Born in Mexico City in 1965, Rodrigo Prieto Stambaugh is the son of a Mexican father and American mother. He studied at the Center for Film Training (CCC) in the same city, specializing in cinematography. He started his career at age 22 by shooting TV commercials, making his first forays into cinema when Alfonso Cuarón and Emmanuel Lubezki invited him to work as director and cinematographer in the second unit of Love in the Time of Hysteria (1991). The following year, he was the cinematographer of Un instante para morir. He continued as cinematographer of All of Them Witches (1996) for Daniel Gruener, a job that earned him his first Ariel Award. In 1998, he won the Silver Shell at the San Sebastián International Film Festival and another Ariel for Carlos Carrera’s Un embrujo. That same year, he also worked with director Francisco Athié on Fibra óptica. Prieto garnered a reputation as one of the finest Mexican cinematographers of his generation. Meticulous and innovative, his visual work is known for its experimentation with different types of negatives and light sources, as well as for an extraordinary use of the handheld camera, as evidenced by Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Amores Perros (2000). For his participation in this film, he received the Golden Frog at the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography Camerimage in Poland. He worked with the same director on 21 Grams (2003), Babel (2006), and Biutiful (2010). After Amores perros, Prieto worked on productions such as Original Sin (2001); Frida (2002), earning his first nomination for the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC); 8 Miles, by Curtis Hanson; and 25th Hour, by Spike Lee (2002). In 2003, he and Oliver Stone filmed two documentaries about Fidel Castro, Comandante and Looking for Fidel, and, in Palestine, the documentary Persona Non Grata, about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Also with Stone, he photographed Alexander, winning the Silver Frog at the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography Camerimage in 2004. He worked with Ang Lee as the cinematographer of Brokeback Mountain, which, in 2006, earned him his first Oscar® nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, his first BAFTA nomination, and his second ASC nomination. Lee invited him back to work on his next film, Lust, Caution, for which he received a Golden Osella nomination for Best Cinematography at the Venice Film Festival (2007) and an Independent Spirit Award nomination in 2008. After photographing State of Play, by Kevin Macdonald, he collaborated with Pedro Almodóvar on Broken Embraces (2007-2008). In 2009, Prieto worked again with Stone on Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps. He was then the cinematographer of Water for Elephants, by Francis Laurence (2011), and We Bought a Zoo, by Cameron Crowe. His next project was Argo, directed by Ben Affleck, which won the Oscar® for Best Picture in 2013. After finishing Argo, Prieto directed a personal project called Likeness, a short film about eating disorders that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Launched on YouTube in December 2013, it was met with great acclaim. In mid-2012, Martin Scorsese invited him to work on The Wolf of Wall Street. Immediately thereafter, Prieto flew to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to work on The Homesman, directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones; the film was part of the Official Selection at Cannes 2014. In the summer of that year, he worked with Scorsese again to shoot the pilot of the HBO series Vinyl. In early 2015, director and cinematographer traveled to Taiwan to film Silence, which earned him his second Oscar® nomination. Soon after, he took on a radically different project: Passengers, directed by Morten Tyldum. Both films premiered in December 2016 and illustrate the striking versatility of his cinematographic style. With Silence, Prieto received his third ASC nomination and his second Oscar® nomination for Best Cinematography. In February 2016, Stone invited him to work on a documentary about Vladimir Putin, shot in Moscow and Sochi, called The Putin Interviews. In 2017, Prieto filmed Scorsese’s film The Irishman in New York. The movie premiered in 2019 and resulted in his third Oscar® nomination in 2020, along with a BAFTA nomination and the ASC Award. In 2020, Julie Taymor’s film The Glorias also premiered at Sundance. In 2021, he reunited with Scorsese to direct the photography of Killers of the Flower Moon, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brendan Fraser, Lily Gladstone, and Robert De Niro, scheduled to premiere in October 2023. Earlier that year, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie premiered, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling; pre-production began in 2021. Thanks to the plot, performances, and Prieto’s color and camera movement techniques, the film has been a global phenomenon. He is currently in post-production of his directorial debut, Pedro Páramo, written by Mateo Gil and adapted by Prieto himself; he and Nico Aguilar are co-cinematographers. Most of the film was shot in the state of San Luis Potosí and in Mexico City.
