Lights, camera, action!

1. Robert E. Fulton

Robert E. Fulton was born on December 11, 1939. He was a director and cinematographer, known for Machu Picchu (1972), Swimming Stone (1982) and Path of Cessation (1974). He died on May 30, 2002 in Pleasant Mount, Pennsylvania, USA.

2. Antoine d'Agata

Director | Aka Ana

Antoine d'Agata is known for Aka Ana (2008), El cielo del muerto (2005) and White Noise (2019).

3. Sven Nykvist

Cinematographer | The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Sven Nykvist was considered by many in the industry to be one of the world's greatest cinematographers. During his long career that spanned almost half a century, Nyvist perfected the art of cinematography to its most simple attributes, and he helped give the films he had worked on the simplest and...

4. Philippe Grandrieux

Director | Un lac

Philippe Grandrieux born 1954 is a French film director and screenwriter. Grandrieux was born in Saint-Étienne. He studied film at the Institut National Supérieur des Arts du Spectacle in Belgium. He exhibited his first video work at Galerie Albert Baronian, Bruxelles. In the 1980s, he worked in ...

5. Paul Clipson

Director | Hypnosis Display

Paul Clipson was a director and cinematographer, known for Hypnosis Display (2014), Lightmaze (2010) and Love's Refrain (2016). Paul died on February 3, 2018 in San Francisco, California, USA.

6. Shin'ya Tsukamoto

Actor | Tetsuo

Shin'ya Tsukamoto was born on January 1, 1960 in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. He is an actor and director, known for Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989), Vital (2004) and Tokyo Fist (1995).

7. Vilmos Zsigmond

Cinematographer | Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Along with László Kovács, a fellow student who fled Hungary in 1956, Zsigmond rose to prominence in the 1970s. He is known for his use of natural light and vivid use of color on features such as The Long Goodbye (1973) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).

8. John Alton

Camera_department | An American in Paris

Starting out in 1924 as a lab technician at MGM, John Alton left there for Paramount to become a cameraman. He traveled to France and then to South America, where he wrote, photographed and directed several Spanish-language films. Returning to Hollywood in 1937, he soon achieved a reputation as one...

9. Jack Cardiff

Cinematographer | Black Narcissus

Almost universally considered one of the greatest cinematographers of all time, Jack Cardiff was also a notable director. He described his childhood as very happy and his parents as quite loving. They performed in music hall as comedians, so he grew up with the fun that came with their theatrical ...

10. Sacha Vierny

Cinematographer | The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

Sacha Vierny was born on August 10, 1919 in Bois-le-Roi, Seine-et-Marne, France. He was a cinematographer and assistant director, known for The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), The Pillow Book (1995) and Belle de Jour (1967). He died on May 15, 2001 in Vannes, Morbihan, France.

11. Robert Richardson

Cinematographer | Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Robert Richardson has won three Academy Awards and earned seven Academy Award nominations for his cinematography. His work on director Oliver Stone's JFK earned him his first Oscar. His second and third came with The Aviator and Hugo directed by Martin Scorsese. These two films also garnered him ...

12. Dick Bush

Cinematographer | Sorcerer

Dick Bush was born on December 2, 1931. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Sorcerer (1977), Victor/Victoria (1982) and The Philadelphia Experiment (1984). He died on August 4, 1997 in Devon, England, UK.

13. Roger Deakins

Cinematographer | Blade Runner 2049

Roger Deakins is an English cinematographer best known for his work on the films of the Coen brothers, Sam Mendes, and Denis Villeneuve.

He is a member of both the American and British Society of Cinematographers.

Deakins' first feature film in America as cinematographer was Mountains of the Moon (...

14. Gunnar Fischer

Cinematographer | Smultronstället

Gunnar Fischer was born on November 18, 1910 in Ljungby, Sweden. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Wild Strawberries (1957), The Seventh Seal (1957) and Smiles of a Summer Night (1955). He was married to Gull Söderblom. He died on June 11, 2011 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden.

15. Wally Pfister

Cinematographer | Inception

Wally Pfister is an American cinematographer and film director, who is best known for his work with Christopher Nolan. He is also known for his work on director F. Gary Gray's The Italian Job (2003) and Bennett Miller's Moneyball (2011).

