21 Talented Female Directors Making Their Mark on Hollywood

For all the strides Hollywood has made toward gender equality, there's still a lot of work to be done. And that's especially true of the uphill battle for women working behind the scenes. According to a recent "Celluloid Ceiling" report from San Diego State University, women accounted for just eight percent of directors on the top 250 domestic grossing films in 2018. To be clear, though, the problem isn't that there's a lack of talent — it's that there's a lack of opportunities, and a lack of recognition for the few who manage to break through.

Case in point: Some of the best, most well-received films of 2018 were directed by women. And yet, for the 86th time in the Academy Awards' 91-year history, no female filmmakers were nominated for Best Director at the Oscars. Fortunately, people are increasingly speaking up about the need for more diverse storytelling, and there are some promising movies by and about women coming up in 2019 and beyond. But just in case Hollywood needs some suggestions, these are just a few of the many female directors we'd like to see more of in the future. Hire them, please! (Photos via Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET + Larry Busacca/Getty Images + Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images + Amanda Edwards/Getty Images)

Nicole Holofcener: You've definitely seen Holofcener's work, even if you don't know her name. She's been behind the camera on several major TV shows — Sex and the City, Gilmore Girls, Parks and Recreation, Six Feet Under — but understated, character-driven feature films (like her latest, Netflix's The Land of Steady Habits) are where she really shines. You can't go wrong with any of the titles in her filmography, but we're partial to 1996's Walking and Talking, starring Catherine Keener, and 2013's Enough Said, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini. (Photo via Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images for Variety)

Tamara Jenkins: More than 10 years after she earned raves (and a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination) for 2007's The Savages, starring Laura Linney and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman as siblings who reunite to care for their ailing, estranged father, Jenkins returned to the scene in 2018 with Private Life. The film, which debuted on Netflix to much critical acclaim, features Kathryn Hahn and Paul Giamatti as a married couple struggling with the heartbreak of infertility. It's not an easy watch, but it is a good one. (Photo via Mark Mainz/Getty Images for AFI)

Susan Johnson: As you've probably deduced from the photo above, Johnson directed one of our favorite movies of 2018, Netflix's impossibly charming teen rom-com To All the Boys I've Loved Before. She also helmed the sweet indie feature Carrie Pilby, which, like TATBILB, is based on a popular YA novel and features a smart, relatable leading lady. And according to TATBILB star Lana Condor, working with her is a dream.

"Susan was wonderful. … She was always so supportive and she was everyone's number one fan," Condor told Brit + Co of Johnson. "She was wonderful, she was passionate, she knew what she wanted, and she fought for a lot of things on [author] Jenny [Han]'s behalf. She's the epitome of a strong female director — well, a strong director. Take the sex away from it. She was just a strong director, period." (Photo via Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Patty Jenkins: With 2017's stellar Wonder Woman, Jenkins proved that women can (and deserve to) carry superhero films, both on screen and off. (We never had any doubt, of course, but Hollywood apparently needed some convincing.) Her other work includes 2003's Monster, for which Charlize Theron won an Oscar, and the 2019 true crime miniseries I Am the Night, starring Wonder Woman's Chris Pine. Next up: the highly anticipated Wonder Woman 1984 sequel. We. Can't. Wait. (Photo via Rich Polk/Getty Images for IMDb)

Mimi Leder: Leder has dozens of credits to her name from the last few decades, including the 1998 sci-fi disaster drama Deep Impact, the 2018 Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic On the Basis of Sex, and several episodes of ER, Shameless, Smash, and The Leftovers. She's also working on the much buzzed-about Apple TV+ series The Morning Show, starring Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, and Steve Carell. (Photo via Lars Niki/Getty Images for the Academy Of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences)

Marielle Heller: If you haven't seen Heller's latest, the Melissa McCarthy-starring Can You Ever Forgive Me?, finish reading this slideshow and then find it on demand immediately. The film earned three Oscar nominations — including acting nods for McCarthy and costar Richard E. Grant — but it deserved at least one more for Heller's directing. She'll have more chances for awards season glory in the future, though: She's also behind the upcoming Mister Rogers biopic A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, starring Tom Hanks. (Photo viaLars Niki/Getty Images for Athena Film Festival)

Lynne Ramsay: Ramsay's most recent directing credit, the Joaquin Phoenix-starring You Were Never Really Here, packed a brutal punch and demonstrated her intense, uncompromising approach to filmmaking. She also helmed the unsettling psychological thriller We Need to Talk About Kevin, which starred Tilda Swinton and a young Ezra Miller. Her movies aren't for everyone, but as Swinton told The Guardian in 2011, "She is one of those rare directors who creates the kind of films that just would not be there if she didn't make them." (Photo via Tristan Fewings/Getty Images)

Leslye Headland: Headland was part of the team — along with Natasha Lyonne and Amy Poehler — that brought us the Netflix gem Russian Doll. (She co-created the series and directed four of the eight episodes.) She also helmed the underrated 2015 rom-com Sleeping With Other People, starring Alison Brie and Jason Sudeikis, and the Hangover-esque 2012 comedy Bachelorette, starring Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan, Isla Fisher, and Rebel Wilson. (Photo via Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Netflix)

