Willie D. Burton: The First Black Oscar Winner for Best Sound Reveals His Journey

You'll quickly learn why bringing this conversation with the legendary Willie D. Burton to you is such an incredible honor.

History-making, Willie's the first Black person to ever win an Academy Award for Best Sound. It was for 1988's Bird, a biopic about the life of jazz musician Charlie Parker. In 2006, he won a second Academy Award for Dreamgirls, joining an elite club of African Americans in Hollywood who are multiple Oscar Award winners.

We talk about how, at an early age, walking past a radio station ignited an interest in audio after he took a peek inside. Truly immersing himself in electronics through a school program, he graduated high school.

Leaving his hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama with $50 in his pocket, he relocated to Long Beach, California, later becoming a sonar technician in the Navy. About three years later, he began to pursue a career in audio.

After amassing some work experience in sound, Willie shares a truly remarkable story about the time Sydney Poitier took a big chance on him for what would become Willie's first time working on a feature without having any prior feature credits to his name.

Now, having worked on over 140 film and television projects, Willie's earned a total of 8 Academy Award nominations. They include The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and most recently, Oppenheimer.

Willie's stories about working on the epic Oppenheimer movie with director Christopher Nolan provide a unique insight into their collaboration and technological approach to sound.

Willie shares some great advice as well as his thoughts on the ever-evolving film industry and the power of following one's intuition in choosing projects.

His latest, Captain America: Brave New World, premieres in 2025.