Golden Globe Awards
Most Wins for Best Director
This list features directors with the most wins for Best Director at the Golden Globe Awards.
RANK | DIRECTOR | NOMINATIONS | WINS | YEARS |
1 | Elia Kazan | 4 | 4 | Gentleman’s Agreement (1948) On The Waterfront (1954) Baby Doll (1956) America America (1963) |
2 | Steven Spielberg | 14 | 3 | Schindler’s List (1993) Saving Private Ryan (1998) The Fabelmans (2022) |
3 | Martin Scorsese | 10 | 3 | Gangs of New York (2002) The Departed (2006) Hugo (2011) |
4 | Clint Eastwood | 7 | 3 | Bird (1989) Unforgiven (1992) Million Dollar Baby (2004) |
5 | Miloš Forman | 4 | 3 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1976) Amadeus (1984) The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) |
6 | David Lean | 4 | 3 | The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) Lawrence of Arabia (1963) Doctor Zhivago (1966) |
7 | Oliver Stone | 4 | 3 | Platoon (1986) Born on the Fourth of July (1989) JFK (1991) |
8 | Fred Zinnemann | 7 | 2 | From Here to Eternity (1953) A Man for All Seasons (1966) |
9 | Francis Ford Coppola | 6 | 2 | The Godfather (1972) Apocalypse Now (1979) |
10 | John Huston | 5 | 2 | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) Prizzi’s Honor (1985) |
11 | Billy Wilder | 5 | 2 | The Lost Weekend (1945) Sunset Boulevard (1950) |
12 | Ang Lee | 4 | 2 | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) Brokeback Mountain (2005) |
13 | James Cameron | 3 | 2 | Titanic (1997) Avatar (2010) |
14 | Sam Mendes | 3 | 2 | American Beauty (1999) 1917 (2019) |
15 | William Friedkin | 2 | 2 | The French Connection (1972) The Exorcist (1974) |
16 | Alfonso Cuarón | 2 | 2 | Gravity (2013) Roma (2018) |
17 | Sidney Lumet | 6 | 1 | Network (1976) |
18 | Stanley Kramer | 5 | 1 | Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) |
19 | Mike Nichols | 5 | 1 | The Graduate (1967) |
20 | William Wyler | 4 | 1 | Ben-Hur (1959) |
21 | Robert Redford | 4 | 1 | Ordinary People (1980) |
22 | Robert Altman | 4 | 1 | Gosford Park (2001) |
23 | Peter Jackson | 4 | 1 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) |
24 | David Fincher | 4 | 1 | The Social Network (2010) |
25 | Vincente Minnelli | 3 | 1 | Gigi (1958) |
26 | George Cukor | 3 | 1 | My Fair Lady (1964) |
27 | Richard Attenborough | 3 | 1 | Gandhi (1982) |
28 | Bernardo Bertolucci | 3 | 1 | The Last Emperor (1987) |
29 | Alejandro G. Iñárritu | 3 | 1 | The Revenant (2015) |
30 | Christopher Nolan | 3 | 1 | Oppenheimer (2023) |
31 | Joshua Logan | 2 | 1 | Picnic (1955) |
32 | Roman Polanski | 2 | 1 | Chinatown (1974) |
33 | Barbra Streisand | 2 | 1 | Yentl (1983) |
34 | Mel Gibson | 2 | 1 | Braveheart (1995) |
35 | Guillermo del Toro | 2 | 1 | The Shape of Water (2017) |
36 | Chloé Zhao | 2 | 1 | Nomadland (2020) |
37 | Jane Campion | 2 | 1 | The Power of the Dog (2021) |
38 | Henry King | 1 | 1 | The Song of Bernadette (1943) |
39 | Leo McCarey | 1 | 1 | Going My Way (1944) |
40 | Frank Capra | 1 | 1 | It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) |
41 | Robert Rossen | 1 | 1 | All the King’s Men (1949) |
42 | László Benedek | 1 | 1 | Death of a Salesman (1951) |
43 | Cecil B. DeMille | 1 | 1 | The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) |
44 | Jack Cardiff | 1 | 1 | Sons and Lovers (1960) |
45 | Paul Newman | 1 | 1 | Rachel, Rachel (1968) |
46 | Charles Jarrott | 1 | 1 | Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) |
47 | Arthur Hiller | 1 | 1 | Love Story (1970) |
48 | Herbert Ross | 1 | 1 | The Turning Point (1977) |
49 | Michael Cimino | 1 | 1 | The Deer Hunter (1978) |
50 | Warren Beatty | 1 | 1 | Reds (1981) |
51 | Kevin Costner | 1 | 1 | Dances with Wolves (1990) |
52 | Robert Zemeckis | 1 | 1 | Forrest Gump (1994) |
53 | Julian Schnabel | 1 | 1 | The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007) |
54 | Danny Boyle | 1 | 1 | Slumdog Millionaire (2008) |
55 | Ben Affleck | 1 | 1 | Argo (2012) |
56 | Richard Linklater | 1 | 1 | Boyhood (2014) |
57 | Damien Chazelle | 1 | 1 | La La Land (2016) |
58 | Brady Corbet | 1 | 1 | The Brutalist (2024) |
59 | Paul Thomas Anderson | 1 | 1 | One Battle After Another (2025) |
References
