John Seale — Director | Biography, Movies & Career

Biography

John Clement Seale AM ACS ASC (born 5 October 1942) is an Australian cinematographer. He has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and an American Society of Cinematographers Award. Seale started his career collaborating with director Peter Weir as both a camera operator and director of photography, gaining a reputation as one of Australia's leading cinematographers. He then earned international prominence working with directors such as Anthony Minghella, Wolfgang Petersen, Ron Howard, Sydney Pollack, and George Miller.

Seale received the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for The English Patient (1996). He was also Oscar-nominated for Witness (1985), Rain Man (1988), Cold Mountain (2003), and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). Seale's other work includes the films Children of a Lesser God (1986), Dead Poets Society (1989), The Firm (1993), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001).

Seale was born in Warwick, Queensland, Australia, to Marjorie Lyndon (née Pool) and Eric Clement Seale.

He received Oscar nominations for his work on Witness, Rain Man, and Cold Mountain and won for The English Patient. Seale directed one film, Till There Was You, in 1990. He is a four-time Oscar nominee, five-time BAFTA nominee, and four-time ASC Award nominee.

His greatest commercial successes have been Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which grossed US$974 million; Rain Man, which grossed US$354 million; Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, which grossed US$335 million; The Perfect Storm, which grossed US$328 million; and The Tourist, which grossed US$278 million.

He came out of retirement in 2012 to shoot Mad Max: Fury Road, for which he received another Academy Award nomination.

Seale was appointed a member of the Order of Australia in the 2002 Australia Day Honours in recognition of his "service to the arts as an Australian and internationally acclaimed cinematographer."

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