson (Das Boot); Steven Spielberg (ET The Extra-Terrestrial); Sydney Pollack (Tootsie); Sidney Lumet (The Verdict) | |
| 1982 Warren Beatty ("Reds") | |
| Other Nominees: Louis Malle (Atlantic City); Hugh Hudson (Chariots of Fire); Mark Rydell (On Golden Pond); Steven Spielberg (Raiders of the Lost Ark) | |
| 1981 Robert Redford ("Ordinary People") | |
| Other Nominees: David Lynch (The Elephant Man); Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull); Richard Rush (The Stunt Man); Roman Polanski (Tess) | |
| 1980 Robert Benton ("Kramer vs Kramer") | |
| Other Nominees: Bob Fosse (All That Jazz); Francis Coppola (Apocalypse Now); Peter Yates (Breaking Away); Edouard Molinaro (La Cage Aux Folles) | |
| 1979 Michael Cimino ("The Deer Hunter") | |
| Other Nominees: Woody Allen (Interiors); Hal Ashby (Coming Home); Warren Beatty and Buck Henry (Heaven Can Wait); Alan Parker (Midnight Express) | |
| 1978 Woody Allen ("Annie Hall") |  |
| Other Nominees: George Lucas (Star Wars); Herbert Ross (The Turning Point); Steven Spielberg (Close Encounters of the Third Kind); Fred Zinnemann (Julia) | |
| 1977 John G Avildsen ("Rocky") |  |
| Other Nominees: Ingmar Bergman (Face To Face); Sidney Lumet (Network); Alan J Pakula (All the President's Men); Lina Wertmuller (Seven Beauties) | |
| 1976 Milos Forman ("One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest") | |
| Other Nominees: Robert Altman (Nashville); Federico Fellini (Amarcord); Stanley Kubrick (Barry Lyndon); Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon) | |
| 1975 Francis Ford Coppola ("The Godfather Part II") | |
| Other Nominees: John Cassavetes (A Woman Under the Influence); Bob Fosse (Lenny); Roman Polanski (Chinatown); Francois Truffaut (Day for Night) | |
| 1974 George Roy Hill ("The Sting") | |
| Other Nominees: Ingmar Bergman (Cries and Whispers); Bernardo Bertolucci (Last Tango In Paris); William Friedkin (The Exorcist); George Lucas (American Graffiti) | |
| 1973 Bob Fosse ("Cabaret") | |
| Other Nominees: John Boorman (Deliverance); Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather); Joseph L Mankiewicz (Sleuth); Jan Troell (The Emigrants) | |
| 1972 William Friedkin ("The French Connection") | |
| Other Nominees: Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show); Norman Jewison (Fiddler on the Roof); Stanley Kubrick (A Clockwork Orange); John Schlesinger (Sunday Bloody Sunday) | |
| 1971 Franklin J Schaffner ("Patton") | |
| Other Nominees: Robert Altman (M*A*S*H); Federico Fellini (Fellini Satyricon); Arthur Hiller (Love Story); Ken Russell (Women In Love) | |
| 1970 John Schlesinger ("Midnight Cowboy") | |
| Other Nominees: Costa-Gavras (Z); George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid); Arthur Penn (Alice's Restaurant); Sydney Pollack (They Shoot Horses Don't They?) | |
| 1969 Carol Reed ("Oliver!") | |
| Other Nominees: Anthony Harvey (The Lion In Winter); Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey); Gillo Pontecorvo (The Rattle of Algiers); Franco Zeffirelli (Romeo and Juliet) | |
| 1968 Mike Nichols ("The Graduate") | |
| Other Nominees: Richard Brooks (In Cold Blood); Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night); Stanley Kramer (Guess Who's Coming To Dinner); Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde) | |
| 1967 Fred Zinnemann ("A Man For All Seasons") |  |
| Other Nominees: Michelangelo Antonioni (Blow-Up); Richard Brooks (The Professionals); Claude Lelouch (A Man and a Woman); Mike Nichols (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) | |
