Who won Best Director – Motion Picture at the most recent Golden Globes?

Brady Corbet won at the 2025 Golden Globes.

Who won Best Director – Motion Picture in 2025?

Brady Corbet — The Brutalist.

Who won Best Director – Motion Picture in 2024?

Christopher Nolan — Oppenheimer.

Who won Best Director – Motion Picture in 2023?

Steven Spielberg — The Fabelmans.

Who won Best Director – Motion Picture in 2022?

Jane Campion — The Power of the Dog.

Who has won Best Director – Motion Picture the most times?

Elia Kazan, with 4 wins (1948, 1955, 1957, 1964).

How many different winners has Best Director – Motion Picture had?

58 different winners across 82 ceremonies, 1944–2025.

A visual history · Golden Globes

The winners who defined Director.

82 ceremonies, 1944–2025. 58 different winners.

Who won most recently?: Brady Corbet in 2025 for The Brutalist.
Who has won the most?: Elia Kazan, 4 wins (1948, 1955, 1957, 1964).

2025The BrutalistBrady Corbet
2024OppenheimerChristopher Nolan
2023The FabelmansSteven Spielberg
2022The Power of the DogJane Campion
2021NomadlandChloé Zhao
20201917Sam Mendes

Years explored: 1944–2025
Different winners: 58
Category leader: Elia Kazan · 4

2000–2025

26 ceremonies

19442025

01 / The reigns

21 winners shaped this category.

The timeline turns the 2000–2025 record into a sequence of reigns. Longer bands reveal sustained runs; color shows the credited network / distributor.

01
Martin Scorsese3 wins
02
Alfonso Cuarón2 wins
03
Ang Lee2 wins
04
Sam Mendes2 wins

One band per year, because no winner has gone back-to-back in the years on record. Colored by network / distributor; scroll sideways for the full run.

Sam Mendes'00

Ang Lee'01

Robert Altman'02

Martin Scorsese'03

Peter Jackson'04

Clint Eastwood'05

Ang Lee'06

Martin Scorsese'07

Julian Schnabel'08

Danny Boyle'09

James Cameron'10

David Fincher'11

Martin Scorsese'12

Ben Affleck'13

Alfonso Cuarón'14

Richard Linklater'15

Alejandro González Iñárritu'16

Damien Chazelle'17

Guillermo del Toro'18

Alfonso Cuarón'19

Sam Mendes'20

Chloé Zhao'21

Jane Campion'22

Steven Spielberg'23

Christopher Nolan'24

Brady Corbet'25

02 / The power map

Who stood behind the winners?

Universal leads the recorded network / distributor credits with 5 wins, 2000–2025. The full distribution shows whether power was concentrated or shared.

Universal5 wins

Warner Bros.5 wins

Searchlight3 wins

20th Century2 wins

Miramax2 wins

Netflix2 wins

Wins by network / distributor

Universal519%
Warner Bros.519%
Searchlight312%
20th Century28%
Miramax28%
Netflix28%
Other727%

03 / The near misses

The names that kept coming back without the ending they wanted.

Counting nominations in this category only, 2000–2025.

Most nominated, never won this award

01
Alexander Payne
4 noms
02
Ridley Scott
4 noms
03
Quentin Tarantino
3 noms
04
Anthony Minghella
2 noms
05
Baz Luhrmann
2 noms
06
Bradley Cooper
2 noms

Most losses in this category

01
Steven Spielberg
5L · 1W
02
Alexander Payne
4L · 0W
03
Clint Eastwood
4L · 1W
04
Ridley Scott
4L · 0W
05
David Fincher
3L · 1W
06
Martin Scorsese
3L · 3W

04 / The archive

Every year.
Every winner.

The complete reference behind the story, showing 2000–2025. Open any year to see the rest of the field when nominee records are available.

