LOS ANGELES, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Actor-director Ben Affleck has won one more victory in his quest for excellence Saturday night, taking home the top award from the Directors Guild of America (DGA) for his directing effort on "Argo."
Affleck, who directed and starred in the CIA-themed political thriller, won over fellow directors including Steven Spielberg for "Lincoln," Katheryn Bigelow for "Zero Dark Thirty," Ang Lee for "Life of Pi" and Tom Hooper for "Les Miserables" to claim the title as the top feature-film director of 2013 at the awards ceremony held at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood.
Affleck, who was not nominated for best director at the 85th Academy Awards, has seen "Argo" returning to the mainstream of the Oscar hopefuls. He is set to become the seventh exception where a DGA winner has failed to go on to win the Oscar for best director since 1948 when the first DGA award was handed out.
The most recent DGA winner who has failed to repeat his win at the Oscars was "Chicago" director Rob Marshall, who was bested by Roman Polanski in 2002 for "The Pianist."
Malik Bendjelloul was named best director of a documentary for "Searching for Sugar Man."
Milos Forman won for DGA's Lifetime Achievement Award in Motion Picture Direction.