He made his directorial debut with the film Transcendence (...

16. Lars von Trier

Writer | Dancer in the Dark

Probably the most ambitious and visually distinctive filmmaker to emerge from Denmark since Carl Theodor Dreyer over 60 years earlier, Lars von Trier studied film at the Danish Film School and attracted international attention with his very first feature, The Element of Crime (1984). A highly ...

17. Jeff Cronenweth

Cinematographer | Gone Girl

Jeff Cronenweth was born on January 14, 1962 in Los Angeles County, California, USA. He is a cinematographer and director, known for Gone Girl (2014), The Social Network (2010) and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011).

18. Philippe Rousselot

Cinematographer | Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles

Philippe Rousselot was born on September 4, 1945 in Briey, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France. He is a cinematographer and director, known for Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994), A River Runs Through It (1992) and Dangerous Liaisons (1988).

19. Peter Mettler

Cinematographer | The Top of His Head

Peter Mettler was born on September 7, 1958 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is a cinematographer and director who is known as an influential member of the 1980s Toronto New Wave. He is best known for his innovative documentaries Picture of Light (1994), Gambling, Gods and LSD (2002), and The End Of...

20. Ron Fricke

Cinematographer | Samsara

Ron Fricke is known for Samsara (2011), Baraka (1992) and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005).

21. Janusz Kaminski

Cinematographer | War Horse

Janusz Kaminski is a Polish cinematographer and film director. He has established a partnership with Steven Spielberg, working as a cinematographer on his movies since 1993. He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on Schindler's List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998).

His ...

22. Paul Cameron

Cinematographer | Collateral

Paul Cameron, ASC's visually groundbreaking work as a director and a director of photography has helped shape the craft of cinematography in the 21st century. Cameron recently directed multiple episodes of "Special Ops: Lioness", created by Taylor Sheridan for Paramount+, as well as multiple ...

23. Greig Fraser

Cinematographer | Dune

Greig Fraser was born on October 3, 1975 in Melbourne, Australia. He is a cinematographer and producer, known for Dune (2021), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and Zero Dark Thirty (2012). He is married to Jodie Fried. They have three children.

24. Masao Nakabori

Cinematographer | Maboroshi no hikari

Masao Nakabori is known for Maborosi (1995), Silver Mask (2006) and Hâdo rakku hîrô (2003).

25. Adam Wingard

Director | V/H/S

At 19 Adam got his start in feature film making early with his directorial debut Home Sick, a slasher horror film starring Bill Moseley and Tom Toweles. However it was his second effort at 24 years old with the film Pop Skull that garnered him a talent to watch. Made for a budget of around 2000 ...

26. Georges Lucas

Cinematographer | Train de plaisir

Georges Lucas is known for Train de plaisir (1936), Le maître de forges (1933) and The Fall of the House of Usher (1928).

27. Asakazu Nakai

Cinematographer | Ran

Asakazu Nakai was born on August 29, 1901 in Kobe, Japan. He was a cinematographer, known for Ran (1985), Stray Dog (1949) and Seven Samurai (1954). He died on February 28, 1988.

28. Piyush Shah

Camera_department | Taare Zameen Par

Piyush Shah is known for Like Stars on Earth (2007), Kaal (1996) and Agnichakra (1997).

29. David Lynch

Writer | Twin Peaks

Born in precisely the kind of small-town American setting so familiar from his films, David Lynch spent his childhood being shunted from one state to another as his research scientist father kept getting relocated. He attended various art schools, married Peggy Lynch and then fathered future ...

30. Dion Beebe

Cinematographer | Collateral

Dion Beebe is an Australian-South African cinematographer. He is best known for his collaboration with Rob Marshall in the films Chicago (2002), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), Nine (2009), Into the Woods (2014) and Mary Poppins Returns (2018);

Beebe also worked with Michael Mann in Collateral (2004) ...