Year	Winner	Network / Distributor
2025	Brady Corbet (The Brutalist) beat 5 others Payal Kapadia (All We Imagine as Light) Sean Baker (Anora) Edward Berger (Conclave) Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez) Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)	A24
2024	Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer) beat 5 others Greta Gerwig (Barbie) Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon) Bradley Cooper (Maestro) Celine Song (Past Lives) Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things)	Universal
2023	Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans) beat 4 others James Cameron (Avatar: The Way of Water) Martin McDonagh (The Banshees of Inisherin) Baz Luhrmann (Elvis) Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once)	Universal
2022	Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog) beat 4 others Kenneth Branagh (Belfast) Denis Villeneuve (Dune) Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Lost Daughter) Steven Spielberg (West Side Story)	Netflix
2021	Chloé Zhao (Nomadland) beat 4 others David Fincher (Mank) Regina King (One Night in Miami...) Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago 7)	Searchlight Pictures
2020	Sam Mendes (1917) beat 4 others Martin Scorsese (The Irishman) Todd Phillips (Joker) Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) Bong Joon-ho (Parasite)	Universal
2019	Alfonso Cuarón (Roma) beat 4 others Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman) Peter Farrelly (Green Book) Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born) Adam McKay (Vice)	Netflix
2018	Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water) beat 4 others Ridley Scott (All the Money in the World) Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk) Steven Spielberg (The Post) Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)	Fox Searchlight
2017	Damien Chazelle (La La Land) beat 4 others Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge) Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea) Tom Ford (Nocturnal Animals)	Lionsgate
2016	Alejandro González Iñárritu (The Revenant) beat 4 others Todd Haynes (Carol) George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road) Ridley Scott (The Martian) Tom McCarthy (Spotlight)	20th Century Fox
2015	Richard Linklater (Boyhood) beat 4 others Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)) David Fincher (Gone Girl) Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel) Ava DuVernay (Selma)	IFC Films
2014	Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity) beat 4 others Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) David O. Russell (American Hustle) Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips) Alexander Payne (Nebraska)	Warner Bros.
2013	Ben Affleck (Argo) beat 4 others Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained) Ang Lee (Life of Pi) Steven Spielberg (Lincoln) Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty)	Warner Bros.
2012	Martin Scorsese (Hugo) beat 4 others Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) Alexander Payne (The Descendants) George Clooney (The Ides of March) Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris)	Paramount
2011	David Fincher (The Social Network) beat 4 others Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan) David O. Russell (The Fighter) Christopher Nolan (Inception) Tom Hooper (The King's Speech)	Columbia/Sony
2010	James Cameron (Avatar) beat 4 others Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds) Clint Eastwood (Invictus) Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)	20th Century Fox
2009	Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) beat 4 others David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon) Stephen Daldry (The Reader) Sam Mendes (Revolutionary Road)	Fox Searchlight
2008	Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) beat 4 others Ridley Scott (American Gangster) Joe Wright (Atonement) Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men) Tim Burton (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street)	Miramax
2007	Martin Scorsese (The Departed) beat 4 others Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel) Clint Eastwood (Flags of Our Fathers) Clint Eastwood (Letters from Iwo Jima) Stephen Frears (The Queen)	Warner Bros.
