Richard Pearson

Biography:

Richard Pearson (born 1961) is an American film editor best known for his work on action films. Along with Clare Douglas and Christopher Rouse, he won the BAFTA Award for Best Editing for United 93 (2006).

Born in Minneapolis and raised in New Hope, Minnesota, Pearson began his career as a college intern at WCCO-TV in the early 1980s. In 1985, he moved to Hollywood to pursue a career in film and television. His first major editing credit came with the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon (1998). The episode “1968” earned nominations for both an American Cinema Editors Eddie Award and an Emmy for Outstanding Editing. Notably, Christopher Rouse—later his collaborator on The Bourne Supremacy and United 93—also worked on the series.

Pearson next edited Muppets from Space (1999) before working on Frank Oz’s films Bowfinger and The Score. His breakthrough came with Paul Greengrass’s United 93, which required three editors due to its tight post-production schedule of less than six months. The film’s documentary-style editing, marked by jump cuts and overlapping scenes, was praised as both complex and effective. Critics noted its innovative structure of parallel cutting and cinéma vérité style, which balanced disorientation with clarity. For their work, the editors received BAFTA honors and nominations for both an Academy Award and an ACE Eddie Award.

Pearson is a member of the American Cinema Editors. His later credits include co-editing the James Bond film Quantum of Solace (2008) with Matt Chessé and working on Safe House (2012). He currently lives in California.