Stephen Semel (sometimes credited as Steve Semel or Steven Semel) is an American film and television editor, film producer, production manager, and actor. He has worked as an editor for mainstream movies, such as Airheads, The Count of Monte Cristo, Fandango, Kuffs, License to Drive, Miracle Mile, My Giant, One Eight Seven, Only the Strong, Three to Tango, The Truth About Cats & Dogs, The Way of the Gun, and You So Crazy. Semel has also edited episodes of several television series, including episodes of Century City, Dragnet, Kyle XY, House, Melrose Place, and Tales from the Crypt.

Semel has edited forty-one episodes of Lost, appearing as Adam, one of "The Others", in the season 3 premiere, "A Tale of Two Cities". From 2006 to 2010, Semel was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series for his work on the series, for the episodes "Live Together, Die Alone" (2006), "Through the Looking Glass" (2007), "There's No Place Like Home" (2008), "The Incident" (2009), and "The End" (2010), winning in 2010 (shared with Mark Goldman, Christopher Nelson, and Henk Van Eeghan). In addition, Semel directed two episodes, "Ji Yeon" and "The Last Recruit", in 2008 and 2010, respectively.

As well as editing eight episodes, Semel was an associate producer for Tales from the Crypt, for eighteen episodes, and was an associate producer for Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories. He was a producer for the VHS releases – Books 1–5, along with being post-production supervisor (credited as Steven Semel) for two episodes of the series.

Semel was also an assistant film editor for Apocalypse Now (credited as Steve Semel) and an associate film editor for Galaxina. He was also an assistant editor for Back to the Future and an additional film editor for I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.

Selected filmography

Editor
Year Film Director Notes
1985 Fandango Kevin Reynolds First collaboration with Kevin Reynolds
1988 License to Drive Greg Beeman
Miracle Mile Steve De Jarnatt
1992 Kuffs Bruce A. Evans
1993 Only the Strong Sheldon Lettich
1994 Airheads Michael Lehmann First collaboration with Michael Lehmann
1995 Jury Duty John Fortenberry
1996 The Truth About Cats & Dogs Michael Lehmann Second collaboration with Michael Lehmann
1997 One Eight Seven Kevin Reynolds Second collaboration with Kevin Reynolds
1998 My Giant Michael Lehmann Third collaboration with Michael Lehmann
1999 Three to Tango Damon Santostefano
2000 The Way of the Gun Christopher McQuarrie
2002 The Count of Monte Cristo Kevin Reynolds Third collaboration with Kevin Reynolds
2004 Madhouse William Butler
Editorial department
Year Film Director Role
1979 Apocalypse Now Francis Ford Coppola Assistant film editor
1980 Galaxina William Sachs Associate film editor
1982 The Escape Artist Caleb Deschanel Assistant editor
1984 The Buddy System Glenn Jordan
1988 I'm Gonna Git You Sucka Keenen Ivory Wayans Additional film editor
Thanks
Year Film Director Role
1985 Back to the Future Robert Zemeckis Special thanks
Documentaries
Editor
Year Film Director Notes
1994 You So Crazy Thomas Schlamme Stand-up film
TV movies
Editor
Year Film Director Notes
1991 Blood Ties Jim McBride
1994 Cosmic Slop Reginald Hudlin "Space Traders" segment
1997 Before Women Had Wings Lloyd Kramer
TV series
Editor
Year Title Notes
1992 Melrose Place 1 episode
1989−92 Tales from the Crypt 8 episodes
2003 Dragnet 4 episodes
2004 Century City 9 episodes
2006 Kyle XY 1 episode
2009 House
2004−10 Lost 42 episodes
2019 Jack Ryan 2 episodes
2016−20 Westworld
Actor
Year Title Role Notes
2006 Lost Adam 1 episode
Director
Year Title Notes
2008−10 Lost 2 episodes
2012−15 Person of Interest
Producer
Year Title Credit Notes
1985−87 Amazing Stories Associate producer 29 episodes
1990 Tales from the Crypt 18 episodes
2010−12 Undercovers 11 episodes
2012 Alcatraz Co-producer 13 episodes
2011−15 Person of Interest
  • Co-producer
  • Producer
  • Supervising producer
90 episodes
2016−20 Westworld 28 episodes
2024 Fallout Co-executive producer 8 episodes
Production manager
Year Title Role Notes
1992 Tales from the Crypt Post-production supervisor 2 episodes
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