Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Bigelow is the first woman to win an Oscar for the Best Director category, an award she won for The Hurt Locker. She remains the sole female to win the award in the 86-year history of the Academy Awards, and she was 58 when she claimed the coveted prize. Among her many big wins to remember was also The Hurt Locker‘s BAFTA Award for Best Direction, where she beat out James Cameron’s film, Avatar (he also happened to be her husband at the time). Not only has she been pivotal in shining the spotlight on female directors, but Bigelow has been a crusader for women’s rights and gender equality in Hollywood. She’s also not afraid to stir controversy with her films, as was seen with her 2012 movie, Zero Dark Thirty. “I have always firmly believed that every director should be judged solely by their work, and not by their work based on their gender,” she told TIME. “Hollywood is supposedly a community of forward thinking and progressive people yet this horrific situation for women directors persists…gender discrimination stigmatizes our entire industry. Change is essential. Gender neutral hiring is essential.”
