Who has won the most Oscars? See record-holders in major categories (2025)

Halle Berry hopes a Black woman wins Best Actress Oscar this year: 'I'm tired of occupying that space alone'

Most Ever: Walt Disney

As the creator of Mickey Mouse and the Walt Disney Company, few people have had as much influence on pop culture as Walt Disney. That's reflected in his record 22 Oscar wins. Most of them are for Best Animated Short Film, previously known as Best Short Subject (cartoon), for early work like "Flowers and Trees," "Ferdinand the Bull," and "The Ugly Duckling." Disney was also awarded four honorary Oscars — special awards for the creation of Mickey Mouse, the feature film milestone of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the groundbreaking use of sound in Fantasia, and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for his contributions as a creative producer.

Best Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons

Renowned studio art director Cedric Gibbons was a highly influential force in set design and the Art Deco movement on screen. He also holds the second-most Oscar wins after Disney, eleven total for Best Art Direction, beginning with 1929's The Bridge of San Luis Rey and ending with 1956's Somebody Up There Likes Me. Gibbons is also credited as the designer of the distinctive gold Oscar statuette, doubly enshrining his place in Academy Awards history.

Best Score: Alfred Newman

Composer John Williams may hold the record for the living person with the most nominations (and most nominations for a composer ever) at 54. However, legendary composer Alfred Newman holds the record for the most wins, with nine. Newman scored over 200 films and won Oscars for films like Alexander's Ragtime Band, The King and I, and Love is a Many Splendored Thing, winning at a time when the award was still given to those who adapted a musical score from another source. He was also the patriarch of a musical Hollywood dynasty that includes composers David and Thomas Newman and Best Original Song Oscar winnerRandy Newman.

Best Costume Design: Edith Head

Edith Head holds the distinct honor of being the most decorated woman in Oscar history with eight wins (and the record for most nominated woman with 35 total nods). Head is one of Hollywood's most influential costume designers, defining the job in the studio era and shaping American fashion for decades. Her victories include Oscars for All About Eve, The Heiress, A Place in the Sun, Roman Holiday, Sabrina, and The Sting. Head's distinctive severe black haircut and glasses became iconic in themselves, inspiring the look of The Incredibles designer Edna Mode.

Best Visual Effects: Dennis Muren

Dennis Muren essentially invented the modern era of visual effects, beginning with his work on 1977's Star Wars. He developed groundbreaking new technologies and modes of filming that led to memorable visual effects in films like the original Star Wars trilogy, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, and more. Muren has eight Oscars for Best Visual Effects, as well as an honorary Technical Achievement Academy Award.

Best Original Song (and Score): Alan Menken

Disney legend Alan Menken holds the record for most Oscars for Best Original Song, having won the category four times, all for Disney animated classics — "Under the Sea," "Beauty and the Beast," "A Whole New World," and "Colors of the Wind." However, he has a total of eight Oscars, also having won Best Original Score for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas. He is also the only Oscar wins record-holder to lay claim to the EGOT title, having also won Emmy, Grammy, and Tony awards.

Best Make-Up: Rick Baker

Much of modern Hollywood makeup derives from techniques created by Rick Baker, who innovated the field of special effects makeup. For his prosthetics and effects in 1981'sAn American Werewolf in London,Baker won the inaugural Oscar for Best Makeup. He eventually won seven awards in the category with his work on titles such asEd Wood, The Nutty Professor, How the Grinch Stole Christmas,andThe Wolfman.Baker retired from the business in 2015, citing the proliferation of CG effects replacing much of his work.

Best Actress: Katharine Hepburn

WhileMeryl Streepholds the title of most nominated actress, legendary leading ladyKatharine Hepburnboasts the win record, having won four Oscars over her six-decade career. Hepburn took home gold forMorning Glory, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, On Golden Pond,andThe Lion in Winter,which she won in a tie alongsideBarbra StreisandforFunny Girl.Despite her hallowed place in Academy history, Hepburn never attended the Oscars to accept her awards.

Best Director: John Ford

Few directors loom as large in Hollywood history as John Ford, who defined (and re-defined) the Western genre, making over 130 films in his lifetime. He was one of the first Hollywood directors to be regarded as an auteur and holds the record for most Best Director Oscars. Despite his association with Westerns, none of his Oscars came for his work in the genre. Instead, he won for three films highlighting social issues — The Informer, The Grapes of Wrath, and How Green Was My Valley — and the romantic love letter to his Irish roots, The Quiet Man.

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis

With three Best Actor wins, Daniel Day-Lewis holds the record in his category. Jack Nicholson and Walter Brennan also have three Oscars each, but one of Nicholson's wins was for Best Supporting Actor, and Brennan won exclusively in the supporting category. Day-Lewis won his Oscars for My Left Foot, There Will Be Blood, and Lincoln. He retired from acting in 2017 but is set to return to the screen in a project directed by his son.

Best Adapted/Original Screenplay: Five-way tie

Best Screenplay, both Original and Adapted, is the only top category with an extensive tie. Woody Allen is the outright record holder for Best Original Screenplay, having won three times for Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Midnight in Paris. The other four record-holders, also with three wins apiece, share their trophies across the Original and Adapted categories. They are: Charles Brackett (The Lost Weekend, Sunset Boulevard, and 1953's Titanic), Paddy Chayefsky (Marty, The Hospital, and Network), Francis Ford Coppola (Patton, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II), and Billy Wilder (The Lost Weekend, Sunset Boulevard, and The Apartment).

Best Animated Feature Film: Pete Docter

Introduced in 2002, the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film remains the Academy's newest category (until the introduction of Best Casting in 2026). Pixar's chief creative officer since 2018, Pete Docter, holds the record in this category with three wins for Up, Inside Out, and Soul.

Most awarded film: Three-way tie

Three films stand above the rest when it comes to the record for most wins: 1959's Ben-Hur, 1997's Titanic, and 2003's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King share the title with 11 each. All three won Best Picture in their respective years. Ben-Hur held the title of most wins for over 35 years before Titanic joined it. Titanic is the only title of the three to share the record for most nominations with 14 (All About Eve and La La Land are the only others to earn that many). The Return of the King enjoyed the most successful sweep, winning in every nominated category.