The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has awarded an Academy Award for Achievement in Directing (the Oscar for Best Director) annually since 1928. This is the most prestigious award a film director can receive.
Award | Winner | Honored | of Director |
| 1927-28 | Frank Borzage | Seventh Heaven (Dramatic Picture) | Catholic from Utah |
| 1927-28 | Lewis Milestone | Two Arabian Knights (Comedy Picture) | Jewish |
| 1928-29 | Frank Lloyd | The Divine Lady | |
| 1929-30 | Lewis Milestone | All Quiet on the Western Front | Jewish |
| 1930-31 | Norman Taurog | Skippy | |
| 1931-32 | Frank Borzage | Bad Girl | Catholic |
| 1932-33 | Frank Lloyd | Cavalcade | |
| 1934 | Frank Capra | It Happened One Night | Catholic; Christian Science |
| 1935 | John Ford | The Informer | Catholic |
| 1936 | Frank Capra | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | Catholic; Christian Science |
| 1937 | Leo McCarey | The Awful Truth | Catholic |
| 1938 | Frank Capra | You Can't Take It With You | Catholic; Christian Science |
| 1939 | Victor Fleming | Gone With The Wind | Christianity |
| 1940 | John Ford | The Grapes of Wrath | Catholic |
| 1941 | John Ford | How Green Was My Valley | Catholic |
| 1942 | William Wyler | Mrs. Miniver | Jewish |
| 1943 | Michael Curtiz | Casablanca | Jewish |
| 1944 | Leo McCarey | Going My Way | Catholic |
| 1945 | Billy Wilder | The Lost Weekend | Jewish |
| 1946 | William Wyler | The Best Years of Our Lives | Jewish |
| 1947 | Elia Kazan | Gentleman's Agreement | Greek Orthodox (lapsed); Communist |
| 1948 | John Huston | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre | Episcopalian (lapsed) |
| 1949 | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | A Letter to Three Wives | Jewish parents; atheist father |
| 1950 | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | All About Eve | Jewish parents; atheist father |
| 1951 | George Stevens | A Place in the Sun | |
| 1952 | John Ford | The Quiet Man | Catholic |
| 1953 | Fred Zinnemann | From Here to Eternity | Jewish |
| 1954 | Elia Kazan | On The Waterfront | Greek Orthodox (lapsed); Communist |
| 1955 | Delbert Mann | Marty | |
| 1956 | George Stevens | Giant | |
| 1957 | David Lean | The Bridge On The River Kwai | Quaker |
| 1958 | Vincente Minnelli | Gigi | Catholic |
| 1959 | William Wyler | Ben-Hur | Jewish |
| 1960 | Billy Wilder | The Apartment | Jewish |
| 1961 | Jerome Robbins Robert Wise | West Side Story | Jewish |
| 1962 | David Lean | Lawrence of Arabia | Quaker |
| 1963 | Tony Richardson | Tom Jones | |
| 1964 | George Cukor | My Fair Lady | Jewish |
| 1965 | Robert Wise | The Sound of Music | |
| 1966 | Fred Zinnemann | A Man for All Seasons | Jewish |
| 1967 | Mike Nichols | The Graduate | Jewish |
| 1968 | Carol Reed | Oliver! | |
| 1969 | John Schlesinger | Midnight Cowboy | Jewish |
| 1970 | Franklin Schaffner | Patton | |
| 1971 | William Friedkin | The French Connection | Jewish |
| 1972 | Bob Fosse | Cabaret | |
| 1973 | George Roy Hill | The Sting | |
| 1974 | Francis Ford Coppola | The Godfather, Part II | Catholic (non-practicing) |
| 1975 | Milos Forman | One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest | Jewish father; Protestant mother |
| 1976 | John Avildsen | Rocky | |
| 1977 | Woody Allen | Annie Hall | Jewish (raised Orthodox); agnostic |
| 1978 | Michael Cimino | The Deer Hunter | Catholic |
| 1979 | Robert Benton | Kramer vs. Kramer | |
| 1980 | Robert Redford | Ordinary People | |
| 1981 | Warren Beatty | Reds | Baptist (lapsed) |
| 1982 | Richard Attenborough | Gandhi | |
| 1983 | James L. Brooks | Terms of Endearment | Jewish |
| 1984 | Milos Forman | Amadeus | Jewish father; Protestant mother |
| 1985 | Sydney Pollack | Out of Africa | Jewish |
| 1986 | Oliver Stone | Platoon | Jewish father; Catholic mother; raised Episcopalian; Tibetan Buddhism (convert) |
| 1987 | Bernardo Bertolucci | The Last Emperor | Catholic (lapsed); Freudian |
| 1988 | Barry Levinson | Rain Man | Jewish |
| 1989 | Oliver Stone | Born on the Fourth of July | Jewish father; Catholic mother; raised Episcopalian; Tibetan Buddhism (convert) |
| 1990 | Kevin Costner | Dances With Wolves | Baptist |
| 1991 | Jonathan Demme | The Silence of the Lambs | |
| 1992 | Clint Eastwood | Unforgiven | raised Protestant; agnostic |
| 1993 | Steven Spielberg | Schindler's List | Judaism |
| 1994 | Robert Zemeckis | Forrest Gump | Jewish |
| 1995 | Mel Gibson | Braveheart | traditionalist Catholic |
| 1996 | Anthony Minghella | The English Patient | |
| 1997 | James Cameron | Titanic | vaguely Protestant background |
| 1998 | Steven Spielberg | Saving Private Ryan | Judaism |
| 1999 | Sam Mendes | American Beauty | |
| 2000 | Steven Soderbergh | Traffic | |
| 2001 | Ron Howard | A Beautiful Mind | Protestant (Methodist?) |
| 2002 | Roman Polanski | The Pianist | Jewish Catholic (lapsed) |
| 2003 | Peter Jackson | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | |
| 2004 | Clint Eastwood | Million Dollar Baby | raised Protestant; agnostic |