Best Picture director Sean Baker, NJ native, just made Oscar history

📽️ Filmmaker Sean Baker has big night
📽️ Oscar wins for NJ native
📽️ NJ school, former workplace celebrate

History was made as New Jersey native filmmaker Sean Baker had a dazzling night at the Academy Awards.

Baker grew up in Short Hills and graduated from private prep school, Gill St. Bernard’s in Peapack-Gladstone.

He wrote, directed and produced “Anora” — and wound up winning four Oscars in one night.

The only other superstar to ever achieve that was Walt Disney, himself, in 1954.

Filmmaker Bong Joon Ho also very came close with "Parasite" in 2020, as explained by the Los Angeles Times.

Now, all Baker's old spots in New Jersey are celebrating along with him.

“We read that you were inspired to become a filmmaker after your mother took you to see a horror film at the Millburn Library! We can't wait to see what you do next,” the Millburn Free Public Library posted to Facebook.

He also worked as a teenager, running the film projector at the Wellmont Theater, when it still showed movies before its new life as a performance venue.

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After graduating from Gill St. Bernard's in 1989, Baker attended and graduated from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. As an undergraduate, he returned to Jersey for a summer job at Sky View Taxi in Somerville, NJ Monthly reported.

On Sunday, Baker won for Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Film Editing and Best Original Screenplay for “Anora” at the 97th Annual Oscars in Hollywood, California.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Back in 2017, fellow New Jersey native Damien Chazelle won an Academy Award for "La La Land" and broke a record in the process.

SEE ALSO: "La La Land" director, NJ's Damien Chazelle breaks an Oscars record

Then 32, the filmmaker who grew up in Mercer County was the youngest to clinch best director, breaking a streak that went back more than 80 years.

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