Jack Donovan Foley (April 12, 1891 Yorkville, New York – November 9, 1967 Los Angeles, California) was the developer of many sound effect techniques used in filmmaking. He worked on the pictures such as Melody of Love, Showboat (1929), Dat Ol' Ribber, Spartacus, and Pink Submarine. He is attributed for inventing the art of Foley, which is the process of adding sounds effects such as footsteps and environmental sounds to films and video games.

Those who work on sound effects in films are often called "Foley artists".

The Foley artist on a film crew is the person who creates and records many of the sound effects. Specifically, the Foley artist is usually associated with the job of capturing the natural/everyday sounds, leaving the role of special (audio) effects to the Sound designer. Foley artists, sound designers, editors, and supervisors are highly specialized and are essential for producing a professional-sounding soundtrack suitable for distribution and exhibition.

Sound effects are rarely recorded at the same time as dialogue and action, since the sound mix is so difficult to balance; the Foley artist listens to the dialogue track for the (usually quite faint) sounds of, for instance, footsteps, a door slam, etc. and records them onto a new track (the Foley track) in synch with the action onscreen. Other sound effects are drawn from recorded libraries, but many directors prefer the direct involvement of the Foley artist.

The Foley artist also adds sounds that may not exist at all on the original track: for instance, thumping watermelons or cracking bamboo to create the sounds of a fight. Many Foley artists take pride in constructing their own sound effects apparatus, frequently using simple, common materials. Some "making-of" features show foley artists at work. The contrast between the action on the screen and the down-home effects is striking.

The name comes from one of the original and well-known Hollywood practitioners of this art, Jack Foley, who got his start in the film business as a stand-in and screenwriter during the silent era and later helped Universal make the transition to sound.

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