Chris Manley

After attending the American Film Institute in the mid-1990s, cinematographer Chris Manley broke into the film business the same way countless young filmmakers and production technicians had before him--working for legendary exploitation producer/low-budget kingpin Roger Corman. The lowbrow genre movies and television programs he paid his dues on--"Running Woman," "Black Scorpion," and "The Phantom Eye"--may have been light years from more respectable big-budget fare, but the experience and resourcefulness he gained would later serve him well. He was chief director of photography on a number of cheapie movies in the early 2000s, including the horror film "Wolf Girl," the twisty heist picture "The Stickup" starring James Spader, and the grisly psychological study "Dahmer" starring a pre-"The Hurt Locker" Jeremy Renner as the notorious cannibalistic serial killer. The latter film also reunited him with David Jacobson, whom Manley first met while they were students at Temple University. But it was his work on the short-lived ABC television series "Threat Matrix," about a Homeland Security anti-terrorism unit, that put Manley's experience as a quick-thinking technician to good use and led to steady work on other serial television series. In 2008, he landed lead cinematography duties on Matthew Weiner's captivating 1960s-set drama "Mad Men" after an AMC production executive recommended him for the show because of "The Phantom Eye." His meticulous lighting and framing beautifully evokes the time period and films of the era, garnering Manley well-deserved Emmy nominations.