In the history of the Academy Awards, only seven women have gotten a Best Director nomination. But a dozen-plus films with a female director have scored Best Picture nods — particularly since the Academy expanded the lead category to include more than five nominees.
Randa Haines’ “Children of a Lesser God” (1986) • Haines’ drama about a teacher at a school for the deaf earned five nominations, and won one for Marlee Matlin’s breakout lead performance. But Haines herself didn’t get a nod.
Penny Marshall’s “Awakenings” (1990) • The Robert De Niro-Robin Williams medical drama picked up three nods, including for Steven Zaillian’s script — but no love for Marshall.
Barbra Streisand’s “The Prince of Tides” (1991) • The directing snub for Streisand, who also produced and starred in this tear-jerking drama, prompted that year’s Oscar host, Billy Crystal, to quip: “Seven nominations on the shelf, did this film direct itself?” (It went home with no trophies.)
Jane Campion’s “The Piano” (1993) • Campion became only the second woman nominated as Best Director (after Lina Wertmuller) and took home an Oscar for her screenplay. The film earned eight nominations in total, and won three — including for Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin.
Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation” (2003) • Coppola’s two-hander earned four nominations in all. While she did earn a directing nomination, like Campion she was only rewarded for her screenplay.
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’ “Little Miss Sunshine” (2006) • Once again, this oddball family dramedy earned a Best Picture nod but nothing for its co-directors. The film took home two Oscars in all, for supporting actor Alan Arkin and screenwriter Michael Arndt, out of four total nominations.
Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” (2009) • Bigelow’s war drama earned nine nominations and took home six awards — including Best Picture. She also became the first woman to win Best Director (and beat her ex-husband and “Avatar” auteur James Cameron).
Lone Scherfig’s “An Education” (2009) • In the first year in which the Academy expanded the Best Picture field to 10, Scherfig’s British indie scored three nominations, including for its breakout star, Carey Mulligan.
Lisa Cholodenko’s “The Kids Are All Right” (2010) • Cholodenko’s drama about a long-standing lesbian couple picked up four nominations, including for actors Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo. But the Academy showed no love for Cholodenko’s direction.
Debra Granik’s “Winter’s Bone” (2010) • Jennifer Lawrence earned her first Oscar nomination for her breakout role in this indie, which picked up a total of four nominations.
Kathryn Bigelow’s “Zero Dark Thirty” (2012) • Bigelow’s Gulf War drama snagged five nominations — though not for directing — but only took home a prize for its sound editing.
Ava DuVernay’s “Selma” (2014) • DuVernay’s Martin Luther King Jr. biopic picked up two nominations, and won Best Original Song for Common and John Legend’s stirring “Glory.”
Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird” (2017) • Gerwig’s feature directorial debut earned five nominations, including for Gerwig’s screenplay and directing, but went home empty-handed.
Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women” (2019) • Two years later, Gerwig returned to the race with her adaptation of the Louisa May Alcott classic — though she lost out on a directing nomination. (The film did win Best Costume Design.)
Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland” (2020) • Chloé Zhao’s film earned six nominations — including four for the Chinese-born filmmaker herself as producer, writer, director and editor.
Emerald Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman” (2020) • The actress’ debut feature as a director earned five nominations, including for Fennell’s directing and her screenplay.
Sian Heder’s “CODA” (2021) • Sian Heder earned nominations for both her indie film and co-writing the script of the story about a hearing child of deaf parents.
Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” (2021) • Campion became the first woman to earn two directing nominations for her work on this Western, which nabbed 12 nominations overall.
