The Golden Globe Award for Best Director – Motion Picture is a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...

that has been presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, an organization composed of journalists who cover the United States

film industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, ...

for publications based outside

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

, since 1943. Having won all four of his nominations, Elia Kazan has been honored most often in this category. Clint Eastwood, Miloš Forman, David Lean,

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...

, and Oliver Stone tie for second place with three wins each. Steven Spielberg has had the most nominations (thirteen) and has received the award twice.

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

Chloé Zhao Chloé Zhao, born Zhao Ting (, born 31 March 1982), is a Chinese filmmaker, known primarily for her work on independent films. Zhao's debut feature film, '' Songs My Brothers Taught Me'' (2015), premiered at Sundance Film Festival to critical a ...

and

Jane Campion Dame Elizabeth Jane Campion (born 30 April 1954) is a New Zealand filmmaker. She is best known for writing and directing the critically acclaimed films ''The Piano'' (1993) and '' The Power of the Dog'' (2021), for which she has received a tot ...

are the three only women to have won the award. In the following lists, the first names, listed in bold type against a blue background, are the winners, and the following names are the remaining nominees. The years given are those in which the films under consideration were released, not the year of the ceremony, which takes place in January of the following year.

Winners and nominees

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Multiple nominations

;14 nominations * Steven Spielberg (14/2) ;9 nominations *

(9/3) ;7 nominations * Clint Eastwood (7/3) * Fred Zinnemann (7/2) ;6 nominations * Francis Ford Coppola (6/2) * Sidney Lumet (6/1) ;5 nominations *

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

(5/0) * John Huston (5/2) *

Stanley Kramer Stanley Earl Kramer (September 29, 1913February 19, 2001) was an American film director and producer, responsible for making many of Hollywood's most famous "message picture, message films" (he would call his movies ''heavy dramas'') and a libera ...

(5/1) *

Mike Nichols Mike Nichols (born Michael Igor Peschkowsky; November 6, 1931 – November 19, 2014) was an American film and theater director, producer, actor, and comedian. He was noted for his ability to work across a range of genres and for his aptitude fo ...

(5/1) *

Billy Wilder Billy Wilder (; ; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an Austrian-American filmmaker. His career in Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Classic Holly ...

(5/2) * Robert Wise (5/0) ;4 nominations * Robert Altman (4/1) * David Fincher (4/1) * Miloš Forman (4/3) * Peter Jackson (4/1) * Elia Kazan (4/4) *

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

(4/0) * David Lean (4/3) * Ang Lee (4/2) * Alexander Payne (4/0) * Robert Redford (4/1) *

Rob Reiner Robert Norman Reiner (born March 6, 1947) is an American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence with the role of Michael "Meathead" Stivic on the CBS sitcom '' All in the Family'' (1971–1979), a performa ...

(4/0) * Ridley Scott (4/0) * Oliver Stone (4/3) *

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensembl ...

(4/0) * Peter Weir (4/0) *

William Wyler William Wyler (; born Willi Wyler (); July 1, 1902 – July 27, 1981) was a Swiss-German-American film director and producer who won the Academy Award for Best Director three times, those being for '' Mrs. Miniver'' (1942), '' The Best Years o ...

(4/1) ;3 nominations * Hal Ashby (3/0) * Richard Attenborough (3/1) * Bernardo Bertolucci (3/1) *

James L. Brooks James Lawrence Brooks (born May 9, 1940) is an American director, producer, screenwriter and co-founder of Gracie Films. His television and film work includes ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'', ''Taxi'', ''The Simpsons'', '' Broadcast News'', ''As G ...

(3/0) * James Cameron (3/2) *

George Cukor George Dewey Cukor (; July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director and film producer. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO when David O. Selznick, the studio's Head ...

(3/1) *

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor, guest-starring in several television series, including an episode of '' The Twilight Zone''. ...

(3/0) * Alejandro González Iñárritu (3/1) *

James Ivory James Francis Ivory (born June 7, 1928) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. For many years, he worked extensively with Indian-born film producer Ismail Merchant, his domestic as well as professional partner, and with scree ...

(3/0) * Norman Jewison (3/0) * Sam Mendes (3/2) * Anthony Minghella (3/0) * Vincente Minnelli (3/1) * Alan Parker (3/0) * Sydney Pollack (3/0) * John Schlesinger (3/0) * George Stevens (3/0) ;2 nominations * Kathryn Bigelow (2/0) * Peter Bogdanovich (2/0) *

John Boorman Sir John Boorman (; born 18 January 1933) is a British film director, best known for feature films such as '' Point Blank'' (1967), ''Hell in the Pacific'' (1968), ''Deliverance'' (1972), '' Zardoz'' (1974), '' Exorcist II: The Heretic'' (1977 ...

(2/0) *

Richard Brooks Richard Brooks (May 18, 1912 – March 11, 1992) was an American screenwriter, film director, novelist and film producer. Nominated for eight Oscars in his career, he was best known for ''Blackboard Jungle'' (1955), ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' ...

(2/0) *

(2/1) * George Clooney (2/0) * Joel Coen (2/0) *

Alfonso Cuarón Alfonso Cuarón Orozco ( , ; born 28 November 1961) is a Mexican filmmaker. He is known for directing films in a variety of genres including the family drama ''A Little Princess'' (1995), the romantic drama ''Great Expectations'' (1998), the c ...

(2/2) * Stephen Daldry (2/0) * Bob Fosse (2/0) * William Friedkin (2/2) * John Frankenheimer (2/0) *

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apoca ...

(2/1) * Roland Joffé (2/0) *

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...

(2/0) * Barry Levinson (2/0) *

Joshua Logan Joshua Lockwood Logan III (October 5, 1908 – July 12, 1988) was an American director, writer, and actor. He shared a Pulitzer Prize for co-writing the musical ''South Pacific'' and was involved in writing other musicals. Early years Logan w ...

(2/1) * George Lucas (2/0) * Baz Luhrmann (2/0) * David Lynch (2/0) * Joseph L. Mankiewicz (2/0) * Martin McDonagh (2/0) * Robert Mulligan (2/0) * Christopher Nolan (2/0) *

Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a ( né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, tw ...

(2/1) * Otto Preminger (2/0) * Martin Ritt (2/0) *

David O. Russell David Owen Russell (born August 20, 1958) is an American filmmaker. His early directing career includes the comedy films '' Spanking the Monkey'' (1994), '' Flirting with Disaster'' (1996), ''Three Kings'' (1999), and ''I Heart Huckabees'' (20 ...

(2/0) *

Mark Rydell Mark Rydell (born Mortimer H. Rydell; March 23, 1929) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has directed several Academy Award-nominated films including '' The Fox'' (1967), '' The Reivers'' (1969), ''Cinderella Liberty'' (1973) ...

(2/0) *

Steven Soderbergh Steven Andrew Soderbergh (; born January 14, 1963) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer and editor. A pioneer of modern independent cinema, Soderbergh is an acclaimed and prolific filmmaker. Soderbergh's direct ...

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(2/1) *

Peter Yates Peter James Yates (24 July 1929 – 9 January 2011) was an English film director and producer. Biography Early life Yates was born in Aldershot, Hampshire. The son of an army officer, he attended Charterhouse School as a boy, graduated from ...

(2/0) * Edward Zwick (2/0)