Biography

Susan Vaill, ACE, is an editor of both comedy and drama, including Hacks (2021) and This Is Us (2016). Of her work on Hacks, three separate episodes of Susan's received distinction. She won the 2022 ACE Eddie Award for Best Edited Single Camera Comedy ("1.69 Million"), the 2021 HPA Award for Outstanding Editing ("Falling"), and was nominated for a 2021 Emmy for Outstanding Editing of a Comedy Series ("Primm"). Hacks was nominated for 15 Emmy Awards in its first season.

Susan's love of music-driven storytelling has led her to be described as 'a legendary music supervisor masquerading as an award-winning editor.' Born and raised in Los Angeles, Susan first entered the film industry in an '80s Doublemint gum commercial and the Hal Ashby film Bound for Glory (1976). She studied film theory and art history at Williams College and got an MFA in film production at USC. After assistant-editing documentaries and feature films including The Last Samurai (2003), Susan edited over 70 episodes of Grey's Anatomy (2005) which won the Golden Globe for Best Drama Series in 2008. Susan also directed three episodes of the epic series, one of which featured an Emmy-winning performance by guest actress Loretta Devine.

Susan's work on Hacks (2021), created by Lucia Aniello, Paul Downs and Jen Statsky, included Jean Smart's Emmy-winning Best Actress performance in the episode "1.69 Million". She has also edited the comedies Space Force (2020), created by Greg Daniels and Steve Carrell; Grandfathered (2015), and Me, Myself and I (2017). She returned to drama with The Time Traveler's Wife (2022), This Is Us (2016), and the critically acclaimed AMC dramedy Lodge 49 (2018). Susan's Lodge 49 episodes Circles (2019) and Le Reve Impossible (2019) earned spots on The New York Times' and Entertainment Weekly's year-end lists of Best Episodes of Television of 2019.

Susan has edited six television pilots and helped launch seven shows in their first season. In 2018, Susan was inducted into the society of American Cinema Editors, and in 2019 she created 'Bumped Up: the Leadership Workshop for New Editors', co-sponsored by ACE and the Editors Guild, which she leads annually to mentor young editors. You can also find Susan sailing, sewing, or singing her go-to karaoke song "I'm On A Boat".

- IMDb mini biography by: Susan Vaill