Claim: Steven Spielberg has had a profession.

The Academy Award for Best Director -LRB- officially known as the Academy Award for Best Directing -RRB- is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences -LRB- AMPAS -RRB- . It is given in honor of a film director who has exhibited outstanding directing while working in the film industry .   The 1st Academy Awards ceremony was held in 1929 with the award being split into `` Dramatic '' and `` Comedy '' categories ; Frank Borzage and Lewis Milestone won for Seventh Heaven and Two Arabian Knights , respectively . However , these categories were merged for all subsequent ceremonies . Nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the directors branch of AMPAS ; winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy .   For the first eleven years of the Academy Awards , directors were allowed to be nominated for multiple films in the same year . However , after the nomination of Michael Curtiz for two films , Angels with Dirty Faces and Four Daughters , at the 11th Academy Awards , the rules were revised so that an individual could only be nominated for one film at each ceremony . That rule has since been amended , although the only director who has received multiple nominations in the same year was Steven Soderbergh for Erin Brockovich and Traffic in 2000 , winning the award for the latter . The Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture have been very closely linked throughout their history . Of the 89 films that have been awarded Best Picture , 63 have also been awarded Best Director . Since its inception , the award has been given to 69 directors or directing teams . John Ford has received the most awards in this category with four . William Wyler was nominated on twelve occasions , more than any other individual . As of the 2017 ceremony , Damien Chazelle is the most recent winner in this category for his work on La La Land . Chazelle also became the youngest director in history to receive this award , at the age of 32 . Two directing teams have shared the award ; Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for West Side Story in 1961 and Joel and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men in 2007 . The Coen brothers are the only siblings to have won the award .