In the almost-century run of Oscars awarding history, two women was nominated for best director. Only seven women have ever been nominated in the category, given the opportunity to break that gender ceiling by being nominated in the male-dominated Best Director Category.

And only two female director has stepped on that stage to claim the statuette for the highly coveted title of Best Director.

Zhao was nominated for Best Picture, which she won, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing prizes at this year’s Oscars, making her the most nominated woman ever in a single year. Katheryn Bigelow was the first woman to win the Oscar for Best Director, which she won in 2010 for Hurtlocker.

Chloe Zhao won making her the second woman to do so in nearly 100 years.

n the 93-year run of the awards, only five other women have been recognized in the category, even though more than a dozen films directed by a female filmmaker have been nominated for best picture during that time.

Here are the Female 7 of Oscars and their respective works that have placed them in the pages of Oscars history,

Chloe Zhao for Nomadland

Chloé Zhao has won the Oscar for directing Nomadland, becoming the first woman of color to win the award and the second woman to win (Katheryn Bigelow, was the first). Zhao was also the first woman to get four Oscar nominations in a single year, in the Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture categories.

Nomadland offers a glimpse into the lives of older Americans who live and travel in their vehicles, mainly for economic reasons, embracing it as a nomadic lifestyle. The film’s cast includes real-life nomads.

Chloe Zhao is all set for her next project The Eternals for Marvel Studio. Feige describes Zhao as fighting constantly for practical locations during the making of The Eternals, which will star Gemma Chan, Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek and Richard Madden as members of Jack Kirby’s titular race of humanoids. How will the Beijing-born director’s uniquely delicate film-making translate to the widescreen cosmic chicanery of the latest Marvel project? It’s likely she’ll bring the same emphasis on truth-telling and realism, as well as a fondness for modestly-sized creative teams.

Emerald Fennell for Promising Young Woman

She has acted in many tv shows and several notable movies. She has done significant work behind the scenes on one of the biggest shows in recent years and is the creative mind behind one of this year’s Best Picture nominees.

While she has had a bevy of onscreen roles, Fennell is probably best known for her behind-the-scenes work. Fennell was the showrunner, executive producer, and the main writer for the second season of ‘Killing Eve’, taking over for Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and continuing the show’s critical success (and winning Jodie Comer an Emmy for her portrayal of Villanelle for the season Fennell helmed).

Fennell’s biggest project to date has to be ‘Promising Young Woman’. “Promising Young Woman,” a radical, genre-blending thriller that introduces Fennell as both a distinct cinematic voice and a blunt social commentator. Mulligan stars as Cassie, a former medical student whose life has been derailed by the rape of her best friend, Nina. After dropping out of school to care for the broken Nina, who is never seen in the movie, Cassie is adrift and boiling over with rage.

“It’s a sort of beautifully wrapped candy, and when you eat it you realize it’s poisonous,” Mulligan says of the film.

Yet if these descriptions make “Promising Young Woman” sound dogmatic, or strident, it never is: Against all odds, given its subject matter, the movie is fun as hell. “Promising Young Woman” combines elements from revenge movies, romantic comedies and suspense thrillers — brewed together to create something volcanic.

Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird

“Nothing in the movie literally happened in my life,” Greta Gerwig said at a New York Film Festival press conference, “but it has a core of truth that resonates with what I know.” Therefore, Lady Bird is not based on a true story but some aspects of the movie were indeed inspired by Greta Gerwig’s own coming-of-age.

‘Lady Bird’ highlights important messages with unparalleled humor. Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird” explores a teenage girl’s experience, delving into parental relationships, friendships, and romance with an endearing unconventionality.

The film was nominated for 5 Oscars, including Best Director.

For a movie that could easily be written off as small—no explosions or weighty historical crises here—the reception was huge. The National Society of Film Critics named Lady Bird Best Picture, and the New York Times’ A.O. Scott called it “perfect.” Steven Spielberg specifically requested a seat next to Gerwig at the Oscar nominees’ luncheon. And Lady Bird‘s Oscar-nominated star Saoirse Ronan says that it wasn’t until she saw Gerwig in action that her own dream to direct came into focus.

Greta Gerwig is talented both in front and behind the camera with her biggest hits including Lady Bird (currently on Netflix US) behind the camera and Mistress America in front. Future projects include a new Barbie movie (also with Noah Baumbach attached) and an untitled tap-dancing musical project.

Jane Campion for The Piano

Influenced by Jane Mander’s The Story of A New Zealand River as well as the French folktale Bluebeard, Campion’s story is of a Scottish pianist named Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter), an elective mute who is sold off by her father into a marriage with New Zealand frontiersman Alisdair Stewart (Sam Neill). She travels to the remote island with her young daughter Flora (Anna Paquin), but after her new husband trades her piano to his friend George Baines (Harvey Keitel), Ada is furious, and resolves to reclaim her beloved instrument through a bargain with the new owner. Romance, jealousy and heartache play out against a lush, unforgiving backdrop of Antipodean forestry and coastline – while Flora desperately searches for the agency and happiness that have so far eluded her.

In 1993, Jane Campion made history when she became the first woman (and the first New Zealander) to receive the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

It’s an exquisitely beautiful film, from Michael Nyman’s score of sombre and soaring piano and strings compositions to Holly Hunter’s performance, which rightly earned her the 1994 Academy Award for best actress.

Sofia Coppola for Lost In Translation

Coppola was 32 when she made Lost in Translation, the story of an unlikely yet profoundly touching friendship between confused young newlywed Charlotte (Johannson) and washed-up actor Bob Harris (Bill Murray) forged whilst isolated in a foreign city. Since then she’s gone on to helm four more feature releases, including 2017’s Palme d’Or nominated The Beguiled and yet the staying power of Lost in Translation remains strong.

Through the lens of cinematographer Lance Acord, Coppola crafted an ethereal look to match her story of disconnection, alongside a carefully curated soundtrack.

Lina Wertmüller for Seven Beauties

The Italian film-maker Lina Wertmüller broke ground when she was Oscar nominated for Seven Beauties, but her films were never calculated to win mainstream appeal.

Seven Beauties, which won four Oscar nominations in 1977, making Wertmüller the first woman to receive a best director nomination (it wasn’t until 1994 that Jane Campion joined her, for The Piano). Her Oscar nominations (she also received a nod for best screenplay) opened the door to a brief affair with American cinema.

Kathryn Bigelow for Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker is based on accounts of Mark Boal, a freelance journalist who was embedded with an American bomb squad in the war in Iraq for two weeks in 2004.

The film is riveting, maintaining the one quality that all good war movies must possess – capturing the heroism of the average soldier while facing the nightmares of war. “The Hurt Locker” is devoid of the glamorization of the post-World War II films and has none of the anti-war messages of the post-Vietnam War movies.

Bigelow’s visceral depiction of an army bomb squad (and the sergeant who nearly tears them apart with his unconventional approach to the work) is equally fascinating as both an action movie and as a character study. Bigelow dives headlong in to the various mental states that exist in high-pressure combat situations, as well as the residual effects of being immersed in them. Set during the second Iraq war and told with hyper-realistic camerawork and artful grit, The Hurt Locker hits close to home with unapologetic realism.