31. Daniel L. Fapp

Cinematographer | West Side Story

American cinematographer who spent the bulk of his career at Paramount (1923-1959). After two years apprenticed in the studio lab, Fapp first worked the movie camera as an assistant in 1925. By 1941, he had graduated to full director of photography at the behest of cinematographer, turned director, ...

32. Ghislain Cloquet

Cinematographer | Tess

Ghislain Cloquet was born on April 18, 1924 in Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for Tess (1979), Love and Death (1975) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967). He was married to Sonia Salvy-Matossian and Sophie Becker. He died on November 2, 1981 in Montainville,...

33. Guy Gilles

Director | Absences répétées

Guy Gilles was born on August 25, 1938 in Algiers, Alger, France [now Algeria]. He was a director and writer, known for Absences répétées (1972), Le clair de terre (1970) and Au pan coupé (1967). He died on February 3, 1996 in Paris, France.

34. Paul Guichard

Cinematographer | Jim la houlette, roi des voleurs

Paul Guichard is known for Jim la houlette, roi des voleurs (1926), The Adventures of Robert Macaire (1925) and The Late Mathias Pascal (1925).

35. Changwei Gu

Cinematographer | Zui ai

Changwei Gu was born on December 12, 1957 in Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. He is a cinematographer and director, known for Til Death Do Us Part (2011), Farewell My Concubine (1993) and Kong que (2005). He has been married to Wenli Jiang since 1993. They have one child.

36. Christopher Doyle

Cinematographer | Paranoid Park

Christopher Doyle was born on May 2, 1952 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He is a cinematographer and actor, known for Paranoid Park (2007), Hero (2002) and 2046 (2004).

37. Shane Carruth

Composer | Upstream Color

Writer-director Shane Carruth, a former software engineer, burst onto the independent movie scene with his extremely low-budget science-fiction film Primer (2004) in 2004. Carruth also played one of the two leads in the film and composed its music. "Primer" won the Grand Jury Prize and the Alfred P...

38. Morris Engel

Director | Little Fugitive

Morris Engel was born on April 8, 1918 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Little Fugitive (1953), Weddings and Babies (1958) and Lovers and Lollipops (1956). He was married to Ruth Orkin. He died on March 5, 2005 in New York City, New York, USA.

39. Bruno Nuytten

Cinematographer | Jean de Florette

Bruno Nuytten is one of the most successful French cinematographers notable for his many collaborations with outstanding filmmakers. He was twice awarded the César for Best Cinematography: Barocco (1976) and So Long, Stooge (1983). Later he started to direct and is best known for his masterpiece ...

40. Patrick Bokanowski

Director | Au bord du lac

Patrick Bokanowski was born on June 23, 1943 in Algiers, France. He is a director and writer, known for Au bord du lac (1994), La plage (1992) and L'ange (1982).

41. Otto Heller

Cinematographer | The Ipcress File

Pioneering Czech cinematographer Ota (later anglicised to 'Otto') Heller started as a cinema usher and then worked as a projectionist at a cinema in Prague. He first came to prominence as a military reporter and cameraman on the Italian Front during World War I and was subsequently involved in ...

42. Bill Pope

Cinematographer | The Matrix

Bill Pope was born on June 19, 1952 in Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA. He is a cinematographer and director, known for The Matrix (1999), The Jungle Book (2016) and Bound (1996). He is married to Sharon Oreck. They have one child.

43. Ted D. McCord

Cinematographer | The Sound of Music

Ted McCord learned his craft "on the job" as a camera assistant at Hobart Bosworth Productions in 1917. His first credited film as full-fledged cinematographer was Sacred and Profane Love (1921), billing himself as "T.D.McCord". During the '20s he worked on a wide variety of subjects, from romantic...

44. Adriano Goldman

Cinematographer | Sin nombre

Adriano Goldman is known for Sin Nombre (2009), The Crown (2016) and Xingu (2011).

45. Jaroslav Kucera

Cinematographer | Adéla jeste nevecerela

Jaroslav Kucera was born on August 6, 1929 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet (1978), Daisies (1966) and Noc na Karlstejne (1974). He was married to Vera Chytilová. He died on January 14, 1991 in Prague, Czech ...

