Kevin O'Connell is a sound re-recording mixer. He held the record for most Academy Award nominations without a win at 20, until he finally won his first Academy Award for Hacksaw Ridge (2016) at the 89th Academy Awards in 2017.

Early life and career O'Connell was born on Long Island, New York. and raised in Los Angeles, California. At 18, he became a projectionist at 20th Century Fox Studios, where his mother was a secretary for the head of the sound department. Additional on February 27, 2016.

Subsequently, failing the trade union examination for the job, he became a Los Angeles County firefighter for a year. At the behest of his concerned mother, alarmed at his gaunt and charred appearance following a brush fire in Sylmar, Los Angeles, he obtained a job as a machine-room operator at Warner Hollywood Studios, also known as Samuel Goldwyn Studios in 1978, where he worked on films including Grease (1978). Becoming a recording technician, he earned his first screen credit on The Empire Strikes Back (1980). His first credit as a sound mixer was on Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982).

Later career In 1993, O'Connell joined Sony Pictures as a supervising sound mixer, working on films include Armageddon (1998), Spider-Man (2002), and Transformers (2007). Additional on February 27, 2017. In October 2013, he was hired to provide mixing services and take a creative leadership role at Todd Soundelux, working in that company's Todd-AO division in Santa Monica, California. O'Connell returned to Sony Pictures Post Production Services in 2015.

He served a term as the representative of the Sound Branch in the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Academy Award victory O'Connell held the record for most Academy Award nominations without a win at 20, having originally set the record in 2006 with his 18th nomination and loss, making him the "unluckiest nominee in the history of the Academy Awards". In 2017, he won his first Academy Award at the 89th Academy Awards for Hacksaw Ridge (2016).

In his acceptance speech at the ceremony, held on February 26, 2017, O'Connell thanked his mother, Skippy, who had urged him into his profession.

Personal life In 2001, Kevin and Heather O'Connell were married.

Accolades

Academy Awards YearNominated workResultLost to1983Terms of EndearmentThe Right Stuff1984DuneAmadeus1985SilveradoOut of Africa1986Top GunPlatoon1989Black RainGlory1990Days of ThunderDances with Wolves1992A Few Good MenThe Last of the Mohicans1995Crimson TideApollo 13 1996Twisterrowspan="2" The English PatientThe Rock1997Con AirTitanic 1998The Mask of Zorrorowspan="2" Saving Private RyanArmageddon2000The PatriotGladiator2001Pearl HarborBlack Hawk Down2002Spider-ManChicago2004Spider-Man 2Ray2005Memoirs of a GeishaKing Kong2006ApocalyptoDreamgirls2007TransformersThe Bourne Ultimatum2016Hacksaw Ridge2023OppenheimerThe Zone of Interest

Primetime Emmy Award In 1989, O'Connell, along with James L. Aicholtz, Michael Herbick and Don Johnson, won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or Movie for the television miniseries Lonesome Dove (1989).

Cinema Audio Society Award Nominations Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures – Live Action – Hacksaw Ridge (2016) (shared with seven colleagues)

See also List of Academy Award records

References

External links