Five Sheridan alumni among nominees for 2026 Primetime Emmy Awards

Five graduates from Sheridan's Faculty of Animation, Arts & Design (FAAD) have snapped up nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award this year, recognizing their outstanding work in sound and visual effects. 

Craig Henighan (Media Arts '95) is an Emmy finalist for the tenth consecutive year while Tyler Whitham (Media Arts '06) earned his fourth nomination. Peter Persaud (Media Arts '93), Darryl Sawchuk (Art & Art History '98), and Ben King (Computer Animation, Digital Visual Effects '13) are first-time Emmy nominees. 

"We are thrilled to see our alumni recognized with Emmy nominations for their outstanding work on some of the world's most acclaimed productions," says Dr. Cindy Gouveia, Sheridan's President and Vice Chancellor. “Their achievements demonstrate how our graduates are excelling in creative industries around the world.” 

Henighan and Persaud's nominations are for their work as Co-Supervising Sound Editor and Foley Mixer, respectively, on the series finale of Stranger Things. Henighan has already received five Emmy Awards for his work on the globally acclaimed series, and in 2021 he also won an Emmy for sound mixing with Love, Death + Robots. In 2019 he earned an Oscar nomination for his work in Roma. Persaud, meanwhile, is a three-time Canadian Screen Award winner who has also previously worked on Deadpool & Wolverine, A Quiet Place and The Grand Budapest Hotel. 

Whitham earned an Emmy nod as Co-Supervising Sound Editor of the action-comedy Murderbot. His previous Emmy nominations came for sound editing on Fargo (2024 and 2017) and Texas Rising (2015). Sawchuk and King's first Emmy nominations recognize their contributions to HBO's supernatural horror drama series IT: Welcome to Derry, where Sawchuk served as Overall Visual Effects Supervisor and King was a Visual Effects Supervisor.  

Alumni from the Faculty of Animation, Arts and Design are acclaimed globally for their work. Earlier this year, Maggie Kang (Animation '04) became the eighth FAAD graduate to win an Academy Award when her film KPop Demon Hunters was named Best Animated Feature. FAAD has been ranked as Canada's top animation school for eight consecutive years and recently launched the country's first master's degree program in animation, games and immersive experiences; an Honours Bachelor of 3D Animation and Emerging Technologies (3DAET); and Nova, an interdisciplinary initiative designed to explore changes in the creative industries.