Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Director

List of winners and nominees

1990s

• 1995: Mel Gibson – Braveheart
• 1996: Anthony Minghella – The English Patient
• 1997: James Cameron – Titanic
• 1998: Steven Spielberg – Saving Private Ryan
• 1999: Sam Mendes – American Beauty

  2000s

• 2000: Steven Soderbergh – Erin Brockovich / Traffic
• 2001: Ron Howard – A Beautiful Mind / Baz Luhrmann – Moulin Rouge!
• * Peter Jackson – '
• 2002: Steven Spielberg – Catch Me If You Can / Minority Report
• * Roman Polanski – The Pianist
• * Martin Scorsese – Gangs of New York
• 2003: Peter Jackson –
• * Tim Burton – Big Fish
• * Sofia Coppola – Lost in Translation
• * Clint Eastwood – Mystic River
• * Jim Sheridan – In America
• 2004: Martin Scorsese – The Aviator
• * Clint Eastwood – Million Dollar Baby
• * Marc Forster – Finding Neverland
• * Taylor Hackford – Ray
• * Alexander Payne – Sideways
• 2005: Ang Lee – Brokeback Mountain
• * George Clooney – Good Night, and Good Luck
• * Paul Haggis – Crash
• * Ron Howard – Cinderella Man
• * Steven Spielberg – Munich
• 2006: Martin Scorsese – The Departed
• * Bill Condon – Dreamgirls
• * Clint Eastwood – Letters from Iwo Jima
• * Stephen Frears – The Queen
• * Paul Greengrass – United 93
• 2007: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen – No Country for Old Men
• * Tim Burton – '
• * Sean Penn – Into the Wild
• * Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
• * Joe Wright – Atonement
• 2008: Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
• * David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• * Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
• * Christopher Nolan – The Dark Knight
• * Gus Van Sant – Milk
• 2009: Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
• * James Cameron – Avatar
• * Lee Daniels – Precious
• * Clint Eastwood – Invictus
• * Jason Reitman – Up in the Air
• * Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds

  2010s

• 2010: David Fincher – The Social Network
• * Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan
• * Danny Boyle – 127 Hours
• * Joel Coen and Ethan Coen – True Grit
• * Tom Hooper – The King's Speech
• * Christopher Nolan – Inception
• 2011: Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
• * Stephen Daldry – Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
• * Alexander Payne – The Descendants
• * Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive
• * Martin Scorsese – Hugo
• * Steven Spielberg – War Horse
• 2012: Ben Affleck – Argo
• * Kathryn Bigelow – Zero Dark Thirty
• * Tom Hooper – Les Misérables
• * Ang Lee – Life of Pi
• * David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
• * Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
• 2013: Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity
• * Paul Greengrass – Captain Phillips
• * Spike Jonze – Her
• * Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave
• * David O. Russell – American Hustle
• * Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street
• 2014: Richard Linklater – Boyhood
• * Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
• * Ava DuVernay – Selma
• * David Fincher – Gone Girl
• * Alejandro G. Iñárritu – Birdman
• * Angelina Jolie – Unbroken
• 2015: George Miller –
• * Todd Haynes – Carol
• * Alejandro G. Iñárritu – The Revenant
• * Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
• * Ridley Scott – The Martian
• * Steven Spielberg – Bridge of Spies
• 2016: Damien Chazelle – La La Land
• * Mel Gibson – Hacksaw Ridge
• * Barry Jenkins – Moonlight
• * Kenneth Lonergan – Manchester by the Sea
• * David Mackenzie – Hell or High Water
• * Denis Villeneuve – Arrival
• * Denzel Washington – Fences
• 2017: Guillermo del Toro – The Shape of Water
• * Greta Gerwig – Lady Bird
• * Luca Guadagnino – Call Me by Your Name
• * Martin McDonagh – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
• * Christopher Nolan – Dunkirk
• * Jordan Peele – Get Out
• * Steven Spielberg – The Post
• 2018: Alfonso Cuarón – Roma
• * Damien Chazelle – First Man
• * Bradley Cooper – A Star Is Born
• * Peter Farrelly – Green Book
• * Yorgos Lanthimos – The Favourite
• * Spike Lee – BlacKkKlansman
• * Adam McKay – Vice
• 2019: Bong Joon-ho – Parasite / Sam Mendes – 1917
• * Noah Baumbach – Marriage Story
• * Greta Gerwig – Little Women
• * Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie – Uncut Gems
• * Martin Scorsese – The Irishman
• * Quentin Tarantino – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

  Multiple nominees

• Kathryn Bigelow
• Danny Boyle
• Tim Burton
• Damien Chazelle
• Ethan Coen
• Joel Coen
• Alfonso Cuarón
• Greta Gerwig
• Paul Greengrass
• Tom Hooper
• Alejandro González Iñárritu
• Peter Jackson
• Ang Lee
• Alexander Payne
• David O. Russell
• Quentin Tarantino

• Ron Howard
• David Fincher
• Christopher Nolan

• Clint Eastwood

• Martin Scorsese
• Steven Spielberg

  Multiple winners

• Alfonso Cuarón
• Sam Mendes
• Martin Scorsese
• Steven Spielberg