Cecelia Hall(I)
- Sound Department
- Editor
- Producer
Cecelia Hall is a multi-award-winning sound designer and professor. She has been an advocate for visionary filmmakers for more than 40 years, sharing her knowledge and passion for telling stories with sound.
She was the first woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound Editing for Top Gun; she was nominated again and won the Oscar for The Hunt for Red October, a film for which she also received a British BAFTA Nomination for Best Sound.
Hall has been nominated for twelve (12) Motion Picture Sound Editor (MPSE) Golden Reel Awards, winning for both Something So Right and Top Gun. Additional credits include: Star Trek I, II & III, Beverly Hills Cop I & II, Witness, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Big Top Pee-Wee, Flashdance, Terms of Endearment, Searching for Bobby Fisher, Days of Thunder, The Addams Family and Addams Family Values.
Hall began her career as an independent editor before being hired as the first woman in the sound department of 26 men at Paramount Pictures in 1978. Hall also became the first woman elected President of the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) and later was asked to join the Executive Committee of the Sound branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a position she held for seven years. Additionally, Hall was the first woman promoted to Senior Vice-President of Post-Production, and oversaw numerous projects for Paramount and Viacom's other subsidiaries, Vantage, MTV and Nickelodeon.
In 1995, Hall was invited to teach Sound Design at the UCLA Graduate School of Theatre, Film and Television/Media, where she still teaches 30 years later. In 2012, Hall was invited to take residency at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Savannah, Georgia. In 2013 & 2014 Hall did workshops for young filmmakers at California State University, Monterey and in more recent years, she contributed to numerous panels and seminars on sound design in New York and London. In 2023, Hall was asked to return to Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) for a week-long Master Class.
She encourages her students to be imaginative and use sound design in their films for greater audience impact. Along with teaching, Hall works independently as a sound/post-production consultant and producer on various projects. Hall advised former student, Jen Arnold, on her acclaimed HBO documentary, A Small Act, which garnered an Emmy nomination and the Humanitas Prize. In 2024, Hall collaborated with another former student, Neil Weiss, who produced and directed a feature film, Our Crossroads. Hall was a producer on the film in addition to overseeing editing and post-production sound, collaborating with both the composer and the sound design team.
Cecelia has been the subject of numerous interviews and is featured in a number of prestigious publications, including: Sound-On-Film: Interviews with Creators of Film Sound, Vincent Lo Brutto, 1994, PRAEGER Working in Hollywood: 64 Film Professionals Talk about Moviemaking: Alexander Brouwer and Thomas Lee Wright, 1990, Crown Publishers. The Women Who Run Hollywood: Mollie Gregory, 2002, St. Martin's Press The Editors Guild Magazine The Sound Designers Companion (foreword by Cecelia Hall): Bill Raoul, 2008, Broadway Press
In 2019, Cecelia was featured in the Award-Winning Documentary Feature, Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound, Directed by Midge Costin.
In January 2020, Cecelia was honored by the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) with their Career Achievement Award. She joined a list of accomplished and innovative previous recipients including: Randy Thom, Walter Murch, Stephen Flick and Mark Mangini.
In March 2025, Cecelia received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the NYU Tisch School for the Arts, Fusion Film Festival.
She was the first woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound Editing for Top Gun; she was nominated again and won the Oscar for The Hunt for Red October, a film for which she also received a British BAFTA Nomination for Best Sound.
Hall has been nominated for twelve (12) Motion Picture Sound Editor (MPSE) Golden Reel Awards, winning for both Something So Right and Top Gun. Additional credits include: Star Trek I, II & III, Beverly Hills Cop I & II, Witness, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Big Top Pee-Wee, Flashdance, Terms of Endearment, Searching for Bobby Fisher, Days of Thunder, The Addams Family and Addams Family Values.
Hall began her career as an independent editor before being hired as the first woman in the sound department of 26 men at Paramount Pictures in 1978. Hall also became the first woman elected President of the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) and later was asked to join the Executive Committee of the Sound branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a position she held for seven years. Additionally, Hall was the first woman promoted to Senior Vice-President of Post-Production, and oversaw numerous projects for Paramount and Viacom's other subsidiaries, Vantage, MTV and Nickelodeon.
In 1995, Hall was invited to teach Sound Design at the UCLA Graduate School of Theatre, Film and Television/Media, where she still teaches 30 years later. In 2012, Hall was invited to take residency at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Savannah, Georgia. In 2013 & 2014 Hall did workshops for young filmmakers at California State University, Monterey and in more recent years, she contributed to numerous panels and seminars on sound design in New York and London. In 2023, Hall was asked to return to Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) for a week-long Master Class.
She encourages her students to be imaginative and use sound design in their films for greater audience impact. Along with teaching, Hall works independently as a sound/post-production consultant and producer on various projects. Hall advised former student, Jen Arnold, on her acclaimed HBO documentary, A Small Act, which garnered an Emmy nomination and the Humanitas Prize. In 2024, Hall collaborated with another former student, Neil Weiss, who produced and directed a feature film, Our Crossroads. Hall was a producer on the film in addition to overseeing editing and post-production sound, collaborating with both the composer and the sound design team.
Cecelia has been the subject of numerous interviews and is featured in a number of prestigious publications, including: Sound-On-Film: Interviews with Creators of Film Sound, Vincent Lo Brutto, 1994, PRAEGER Working in Hollywood: 64 Film Professionals Talk about Moviemaking: Alexander Brouwer and Thomas Lee Wright, 1990, Crown Publishers. The Women Who Run Hollywood: Mollie Gregory, 2002, St. Martin's Press The Editors Guild Magazine The Sound Designers Companion (foreword by Cecelia Hall): Bill Raoul, 2008, Broadway Press
In 2019, Cecelia was featured in the Award-Winning Documentary Feature, Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound, Directed by Midge Costin.
In January 2020, Cecelia was honored by the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) with their Career Achievement Award. She joined a list of accomplished and innovative previous recipients including: Randy Thom, Walter Murch, Stephen Flick and Mark Mangini.
In March 2025, Cecelia received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the NYU Tisch School for the Arts, Fusion Film Festival.
