Elena Maganini
# Elena Maganini

Elena Maganini is a film editor, best known for her work on the first season of Showtime TV drama series Dexter.

## Life and career

Maganini started out working on commercials in Chicago, and then moved on to her first feature, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, for which she was not only editor but also sound editor. On Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, she collaborated with John McNaughton, a teaming that continued through a series of projects, often themed around sexuality, such as Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll, Mad Dog and Glory, Push, Nevada and 1998 thriller Wild Things. She was nominated for an award for the HBO miniseries If These Walls Could Talk, in the category of Outstanding Single Camera Editing for a Miniseries or Special.

She met the pinnacle of her career when she was contacted by episode director Michael Cuesta for Showtime TV drama series Dexter. She worked on 6 episodes of Dexter and won a Primetime Emmy Award in 2007 for Outstanding Single Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series for the pilot episode, Dexter. The episodes she worked on were "Dexter", "Crocodile", "Popping Cherry", "Return to Sender", "Father Knows Best" and "Born Free". Elena explaining why she took the job for Dexter, said that she had always been drawn to darker features.

   "I have always been drawn to shows that have a dark theme. What’s interesting to me about Dexter is that it features a character who is extremely disturbed and yet is trying to present himself as someone normal; he says and does all the right things. When his dark side takes over, you are totally in his psychotic world. The intersection where these two things meet makes for a lot of tension."

## Filmography

| Year | Film/Show | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| 1986 | Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer | |
| 1991 | The Borrower | |
| 1991 | Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll | Documentary |
| 1992 | Eyes of the Prey | |
| 1992 | How Blue Can You Get? | |
| 1993 | Mad Dog and Glory | |
| 1994 | Somebody to Love |
| 1995 | Four Rooms | |
| 1996 | Normal Life | |
| 1996 | Infinity | |
| 1996 | If These Walls Could Talk | Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Camera Editing for a Miniseries or Special |
| 1998 | Wild Things | |
| 1998 | Louis & Frank | |
| 1999 | Lansky | |
| 2000 | Next Friday | |
| 2000 | Condo Painting | Documentary |
| 2000 | In the Light of the Moon | |
| 2001 | Speaking of Sex | |
| 2002 | Push, Nevada | |
| 2003 | Expert Witness | |
| 2003 | Tarzan | |
| 2004–2006 | Dr. Vegas | 3 episodes |
| 2005 | Book of Swords | |
| 2005 | 8mm 2 | |
| 2006 | Haskett's Chance | |
| 2006 | Dexter | 6 episodes Won — Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series for episode "Dexter" |
| 2007 | The Dead Zone | 5 episodes |
| 2008–2009 | Eli Stone | 6 episodes |
| 2009 | NY-LON | |
| 2009–2010 | Dollhouse | 4 episodes |
| 2010 | Scoundrels | 2 episodes |
| 2010 | 90210 | 2 episodes |
| 2021 | Clarice | 4 episodes |
