Gavin O'Connor

The honours attached to O'Connor's name are mostly other people's trophies. Tumbleweeds, his first film, took Janet McTeer to a Golden Globe win and an Oscar nomination, which is a remarkable result for a debut and the reason he kept getting hired. Warrior did the same for Nick Nolte, whose supporting-actor nomination in 2012 was the film's principal recognition. His commercial record is the other measure: The Accountant turned a mid-budget thriller into a franchise that returned fifteen years later, and Miracle remains a fixture of the sports-film canon. For a director who has never been nominated for an Oscar or a DGA Award himself, the consistency of the performances he draws is the achievement worth noting.