2006	Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) beat 5 others Fernando Meirelles (The Constant Gardener) George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck.) Peter Jackson (King Kong) Woody Allen (Match Point) Steven Spielberg (Munich)	Focus Features
2005	Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby) beat 4 others Martin Scorsese (The Aviator) Mike Nichols (Closer) Marc Forster (Finding Neverland) Alexander Payne (Sideways)	Warner Bros.
2004	Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King) beat 4 others Anthony Minghella (Cold Mountain) Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation) Peter Weir (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World) Clint Eastwood (Mystic River)	New Line Cinema
2003	Martin Scorsese (Gangs of New York) beat 5 others Alexander Payne (About Schmidt) Spike Jonze (Adaptation.) Rob Marshall (Chicago) Stephen Daldry (The Hours) Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers)	Miramax
2002	Robert Altman (Gosford Park) beat 5 others Steven Spielberg (A.I. Artificial Intelligence) Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind) Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!) David Lynch (Mulholland Drive)	USA Films
2001	Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) beat 4 others Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich) Ridley Scott (Gladiator) István Szabó (Sunshine) Steven Soderbergh (Traffic)	Sony Pictures Classics
2000	Sam Mendes (American Beauty) beat 4 others Neil Jordan (The End of the Affair) Norman Jewison (The Hurricane) Michael Mann (The Insider) Anthony Minghella (The Talented Mr. Ripley)	DreamWorks
1999	Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan)unverified beat 4 others Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth) Robert Redford (The Horse Whisperer) John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) Peter Weir (The Truman Show)	DreamWorks Pictures
1998	James Cameron (Titanic)unverified beat 4 others Steven Spielberg (Amistad) James L. Brooks (As Good as It Gets) Jim Sheridan (The Boxer) Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential)	Paramount Pictures
1997	Miloš Forman (The People vs. Larry Flynt)unverified beat 4 others Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) Alan Parker (Evita) Joel Coen (Fargo) Scott Hicks (Shine)	Sony Pictures Releasing
1996	Mel Gibson (Braveheart)unverified beat 5 others Rob Reiner (The American President) Ron Howard (Apollo 13) Martin Scorsese (Casino) Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas) Ang Lee (Sense and Sensibility)	Paramount Pictures
1995	Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump)unverified beat 4 others Edward Zwick (Legends of the Fall) Oliver Stone (Natural Born Killers) Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction) Robert Redford (Quiz Show)	Paramount Pictures
1994	Steven Spielberg (Schindler's List)unverified beat 4 others Martin Scorsese (The Age of Innocence) Andrew Davis (The Fugitive) Jane Campion (The Piano) James Ivory (The Remains of the Day)	Universal Pictures
1993	Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven)unverified beat 4 others Rob Reiner (A Few Good Men) James Ivory (Howards End) Robert Altman (The Player) Robert Redford (A River Runs Through It)	Warner Bros.
1992	Oliver Stone (JFK)unverified beat 4 others Barry Levinson (Bugsy) Terry Gilliam (The Fisher King) Barbra Streisand (The Prince of Tides) Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs)	Warner Bros.
1991	Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves)unverified beat 4 others Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather Part III) Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas) Barbet Schroeder (Reversal of Fortune) Bernardo Bertolucci (The Sheltering Sky)	Orion Pictures
1990	Oliver Stone (Born on the Fourth of July)unverified beat 4 others Peter Weir (Dead Poets Society) Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing) Edward Zwick (Glory) Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally...)	Universal Pictures
1989	Clint Eastwood (Bird)unverified beat 5 others Fred Schepisi (A Cry in the Dark) Alan Parker (Mississippi Burning) Barry Levinson (Rain Man) Sidney Lumet (Running on Empty) Mike Nichols (Working Girl)	Warner Bros.
