He is a two-time Academy Award nominee, and a four-time AACTA/AFI Awards winner out of 10 total nominations Beresford's films include Breaker Morant (1980), Tender Mercies (1983), Crimes of the Heart (1986), Driving Miss Daisy (1989) – which won four Oscars including Best Picture,[3][4] Black Robe (1991), Silent Fall (1994), Double Jeopardy (1999), Mao's Last Dancer (2009), and Ladies in Black (2018).

He could not break into the British film scene, so he answered an advertisement for an editing job in Nigeria, where he worked for two years, in Enugu.

[9] Beresford says his career was at a low ebb when Phillip Adams "saved my life" by offering him the job of directing an acclaimed version of David Williamson's play Don's Party (1976).

Beresford signed a contract with the South Australian Film Corporation for whom he wrote and directed a thriller, Money Movers (1979), which was a box office disappointment.

[11] In the US he directed Crimes of the Heart (1986) from the play by Beth Henley, did a segment of the film Aria (1987), and did the comedy thriller Her Alibi (1989) with Tom Selleck.

Beresford directed Driving Miss Daisy (1989) with Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy, based on the play by Alfred Uhry.

Beresford made Bride of the Wind (2001); Evelyn (2002) with Pierce Brosnan; and And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003) with Antonio Banderas.

Dalai Lama: Essence of Mahayana Buddhism (2011), the mini series Bonnie & Clyde (2013), Mr. Church (2016) with Eddie Murphy, an episode of the remake of Roots (2017), the TV movie Flint (2017) and the Australian film Ladies in Black (2018).

In 1996, he directed a Portland Opera (Oregon) production of the Stephen Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

[17] In 2016, he directed Benjamin Britten's opera Albert Herring for the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, in a production conducted by Nicholas Cleobury.

[citation needed] Beresford attended the University of Sydney with critic and documentary maker Clive James, art critic and aficionado Robert Hughes, activist and author Germaine Greer, journalist Bob Ellis, poet Les Murray, and writer Mungo McCallum.

Beresford was close friends with Australian comedian, satirist and character actor Barry Humphries, best known for his on-stage/television alter ego Dame Edna Everage, and his family.