Chloe Zhao wins best director Golden Globe for 'Nomadland'

By Carson Blackwelder

Chloe Zhao was named best director at the 2021 Golden Globes for her work on "Nomadland," becoming just the second woman to win the honor.

Zhao began by thanking her fellow nominees for "making beautiful movies" before saying the honor belongs to everyone who helped her make "Nomadland," a film starring Frances McDormand as a woman who travels around America with fellow nomads, moving from place to place.

"I especially want to thank the nomads who shared their stories with us," she said, then reading a message about compassion from one of the nomads, Bob Wells. Zhao quoted Wells as saying, "Compassion is a breakdown of all the barriers between us. A heart-to-heart bonding. Your pain is my pain. It's mingled and shared between us."

"Now this is why I fell in love with making movies and telling stories, because they give us a chance to laugh and cry together," she continued. "And they give us a chance to learn from each other and to have more compassion for each other."

Congratulations to Chloé Zhao - Best Director - Motion Picture - Nomadland (@nomadlandfilm). - #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/y1mJQZKaM5

— Golden Globe Awards (@goldenglobes) March 1, 2021

This year marked the first time in Golden Globes history that more than one woman was nominated in the best director category. In fact, three -- Emerald Fennell for "Promising Young Woman," Regina King for "One Night in Miami" and Zhao for "Nomadland" -- were up for the win.

These women outnumbered the men in the category, with David Fincher for "Mank" and Aaron Sorkin for "The Trial of the Chicago 7" being the other nominees.

Before Zhao, the only woman to ever win the Golden Globe for best director was Barbra Streisand for "Yentl" in 1984. The last woman to be nominated was Ava DuVernay for "Selma" in 2015.

The only other women nominated for best director at the Golden Globes have been Kathryn Bigelow, Jane Campion and Sofia Coppola.

Given the lack of representation for women filmmakers throughout the years, Natalie Portman -- when presenting the category in 2018 -- famously said, "And here are the all-male nominees."

This year, Zhao became the first woman of Asian descent to be nominated in the category and is now the first to win. King also became just the second Black woman to be nominated in the category, with DuVernay being the first.