Mauro Fiore, (born November 15, 1964) is an Italian-American cinematographer. He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on Avatar (2009).
Early life Fiore was born in Marzi, Calabria and moved to the US with his family in 1971. He attended Palatine High School in Palatine, Illinois, and graduated in 1982. He started out pursuing a career in sociology but was captivated by photography and art. He went on to receive his B.A. from Columbia College Chicago in 1987 and moved to Los Angeles to jumpstart his career. He graduated from the AFI Conservatory, where he met cinematographers Janusz Kamiński and Phedon Papamichael.
Career Early in his career, he worked with fellow Columbia College and AFI graduate Janusz Kamiński, initially on B movies before the two gradually worked their way up into higher-profile projects. He was Kamiński's grip, his camera operator, and eventually his second unit photographer on The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Amistad (both 1997). He was the director of photography on Kamiński's directorial debut, Lost Souls (2000).
Fiore shot 17 episodes of the television series Tracey Takes On.... His first major motion picture credit as cinematographer was the Sylvester Stallone vehicle Get Carter (2000). He established a partnership with director Antoine Fuqua, beginning with Training Day (2001), and has shot six more of the director's films since.
His other feature film credits during this time included Wayne Wang's The Center of the World (2001), Michael Bay's The Island (2005), and Joe Carnahan's Smokin' Aces (2006) and The A-Team (2010).
Fiore shot James Cameron's Avatar (2009), where he and the director utilized a variety of cutting-edge techniques to combine a live-action shoot with computer-generated characters and environments. Fiore and Cameron utilized a unique camera referred to as a "simulcam," which recorded the live-action footage with virtual camera CGI footage in real-time. For his work on the film, Fiore won Best Cinematography at the Academy Awards.
Subsequent films Fiore has worked on include Real Steel (2011), Dark Phoenix (2019), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), A Good Person (2023), and The Killer (2024). In 2021, he shot his first film produced in his native Italy, Security.
Fiore is set to re-team with James Cameron for the fourth and fifth installments of the Avatar series, after being replaced by Russell Carpenter on the second and third films.
Personal life Fiore married Christine Vollmer in 2000. They have three children.
Filmography Feature film Year Title Director 1986 Automaton David BazantJeff Economy1995 Dominion Michael G. Kehoe Soldier Boyz Louis Mourneau 1996 An Occasional Hell Salomé Breziner 1997 Breaking Up Robert Greenwald 1998 Love from Ground Zero Stephen Grynberg2000 Get Carter Stephen Kay Lost Souls Janusz Kamiński2001 Driven Renny Harlin The Center of the World Wayne Wang Training Day Antoine Fuqua 2002 Highway James Cox 2003 Tears of the Sun Antoine Fuqua 2005 The Island Michael Bay 2006 Smokin' Aces Joe Carnahan 2007 The Kingdom Peter Berg 2009 Avatar James Cameron 2010 The A-Team Joe Carnahan 2011 Real Steel Shawn Levy 2013 Runner Runner Brad Furman 2014 The EqualizerAntoine Fuqua 2015 Southpaw 2016 The Magnificent Seven2019 Dark Phoenix Simon Kinberg Mosul Matthew Michael Carnahan2021 Security Peter Chelsom Infinite Antoine Fuqua Spider-Man: No Way Home Jon Watts 2023 A Good Person Zach Braff2024 Madame Web S. J. Clarkson The Killer John Woo 2026 Heart of the Beast David Ayer
Direct-to-video Year Title Director 1998 Billboard Dad Alan Metter
Television Year Title Director Notes 1997–98 Tracey Takes On... Don ScardinoThomas SchlammeMichael McKeanMichael Lange 17 episodes 2006 Faceless Joe Carnahan TV movie 2011 Inside D. J. Caruso Social film 2015 Chris Tucker – Live Phil Joanou Stand-up special
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Title Result2009 Academy Awards Best Cinematography Avatar Critics' Choice Movie Awards Best Cinematography Florida Film Critics Circle Best Cinematography BAFTA Awards Best Cinematography Chicago Film Critics Association Best Cinematography Houston Film Critics Society Best Cinematography New York Film Critics Circle Best Cinematographer Online Film Critics Society Best Cinematography American Society of Cinematographers Outstanding Cinematography
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