In 1998 Niven's edit of the award-winning film "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" earned him a BAFTA nomination and brought him to the attention of Hollywood. At this time he was already established as one of London's premier editors for high-end commercials, pop videos and films. He had cut in excess of 300 such projects, including Sting's Grammy Award winning "Ten Summoners' Tales", MTV Video of the Year "Dear God" by XTC and a number of award winning commercials. In 2002 he was nominated for an EMMY Award for his work on Paul McCartney's "Back in the US." During this period, he also directed a number of projects including Dave Stewart and Candy Dulfer's "Lily was Here", several live music concerts and a TV tribute to the late Princess Diana. In the early 90's award wining director, Julien Temple worked with Niven on a string of projects including the feature film "Bullet" starring Mickey Rourke, Tupac Shakur & Ted Levine and three long form, ground breaking, iconic documentaries, "The Filth and The Fury", "Joe Strummer: The Truth is Unwritten" and the definitive "Glastonbury", the final two being nominated Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Since his arrival in the US, he has edited a large number of other iconic films including "Dawn of the Dead", "Resident Evil: Extinction", "Resident Evil: Afterlife", "Death Race" and "Step Up: All In" amongst many others. He has also edited further British film & TV hits including 'The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy", "Pandaemonium", "The Hole", "Tube Tales" and David Bailey's '"Model's Close Up." As one of the most accomplished film editors in the world, at the end of 2014, Niven was accepted into the prestigious honorary society of motion picture editors, becoming a member of American Cinema Editors.
