The 20 Most Important LGBTQ+ Directors

Historically, Hollywood has been a predominately straight, white, and cisgender male class of elites that is very hard to break through. As media consumption changes and there are more and different kinds of stories, viewers have a better chance of seeing diverse films and television shows. As creators and audiences have become more attuned to ongoing social justice movements in the past few years, there has been a greater emphasis and focus on recruiting and recognizing diverse talent in the film industry. 

Of course, queer characters have been on screen since the earliest days of cinema, and LGBTQ+ directors have been working and advocating in the industry for decades. LGBTQ+ directors have made invaluable contributions to the shape of cinema as a whole. From blockbuster names like The Wachowskis and Lee Daniels to auteur queer new wave directors like Todd Haynes and Rose Troche, we've compiled the list of the 20 most important LGBTQ+ directors.

Joey Soloway is a writer-producer-director best known for their critically acclaimed and groundbreaking television series "Transparent." The series was based on Soloway's own experience with their parent's journey coming out as trans and was nominated for 28 Primetime Emmy Awards and seven Golden Globes. Soloway would walk away with two Emmy wins for outstanding directing for a comedy series during the series' run. Soloway went on a journey of their own while making the series, coming out as queer and later as nonbinary.

While Soloway is best known for "Transparent," their film career began a year earlier with their debut feature, "Afternoon Delight," which earned Soloway the directing award at the Sundance Film Festival. The film explores a relationship between a mother and a sex worker who she hires as a live-in nanny. Soloway also co-created, executive produced, and directed two episodes of the series "I Love Dick," which starred Soloway's frequent collaborator Kathryn Hahn as a woman engaged in an obsessive affair. Much of Soloway's work investigates gender, sex, and Jewish identity through a feminist lens. While Soloway has a dominant television career, they have two films they are writing and directing in the works: "Red Sonja" and "Mothertrucker." 

Jamie Babbit is perhaps best known for her debut feature, 1999's "But I'm a Cheerleader," the beloved queer classic that tells the story of two teenage girls who fall in love at a gay conversion therapy camp. Babbit's second feature, "Itty Bitty Titty Committee," released in 2007, was critically successful and won the Grand Jury Prize at the South by Southwest Film Festival, but was, unfortunately, a commercial flop. Yet throughout her career, Babbit has been a steadfast and trustworthy voice for comedy, excelling with unique relationships, gender roles, and characters.

In the intervening years, Babbit has had a wildly successful career in television, producing and directing series like "Drop Dead Diva," "Silicon Valley," "Only Murders in the Building," and the forthcoming "A League of Their Own." Her directing work on "Silicon Valley" also earned her a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for outstanding directing for a comedy series. Babbit has directed over 60 different series including queer and queer-run shows like "Nip/Tuck," "The L Word," "Looking," and "Russian Doll," as well as classics like "Gilmore Girls," "Rizzoli & Isles," and "The Middle." 

A multifaceted artist, writer-producer-director Gus Van Sant is also a painter and frequent editor of his own films. Many of Van Sant's films explore homosexuality through subtext, examining the relationships of marginalized outsiders. Van Sant broke out with his second feature, 1989's "Drugstore Cowboy," a story of small-time criminal drug users and dealers. The film won four Film Independent Spirit Awards including a best screenplay award for Van Sant and co-writer Daniel Yost. Van Sant's next feature, 1991's "My Own Private Idaho," starred River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves as two road-tripping hustlers in a loose homage to Shakespeare's "Henry IV." The film earned Van Sant his second Film Independent Spirit Award for best screenplay. 

Van Sant gained broader mainstream notoriety with his 1997 film, "Good Will Hunting," which earned him his first Oscar nomination for best director and best picture. While queerness is often subtextual in his films, Van Sant explored homosexuality at the forefront of "Milk," a historical biopic about Harvey Milk, California's first openly gay elected politician. "Milk" was nominated for eight Oscars, including best picture and best director. Van Sant has also been a successful music video director for artists such as David Bowie, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tracy Chapman, Elton John, Chris Isaak, Stone Temple Pilots, and Hanson.

