Entertainment
Oscars 2021: How many women have ever won or been nominated for Best Director?
The 2021 Oscars are slowly inching their way towards recognising talent in all its forms by nominating two women, and the first woman of colour, in the category for best director this year.
Chloe Zhao is in the running for her film Nomadland (which already saw succcess at the Baftas) while Emerald Fennell has been nominated for Promising Young Woman, starring Carey Mulligan.
This is something to be celebrated, but it has taken them over 90 years to get to this point.
The ladies are joined by Thomas Vinterberg, David Fincher and Lee Issac Chung in the best director field for 2021.
Zhao and Fennell are now part of a very small, select group of women, and should one of them take the trophy home that group gets even smaller still.
So how many women have won a best director award so far as we head towards the 93rd Academy Awards tonight?
How many women have won Best Director at the Oscars?
So far, just one woman has ever won best director – Katheryn Bigelow in 2010 for The Hurt Locker. The film, starring Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie, follows an American bomb squad that disables explosives in Iraq in 2004.
She said previously of her history-making win: ‘I hope I’m the first of many [women], and of course, I’d love to just think of myself as a filmmaker. And I long for the day when that modifier can be a moot point.’
How many women have been nominated for Best Director?
Five women have been recognised in the best director category so far: Lina Wermüller for Seven Beauties in 1976 (the first woman to be nominated), Jane Campion for The Piano in 1994, Sofia Coppola in 2004 for Lost In Translation, Bigelow in 2010 and Greta Gerwig in 2018 for Lady Bird.
What are the Oscars 2021 nominations?
Oscars 2021 nominations
Best Picture
The Father
Judas and the Black Messiah
Mank
Minari
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Director
Thomas Vinterberg – Another Round
David Fincher – Mank
Lee Isaac Chung – Minari
Chloe Zhao – Nomadland
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
Actress in a leading role
Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Andra Day – The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman
Frances McDormand – Nomadland
Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman
Actor in a Leading Role
Riz Ahmed – Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Anthony Hopkins – The Father
Gary Oldman – Mank
Steven Yeun – Minari
Actress in a supporting role
Maria Bakalova – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Glenn Close – Hillbilly Elegy
Olivia Colman – The Father
Amanda Seyfried – Mank
Youn Yuh-jung – Minari
Actor in a supporting role
Sacha Baron Cohen – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Daniel Kaluuya – Judas and the Black Messiah
Leslie Odom Jr – One Night In Miami
Paul Raci – Sound of Metal
Lakeith Stanfield – Judas and the Black Messiah
Best costume design
Emma
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank
Mulan
Pinnochio
Best original score
Da 5 Bloods
Mank
Minari
News of the World
Soul
Best adapted screenplay
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
The Father
Nomadland
One Night In Miami
The White Tiger
Best original screenplay
Judas and the Black Messiah
Minari
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Animated short film
Burrow
Genius Loci
If Anything Happens I Love You
Opera
Yes-People
Live action short film
Feeling Through
The Letter Room
The Present
Two Distant Strangers
White Eye
Documentary feature
Collective
Crip Camp
The Mole Agent
My Octopus Teacher
Time
Documentary short subject
Colette
A Concierto is a Conversation
Do Not Split
Hunger Ward
A Love Song for Latasha
International Feature Film
Another Round – Denmark
Better Days – Hong Kong
Collective – Romania
The Man Who Sold His Skin – Tunisia
Quo Vadis, Aida?
Sound
Greyhound
Mank
News of the World
Soul
Sound of Metal
Production Design
The Father
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank
News of the World
Tenet
Film editing
The Father
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Cinematography
Judas and the Black Messiah
Mank
News of the World
Nomadland
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Visual Effects
Love and Monsters
The Midnight Sky
Mulan
The One and Only Ivan
Tenet
Makeup and hairstyling
Emma
Hillbilly Elegy
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank
Pinocchio
Animated feature film
Onward
Over the Moon
A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Soul
Wolfwalkers
Original song
Fight For You – Judas and the Black Messiah
Hear My Voice – The Trial of the Chicago 7
Husavik – Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
Io Si (Seen) – The Life Ahead
Speak Now – One Night in Miami
The 93rd Academy Awards will air on April 26 at 1am on Sky Cinema.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
MORE : Ashley Cain’s baby daughter Azaylia dies after leukaemia battle
