Me and My Emmy: Michael Polito

Primetime Emmy Tally: Five

How He Got the Gold: All of his wins were for picture editing: Lady Gaga Presents: The Monster Ball Tour at Madison Square Garden on HBO (2011); The 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert on HBO (2010); The Kennedy Center Honors (1997, '99, 2006) on CBS.

Now for the Noms: Eight additional editing nominations for The Annual Academy Awards (2000–'07), five more for The Kennedy Center Honors (1996, '98, '03, '09, '10), four for AFI Life Achievement Award specials ('04, '08, '09, '14) and more for specials starring or celebrating Janet Jackson, Barbra Streisand and Elizabeth Taylor.

Still more for HBO's Thurgood (2011) and For Our Children: The Concert (1993).

Real Appeal: "Being able to collaborate with the best producers, directors and camera men and women in the business has given me the opportunity to give and receive feedback, which has been an enormous benefit in the edit room."

Hear, Hear: "It's most important to listen. My primary job is to help bring the vision of the producers, director and talent to the screen. I always take in as much information and emotion from them as possible, so I can deliver that final picture."

Sold on Gold: "I have been fortunate enough to work on the Oscars for a number of years. It still makes me proud to have been in that production meeting with the likes of Don Mischer, Laura Ziskin and Gil Cates, listening to the giants of our community developing ideas for that show."

Emmy Memory: "One year I had the opportunity to bring not only my wife to the event, but also my children. They have sacrificed a lot with me being absent from their lives. For them to get to share that moment was very special."

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This article originally appeared in emmy magazine, Issue No. 1, 2017