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MOVIES
Academy Awards
Youngest Best Director Nominees
This list features the youngest best director nominees at the Academy Awards.
RANK | DIRECTOR | AGE | FILM | YEAR |
1 | John Singleton | 24 years, 44 days | Boyz n the Hood | 1991 |
2 | Orson Welles | 26 years, 279 days | Citizen Kane | 1941 |
3 | Kenneth Branagh | 29 years, 66 days | Henry V | 1989 |
4 | Claude Lelouch | 29 years, 113 days | A Man and a Woman | 1966 |
5 | M. Night Shyamalan | 29 years, 193 days | The Sixth Sense | 1999 |
6 | George Lucas | 29 years, 281 days | American Graffiti | 1973 |
7 | Benh Zeitlin | 30 years, 88 days | Beasts of the Southern Wild | 2012 |
8 | Jason Reitman | 30 years, 95 days | Juno | 2007 |
9 | Spike Jonze | 30 years, 116 days | Being John Malkovich | 1999 |
10 | Steven Spielberg | 31 years, 65 days | Close Encounters of the Third Kind | 1977 |
References
Wikipedia (n.d.) List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees – Oldest winners. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_and_youngest_Academy_Award_winners_and_nominees#Oldest_winners (Accessed: 1 December 2025).
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