Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Director

Winners
Names and titles in bold indicate directors that won the Academy Award for Best Director. Names and titles with an asterisk (*) indicate films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, but did not win.
 * 1975 - Sidney Lumet*, Dog Day Afternoon
 * 1976 - Sidney Lumet*, Network
 * 1977 - Herbert Ross*, The Turning Point
 * 1978 - Michael Cimino, The Deer Hunter
 * 1979 - Robert Benton, Kramer vs. Kramer
 * 1980 - Roman Polanski*, Tess
 * 1981 - Warren Beatty, Reds
 * 1982 - Steven Spielberg*, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
 * 1983 - James L. Brooks, Terms of Endearment
 * 1984 - Milos Forman, Amadeus
 * 1985 - Terry Gilliam, Brazil
 * 1986 - David Lynch*, Blue Velvet
 * 1987 - John Boorman*, Hope and Glory
 * 1988 - David Cronenberg, Dead Ringers
 * 1989 - Spike Lee, Do the Right Thing
 * 1990 - Martin Scorsese*, Goodfellas
 * 1991 - Barry Levinson*, Bugsy
 * '1992' - Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven
 * 1993 - Jane Campion*, The Piano
 * 1994 - Quentin Tarantino*, Pulp Fiction
 * 1995 - Mike Figgis*, Leaving Las Vegas
 * 1996 - Mike Leigh*, Secrets & Lies
 * 1997 - Curtis Hanson*, L.A. Confidential
 * '1998' - Steven Spielberg, Saving Private Ryan
 * '1999' - Sam Mendes, American Beauty
 * 2000' - Steven Soderbergh, Erin Brockovich'* ''/ Traffic
 * 2001 - David Lynch*, Mulholland Drive
 * 2002 - Pedro Almodóvar*, Talk to Her
 * '2003' - Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
 * 2004 - Alexander Payne*, Sideways
 * '2005' - Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain
 * 2006 - Paul Greengrass*, United 93
 * 2007 - Paul Thomas Anderson*, There Will Be Blood
 * 2008 - Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
 * 2009 - Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
 * 2010 - Oliver Assayas, Carlos / David Fincher*, The Social Network
 * 2011 - Terrence Malick*, The Tree of Life
 * 2012 - Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master
 * 2013 - Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
 * 2014 - Richard Linklater*, Boyhood
 * 2015 - George Miller*, Mad Max: Fury Road
 * 2016 - Barry Jenkins*, Moonlight
 * 2017 - Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water / Luca Guadagnino, Call Me by Your Name
 * 2018 - Debra Granik, Leave No Trace

Most wins
2 - Paul Thomas Anderson, Sidney Lumet, David Lynch, Steven Spielberg