Who won the Best Director Oscar for 1993's 'Schindler's List'?

Steven Spielberg won the Best Director Oscar for 1993’s Schindler’s List. He received the award at the 66th Academy Awards, held in 1994 to honor films released during 1993.

The film was one of the night’s major successes, winning seven Oscars from 12 nominations. Spielberg’s directing victory accompanied awards for Best Picture, cinematography, film editing, original score, adapted screenplay, and art direction. The Academy recognized his controlled, solemn approach to the Holocaust drama and its reconstruction of Oskar Schindler’s rescue efforts.

This was Spielberg’s first competitive Oscar for directing, despite earlier nominations for Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. He later won another Best Director Oscar for Saving Private Ryan in 1999.

A frequent mix-up comes from the ceremony year: Schindler’s List was released in 1993, but the Oscars recognizing it took place in 1994. The directing nominees included James Ivory, Robert Altman, Jane Campion, and Jim Sheridan.