The Top 25 Best Director Winners So Far (Updated for 2024)

Well my friends, the end of this series draws is just about here, as this is the penultimate article. Alas. Until that sad moment, we press on. Continuing a tradition I’ve been keen on for years, I’m ranking the new crop of Academy Award winners. For nearly all of the Oscar categories, you’ll see me list the top 25 recipients of that prize. Sometimes, our newest winner will appear. Other times, they’ll be relegated to the Honorable Mention category. Who knows, maybe one or two won’t even make the cut? It’s a list series that I’ll do each and every single year, in the weeks after the ceremony concludes. So, while this is a fun way to think about the Oscars in the aftermath of the latest telecast, it’s also a beginning for another column here on the site. Of course, definitely show us your own lists as well, in the comments section below. We’re definitely keen to know what you think!

Another of the biggest categories hits today, as you might imagine…Best Director. The Best Director category has occasionally struggled with being seen as a coattail on the way to Best Picture, but that’s hardly always been the case. One look below will reveal plenty of Director winners that didn’t also take home Picture. For my money, Steven Spielberg has the best win, for Schindler’s List (though his other winner, Saving Private Ryan, isn’t far behind). Other top tier victors include Woody Allen (I know, I know) for Annie Hall, Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker, Bong Joon Ho for Parasite, and Mike Nichols for The Graduate. Where does one of our recent prior winners, Jane Campion, fall this time for her work on The Power of the Dog? What about The Daniels for Everything Everywhere All At Once two years ago? Of course, there’s also the little matter of our newest winner, Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer. Does he crack the top ten this first time out? Read on below to find out…

Here now are what I consider to be the 25 best winners of the Oscar for Best Director, to date:

25. John G. Avildsen – Rocky
24. William Friedkin – The French Connection
23. Francis Ford Coppola – The Godfather Part II
22. Clint Eastwood – Million Dollar Baby
21. Oliver Stone – Platoon
20. Miloš Forman – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
19. John Ford – The Grapes of Wrath
18. Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity
17. Sam Mendes – American Beauty
16. Jonathan Demme – The Silence of the Lambs
15. Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog
14. Elia Kazan – On the Waterfront
13. The Daniels – Everything Everywhere All At Once
12. David Lean – Lawrence of Arabia
11. Martin Scorsese – The Departed
10. Billy Wilder – The Apartment
9. Michael Curtiz – Casablanca
8. Damien Chazelle – La La Land
7. Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer
6. Steven Spielberg – Saving Private Ryan
5. Mike Nichols – The Graduate
4. Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
3. Woody Allen – Annie Hall
2. Bong Joon Ho – Parasite
1. Steven Spielberg – Schindler’s List

Honorable Mentions: James Cameron – Titanic, Frank Capra – Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Guillermo del Toro – The Shape of Water, Alejandro G. Iñárritu – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), William Wyler – Ben-Hur, and Robert Zemeckis – Forrest Gump

Stay tuned for the final category early next week!