Kevin O'Connell is asound re-recording mixer. He held the record for mostAcademy Award nominations without a win at 20, until he finally won his first Academy Award forHacksaw Ridge (2016) at the89th Academy Awards in 2017.

O'Connell was born onLong Island,New York and raised inLos Angeles,California.^[1] At 18, he became a projectionist at20th Century Fox Studios, where his mother was a secretary for the head of the sound department.^[2]

Subsequently, failing thetrade 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 abrush fire inSylmar, Los Angeles, he obtained a job as a machine-room operator at Warner Hollywood Studios, also known asSamuel Goldwyn Studios in 1978,^[3][4] where he worked on films includingGrease (1978).^[4] Becoming arecording technician, he earned his first screen credit onThe Empire Strikes Back (1980). His first credit as asound mixer was onDead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982).^[1]

In 1993, O'Connell joinedSony Pictures as a supervising sound mixer, working on films includeArmageddon (1998),Spider-Man (2002), andTransformers (2007).^[5] In October 2013, he was hired to provide mixing services and take a creative leadership role atTodd Soundelux, working in that company'sTodd-AO division inSanta Monica, California.^[6] O'Connell returned to Sony Pictures Post Production Services in 2015.^[5]

He served a term as the representative of the Sound Branch in the Board of Governors of theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.^[6]

O'Connell held the record for mostAcademy Award nominations without a win at 20, having originally set the record in 2006 with his18th nomination and loss,^[7] making him the "unluckiest nominee in the history of the Academy Awards".^[8] In 2017, he won his first Academy Award at the89th Academy Awards forHacksaw Ridge (2016).^[7]

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.

In 2001, Kevin and Heather O'Connell were married.^[2]

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In 1989, O'Connell, along with James L. Aicholtz,Michael Herbick and Don Johnson, won thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or Movie for the television miniseriesLonesome Dove (1989).^[9]

Nominations

1. Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures – Live Action –Hacksaw Ridge (2016) (shared with seven colleagues)^[10]

• List of Academy Award records

• Kevin O'Connell atIMDb
• Johnson, Caitlin (July 8, 2007)."Transforming' Movie Sound: People usually think of movies as a visual experience, but there is an intricate process to create sounds".CBS News Sunday Morning.Archived from the original on December 10, 2015. RetrievedFebruary 27, 2017.
• McNamara, Melissa (February 22, 2007)."Oscar's Biggest Loser: Sound Mixer Kevin O'Connell Has Been Nominated 19 Times, Including This Year, But Has Yet To Win".CBS News Sunday Morning.Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. RetrievedJanuary 24, 2008.
• "Nominees React To Oscar Announcement".The Denver Post. Colorado, US.Associated Press. January 22, 2008.Archived from the original on February 27, 2017. RetrievedFebruary 27, 2017.

• 1957 births
• Living people
• American audio engineers
• Primetime Emmy Award winners
• Best Sound Mixing Academy Award winners
• Best Sound AACTA Award winners

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