Michael Shawver
Michael P. Shawver is an American film editor who is known for his longtime collaboration with director Ryan Coogler. Shawver was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film Editing for his work on Coogler's 2025 film Sinners.
Shawver met Coogler at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and began editing Coogler's student films, including the HBO-aired short "Fig". He went on to co-edit Coogler's major feature films, including Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Their collaboration continued with Sinners, marking 15 years of partnership. Outside of his work with Coogler, Shawver has edited a range of feature films, including A Quiet Place Part II, Honest Thief, Blacklight, and Abigail.
Early life and education
Shawver was born around and grew up in North Providence, Rhode Island. He went to Greystone Elementary School then Ponaganset High School. Growing up, he had weekly family movie nights with his parents and older sister, through which he began to love films. At 12 years old, he made films with a VHS camcorder.He went to the University of Rhode Island, where he majored in communications studies. He graduated from URI in 2007, and he searched online for "best film schools in the world" and decided to go to the Los Angeles–based USC School of Cinematic Arts. At USC, he enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts program. He met Ryan Coogler in 2009 in a directing class, learned about Coogler's short films in the making, and asked to help edit them. Shawver edited Coogler's student films, including "Fig", which aired on HBO. Shawver completed the MFA program in 2012.
As of 2025, he lives in Woodland Hills, California.
Career
Shawver's first feature-film credit as editor came when Coogler began work on his first feature film Fruitvale Station with Claudia Castello involved as editor. Coogler recruited Shawver, and Castello and Shawver worked as a team. The two collaborated as editors again for Coogler's follow-up Creed. For Coogler's third feature film Black Panther, Shawver teamed with Debbie Berman, and the two worked on editing over 500 hours' worth of footage. Since Berman was one of the editors for the 2017 film Spider-Man: Homecoming, Shawver learned from her how to work with visual effects in editing.Shawver collaborated with Coogler again on the 2025 film Sinners, a project that marked their 15-year partnership. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Film Editing at the 98th Academy Awards.
Shawver says he wants to write and direct a film set in his home state of Rhode Island.