This is a list of awards and nominations received by Sam Mendes
Sam Mendes is a British film and stage director, producer, and screenwriter. He has received various accolades including an Academy Award, four British Academy Film Awards, two Critics' Choice Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, three Laurence Olivier Awards, and two Tony Awards. He earned several honors including the Society of London Theatre Special Award in 2003, and the John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Excellence in Directing in 2015. Mendes was appointed a CBE for his services to drama in 2000 and he was knighted in the 2020.
Mendes started his career on the stage directing numerous productions on the West End. He won three Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Director for the Stephen Sondheim musical Company and the Tennessee Williams play The Glass Menagerie in 1996, the William Shakespeare revival Twelfth Night and the Anton Chekov revival Uncle Vanya in 2003, and the Jez Butterworth play The Ferryman in 2018. Mendes also is known for directing several productions on Broadway winning the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play twice for The Ferryman in 2019 and The Lehman Trilogy in 2022. He was Tony-nominated for directing the musical Cabaret in 1998 and the play The Hills of California in 2025.
On film, he gained acclaim and prominence for directing the suburban family drama American Beauty (1999) which earned five Academy Awards including the Best Director for Mendes at the 72nd Academy Awards. Mendes also earned the Golden Globe Award for Best Director, the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film, and the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Director as well as a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Direction. He directed the crime drama Road to Perdition (2002) and the 1950s romantic drama Revolutionary Road (2008) earning nominations for the Venice International Film Festival Golden Lion and the Golden Globe Award for Best Director respectively.
He expanded his career when he directed the action film Skyfall (2012), part of the James Bond franchise, for which he earned critical acclaim as well as a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film. He gained further acclaim for directing the World War I drama film 1917 (2019) for which he earned several accolades including three BAFTA Awards (Best Film, Best Direction, and Outstanding British Film), the Golden Globe Award for Best Director, the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film and the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Director as well as nominations for three Academy Awards (for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay).
For his work on television, he received two British Academy Television Award nominations (Best Single Drama and Best Mini-Series) for the BBC Two / PBS series The Hollow Crown (2013, 2017) which adapts the plays of William Shakespeare.
Major Associations Academy Awards Year Category Nominated work Result Ref. 1999 Best Director American Beauty 2019 Best Picture 1917 Best Director Best Original Screenplay 2026 Best Picture Hamnet
BAFTA Awards Year Category Nominated work Result Ref.British Academy Film Awards 1999 Best Direction American Beauty 2012 Best British Film Skyfall 2019 Best Film 1917 Best British Film Best Direction 2022 Best British Film Empire of Light 2026Best FilmHamnetBest British FilmBritish Academy Television Awards 2013 Best Single Drama The Hollow Crown 2017 Best Mini-Series
Critics' Choice Awards Year Category Nominated work Result Ref.Critics' Choice Awards 1999 Best Director American Beauty 2019 Best Picture 1917 Best Director
Golden Globe Awards Year Category Nominated work Result Ref.1999 Best Director – Motion Picture American Beauty 2008 Revolutionary Road 2019 1917
Laurence Olivier Awards Year Category Nominated work Result Ref. 1993 Best Director of a Play Assassins Best Director of a Musical The Rise and Fall of Little Voice 1994 Cabaret Best Musical Revival 1995 Best Director of a Musical Oliver! 1996 Best Director Company / The Glass Menagerie 1998 Othello 1999 The Blue Room 2003 Twelfth Night / Uncle Vanya 2018 The Ferryman 2019 The Lehman Trilogy 2024 The Motive and the Cue
Tony Awards Year Category Nominated work Result Ref. 1998 Best Direction of a Musical (with Rob Marshall) Cabaret 2019 Best Direction of a Play The Ferryman 2022 The Lehman Trilogy 2025 The Hills of California
Miscellaneous awards AwardYearCategoryNominated workResult Camerimage Film Festival 2022 Special Krzysztof Kieslowski Award for Director Empire of Light Cinema of Peace Award 2019 Most valuable Film Award 1917 Directors Guild of America Award 1999 Outstanding Directorial Achievement – Feature Film American Beauty 2019 1917 Drama Desk Award 1998 Outstanding Director of a Musical Cabaret 2003 Outstanding Director of a Play Uncle Vanya and Twelfth Night 2012 Richard III 2019 The Ferryman Drama League Awards 2022 Outstanding Director of a Play The Lehman Trilogy Empire Awards 2012 Best Director Skyfall Evening Standard British Film Awards 2012 Film of the Year Skyfall Evening Standard Theatre Awards 1992 Best New Comedy The Rise and Fall of Little Voice 2002 Director of the Year Uncle Vanya / Twelfth Night 2017 Best Director The Ferryman Hollywood Film Awards 2005 Best Director Jarhead Jupiter Awards 2012 Best International Film Skyfall Producers Guild of America Award 2019 Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures 1917 ShoWest Convention 2002 USA Director of the Year Road to Perdition Saturn Awards 2012 Best Action or Adventure Film Skyfall Toronto International Film Festival 1999 People's Choice Award American Beauty Venice International Film Festival 2002 Golden Lion Road to Perdition Whats on Stage Award 2018 Best Director The Ferryman Writers Guild of America Award 2019 Best Original Screenplay 1917
Critics awards AwardYearCategoryNominated workResult Belgian Film Critics Association 2020 Grand Prix 1917 Critics' Circle Theatre Award 1989 Most Promising Newcomer The Cherry Orchard 1995 Best Director The Glass Menagerie 2002 Uncle Vanya / Twelfth Night London Film Critics' Circle 1999 Director of the Year American Beauty Los Angeles Film Critics Association 1999 Best Director American Beauty Outer Critics Circle Awards 2019 Outstanding Director of a Play The Ferryman 2022 The Lehman Trilogy Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association 2002 Best Director Road to Perdition
Honorary awards Organizations Year Award Result Britannia Award 2015 John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Excellence in Directing Directors Guild of Great Britain 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award Queen Elizabeth II 2000 Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) 2020 Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) Laurence Olivier Award 2003 Society of London Theatre Special Award
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