1988	Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor)unverified beat 4 others James L. Brooks (Broadcast News) Richard Attenborough (Cry Freedom) Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction) John Boorman (Hope and Glory)	Columbia Pictures
1987	Oliver Stone (Platoon)unverified beat 4 others Woody Allen (Hannah and Her Sisters) Roland Joffé (The Mission) James Ivory (A Room with a View) Rob Reiner (Stand by Me)	Orion Pictures
1986	John Huston (Prizzi's Honor)unverified beat 4 others Richard Attenborough (A Chorus Line) Steven Spielberg (The Color Purple) Sydney Pollack (Out of Africa) Peter Weir (Witness)	20th Century Fox
1985	Miloš Forman (Amadeus)unverified beat 4 others Francis Ford Coppola (The Cotton Club) Roland Joffé (The Killing Fields) Sergio Leone (Once Upon a Time in America) David Lean (A Passage to India)	Orion Pictures
1984	Barbra Streisand (Yentl)unverified beat 5 others Peter Yates (The Dresser) Ingmar Bergman (Fanny and Alexander) Mike Nichols (Silkwood) Bruce Beresford (Tender Mercies) James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment)	MGM
1983	Richard Attenborough (Gandhi)unverified beat 4 others Steven Spielberg (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial) Constantin Costa-Gavras (Missing) Sydney Pollack (Tootsie) Sidney Lumet (The Verdict)	Columbia Pictures
1982	Warren Beatty (Reds)unverified beat 5 others Louis Malle (Atlantic City) Mark Rydell (On Golden Pond) Sidney Lumet (Prince of the City) Miloš Forman (Ragtime) Steven Spielberg (Raiders of the Lost Ark)	Paramount Pictures
1981	Robert Redford (Ordinary People)unverified beat 4 others David Lynch (The Elephant Man) Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull) Richard Rush (The Stunt Man) Roman Polanski (Tess)	Paramount Pictures
1980	Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse Now)unverified beat 4 others Hal Ashby (Being There) Peter Yates (Breaking Away) James Bridges (The China Syndrome) Robert Benton (Kramer vs. Kramer)	United Artists
1979	Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter)unverified beat 5 others Hal Ashby (Coming Home) Terrence Malick (Days of Heaven) Woody Allen (Interiors) Alan Parker (Midnight Express) Paul Mazursky (An Unmarried Woman)	Universal Pictures
1978	Herbert Ross (The Turning Point)unverified beat 4 others Woody Allen (Annie Hall) Steven Spielberg (Close Encounters of the Third Kind) Fred Zinnemann (Julia) George Lucas (Star Wars)	20th Century Fox
1977	Sidney Lumet (Network)unverified beat 4 others Alan J. Pakula (All the President's Men) Hal Ashby (Bound for Glory) John Schlesinger (Marathon Man) John G. Avildsen (Rocky)	United Artists
1976	Miloš Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)unverified beat 4 others Stanley Kubrick (Barry Lyndon) Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon) Steven Spielberg (Jaws) Robert Altman (Nashville)	United Artists
1975	Roman Polanski (Chinatown)unverified beat 4 others Francis Ford Coppola (The Conversation) Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather Part II) Bob Fosse (Lenny) John Cassavetes (A Woman Under the Influence)	Paramount Pictures
1974	William Friedkin (The Exorcist)unverified beat 4 others George Lucas (American Graffiti) Fred Zinnemann (The Day of the Jackal) Bernardo Bertolucci (Last Tango in Paris) Peter Bogdanovich (Paper Moon)	Warner Bros.
1973	Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather)unverified beat 4 others Billy Wilder (Avanti!) Bob Fosse (Cabaret) John Boorman (Deliverance) Alfred Hitchcock (Frenzy)	Paramount Pictures
1972	William Friedkin (The French Connection)unverified beat 4 others Stanley Kubrick (A Clockwork Orange) Norman Jewison (Fiddler on the Roof) Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show) Robert Mulligan (Summer of '42)	20th Century-Fox
1971	Arthur Hiller (Love Story)unverified beat 4 others Bob Rafelson (Five Easy Pieces) Robert Altman (MAS*H) Franklin J. Schaffner (Patton) Ken Russell (Women in Love)	Paramount Pictures
1970	Charles Jarrott (Anne of the Thousand Days)unverified beat 4 others Gene Kelly (Hello, Dolly!) John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy) Stanley Kramer (The Secret of Santa Vittoria) Sydney Pollack (They Shoot Horses, Don't They?)	The Rank Organisation
1969	Paul Newman (Rachel, Rachel)unverified beat 4 others William Wyler (Funny Girl) Anthony Harvey (The Lion in Winter) Carol Reed (Oliver!) Franco Zeffirelli (Romeo and Juliet)	Warner Bros.-Seven Arts