| 1966 Robert Wise ("The Sound Of Music") | |
| Other Nominees: David Lean (Doctor Zhivago); John Schlesinger (Darling); Hiroshi Teshigahara (Woman In the Dunes); William Wyler (The Collector) | |
| 1965 George Cukor ("My Fair Lady") | |
| Other Nominees: Michael Cacoyannis (Zorba the Greek); Peter Glenville (Becket); Stanley Kubrick (Dr Strangelove); Robert Stevenson (Mary Poppins) | |
| 1964 Tony Richardson ("Tom Jones") | |
| Other Nominees: Federico Fellini (Federico Fellini's 8 1/2); Elia Kazan (America America); Otto Preminger (The Cardinal); Martin Ritt (Hud) | |
| 1963 David Lean ("Lawrence of Arabia") | |
| Other Nominees: Pietro Germi (Divorce Italian Style); Robert Mulligan (To Kill A Mockingbird); Arthur Penn (The Miracle Worker); Frank Perry (David and Lisa) | |
| 1962 Robert Wise ("West Side Story") | |
| Jerome Robbins | |
| Other Nominees: Federico Fellini (La Dolce Vita); Stanley Kramer (Judgment at Nuremberg); Robert Rossen (The Hustler); J Lee Thompson (The Guns of Navarone) | |
| 1961 Billy Wilder ("The Apartment") |  |
| Other Nominees: Jack Cardiff (Sons and Lovers); Jules Dassin (Never On Sunday); Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho); Fred Zinnemann (The Sundowners) | |
| 1960 William Wyler ("Ben-Hur") |  |
| Other Nominees: Jack Clayton (Room at the Top); George Stevens (The Diary of Anne Frank); Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot); Fred Zinnemann (The Nun's Story) | |
| 1959 Vincente Minnelli ("Gigi") | |
| Other Nominees: Richard Brooks (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof); Stanley Kramer (The Defiant Ones); Mark Robson (The Inn of the Sixth Happiness); Robert Wise (I Want To Live!) | |
| 1958 David Lean ("The Bridge On The River Kwai") | |
| Other Nominees: Joshua Logan (Sayonara); Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men); Mark Robson (Peyton Place); Billy Wilder (Witness for the Prosecution) | |
| 1957 George Stevens ("Giant") | |
| Other Nominees: Michael Anderson (Around the World in 80 Days); Walter Lang (The King and I); King Vidor (War and Peace); William Wyler (Friendly Persuasion) | |
| 1956 Delbert Mann ("Marty") | |
| Other Nominees: Elia Kazan (East of Eden); David Lean (Summertime); Joshua Logan (Picnic); John Sturges (Bad Day at Black Rock) | |
| 1955 Elia Kazan ("On The Waterfront") | |
| Other Nominees: Alfred Hitchcock (Rear Window); George Seaton (The Country Girl); William Wellman (The High and the Mighty); Billy Wilder (Sabrina) | |
| 1954 Fred Zinnemann ("From Here To Eternity") |  |
| Other Nominees: George Stevens (Shane); Charles Walters (Lili); Billy Wilder (Stalag 17); William Wyler (Roman Holiday) | |
| 1953 John Ford ("The Quiet Man") | |
| Other Nominees: Cecil B DeMille (The Greatest Show on Earth); John Huston (Moulin Rouge); Joseph L Mankiewicz (Five Fingers); Fred Zinnemann (High Noon) | |
| 1952 George Stevens ("A Place In The Sun") |  |
| Other Nominees: John Huston (The African Queen); Elia Kazan (A Streetcar Named Desire); Vincente Minnelli (An American In Paris); William Wyler (Detective Story) | |
| 1951 Joseph L Mankiewicz ("All About Eve") |  |
| Other Nominees: George Cukor (Born Yesterday); John Huston (The Asphalt Jungle); Carol Reed (The Third Man); Billy Wilder (Sunset Boulevard) | |
| 1950 Joseph L Mankiewicz ("A Letter To Three Wives") |  |
| Other Nominees: Carol Reed (The Fallen Idol); Robert Rossen (All the King's Men); William A Wellman (Battleground); William Wyler (The Heiress) | |
| 1949 John Huston ("The Treasure of the Sierra Madre") | |
