Moroccan-born Foley artist Sanaa Kelley and her studio Reel Foley Sound won her second Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour) for her work on “Spider-Noir” at the 78th Emmy Awards in September 2026.
Foley is the art of recreating everyday sound effects in a studio and adding them to movies, TV shows, and video games during post-production. Ms. Sanaa, who moved from Casablanca to the United States at the age of 14, is an acclaimed Foley artist, entrepreneur, and social media personality with nearly 30 years of experience in Hollywood sound design. She is the founder of Reel Foley Sound, an independent Foley studio based in Costa Mesa, California.
Known for her meticulous attention to textures and human movement, Kelley has transitioned from a behind-the-scenes industry veteran to a viral digital creator with over two million followers on TikTok and other platforms, where she pulls back the curtain on the invisible art of sound tracking.
Her impressive achievements include an Emmy in 2024 for FX’s Shogun and five Emmy nominations and 25 MSPE Golden Reel nominations. She has worked on high-profile projects such as FX’s “Shogun”, Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso,” “Bad Monkey” and “Only Murders in the Building”, AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” Disney+’s “The Right Stuff,” and The CW’s “The 100.” In 2016, Sanaa won a Golden Reel Award as part of the sound editing team for the live-action film “All the Wilderness.”
Focusing primarily on episodic television, Sanaa’s recent projects include FX’s “Shogun,” HBO Max’s “The Flight Attendant,” Apple TV+’s “Bad Monkey,” and “Lisey’s Story,” starring Julianne Moore. Her extensive TV credits also feature Warner Bros’ “Pretty Little Liars,” Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building,” Netflix’s “The Midnight Club,” HBO Max’s “Minx,” Fox’s “Monarch,” and “The Cleaning Lady.”
Sanaa’s Foley work extends to films like “Cry Macho,” directed by Clint Eastwood, HBO’s “Those Who Wish Me Dead,” “Chevalier,” and “White Men Can’t Jump.” In animation, she contributed to Nickelodeon’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” “Rugrats,” and “Jurassic World: Chaos Theory.”