46. Chung-hoon Chung

Cinematographer | Ah-ga-ssi

Chung-hoon Chung was born on June 15, 1970 in Seoul, South Korea. He is a cinematographer and writer, known for The Handmaiden (2016), Oldboy (2003) and Last Night in Soho (2021).

47. Eric Pauwels

Director | Les films rêvés

Eric Pauwels was born on September 2, 1953 in Antwerpen, Flanders, Belgium. He is a director and writer, known for Dreaming Film (2010), Letter from a Filmmaker to His Daughter (2002) and La deuxième nuit (2016).

48. Kiyomi Kuroda

Cinematographer | Onibaba

Kiyomi Kuroda is known for Onibaba (1964), Operation Negligee (1968) and Black Cat (1968).

49. Michael Ballhaus

Cinematographer | Goodfellas

Michael Ballhaus was a German cinematographer. He worked on many American films, including Baby It's You (1983), Old Enough (1984), After Hours (1985), The Color of Money (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Dracula (1992), The Age of Innocence (1993), Gangs of New York ...

50. Lee Garmes

Cinematographer | Scarface

One of the most innovative of pioneer cameramen, Lee Garmes started his career on the East Coast with the New York Motion Picture Company, but was soon persuaded by the director Thomas H. Ince to join him in Hollywood. Garmes quickly climbed his way up the ladder, from painter's assistant to prop ...

51. Josef von Sternberg

Director | The Devil Is a Woman

Josef von Sternberg split his childhood between Vienna and New York City. His father, a former soldier in the Austro-Hungarian army, could not support his family in either city; Sternberg remembered him only as "an enormously strong man who often used his strength on me." Forced by poverty to drop ...

52. Gordon Willis

Cinematographer | Zelig

Gordon Willis was an American cinematographer. He's best known for his work on Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather films, as well asWoody Allen's Annie Hall (1977) and Manhattan (1979).

His work on the first two Godfather films turned out to be groundbreaking in its use of low-light photography and ...

53. James Wong Howe

Cinematographer | The Thin Man

Master cinematographer James Wong Howe, whose career stretched from silent pictures through the mid-'70s, was born Wong Tung Jim in Canton (now Guangzhou), China, on August 28, 1899, the son of Wong How. His father emigrated to America the year James was born, settling in Pasco, Washington, where ...

54. Takashi Itô

Director | Zone

Takashi Itô was born in February 1956 in Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Japan. He is a director and cinematographer, known for Zone (1995), The Moon (1994) and Toward Zero (2021).

55. Benoît Debie

Cinematographer | Enter the Void

Benoît Debie is known for Enter the Void (2009), Climax (2018) and Spring Breakers (2012).

56. Wolfgang Thaler

Cinematographer | Whores' Glory

Wolfgang Thaler was born on March 9, 1958 in Möllbrücke, Austria. He is a cinematographer and director, known for Whores' Glory (2011), Workingman's Death (2005) and Ugly (2017).

57. Harris Savides

Cinematographer | Elephant

Harris Savides was born on September 28, 1957 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for Elephant (2003), Zodiac (2007) and Somewhere (2010). He was married to Medine Chenet. He died on October 9, 2012 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.

58. Frederick Elmes

Cinematographer | The Dead Don't Die

Frederick Elmes was born on November 4, 1946 in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, USA. He is a cinematographer, known for The Dead Don't Die (2019), The Night Of (2016) and Paterson (2016).

59. Freddie Francis

Cinematographer | The Straight Story

During his last years at school he spent most of his time writing a thesis on 'the future of film' On leaving school he joined Gaumont British Studios at Lime Grove as an apprentice to a stills photographer for a year. He claimed this taught him more about the art of photography than any other form...

60. Douglas Slocombe

Cinematographer | Rollerball

London-born Douglas Slocombe has long been regarded as one of the film industry's premiere cinematographers, but he began his career as a photojournalist for Life magazine and the Paris-Match newspaper before World War II. During the war he became a newsreel cameraman, and at war's end he went to ...