Born in Mexico City in 1965, Rodrigo Prieto Stambaugh is the son of a Mexican father and American mother. He studied at the Center for Film Training (CCC) in the same city, specializing in cinematography. He started his career at age 22 by shooting TV commercials, making his first forays into cinema when Alfonso Cuarón and Emmanuel Lubezki invited him to work as director and cinematographer in the second unit of Love in the Time of Hysteria (1991). The following year, he was the cinematographer of Un instante para morir. He continued as cinematographer of All of Them Witches (1996) for Daniel Gruener, a job that earned him his first Ariel Award. In 1998, he won the Silver Shell at the San Sebastián International Film Festival and another Ariel for Carlos Carrera’s Un embrujo. That same year, he also worked with director Francisco Athié on Fibra óptica. Prieto garnered a reputation as one of the finest Mexican cinematographers of his generation. Meticulous and innovative, his visual work is known for its experimentation with different types of negatives and light sources, as well as for an extraordinary use of the handheld camera, as evidenced by Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Amores Perros (2000). For his participation in this film, he received the Golden Frog at the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography Camerimage in Poland. He worked with the same director on 21 Grams (2003), Babel (2006), and Biutiful (2010). After Amores perros, Prieto worked on productions such as Original Sin (2001); Frida (2002), earning his first nomination for the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC); 8 Miles, by Curtis Hanson; and 25th Hour, by Spike Lee (2002). In 2003, he and Oliver Stone filmed two documentaries about Fidel Castro, Comandante and Looking for Fidel, and, in Palestine, the documentary Persona Non Grata, about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Also with Stone, he photographed Alexander, winning the Silver Frog at the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography Camerimage in 2004. He worked with Ang Lee as the cinematographer of Brokeback Mountain, which, in 2006, earned him his first Oscar® nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, his first BAFTA nomination, and his second ASC nomination. Lee invited him back to work on his next film, Lust, Caution, for which he received a Golden Osella nomination for Best Cinematography at the Venice Film Festival (2007) and an Independent Spirit Award nomination in 2008. After photographing State of Play, by Kevin Macdonald, he collaborated with Pedro Almodóvar on Broken Embraces (2007-2008). In 2009, Prieto worked again with Stone on Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps. He was then the cinematographer of Water for Elephants, by Francis Laurence (2011), and We Bought a Zoo, by Cameron Crowe. His next project was Argo, directed by Ben Affleck, which won the Oscar® for Best Picture in 2013. After finishing Argo, Prieto directed a personal project called Likeness, a short film about eating disorders that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Launched on YouTube in December 2013, it was met with great acclaim. In mid-2012, Martin Scorsese invited him to work on The Wolf of Wall Street. Immediately thereafter, Prieto flew to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to work on The Homesman, directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones; the film was part of the Official Selection at Cannes 2014. In the summer of that year, he worked with Scorsese again to shoot the pilot of the HBO series Vinyl. In early 2015, director and cinematographer traveled to Taiwan to film Silence, which earned him his second Oscar® nomination. Soon after, he took on a radically different project: Passengers, directed by Morten Tyldum. Both films premiered in December 2016 and illustrate the striking versatility of his cinematographic style. With Silence, Prieto received his third ASC nomination and his second Oscar® nomination for Best Cinematography. In February 2016, Stone invited him to work on a documentary about Vladimir Putin, shot in Moscow and Sochi, called The Putin Interviews. In 2017, Prieto filmed Scorsese’s film The Irishman in New York. The movie premiered in 2019 and resulted in his third Oscar® nomination in 2020, along with a BAFTA nomination and the ASC Award. In 2020, Julie Taymor’s film The Glorias also premiered at Sundance. In 2021, he reunited with Scorsese to direct the photography of Killers of the Flower Moon, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brendan Fraser, Lily Gladstone, and Robert De Niro, scheduled to premiere in October 2023. Earlier that year, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie premiered, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling; pre-production began in 2021. Thanks to the plot, performances, and Prieto’s color and camera movement techniques, the film has been a global phenomenon. He is currently in post-production of his directorial debut, Pedro Páramo, written by Mateo Gil and adapted by Prieto himself; he and Nico Aguilar are co-cinematographers. Most of the film was shot in the state of San Luis Potosí and in Mexico City.
