When the legendary film editor Thelma Schoonmaker won her most recent Oscar, she said onstage, "This is the third film you've given the Oscar to that was made by Martin Scorsese, and believe me, I know I wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for him."

Schoonmaker has been working with Scorsese for more than 50 years. She once considered a career in international diplomacy — she majored in political science at Cornell University — before answering a newspaper ad to train as an assistant film editor. She met Scorsese while studying at NYU and went on to edit his feature directorial debut, 1967's Who's That Knocking at My Door.

For 1980's Raging Bull, Schoonmaker won her first Oscar for Best Film Editing. "I'm very proud to have this," she said during her acceptance speech. "I want to thank, first of all, Marty Scorsese; he edited this film with me every minute of the time. I want to thank him particularly for his brilliant direction, and Robert De Niro for his incredible performance which gave me gold to work with — pure gold."

She has edited all of Scorsese's films since Raging Bull. She won the Oscar again in 2005 for The Aviator, and then she won once again in 2007 for The Departed. "Working with Marty is quite something. It's tumultuous, passionate, funny and it's like being in the best film school in the world," she said upon winning the latter, which also won for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Directing, and Best Picture.

Schoonmaker has racked up a total of nine Oscar nominations to date, including for Woodstock (1970), Goodfellas (1990), Gangs of New York (2002), Hugo (2011), The Irishman (2020), and most recently, Killers of the Flower Moon (2023). She is officially the most-nominated film editor in Oscars history.

Below, Schoonmaker shares with A.frame her all-time favorite films, including an Oscar-winning classic from her late husband and a career-defining collaboration with Scorsese.