Mary Sweeney

Sweeney is the Dino and Martha De Laurentiis Endowed Professor in the Writing Division of the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. She was formerly the chair of the Film Independent board of directors. In 2002, she won the BAFTA Award for Best Editing for her work on Mulholland Drive.

• Name — Mary Sweeney • Birthplace — Madison, Wisconsin, U.S. • Years Active — 1983–present • Children — 1 • Awards — BAFTA Award for Best Editing 2001 Mulholland Drive • Occupation — * Film producer • director • writer • film editor

Sweeney graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, with a BA in History. She earned a Certificate of Fine Arts from the Corcoran School of Fine Arts in Washington, D.C. After completing a master's in cinema studies at New York University, Sweeney worked her way up the ranks of film editing in New York and San Francisco, on films such as Reds by Warren Beatty, Tender Mercies by Bruce Beresford, Places in the Heart by Robert Benton, Little Drummer Girl by George Roy Hill, and The Mean Season by Phil Boursos.

From 1985 to 2006, Sweeney collaborated as producer, writer, script supervisor and editor with filmmaker David Lynch from Blue Velvet to Inland Empire. Her editing credits include Blue Velvet (1986), Wild at Heart (1990), Twin Peaks (1990), Industrial Symphony (1991), Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), On the Air (1992), Hotel Room (1993), Lost Highway (1997), The Straight Story (1999), Mulholland Drive (2001) and Baraboo (2009). Sweeney is a consulting producer/writer on Matthew Weiner's anthology series The Romanoffs. She won the British Academy Award for Best Editing for Mulholland Drive. As producer, she won the César Award for Best Foreign Film, and the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film. She developed, produced, wrote and edited The Straight Story, for which Richard Farnsworth received an Academy Award nomination. As a producer, she won the European Film Award For Best Foreign Film, and the film received four nominations for the Independent Spirit Awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best First Screenplay and Best Actor. Her producing credits date from 1995 and include Lost Highway, The Straight Story, Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire, directed by Lynch, and Baraboo (2009), her directorial debut based on her original screenplay. Sweeney continued to write screenplays while collaborating with Lynch. These include The Surprise Party for Paramount Pictures, and Two Knives, a martial arts film for director Wong Kar-Wai and Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Between 2010 and 2015, Sweeney was a Fulbright Film Specialist and traveled for the State Department on Fulbright grants to Jordan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Myanmar and Cuba to mentor filmmakers in those countries. She is vice president and founding member of the Desert X non-profit's board of directors. Desert X is a site-specific art exhibition in the Coachella Valley. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Directors Guild of America, and Writers Guild of America, where she is on the WGA Independent Writers Committee.

• Year — Title — Editor — Producer — Writer — Note • 1986 — Blue Velvet — Assistant • 1990 — Twin Peaks — TV Series, Season two only; Also Script supervisor • Wild at Heart — Assistant — Also Script supervisor • 1992 — Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me • 1993 — Hotel Room — TV Series • 1994 — Nadja • 1997 — Lost Highway • 1999 — The Straight Story • 2001 — Mulholland Drive • 2006 — Inland Empire • 2009 — Baraboo — Also Director

Mary Sweeney is recorded as film editor, screenwriter, film director and producer.