When you think of the Academy Awards, names like Meryl Streep or Steven Spielberg usually pop up first. It makes sense. They’re everywhere. But honestly, if you’re looking for who has the most Oscar wins, you have to look past the red carpet glitz and into the production offices and animation cells.
The record for the most Oscars ever won by a single person isn't held by an actor. It’s not even a close race.
Walt Disney is the undisputed king of the Academy Awards. Over his career, he racked up 22 competitive Oscars. That’s not even counting his four honorary awards. Basically, he was a one-man trophy-collecting machine.
Most people don’t realize how varied his wins were. Sure, he dominated the "Short Subject (Cartoon)" category, but he also took home statues for documentaries and even a technical award for the multiplane camera. He actually holds a record that seems impossible today: in 1954, he was nominated six times and won four Oscars in a single night.
The Acting Legend Nobody Can Catch
Acting is a different beast entirely. You might assume Meryl Streep holds the record because she’s nominated every time she breathes on screen, but that’s a common misconception. Streep has the most nominations—21 and counting—but she "only" has three wins.
The person with the most acting Oscar wins is Katharine Hepburn.
✨ Don't miss: Cuba Gooding Jr OJ: Why the Performance Everyone Hated Was Actually Genius
She won four. All of them were for Best Actress.
Hepburn’s run was wild. She won her first in 1934 for Morning Glory and her last in 1982 for On Golden Pond. That’s a 48-year gap between her first and last win. What’s even crazier? She never showed up to accept any of them. She didn't care about the trophies; she just liked the work.
While Hepburn holds the record, a few people are nipping at her heels. Frances McDormand technically has four Oscars too, but there's a catch. Three are for acting (Fargo, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and Nomadland), and the fourth is for producing Nomadland as Best Picture.
Then you’ve got the 3-win club:
- Daniel Day-Lewis (The only man with three Best Actor wins)
- Jack Nicholson (Two Lead, one Supporting)
- Meryl Streep (Two Lead, one Supporting)
- Ingrid Bergman (Two Lead, one Supporting)
The Women Dominating Behind the Scenes
If we’re talking about women and Oscars, we have to talk about Edith Head. If you don't know the name, you definitely know the look—she’s the legendary costume designer who inspired the character Edna Mode in The Incredibles.
🔗 Read more: Greatest Rock and Roll Singers of All Time: Why the Legends Still Own the Mic
Edith Head won 8 Oscars.
She was nominated 35 times. For a while, she was the go-to person at Paramount and then Universal. She dressed everyone from Grace Kelly to Elizabeth Taylor. In 1950 alone, she was nominated for two different films on the same night because the Academy used to separate Black and White and Color cinematography/costume categories. She won both.
Honestly, her dominance was so absolute that she used to keep her Oscars on a shelf in her office to intimidate actresses who tried to argue with her about their costumes. It’s a power move that still feels legendary.
Directing and the Technical Giants
When it comes to the director's chair, the record belongs to John Ford. He won four times. Most people remember him for Westerns, but his wins were actually for a mix of films like The Grapes of Wrath and The Quiet Man.
Surprisingly, icons like Alfred Hitchcock or Stanley Kubrick never won a competitive Best Director Oscar. It’s a reminder that "the most wins" doesn't always equal "the most influence."
💡 You might also like: Ted Nugent State of Shock: Why This 1979 Album Divides Fans Today
On the technical side, there are people whose names aren't household words but who have enough gold to fill a bathtub.
- Cedric Gibbons: He won 11 Oscars for Art Direction. More importantly, he’s the guy who actually designed the Oscar statuette itself.
- Dennis Muren: He’s a visual effects legend. He’s won 9 Oscars (including special achievement awards) for his work on movies like Star Wars and Jurassic Park. He currently holds the record for the most wins by a living person.
- Alfred Newman: The composer behind some of the most famous film scores in history. He won 9 Oscars for his music.
What it Takes to Win Big in 2026
The landscape is shifting. In 2025, we saw Sean Baker pull off a massive sweep with Anora, winning four awards in one night for Picture, Director, Screenplay, and Editing. This kind of "multi-hyphenate" winning is becoming more common as directors take on more roles in their films.
As we head into the 98th Academy Awards in 2026, all eyes are on Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. There is serious talk about it breaking the all-time nomination record of 14, currently shared by All About Eve, Titanic, and La La Land. If it hits 15 nominations, we could be looking at a new era of record-breaking.
Winning an Oscar is hard. Winning 22 is a miracle of timing, talent, and being a pioneer in a brand-new industry, which is exactly what Walt Disney was.
Next Steps for Film Buffs
If you want to understand why these records matter, your best bet is to watch the "record-setters" back-to-back. Start with The Lion in Winter to see Hepburn at her peak, then jump to All About Eve to see the costume work that won Edith Head her gold.
If you're tracking the current race, keep a close eye on the guild awards (SAG, DGA, PGA). They are usually the most accurate predictors of who will eventually join these history books.