'Nomadland's' Chloé Zhao wins the Oscar for best director, becoming 2nd woman ever to win the award

• Chloé Zhao won the Academy Award for best director for "Nomadland."
• Kathryn Bigelow is the only other woman to win best director in the Oscars' 93-year history.

Chloé Zhao won best director for her movie "Nomadland," becoming only the second woman ever to win the award.

The director follows in the footsteps of Kathryn Bigelow, the only other woman to win best director in the Academy's 93-year history. Bigelow won in 2009 for "The Hurt Locker," which won six Oscars in total including best picture.

This comes the year after South Korean director Bong Joon Ho won four Oscars for "Parasite." Zhao earlier lost the best adapted screenplay award to "The Father" (written by Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton).

Zhao beat a diverse list of best director Oscar nominees - a rarity - with Lee Isaac Chung ("Minari"), Emerald Fennell ("Promising Young Woman"), David Fincher ("Mank"), and Thomas Vinterberg ("Another Round").

Fennell and Zhao being nominated in the same year is history-making in itself - this is the first time ever that two women were nominated for best director in the same year.

Zhao was expected to win the award, having emerged victorious from almost every single precursor awards ceremony prior to this Oscars night. She picked up the Golden Globe, BAFTA, and DGA award for best director.

The filmmaker's next movie is the hotly anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe movie "Eternals," which will feature the MCU's first openly gay couple. The movie is scheduled to be released on November 5.