1968	Mike Nichols (The Graduate)unverified beat 4 others Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde) Mark Rydell (The Fox) Stanley Kramer (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner) Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night)	Embassy Pictures
1967	Fred Zinnemann (A Man for All Seasons)unverified beat 4 others Lewis Gilbert (Alfie) Claude Lelouch (A Man and a Woman) Robert Wise (The Sand Pebbles) Mike Nichols (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)	Columbia Pictures
1966	David Lean (Doctor Zhivago)unverified beat 4 others William Wyler (The Collector) John Schlesinger (Darling) Guy Green (A Patch of Blue) Robert Wise (The Sound of Music)	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
1965	George Cukor (My Fair Lady)unverified beat 4 others Peter Glenville (Becket) John Huston (The Night of the Iguana) John Frankenheimer (Seven Days in May) Michael Cacoyannis (Zorba the Greek)	Warner Bros.
1964	Elia Kazan (America America)unverified beat 7 others Otto Preminger (The Cardinal) Hall Bartlett (The Caretakers) Joseph L. Mankiewicz (Cleopatra) Robert Wise (The Haunting) Martin Ritt (Hud) Tony Richardson (Tom Jones) George Englund (The Ugly American)	Warner Bros. Pictures
1963	David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia)unverified beat 10 others George Cukor (The Chapman Report) Blake Edwards (Days of Wine and Roses) John Huston (Freud: The Secret Passion) Mervyn LeRoy (Gypsy) Martin Ritt (Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man) Stanley Kubrick (Lolita) John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate) Morton DaCosta (The Music Man) Ismael Rodríguez (My Son, the Hero (Los Hermanos Del Hierro)) Robert Mulligan (To Kill a Mockingbird)	Columbia Pictures
1962	Stanley Kramer (Judgment at Nuremberg)unverified beat 4 others William Wyler (The Children's Hour) Anthony Mann (El Cid) J. Lee Thompson (The Guns of Navarone) Jerome Robbins & Robert Wise (West Side Story)	United Artists
1961	Jack Cardiff (Sons and Lovers)unverified beat 4 others Billy Wilder (The Apartment) Richard Brooks (Elmer Gantry) Stanley Kubrick (Spartacus) Fred Zinnemann (The Sundowners)	20th Century Fox
1960	William Wyler (Ben-Hur)unverified beat 4 others Otto Preminger (Anatomy of a Murder) George Stevens (The Diary of Anne Frank) Fred Zinnemann (The Nun's Story) Stanley Kramer (On the Beach)	Loew's, Inc.
1959	Vincente Minnelli (Gigi)unverified beat 4 others Richard Brooks (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) Stanley Kramer (The Defiant Ones) Robert Wise (I Want to Live!) Delbert Mann (Separate Tables)	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
1958	David Lean (The Bridge on the River Kwai)unverified beat 4 others Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men) Fred Zinnemann (A Hatful of Rain) Joshua Logan (Sayonara) Billy Wilder (Witness for the Prosecution)	Columbia Pictures
1957	Elia Kazan (Baby Doll)unverified beat 4 others Michael Anderson (Around the World in 80 Days) George Stevens (Giant) Vincente Minnelli (Lust for Life) King Vidor (War and Peace)	Warner Bros. Pictures
1956	Joshua Logan (Picnic)unverified	Columbia Pictures
1955	Elia Kazan (On the Waterfront)unverified	Columbia Pictures
1954	Fred Zinnemann (From Here to Eternity)unverified	Columbia Pictures
1953	Cecil B. DeMille (The Greatest Show on Earth)unverified beat 2 others Richard Fleischer (The Happy Time) John Ford (The Quiet Man)	Paramount Pictures
1952	László Benedek (Death of a Salesman)unverified beat 2 others Vincente Minnelli (An American in Paris) George Stevens (A Place in the Sun)	Columbia Pictures
1951	Billy Wilder (Sunset Boulevard)unverified beat 3 others Joseph L. Mankiewicz (All About Eve) John Huston (The Asphalt Jungle) George Cukor (Born Yesterday)	Paramount Pictures
1950	Robert Rossen (All the King's Men)unverified	Columbia Pictures
1949	John Huston (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre)unverified	Warner Bros. Pictures
1948	Elia Kazan (Gentleman's Agreement)unverified	20th Century-Fox
1947	Frank Capra (It's a Wonderful Life)unverified	RKO Radio Pictures
1946	Billy Wilder (The Lost Weekend)unverified	Paramount Pictures
1945	Leo McCarey (Going My Way)unverified	Paramount Pictures
1944	Henry King (The Song of Bernadette)unverified	20th Century Fox