Kathryn Bigelow: Of the five women ever nominated for a Best Director Oscar, Bigelow is the only one in the history of the Academy Awards to win — and she beat James Cameron, Quentin Tarantino, Lee Daniels, and Jason Reitman to do it. The Hurt Locker (the film for which she won) is her best-known work, but she also helmed 2012's Zero Dark Thirty and 1991's Point Break, among others. (Photo via Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

Karyn Kusama: Since making her debut with the gritty boxing drama Girlfight in 2000, Kusama has shown her versatility and vision in a variety of genres. She directed the futuristic sci-fi flick Aeon Flux in 2005, the cult classic horror comedy Jennifer's Body in 2009, and the bleak crime noir Destroyer in 2018. In between each of those films, she also got behind the camera on several TV series, including Billions, The Man in the High Castle, Casual, and The L Word. (Photo via Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Julie Delpy: If you like Delpy's work as an actress and writer — and really, who doesn't love the Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight trilogy? — don't sleep on her directing credits. We'd start with the charming, unconventional 2007 rom-com 2 Days in Paris, and its 2012 sequel 2 Days in New York. (Photo via Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Jordana Spiro: You probably already know Spiro for her on-camera work — she has acted on shows including My Boys, Ozark, Blindspot, and The Mob Doctor — but you may want to pay attention to what she's doing behind the scenes, too. She made her feature film directorial debut with 2018's Night Comes On, which has a 100 percent "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and earned Spiro the NEXT Innovator Award at Sundance. We don't know what (if anything) she's doing next, but you can bet we'll be watching. (Photo via Loic Venance/AFP/Getty Images)

Jane Campion: At the time of her Oscar nomination for The Piano in 1994, Campion was just the second woman in history to be included in the Best Director category. She didn't win, but she has since established herself as one of the most distinctive filmmakers in show business. More recent credits include the 2013 series Top of the Lake (and its 2017 sequel, Top of the Lake: China Girl), 2009's Bright Star, and 2003's In the Cut. (Photo via Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

Dee Rees:Mudbound filmmaker Rees was snubbed for a Best Director Oscar nomination in 2018, but she did make history as the first Black woman to be nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. Her next project is The Last Thing He Wanted, a political thriller based on Joan Didion's novel of the same name, starring Anne Hathaway, Willem Dafoe, and Ben Affleck. (Photo via Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

Ava DuVernay: DuVernay made a lot of headlines when Disney tapped her to direct the big-budget film adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time, but she deserves just as much (if not more) attention for the lesser-known titles in her filmography. She already has two Oscar-nominated movies under her belt: the gripping drama Selma, which was up for Best Picture in 2015; and the powerful documentary 13th, which was up for Best Documentary Feature in 2017. (Photo via Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET)

Lisa Cholodenko: Cholodenko is best known for the Oscar-nominated comedy-drama The Kids Are All Right, starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, and Mark Ruffalo. But she first broke out with the 1998 indie film High Art, and although she hasn't made a feature film since 2010, she's been working steadily behind the scenes as a producer, writer, and television director. She's also attached to the upcoming Toni Erdmann remake starring Kristen Wiig. (Photo via Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)

Sarah Polley: As an actress, writer, and director, Polley makes quiet, often-heartbreaking, character-driven films that feel deeply, authentically human. Her 2006 drama, Away From Her — about a couple whose marriage is tested when the wife, who has Alzheimer's and lives in a nursing home, begins to develop a relationship with another patient — earned two Oscar nominations, including Best Adapted Screenplay for Polley. She also received acclaim for 2011's Take This Waltz, starring Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen. Both are worth a watch. (Photo via Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images)

Debra Granik: Granik's most recent movie, Leave No Trace — about a father (Ben Foster) raising his daughter (Thomasin McKenzie) in a forest in Oregon — was widely considered one of the best films of 2018. Even with more than 200 reviews, it has a 100 percent "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And the last scripted feature she directed before that was 2010's A Winter's Bone, which earned four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Jennifer Lawrence. We just hope we won't have to wait another eight years for her next film. (Photo via Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for National Board of Review)

Sanaa Hamri: Hamri got her start directing music videos for the likes of Mariah Carey, Destiny's Child, and Prince, but she has since proved her talent for longer-form projects, too. In addition to getting behind the camera on 90210, Nashville, Shameless, and Empire, she has helmed feature films including Something New, Just Wright (one of our fave rom-coms), and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. (Photo via Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)

Chloe Zhao: With her 2017 feature The Rider, an unexpected reinvention of the Western, Zhao established herself as a unique, important voice in filmmaking. And you'll be hearing even more from her in the future: Her next project is the much-anticipated Nomadland, starring Frances McDormand, and she was recently tapped to direct Marvel Studios' The Eternals, which is generating some early buzz thanks to new reports about Angelina Jolie's possible involvement. (Photo via Amanda Edwards/Getty Images)

Greta Gerwig: In 2018, Lady Bird filmmaker Gerwig became just the fifth woman ever to be nominated for Best Director at the Oscars. Her next project is one of the most anticipated movies of 2019: She's taking on the Louisa May Alcott classic Little Women, with Emma Watson, Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Timothee Chalamet, Meryl Streep, and Laura Dern set to star. (Photo via Christopher Polk/Getty Images)