2000s
- 2000: Steven Soderbergh - Erin Brockovich and Traffic
- 2001: Ron Howard - A Beautiful Mind
- Baz Luhrmann - Moulin Rouge!
- Peter Jackson - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
- 2002: Steven Spielberg - Catch Me If You Can and Minority Report
- Roman Polanski - The Pianist
- Martin Scorsese - Gangs of New York
- 2003: Peter Jackson - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- Tim Burton - Big Fish
- Sofia Coppola - Lost in Translation
- Clint Eastwood - Mystic River
- Jim Sheridan - In America
- 2004: Martin Scorsese - The Aviator
- Clint Eastwood - Million Dollar Baby
- Marc Forster - Finding Neverland
- Taylor Hackford - Ray
- Alexander Payne - Sideways
- 2005: Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain
- George Clooney - Good Night, and Good Luck
- Paul Haggis - Crash
- Ron Howard - Cinderella Man
- Steven Spielberg - Munich
- 2006: Martin Scorsese - The Departed
- Bill Condon - Dreamgirls
- Clint Eastwood - Letters from Iwo Jima
- Stephen Frears - The Queen
- Paul Greengrass - United 93
- 2007: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
- Tim Burton - Sweeney Todd
- Sean Penn - Into the Wild
- Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
- Joe Wright - Atonement
- 2008: Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
- David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon
- Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight
- Gus Van Sant - Milk
- 2009: Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
- James Cameron - Avatar
- Lee Daniels - Precious
- Clint Eastwood - Invictus
- Jason Reitman - Up in the Air
- Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds
Read more about this topic: Broadcast Film Critics Association Award For Best Director, List of Winners and Nominees