61. Seamus McGarvey

Cinematographer | Nocturnal Animals

SEAMUS McGARVEY (Director of Photography) has collected two Academy Award nominations for his cinematography: on Joe Wright's 2007 WWI drama "Atonement," and his 2012 adaptation of Tolstoy's classic, "Anna Karenina." In addition to the Oscar nominations, McGarvey won the British Society of ...

62. Rodrigo Prieto

Cinematographer | Brokeback Mountain

Rodrigo Prieto is a Mexican cinematographer. He is best known for Brokeback Mountain (2005), Babel (2006), Argo (2012), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), and Silence (2016).

He also worked with Alejandro González Iñárritu on the acclaimed Amores perros (2000), 21 Grams (2003), and Biutiful (2010).

...

63. Shôichi Atô

Cinematographer | Kokuhaku

Shôichi Atô is known for Confessions (2010), Funuke: Show Some Love, You Losers! (2007) and Kiraware Matsuko no isshô (2006).

64. Ridley Scott

Producer | The Martian

Described by film producer Michael Deeley as "the very best eye in the business", director Ridley Scott was born on November 30, 1937 in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. His father was an officer in the Royal Engineers and the family followed him as his career posted him throughout the United Kingdom ...

65. Matthew Libatique

Cinematographer | Black Swan

Matthew Libatique is an American cinematographer. He is best known for his work with director Darren Aronofsky on the films Pi (1998), Requiem for a Dream (2000), The Fountain (2006), Black Swan (2010), Noah (2014) and Mother! (2017). He also shot Bradley Cooper's directorial debut film, A Star Is ...

66. Peter Deming

Cinematographer | Mulholland Dr.

Peter Deming was born in Beirut, Lebanon. He is a cinematographer and actor, known for Mulholland Drive (2001), The Menu (2022) and The Continental (2023).

67. Robert Burks

Cinematographer | Vertigo

The favorite cinematographer of legendary director Alfred Hitchcock began working at Warner Bros. when he was 19 years old. He climbed his way up from camera operator to assistant camera man and eventually took over the Special Photographic Effects unit at Warners on Stage 5 in 1944. He became an ...

68. Darius Khondji

Cinematographer | Amour

Darius Khondji was born on October 21, 1955 in Tehran, Iran. He is a cinematographer and actor, known for Amour (2012), Se7en (1995) and Delicatessen (1991). He is married to Marianne Khondji. They have three children.

69. Eduard Tisse

Cinematographer | Ivan Groznyy

Eduard Tisse was born on April 13, 1897 in Libava, Grobina uyezd, Courland Governorate, Russian Empire [now Liepaja, Latvia]. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Ivan the Terrible, Part I (1944), Battleship Potemkin (1925) and The Immortal Garrison (1956). He died on November 18, 1961 ...

70. Masao Kosugi

Cinematographer | Kawai akujo

Masao Kosugi is known for Kawai akujo (1971), Bandits vs. Samurai Squadron (1978) and Watch Out, Crimson Bat! (1969).

71. Russell Metty

Cinematographer | Spartacus

Cinematographer Russell Metty, a superb craftsman who worked with such top directors as John Huston, Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg and Orson Welles, was born in Los Angeles on September 20, 1906. Entering the movie industry as a lab assistant, he apprenticed as an assistant cameraman and ...

72. Ken Kelsch

Cinematographer | Bad Lieutenant

Ken Kelsch was born on July 8, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York, New York, USA. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for Bad Lieutenant (1992), The Last House on the Left (1972) and 100 Feet (2008). He was married to Dale Denning. He died on December 11, 2023 in Hackettstown, New Jersey, USA.

73. Hisao Shirai

Cinematographer | Kôkaku kidôtai

Hisao Shirai was born on December 12, 1946 in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. He was a cinematographer, known for Ghost in the Shell (1995), Perfect Blue (1997) and Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997). He died on April 28, 2019 in Japan.

74. Charles Lang

Cinematographer | Sabrina

One of the outstanding cinematographers of Hollywood's Golden Age, Lang spent most of his career at Paramount (1929-1952), where he contributed to the studio's well-earned reputation for visual style. Lang was educated at Lincoln High School in L.A., then proceeded to the University of Southern ...