Yana Gorskaya

Gorskaya obtained a Bachelor of Arts from New York City's Columbia University in 1996 and later attended the University of Southern California (USC) to obtain a Master of Fine Arts degree.[1][2] She was hired to edit her first feature film, 2002's Spellbound, when director Jeffrey Blitz asked his former USC mentor Kate Amend if she would recommend one of her students to work on his documentary film. Amend suggested Gorskaya, who was working as a teaching assistant while completing her MFA; Gorskaya accepted the offer and put together the final cut of the film, working part-time from 2000–2002.[3] Spellbound was ultimately nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, and Gorskaya won the American Cinema Editors Award for Best Edited Documentary.[4] Her next three features, also documentaries, were In the Name of Love (2003), produced by Sydney Pollack, about Russian marriage agencies, Sonny Boy (2004), directed by Soleil Moon Frye, focusing on Frye's relationship with her father, and Seeds (2004), about the Seeds of Peace camp in Maine.[4]

Gorskaya's first non-documentary feature was 2007's Rocket Science, with which she worked with Blitz for a second time.[1] She then edited the 2008 independent comedy film Smart People, which was written by Mark Poirier and directed by Noam Murro.[4] She is set to edit Blitz's upcoming documentary about lottery winners.[5]

Gorskaya is also a screenwriter with writing partner and childhood friend Maia Rossini. They sold a musical comedy to Fox with Paul Feig attached to direct. They are represented at Creative Artists Agency.

Gorskaya was born in the Soviet Union, and is of Jewish descent.[6] At the age of 6, she immigrated to the United States with her single mother.[3][5] She is fluent in Russian, French and Spanish.[4] She currently resides in Los Angeles, California.[3]

• Yana Gorskaya at IMDb