Singaporean Ai-Ling Lee misses out as 'Arrival' and 'Hacksaw Ridge' take Oscars
Singaporean sound editor Ai-Ling Lee, 38, almost made history on Monday morning (27 Feb).
She had been nominated for Oscars in two categories – sound editing and sound mixing – for her work in the movie “La La Land”, just two of several nominations the film received. Lee is the first Singaporean to be nominated at the Awards.
But it was not to be as the Academy Awards went to sci-fi flick “Arrival” (sound editing) and “Hacksaw Ridge” (sound mixing).
Lee had worked with US sound editor Mildred Iatrou Morgan on the sound editing for the musical film, which stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.
Even before the night of the Awards, Lee had already made history by being the first Asian woman to earn a nomination for sound editing. She and Morgan were also the first all-women nominated in that category.
“La La Land” was also nominated at the recent BAFTA awards, but lost out to “Arrival” there too.
Lee moved to Los Angeles in 1998, without first securing a job offer, having only completed a vocational audio engineering course and some sound jobs locally.
She said she enjoyed watching Hollywood films with her father, an audiophile, while growing up.
Her previous movie credits include “Wild”, “We Bought a Zoo” (which starred Matt Damon), and more recently superhero films “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and “Deadpool”.
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