Takashi Fujimoto ASC (born July 12, 1939) is a retired American cinematographer.[1] He is known for his collaborations with directors Jonathan Demme, M. Night Shyamalan and John Hughes. He is a Primetime Emmy Award winner, and a BAFTA and Satellite Award nominee. In 2016, he was named one of the 11 best cinematographers to have never won an Academy Award.[2]
Takashi Fujimoto (Japanese: 藤本 隆) was born in San Diego, California to Japanese American parents. His father, Morizo, was an Issei (first-generation) from Hiroshima, and his mother, Emi, was a Nisei (second-generation) born in Glendale, California. His older brother, Jack Fujimoto, was a well-known academic. During World War II, Fujimoto and his family were interned at the Poston War Relocation Center due to Executive Order 9066.[3]
Fujimoto graduated San Dieguito Academy from 1957. He studied at the University of California, Berkeley and the London Film School. He began his career as an assistant to Haskell Wexler at his production company Dove Films.
Fujimoto’s first film as cinematographer was Chicago Blues, a 1970 music documentary featuring the likes of Dick Gregory, Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters. He was one of three directors of photography that worked on Terence Malick’s 1973 directorial debut Badlands, earning rave reviews. He shot a string of low-budget exploitation films for producer Roger Corman, including Death Race 2000 and Switchblade Sisters (as second unit photographer). He was also one of several second unit cinematographers who worked on the first Star Wars film.
During this period, he also began his long-running collaboration with director Jonathan Demme. Their first film together was Caged Heat in 1974. He would shoot a total of 11 films with Demme, as well as the 2013 pilot episode of the television drama A Gifted Man. He also had fruitful collaborations with M. Night Shyamalan, shooting The Sixth Sense, Signs, and The Happening.
Fujimoto has been a member of the American Society of Cinematographers since 1997.[4]
Fujimoto had retired by 2015, and lived with his wife Anthea in Santa Fe, New Mexico.[5] He is the younger brother of academic Jack Fujimoto.[6]
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