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Editor – Michelle Tesoro, ACE
MAESTRO editor Michelle Tesoro is no stranger to cutting movies directed by actors. In fact, it was while she was working with actor Sean Penn on his film FLAG DAY, that Penn turned to Michelle and told her that he just texted friend Bradley Cooper that she was a “goddess in the cutting room”. Clearly that pitch worked as Cooper entrusted Michelle with the editorial duties for his much-anticipated biopic.
MAESTRO chronicles the fearless love story and complicated lifelong relationship between music legend Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein.
Michelle Tesoro, ACE
Michelle Tesoro’s most notable works include Netflix’s Emmy-winning limited series THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT (2020), directed by Academy Award-nominated Scott Frank, for which she won the 2021 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.
Tesoro’s versatile slate also includes Ava Duvernay’s WHEN THEY SEE US (2019), Sean Penn’s FLAG DAY (2021), Focus Features’ biography of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ON THE BASIS OF SEX (2018), and Netflix’s Emmy-nominated series by Scott Frank, GODLESS (2017).
Tesoro was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She graduated from Whitney M. Young High School, studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Michelle currently resides in Los Angeles, California and is an active member of the American Cinema Editors (ACE). She is Co-Chair of ACE’s International Relations Committee for which she co-founded ACE’s International Partnership Program. She also sits on the 2023-2025 Board of TEMPO, a federation of international film editors associations.
Editing MAESTRO
In our discussion with MAESTRO editor Michelle Tesoro, we talk about:
- Putting together a proof of concept
- When Sean Penn texts his friends about you
- Taking notes from Spielberg and Scorsese
- Quietly doing sound design
- Who the real Maestro is
The Credits
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