Known for both lush historical dramas that explore gender and sexuality and musical biopics, Todd Haynes is a singular auteur of the New Queer Cinema movement. Haynes kicked off his career as a writer-producer-director with his notorious 1987 short film, "Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story," an experimental and slightly campy narrative about the legendary singer's struggles with anorexia. Haynes' debut feature "Poison" was even more controversial for its overt exploration and depictions of homosexuality, but it earned him two Film Independent Spirit Award nominations for best director and best first picture. In 1998, Haynes released the cult classic "Velvet Goldmine," a colorful tribute to glam rock that alluded to the rumored dalliances between musical icons like David Bowie and Iggy Pop. 

While Haynes' work has been consistently critically acclaimed, his 2002 feature, "Far From Heaven," broke him into the mainstream. The film stars his good friend and frequent collaborator Julianne Moore as a 1950s suburban housewife who learns her husband is gay and embarks on an affair with her Black gardener. "Far From Heaven" earned four Oscar nominations including a best original screenplay nod for Haynes. Haynes has explored music and celebrity in his films "I'm Not There" and "The Velvet Underground" and queerness in a historical context with his acclaimed 2015 film "Carol." In addition to his work in film, Haynes directed the "Mildred Pierce" miniseries for HBO, which he also co-wrote and executive produced. "Mildred Pierce" earned 21 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won six.

Filmmaking siblings Lana and Lilly Wachowski are best known for their hugely successful sci-fi saga "The Matrix," which has cumulatively grossed nearly $1.9 billion worldwide. Together, they have co-directed seven features and co-written 10, re-shaping the modern science fiction-fantasy film. Many of their films are large-scale epics with queer themes and subtext. Aside from "The Matrix," the duo helmed  "Bound" (their 1996 debut feature), "Cloud Atlas," and "Jupiter Ascending."  Across all of their films are a mastery of genre conventions, a sense of playfulness, and a queer sensibility combined with creative production design and memorable aesthetics. 

The two have also worked in television, creating, writing, directing, and producing their original series "Sense8" for Netflix. The series was nominated for two Emmy Awards and won the GLAAD Media Award for outstanding drama series during its run.  Lilly Wachowski also wrote, directed, and executive produced the comedy series "Work in Progress," a departure from the grandiose genre films she and her sister typically create.

A hugely successful and prolific Spanish writer, producer, director, and musician, Pedro Almodóvar's work often employs melodramatic tropes, symbolism, and playful techniques to examine sexuality, gender, and politics. Almodóvar's controversial 1980 debut feature, "Pepi, Luci, Bom, and Other Girls Like Mom," deals with the violence and political strife of the punk era in post-Franco Spain. It wasn't until Almodóvar's seventh feature, 1988's "Women on the Verge of a Breakdown," that he found broader international acclaim, earning his first Oscar nomination for best foreign language film.

In 1999, Almodóvar won best director at the Cannes Festival for "All About My Mother," which explored a young writer navigating his relationship with his estranged trans mother. Throughout his career, the director has been well-received at Cannes and has been nominated for the festival's top honor, the Palme d'Or, six times, most recently in 2019 for "Pain and Glory," which also earned two Oscar nominations.

Almodóvar is best known for his many fruitful collaborations with actors Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas, including their work in "Pain and Glory." The loosely biographical film follows a director reflecting on his life in the vein of Frederico Fellini's 1963 classic "8½." Almodóvar's latest film, 2021's "Parallel Mothers," earned Cruz her fourth Oscar nomination and second for an Almodóvar film.

Proudly hailing from Baltimore, Maryland, John Waters rose to prominence as a cult figure in the 1970s due to his trashsploitation films that featured shocking, controversial, and sometimes offensive themes that satirized class and gender. Waters' early films were incredibly low-budget affairs that saw Waters necessarily wearing multiple hats as writer, director, producer, cinematographer, and editor, lending the films a gritty, artistic quality. He is also known for his collaboration with drag queen and actor Divine who starred in all but one of Waters' early features, beginning with "Pink Flamingos" until his death in 1988. 

