All the directors who won an Oscar in the 21st century (26 photos)

We're listing this century's Oscar-winning directors and recalling the films for which they won the most valuable award in cinema. Yes, over 26 years, 25 different directors have won the Oscar for Best Director, three of whom have won it twice (guess who), and the other two times the award went to a duo of directors working on the same film.

2001 — Steven Soderbergh





Won an Oscar for the film "Traffic."

2002 — Ron Howard



Won an Oscar for the film "A Beautiful Mind."

2003 — Roman Polanski





Won an Oscar for the film "The Pianist."

2004 — Peter Jackson



Won an Oscar for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

2005 — Clint Eastwood



Won an Oscar for Million Dollar Baby.

Incidentally, Clint Eastwood still holds the record for the award—he is the oldest person to ever receive the Oscar for Best Director. In 2005, he was 74 years old.

2006 — Ang Lee



Won an Oscar for Brokeback Mountain.

2007 — Martin Scorsese



Won an Oscar for The Departed.

2008 — Joel Coen and Ethan Coen



Won an Oscar for No Country for Old Men.

2009 — Danny Boyle



Won an Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire.

2010 — Kathryn Bigelow



Won an Oscar for The Hurt Locker.

Kathryn Bigelow is the first woman to win an Oscar for directing.

2011 — Tom Hooper



Won an Oscar for The King's Speech.

2012 — Michel Hazanavicius



Won an Oscar for "The Artist."

2013 — Ang Lee (again!)



Won an Oscar for "Life of Pi."

2014 — Alfonso Cuarón



Won an Oscar for the film "Gravity."

2015 — Alejandro González Iñárritu



Won an Oscar for the film "Birdman."

2016 — Alejandro González Iñárritu (two in a row!)



Won an Oscar for The Revenant.

This is one of only three times in Oscar history that the same director has won the award two years in a row. Iñárritu also became the first Mexican to win the Best Director statuette.

2017 — Damien Chazelle



Won an Oscar for La La Land.

While Clint Eastwood is the oldest Oscar winner for Best Director, Damien Chazelle is the youngest. He was 32 years old in 2017.

2018 — Guillermo del Toro



Won an Oscar for The Shape of Water.

2019 — Alfonso Cuarón (again!)



Won an Oscar for Roma.

2020 — Bong Joon-ho



Won an Oscar for "Parasite."

2021 — Chloé Zhao



Won an Oscar for "Nomadland."

2022 — Jane Campion



Won an Oscar for "Power of the Dog."

Chloé Zhao and Jane Campion became the second and third women to win the Oscar for Best Director.

2023 — Daniel Scheinert and Dan Kwan



Won an Oscar for "Everything Everywhere."

2024 — Christopher Nolan



Won an Oscar for the film "Oppenheimer."

2025 — Sean Baker



Won an Oscar for the film "Anora."

2026 — Paul Thomas Anderson



Won an Oscar for the film "Battle After Battle."