Directing is a critical aspect of filmmaking and the Best Director Oscar is widely recognized as a high point in the film industry. A number of very talented directors have received the award over the years, but only a select few have won it multiple times.
These directors are considered among the field’s elite and have left a lasting impact on cinema. However, it’s worth noting that the Academy’s Best Director choices don’t always align with audience or critic favorites, and some deserving directors may not be recognized by the Oscars.
Nevertheless, for the most part, the Academy’s selections are well regarded, and award-winning films and directors often resonate with audiences. Here’s a list of ten directors who have won the most Academy Awards.
10 Ang Lee – 3 Oscars
Ang lee was born in October 1954 in Pingtung County, Southern Taiwan. He is a Taiwanese filmmaker known for his iconic film Pi’s life (2012), which received eleven Oscar nominations and won four. Lee also directed other Academy-winning films such as Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). His debut English-language film was Sensation and sensitivity (1995), for which the film received critical acclaim and several awards.
During his film career, Lee has received several international nominations and awards, including nine academy nominations and three Oscar awards. He won his first Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 2000 for his film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In 2005, he won an Oscar for Best Director in Motion Picture Brokeback Mountain, making him the first non-white to win the Academy Award for Best Director. In 2012, Lee won the Best Director award Pi’s life Academy Awards.
9 Peter Jackson – 3 Oscars
Peter Jackson was born in October 1961 and is a New Zealand screenwriter, director and producer. Although Jackson began his film career producing horrific and often witty horror comedies in his native New Zealand, such as Bad taste (1987), he became one of the most innovative and successful filmmakers of his generation.
Jackson has received several awards, including three Oscars. He is best known as a writer, director and producer of The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003) and the Hobbit trilogy (2012-2014). He wrote film history by being the first to direct three major feature films simultaneously. His hard work paid off as he received three Oscars in 2004 for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
8 William Wyler – 3 Oscars
William Wyler was a Swiss-German-American film producer and director born July 1902. He died on July 27, 1981, but is considered one of the most versatile and renowned film directors for classic Hollywood films. Wyler received multiple awards, including three Oscars for Best Director. He directed films in both technicolor and black-and-white and was active in the era of sound and silence, which made him a versatile filmmaker. He is known for producing notable films such as Miss Miniver (1942), The best years of our lives (1946), and the biblical epic Ben Hur (1959), all of which won the Oscar for Best Picture, and Wyler won the Oscar for Best Director in all three films.
7 Steven Spielberg – 3 Oscars
American screenwriter, director and producer Stephen Spielberg was born in 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He started his film career in the New Hollywood era and has become one of the richest filmmakers in the world. He has made many successful and critically acclaimed films since the release of the epic summer blockbuster Jaws (1975).
Today, Spielberg is one of the best Hollywood directors and the most influential personalities in the modern film industry. He has received numerous awards during his career, including three Oscar awards. Spielberg received his first Oscar in 1994 for his production Schindler’s List (1993), winning two Oscars for Best Producer and Best Picture. In 1999, he won the Oscar for Best Director in Motion Picture Saving Private Ryan (1998).
6 James Cameron – 3 Oscars
James Cameron is a Canadian film director, editor, screenwriter and producer known for his innovative approach to filmmaking. He is known for breaking new ground in the industry by developing new technologies and is credited with revitalizing the science fiction genre through the enduring success of films such as Aliens (1986) and The terminator (1984). During his film career, he has received numerous awards, including three Oscars. Cameron wrote, directed, edited and produced the timeless film Titanic (1997), which received fourteen Oscar nominations in 1998 and won eleven Oscars. Cameron won three for Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Picture.
5 Frank Capra – 3 Oscars
Frank Kapra was born in May 1897 and died in September 1991. He was an Italian-born American screenwriter, producer and director. Capra was one of America’s most influential film directors of the 1930s, writing and producing major award-winning films during the Great Depression.
His first breakthrough movie was It happened one night (1934), the first film to win an Oscar in five major categories, including Best Picture. Capra is known for producing Mr. Smith is going to Washington (1939), You can’t take it with you (1938),and Mr. Deeds goes to town (1936). Capra has been nominated six times for Best Director at the Academy Awards and won three Oscars. He received his first Oscar Award in 1935 for Best Director You can’t take it with you. He also received an Oscar award in 1937 and 1939 for Best Director in Motion Picture Mr. Deeds goes to town and You can’t take it with youin that order.
4 Clint Eastwood – 4 Oscars
Clint Eastwood Born May 1930, Jr. is an American film director and actor whose film production and television career span more than 60 years. Eastwood began his career as an actor in minor uncredited television and film roles and has since gone on to become one of the greatest actor-turned-directors of all time. Clintwood achieved international fame for his role in the iconic film The good the bad and the ugly (1966). Over the years, he starred in and directed many award-winning films. Clintwood has also received several accolades, including four Oscars. In 1993, he won two Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture for do not forgive (1992). In 2005, he also won two Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director for the film Million Dollar Baby (2004).
3 Francis Ford Coppola – 5 Oscars
Francis Ford Coppolaborn April 1939, is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of the New Hollywood era of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola has received numerous awards during his career, including five Oscars. His film debut is Dementia 13 (1963), and he has since produced award-winning films, most notably the iconic Godfather trilogy (1972-1990) and Patton (1970). The first two Godfather films won nine Oscars for acting, writing and directing, while Patton won seven Academy Awards. Coppola received his first Academy Award in 1971 for Best Original Screenplay for Patton. In 1973 he won the prize for the best adapted screenplay for The godfatherand in 1975 he received three Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for The godfather part II.
2 Billy Wilder – 6 Oscars
Billy Wilder, an Austrian-American film director, writer and producer, was born in June 1906 and died in March 2002. His Hollywood career spanned five decades and he is considered one of the best and most versatile filmmakers of classic Hollywood cinema. He is popularly known for his work in crime noir Double compensation (1944), for which he received his first Oscar nomination for Best Director. Wilder’s film career has been marked by numerous awards and nominations, including 21 Academy Award nominations, of which he won six, including two for Best Director. In 1945, Wilder won an Oscar for Best Director and Best Screenplay in Motion Picture The lost weekend (1945). In 1951 he won an Oscar for best screenplay in film Sunset Blvd (1950), and in 1961 won three Oscars for Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Original Screenplay in Motion Picture The apartment (1960).
1 John Ford – 6 Oscars
John Martin Feeney, known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director widely regarded as one of the best and most influential filmmakers of his generation. He was born in February 1894 and died in August 1973. Ford directed more than 140 films, many of which were silent, and is best remembered for his Westerns. His films often featured wide shots and locations that silhouetted actors against the vast, rocky, and rugged natural terrain. Ford received numerous awards and nominations during his career, including six Oscars. Four of those were for Best Director, for which he won The informant (1935), The grapes of wrath (1940), How green was my valley (1941), and The silent man (1952). He also won an Oscar for Best Picture for it The silent man in 1953 and How green was my valley in 1942.