As Waters' career progressed, he refined his artistic vision and became slightly more mainstream, leading to his best-known work, 1988's "Hairspray," which also happened to be his last film with Divine. "Hairspray" follows a bubbly plus-size teen who revolutionizes Baltimore after landing a spot dancing on a local television show. The film was also his most critically successful, earning him two Film Independent Spirit Award nominations including best director. "Hairspray" has since spawned a Broadway musical and a film adaptation of the Broadway show. Since "Hairspray," Waters has written and directed a string of successful features, including "Serial Mom" and "Pecker." Waters' most recent feature was 2004's "A Dirty Shame." In recent years, Waters has devoted more of his time to writing and acting. Embracing his icon status in pop culture, he has appeared on such shows as "Search Party" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."

Writer-producer-director Lisa Cholodenko's career has been one of steady success with much of her work investigating the intersection of family, relationships, and sexual politics as well as her Jewish identity. Cholodenko had a strong debut with "High Art," a romantic drama about two women falling in love with and using each other to advance their careers. The film was critically acclaimed and received six nominations at the Film Independent Spirit Awards including best screenplay and best first feature. 

Cholodenko is perhaps best known for her 2010 feature "The Kids Are All Right," a quirky family dramedy about two teenage children conceived through artificial insemination who bring their biological father home to meet their mothers. The film earned four Oscar nominations, including best picture and a best screenplay nod for Cholodenko and co-writer Stuart Blumberg. Cholodenko has also worked extensively in television, directing episodes of Alan Ball's series "Six Feet Under" and "Here and Now" as well as other prestige dramas like "Hung," "The L Word," and "Unbelievable." Her direction for the miniseries "Olive Kitteridge" also earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding directing for a limited series.

Yance Ford's film career is technically in its early stages, and that makes it all the more remarkable. His first documentary, "Strong Island," earned an Oscar nomination for best documentary feature (making him the first openly trans director nominated for an Oscar) and a Primetime Emmy Award for exceptional merit in documentary filmmaking. "Strong Island" is a moving, stark, and personal journey that investigates the murder of Ford's brother. 

Since "Strong Island," Ford has worked primarily in television, directing episodes of docuseries like "Pride" and "The Me You Can't See" as well as the queer comedy "Work in Progress." Ford was also a creative consultant and appeared in the documentary "Disclosure," which investigates the depiction of transgender people in media. Ford has also received incredible acclaim and accolades for his work outside of the film industry and in the art world at large. Ford has been named a Sundance Institute Fellow and received the Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award from the International Documentary Association. 

An avant-garde pioneer of queer cinema, Derek Jarman was a British filmmaker who had a remarkably prolific career during the 20 years he was active. Jarman's first film job as a set designer gave him the skills that would help him develop the rich mise-en-scene of his later work as a director. Jarman's films often interrogated political conventions of power through a queer lens. His 1976 debut feature, "Sebastiane," was controversial for its overt depictions of homosexuality.  

As Jarman progressed, his films favored a neo-romantic style that often favored nonlinear narratives and sparse dialogue over visuals and music. This sensibility created singular works of art like 1977's "Jubilee," a film about a time-traveling Queen Elizabeth I, and "The Tempest," Jarman's unique take on Shakespeare. Jarman is perhaps best known for his 1986 film, "Caravaggio," a historical biopic about the famous painter. Jarman was also a successful music video director and worked with such artists as The Smiths, Wang Chung, and most notably, Pet Shop Boys. Outside of his work, Jarman was a prominent public figure in Britain and advocated for gay rights during the AIDS crisis. He was forthcoming about his 1986 HIV diagnosis and worked up until his death in 1994. His final film, the haunting and heartbreaking "Blue," was his meditation on his final days of living with AIDS. Jarman's legacy still impacts queer cinema today.