New York Film Critics Circle 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.
 * 1935 - John Ford, The Infomer
 * 1936 - Rouben Mamoulian, The Gay Desperado
 * 1937 - Gregory La Cava*, Stage Door
 * 1938 - Alfred Hitchcock, The Lady Vanishes
 * 1939 - John Ford*, Stagecoach
 * 1940 - John Ford, The Grapes of Wrath / The Long Voyage Home
 * '1941' - John Ford, How Green Was My Valley
 * 1942 - John Farrow*, Wake Island
 * 1943 - George Stevens*, The More the Merrier
 * 1944 - Leo McCarey, Going My Way
 * 1945 - Billy Wilder, The Lost Weekend
 * 1946 - William Wyler, The Best Years of Our Lives
 * 1947 - Elia Kazan, Gentleman's Agreement / Boomerang
 * 1948 - John Huston, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
 * 1949 - Carol Reed*, The Fallen Idol
 * 1950 - Joseph L. Mankiewicz, All About Eve
 * 1951 - Elia Kazan*, A Streetcar Named Desire
 * 1952 - Fred Zinnemann*, High Noon
 * 1953 - Fred Zinnemann, From Here to Eternity
 * 1954 - Elia Kazan, On the Waterfront
 * 1955 - David Lean*, Summertime
 * 1956 - John Huston, Moby Dick
 * 1957 - David Lean, The Bridge on the River Kwai
 * 1958 - Stanley Kramer*, The Defiant Ones
 * 1959 - Fred Zinnemann*, The Nun's Story
 * 1960 - Billy Wilder, The Apartment / Jack Cardiff*, Sons and Lovers
 * 1961 - Robert Rossen*, The Hustler
 * 1962 - none
 * 1963 - Tony Richardson, Tom Jones
 * 1964 - Stanley Kubrick*, Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
 * 1965 - John Schlesinger*, Darling
 * 1966 - Fred Zinnemann, A Man for All Seasons
 * 1967 - Mike Nichols, The Graduate
 * 1968 - Paul Newman, Rachel, Rachel
 * 1969 - Costa-Gavras*, Z
 * 1970 - Bob Rafelson*, Five Easy Pieces
 * 1971 - Stanley Kubrick*, A Clockwork Orange
 * 1972 - Ingmar Bergman*, Cries and Whispers
 * 1973 - François_Truffaut*, Day for Night
 * 1974 - Federico Fellini*, Amarcord
 * 1975 - Robert Altman*, Nashville
 * 1976 - Alan J. Pakula*, All the President's Men
 * 1977 - Woody Allen, Annie Hall
 * 1978 - Terrence Malick, Days of Heaven
 * 1979 - Woody Allen, Manhattan
 * 1980 - Jonathan Demme*, Melvin and Howard
 * 1981 - Sidney Lumet, Prince of the City
 * 1982 - Sydney Pollack*, Tootsie
 * 1983 - Ingmar Bergman*, Fanny and Alexander
 * 1984 - David Lean*, A Passage to India
 * 1985 - John Huston*, Prizzi's Honor
 * 1986 - Woody Allen*, Hannah and Her Sisters
 * 1987 - James L. Brooks, Broadcast News
 * 1988 - Chris Menges, A World Apart
 * 1989 - Paul Mazursky, Enemies, A Love Story
 * 1990 - Martin Scorsese*, Goodfellas
 * 1991 - Jonathan Demme*, The Silence of the Lambs
 * 1992 - Robert Altman*, The Player
 * 1993 - Jane Campion*, The Piano
 * 1994 - Quentin Tarantino*, Pulp Fiction
 * 1995 - Ang Lee, Sense and Sensibility
 * 1996 - Lars von Trier, Breaking the Waves
 * 1997 - Curtis Hanson*, L.A. Confidential
 * 1998 - Terrence Malick*, The Thin Red Line
 * 1999 - Mike Leigh, Topsy-Turvy
 * 2000 - Steven Soderbegh, Traffic / Erin Brockovich
 * 2001 - Robert Altman*, Gosford Park
 * 2002 - Todd Haynes, Far from Heaven
 * 2003 - Sofia Coppola*, Lost in Translation
 * 2004 - Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven
 * 2005 - Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain
 * 2006 - Martin Scorsese, The Departed
 * 2007 - Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
 * 2008 - Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky
 * 2009 - Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
 * 2010 - David Fincher*, The Social Network
 * 2011 - Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
 * 2012 - Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
 * 2013 - Steve McQueen*, 12 Years a Slave
 * 2014 - Richard Linklater*, Boyhood
 * 2015 - Todd Haynes, Carol
 * 2016 - Barry Jenkins*, Moonlight
 * 2017 - Sean Baker, The Florida Project
 * 2018 - Alfonso Cuarón, Roma

Most wins

 * 4 - John Ford, Fred Zinnemann
 * 3 - Woody Allen, Robert Altman, John Huston, Elia Kazan, David Lean
 * 2 - Ingmar Bergman, Jonathan Demme, Todd Haynes, Stanley Kubrick, Terrence Malick, Ang Lee, Mike Leigh, Martin Scorsese, Billy Wilder