Team Skywalker Sound

Ben Burtt was born in New York, USA. Though he is a writer, an editor and a director, he is best known for his work as a sound designer. Ben has worked on many Pixar and Star Trek movies and all of the Star Wars movies. He is credited for creating Chewbacca's voice and sounds as well as the voice of Yoda and several others.

Randy Thom started his career in radio and music recording before making the transition to film in 1978, when he was hired on Apocalypse Now (1979) as a sound effects recordist. Since then, Thom has worked in a wide variety of creative capacities within the sound department in over 175 films. For example, in addition to being the music mixer on Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), Thom was also the production sound mixer for all the footage shot in the US. Since 1983, Thom has been on staff as a sound designer and mixer at Lucasfilm's Skywalker Sound facility. He is part of a small group of sound designers that are following in Walter Murch and Ben Burtt's footsteps in the continuing work of turning motion picture sound into an art form and not simply a series of technical processes. His work on a film often begins before the film has started shooting, and becomes an integral part of the storytelling and emotional impact of the film. Randy Thom has been part of Robert Zemeckis' core creative team ever since Forrest Gump (1994). Through his career Thom has worked with such top Hollywood talents as Walter Murch, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Brad Bird, Tim Burton, Chris Columbus, Mel Brooks and the Farrelly Brothers. Thom has received two Academy Awards for sound, The Right Stuff (1983), and for sound editing, The Incredibles (2004). He has fifteen Oscar nominations.

Gary Rydstrom, Director of Creative Operations/Sound Designer and Mixer, joined Skywalker Sound in 1983 as an operator in the machine room. Since then, he has contributed his talents to many projects as a sound designer, re-recording mixer, effects mixer and foley mixer. In 1998, Rydstrom was appointed Director of Creative Operations for Skywalker Sound, overseeing the creative and technological direction for the facility. Apart from his feature film and commercials work, Rydstrom has completed several television projects, rides and attraction films. Rydstrom holds a graduate degree from the USC School of Cinema and Television. He is the recipient of 7 Academy Awards for Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing for his work on Saving Private Ryan (1998), Titanic (1997), Jurassic Park (1993), and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991).

Christopher Boyes is known for Avatar (2009), King Kong (2005) and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003).

Tom Myers received a degree in film from Northwestern University and went on to do graduate film studies at San Francisco State. From there he worked in a variety of capacities in the San Francisco film industry including a long stint working with picture at Monaco Film Labs. In 1987 he took a job in the sound division of LucasFilm, then named Sprocket Systems. Here he fell in love with the intricasies and powers of sound. Working with and learning from some of the preeminate designers and mixers in the business, (including, Ben Burtt and Gary Rydstrom) Tom started sound designing and mixing commercials for the newly named Skywalker Sound. He soon expanded his scope to include feature films, Japanese animation, documentaries, television and theme park rides. His recent projects have included work on feature films Mimic, Speed2 and Quest for Camelot, he has also just completed sound design and mix for 70mm 3D film for Disney's newly opened Animal Kingdom in Florida.

David Acord is known for Licorice Pizza (2021), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) and Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

Andrea Gard is known for Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015), The Revenant (2015) and Inherent Vice (2014).

Randy Singer is known for Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018).

Matthew Wood is an American sound editor and voice actor who works at Lucasfilm. He did sound editing for the 2011 re-releases of the original Star Wars trilogy, the prequel trilogy, the sequel trilogy and many more Lucasfilm projects. He voiced General Grievous in Revenge of the Sith after replacing Richard McGonagle who voiced in the Genndy Tartakovsky Clone Wars cartoon. He also voiced the Battle Droids in various Star Wars media set during the Clone Wars.

Frank E. Eulner was born in 1963. He is known for Iron Man (2008), The Jungle Book (2016) and Jurassic Park III (2001).

Michael Semanick was born in 1963. He is an actor, known for King Kong (2005), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and WALL·E (2008).

Lora Hirschberg is known for Inception (2010), The Dark Knight (2008) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017).

Gary Summers has worked as a Motion Picture Re-recording Mixer for the past forty years. His career in sound began in 1979 when he was employed by Lucas Film Ltd. as a sound recordist to work on "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back". His abilities as a Re-recording Mixer were first used in 1983 on "Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi". Gary has received twelve (12) Academy Award nominations for "Best Achievement in Sound". He has won the award four times, in 1991 for his work on "Terminator 2: Judgment Day", in 1993 for "Jurassic Park", in 1997 for "Titanic" and in 1998 for "Saving Private Ryan". Gary has also been nominated for the British Academy Award nine (9) times; he captured the award in 1991 for "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and in 1998 for "Saving Private Ryan". The Cinema Audio Society, the Motion Picture Sound Editors Association, and the TEC Awards have all recognized him for his work. Gary has also received two Emmy Award nominations, winning in 1992 for his work on "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" television series. Additional film credits include," Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", "Backdraft", "Toy Story I & II", "Monster's Inc." "Jurassic Park: The Lost World"," A Bug's Life" and "K-19: The Widow Maker". Gary has worked in the large screen motion picture formats, (IMAX) with twenty-one credits to his name. His talents have also been used in eight Theme Park Attractions for The Walt Disney Company including "Star Tours", "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" and "Muppetvision 3D". In 2003 he formed Summers Sound Services Inc. and has pursued an independent mixing career working on such films as "Finding Nemo, Cars, Warrior, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Bourne Legacy, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon, Avatar, Monsters University", 13 Hours", "The Accountant", Avatar-The Way of Water". He has also mixed many of the "Cinematics" for Blizzard Entertainment.

Tom Johnson is known for Ad Astra (2019), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Children of Men (2006).

Gary A. Rizzo was born on 31 January 1972 in New Jersey, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Inception (2010), Dunkirk (2017) and Oppenheimer (2023).

Benjamin A. Burtt was born on 10 March 1984 in San Rafael, California, USA. He is known for Black Panther (2018), Top Gun: Maverick (2022) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022).

Dustin Cawood is known for Super 8 (2011), Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) and WALL·E (2008).

Ryan J. Frias is known for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Doctor Strange (2016) and Ant-Man (2015).

Bonnie Wild is known for The Mandalorian (2019), Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022).

Kimberly Patrick is known for Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015).

Steve Boeddeker is a 3 time Oscar Nominee and Emmy Award winning Sound Designer and Re-recording Mixer based in San Francisco. He has worked all over the world including London, NYC, Vancouver, LA and the Bay Area.

Boeddeker started in movie sound design and music with his first feature film project, David Fincher's thriller SE7EN. Boeddeker studied computer engineering and electronic/computer music at University of California San Diego and University of California Santa Barbara, graduating in 1988. He has since worked with many directors including Ryan Coogler, Tim Burton, JC Chandor, Steven Spielberg, Chris Columbus, William Friedkin, Robert Redford and many more.

Past film projects include All Day and a Night, Triple Frontier, Black Panther, Creed, Bridge of Spies, Pixels, Chappie, A Most Violent Year, All is Lost, Lincoln, Beasts of the Southern Wild, TRON: Legacy, Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fight Club, Se7en and many more.

Michael Silvers is known for The Incredibles (2004), Up (2009) and Iron Man (2008).

Erik Foreman is known for The Batman (2004), Despicable Me 2 (2013) and Midnight Special (2016).

John began his film studies at San Francisco State University in 1983 and graduated with a BA in Cinema Production from USC in 1989. In 1990 he began his career in audio post production when he was hired by Skywalker Sound in Marin County, California. John celebrated his 20th year with Lucasfilm in 2010 and continues to work there today.

Addison Teague is known for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Avatar (2009) and Tron: Legacy (2010).