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Academy Award for best director
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Oscar for best director
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Kathryn Bigelow
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Academy Award
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Chloe Zhao smiles and holds an Oscar statuette in both hands while standing in front of an Oscars backdrop.
Chloé Zhao after winning the Oscar for best director In 2021 Zhao became the first woman of color to win the Oscar for best director.

Academy Award for best director

Academy Award
Also known as: Best Directing, Best Director, Oscar for best director(Show More)
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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Who has the most Oscars for best director?

Has a woman ever won an Oscar for best director?

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Has any Indian director won the Oscar?

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Illustration of Oscar statuettes with a large gold figure in front and the words 'Who decides?' in bold white letters on a blue banner across the center.
Who Votes For the Oscars?When winners thank “the Academy,” who are they talking about?
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Academy Award for best director, award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, located in Beverly Hills, California. It honors outstanding achievement by a director in a movie from a given year, as determined by the academy’s voting members. At the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929, the award recognized the work in films from 1927–28, and it was offered in two categories: drama and comedy. However, the two Oscars were subsequently combined into one award that covered all genres. In addition, beginning with the seventh ceremony (1935), only work in movies released the previous year was eligible for consideration. The winning directors are given a gold-plated statuette known as an Oscar.

John Ford has won the most Academy Awards for best director (four), and Frank Capra and William Wyler each have received three. Other notable recipients include Kathryn Bigelow, who is the first woman to earn the award (2010), Ang Lee, the first director of color to win (2006), and Chloé Zhao, the first woman of color to win (2021). Below is a list of the winning directors and the films for which they won. The year is when the award was presented.

1929 and 1930s

1940s and 1950s

1960s and 1970s

1980s and 1990s

2000s and 2010s

2020s

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Will Gosner.