Tracking down suburban ties to top entertainment awards

The idea for the story we ran Jan. 19 on SAG Awards production manager Adam Cohen was pitched by the award show's publicist, who touted the Stevenson High School grad's Buffalo Grove roots.

But tracking down other suburbanites working in Hollywood is rarely that easy.

When award show nominations are announced, we like to ferret out which actors, directors, editors and others grew up in the suburbs. This year, for example, we wrote a short story on Gary Rydstrom, who grew up in Elmhurst and earned a sound mixing Oscar nod for “Ad Astra.” It's the 19th Oscar nomination for the sound designer, winner of seven.

But there may be other suburbanites on that nomination list that we simply don't know about — as hard as we try to find them.

First, I check the internet Movie Database and Wikipedia for bios that might mention where the nominees were born or what high school they attended. Then, if I discover a mention of the suburbs, I have to verify what I found with other sources before printing it. Several profiles, for example, note that Oscar-winning cinematographer Mauro Fiore lived in Palatine.

Yet, scanning the obvious sites only accounts for some of our suburban finds. IMDB tells us that director and past Oscar nominee Christopher Nolan was born in London. But we learned through talking to his brother Jonathan, a film and TV writer, that the Nolans lived for a time in Barrington.

Overall, big stars and well-known directors are easier to track down.

We know that “Better Call Saul” actor Bob Odenkirk — who has been nominated for Emmy and Golden Globe awards — grew up in Naperville. We know that Brad Pitt did not.

Where it gets trickier is in researching those who work behind the scenes: the makeup artists, animators, documentary short filmmakers and visual effects gurus whose names don't command the same kind of recognition as a Martin Scorcese or a Quentin Tarantino.

Some of those nominated artists have profiles posted that include references to their hometowns. Many do not. And that's where family and friends come in.

We've learned more than once about a Grammy-nominated musician or an actor breaking into the business through a call from a proud parent. We're thrilled to hear about them.

So if you happen to know that an Oscar-nominated animator hailed from Arlington Heights or a Grammy-winning songwriter grew up in Schaumburg, drop me a line at lminer@dailyherald.com.