Chloé Zhao makes history as the first woman of color to win an Oscar for Best Director

By Tatiana Tenreyro  |  April 26, 2021 | 1:25am
Film Features Chloé Zhao
Chloé Zhao makes history as the first woman of color to win an Oscar for Best Director
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Chloe Zhao Screenshot: ABC

Chloé Zhao made history tonight by becoming the first woman of color to win the Oscar for Best Director. The Nomadland director was one of two women nominated this year, alongside Emerald Fennell, who was nominated for Promising Young Woman. (Regina King was notably snubbed for One Night In Miami…)

It’s an incredibly well-deserved win, but it’s also a sobering reminder that Zhao is the second woman to ever win an Oscar for Best Director in the 91 years of the Academy Awards. That’s nearly a century! Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win the award in 2010 for Hurt Locker, but even that timing felt too late. Only five other women have been nominated in the Academy Awards’ history for Best Director: Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird), Sofia Coppola (Lost In Translation), Jane Campion (The Piano) and Lina Wertmüller (Seven Beauties).

 
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