MOVIES

Academy Awards
Most Wins for Best Director
This list features directors that have won the most Best Director awards at the Academy Awards.
RANK | DIRECTORS | NOMINATIONS | WINS | FILMS |
1 | John Ford | 5 | 4 | The Informer (1935) The Grapes of Wrath (1940) How Green Was My Valley (1941) The Quiet Man (1952) |
2 | Frank Capra | 6 | 3 | It Happened One Night (1934) Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) You Can’t Take It with You (1938) |
3 | William Wyler | 12 | 3 | Mrs. Miniver (1942) The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) Ben-Hur (1959) |
4 | Steven Spielberg | 9 | 2 | Schindler’s List (1993) Saving Private Ryan (1998) |
5 | Billy Wilder | 8 | 2 | The Lost Weekend (1945) The Apartment (1960) |
6 | David Lean | 7 | 2 | The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) Lawrence of Arabia (1962) |
7 | Fred Zinnemann | 7 | 2 | From Here to Eternity (1953) A Man for All Seasons (1966) |
8 | Elia Kazan | 5 | 2 | Gentleman’s Agreement (1947) On the Waterfront (1954) |
9 | George Stevens | 5 | 2 | A Place in the Sun (1951) Giant (1956) |
10 | Frank Lloyd | 4 | 2 | The Divine Lady (1929) Cavalcade (1933) |
11 | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | 4 | 2 | A Letter to Three Wives (1949) All About Eve (1950) |
12 | Clint Eastwood | 4 | 2 | Unforgiven (1992) Million Dollar Baby (2004) |
13 | Lewis Milestone | 3 | 2 | Two Arabian Knights (1928) All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) |
14 | Leo McCarey | 3 | 2 | The Awful Truth (1937) Going My Way (1944) |
15 | Robert Wise | 3 | 2 | West Side Story (1961) The Sound of Music (1965) |
16 | Milos Forman | 3 | 2 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) Amadeus (1984) |
17 | Oliver Stone | 3 | 2 | Platoon (1986) Born on the Fourth of July (1989) |
18 | Ang Lee | 3 | 2 | Brokeback Mountain (2005) Life of Pi (2012) |
19 | Alejandro G. Iñárritu | 3 | 2 | Birdman (2014) The Revenant (2015) |
20 | Frank Borzage | 2 | 2 | 7th Heaven (1928) Bad Girl (1932) |
21 | Alfonso Cuaron | 2 | 2 | Gravity (2013) Roma (2018) |
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