AFI 50th life achievement: Which director should receive the American Film Institute award? [POLL]
Who will the American Film Institute select as its 50th life achievement award recipient? Which top director is the most likely choice to be honored in 2025? After reviewing the possible choices, be sure to vote in our poll below as to who you think should be the best selection. We will host two more separate polls about your favorite choices for actresses and actors soon.
Since AFI will be celebrating their 50th ceremony, we’re hoping it will be an undeniably great choice!
Starting in the early 1970s, the AFI started choosing actors, actresses and directors with recipients being director John Ford (1973), actor James Cagney (1974), director/actor Orson Welles (1975), director William Wyler (1976), actress Bette Davis (1977), actor Henry Fonda (1978) and director Alfred Hitchcock (1979).
Past recipients still living (and therefore not eligible again) are: actor Jack Nicholson (1994), director Steven Spielberg (1995), actor/director Clint Eastwood (1996), director Martin Scorsese (1997), actor Dustin Hoffman (1999), actor Harrison Ford (2000), actress/director Barbra Streisand (2001), actor/director Tom Hanks (2002), actor Robert De Niro (2003), actress Meryl Streep (2004), director George Lucas (2005), actor Al Pacino (2007), actor/director Warren Beatty (2008), actor/producer Michael Douglas (2009), actor Morgan Freeman (2011), actress Shirley MacLaine (2012), director/actor Mel Brooks (2013), actress Jane Fonda (2014), actor/writer Steve Martin (2015), composer John Williams (2016), actress Diane Keaton (2017), actor/director George Clooney (2018), actor/director Denzel Washington (2019), actress Julie Andrews (2022) and actress/producer Nicole Kidman.
Other than Spielberg and Hanks, who were 49 and 46 respectively when they were honored, everybody else has been at least in their mid 50s. For our poll, we set the minimum age as 50. Our list of directors for the poll below includes Oscar winners Pedro Almodovar, James Cameron, Jane Campion, Joel and Ethan Coen, Francis Ford Coppola, Guillermo del Toro, Ron Howard, Ang Lee, Spike Lee, Christopher Nolan, Oliver Stone and Quentin Tarantino and Robert Zemeckis, plus Oscar nominees David Fincher and Ridley Scott. Vote below for who you think will be selected.