| Other Nominees: Anatole Litvak (The Snake Pit); Jean Negulesco (Johnny Belinda); Laurence Olivier (Hamlet); Fred Zinnemann (The Search) | |
| 1948 Elia Kazan ("Gentleman's Agreement") | |
| Other Nominees: George Cukor (A Double Life); Edward Dmytryk (Crossfire); Henry Koster (The Bishop's Wife); David Lean (Great Expectations) | |
| 1947 William Wyler ("The Best Years Of Our Lives") | |
| Other Nominees: Clarence Brown (The Yearling); Frank Capra (It's A Wonderful Life); David Lean (Brief Encounter); Robert Siodmak (The Killers) | |
| 1946 Billy Wilder ("The Lost Weekend") | |
| Other Nominees: Clarence Brown (National Velvet); Alfred Hitchcock (Spellbound); Leo McCarey (The Bells of St Mary's); Jean Renoir (The Southerner) | |
| 1945 Leo McCarey ("Going My Way") | |
| Other Nominees: Alfred Hitchcock (Lifeboat); Henry King (Wilson); Otto Preminger (Laura); Billy Wilder (Double Indemnity) | |
| 1944 Michael Curtiz ("Casablanca") | |
| Other Nominees: Clarence Brown (The Human Comedy); Henry King (The Song of Bernadette); Ernst Lubitsch (Heaven Can Wait); George Stevens (The More the Merrier) | |
| 1943 William Wyler ("Mrs Miniver") | |
| Other Nominees: Michael Curtiz (Yankee Doodle Dandy); John Farrow (Wake Island); Mervyn LeRoy (Random Harvest); Sam Wood (King's Row) | |
| 1942 John Ford ("How Green Was My Valley") | |
| Other Nominees: Alexander Hall (Here Comes Mr Jordan); Howard Hawkes (Sergeant York); Orson Welles (Citizen Kane); William Wyler (The Little Foxes) | |
| 1941 John Ford ("The Grapes of Wrath") | |
| Other Nominees: George Cukor (The Philadelphia Story); Alfred Hitchcock (Rebecca); Sam Wood (Kitty Foyle); William Wyler (The Letter) | |
| 1940 Victor Fleming ("Gone With the Wind") | |
| Other Nominees: Frank Capra (Mr Smith Goes To Washington); John Ford (Stagecoach); Sam Wood (Goodbye Mr Chips); William Wyler (Wuthering Heights) | |
| 1939 Frank Capra ("You Can't Take It With You") | |
| Other Nominees: Michael Curtiz (Angels with Dirty Faces); Michael Curtiz (Four Daughters); Norman Taurog (Boys Town); King Vidor (The Citadel) | |
| 1938 Leo McCarey ("The Awful Truth") | |
| Other Nominees: William Dieterle (The Life of Emile Zola); Sidney Franklin (The Good Earth); Gregory LaCava (Stage Door); William Wellman (A Star Is Born) | |
| 1937 Frank Capra ("Mr Deeds Goes To Town") | |
| Other Nominees: Gregory LaCava (My Man Godfrey); Robert Z Leonard (The Great Ziegfeld); W S Van Dyke (San Francisco); William Wyler (Dodsworth) | |
| 1936 John Ford ("The Informer") | |
| Other Nominees: Henry Hathaway (Lives of a Bengal Lancer); Frank Lloyd (Mutiny on the Bounty) | |
| 1935 Frank Capra ("It Happened One Night") | |
| Other Nominees: Victor Schertzinger (One Night of Love); W S Van Dyke (The Thin Man) | |
| 1934 Frank Lloyd ("Cavalcade") | |
| Other Nominees: Frank Capra (Lady For A Day); George Cukor (Little Women) | |
| 1932 Frank Borzage ("Bad Girl") | |
| Other Nominees: King Vidor; Josef von Sternberg | |
| 1930 Lewis Milestone ("All Quiet On The Western Front") |  |
| Other Nominees: Clarence Brown; Robert Leonard; Ernst Lubitsch; King Vidor | |
| 1930 Frank Lloyd ("The Divine Lady") | |
| Other Nominees: Lionel Barrymore; Harry Beaumont; Irving Cummings; Ernst Lubitsch | |
| 1929 Lewis Milestone ("Two Arabian Knights") | |
| Other Nominees: Ted Wilde; Charles Chaplin | |
| 1929 Frank Borzage ("7th Heaven") |  |
| Other Nominees: Herbert Brenon; King Vidor | |
Every attempt is made to insure the accuracy of the above information, however accuracy is not guaranteed.
