Laurie "Lol" Crawley, B.S.C. (born in

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

) is an English

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

. He is known for his collaborations with director

Brady Corbet Brady James Monson Corbet ( ; born August 17, 1988) is an American filmmaker and former actor. He had roles in films such as ''Thirteen (2003 film), Thirteen'' (2003), ''Mysterious Skin'' (2004), ''Funny Games (2007 film), Funny Games'' (2007), ...

on such films as '' The Childhood of a Leader'' (2015), ''

Vox Lux ''Vox Lux'' is a 2018 American musical drama film written and directed by Brady Corbet, from a story by Corbet and Mona Fastvold. The film stars Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin and Jennifer Ehle. ''Vox Lux'' had its w ...

'' (2018), and ''

The Brutalist ''The Brutalist'' is a 2024 Epic film, epic Historical drama, period drama film directed and produced by Brady Corbet, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mona Fastvold. It stars Adrien Brody as a History of the Jews in Hungary, Jewish-Hungarian ...

'' (2024), which earned him the

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

and

Academy Award for Best Cinematography The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work on one particular motion picture. History In its first film season, 1927–28, this award (like others such as the acting awards) w ...

. His other works also include ''

Ballast Ballast is dense material used as a weight to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within ...

'' (2008), ''

Four Lions ''Four Lions'' is a 2010 British political satire black comedy film directed by Chris Morris (in his feature film debut) from a screenplay written by Morris, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong. It stars Riz Ahmed, Kayvan Novak, Nigel Lindsay, ...

'' (2010), '' 45 Years'' (2015), '' The Humans'' (2020), and ''

White Noise In signal processing, white noise is a random signal having equal intensity at different frequencies, giving it a constant power spectral density. The term is used with this or similar meanings in many scientific and technical disciplines, i ...

'' (2022) as well as the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

series ''

The Crimson Petal and the White ''The Crimson Petal and the White'' is a 2002 novel by Michel Faber set in Victorian era, Victorian England. The title is from an 1847 poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson entitled "Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal", the opening line of which is "Now slee ...

'' (2011) and the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series '' The OA'' (2016) and ''

Black Mirror ''Black Mirror'' is a British anthology series, anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Most episodes are set in near-future dystopias containing Science fiction, sci-fi technology—a type of speculative fiction. The series i ...

'' (2017).

Career

In 2013, Crawley shot '' Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom'', which was shown at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

and attracted critical attention for its cinematography. Crawley has been inducted into the

British Society of Cinematographers The British Society of Cinematographers (abbreviated B.S.C. or BSC) is an organisation formed in 1949 by Bert Easey (23 August 1901 – 28 February 1973), the then head of the Denham and Pinewood studio camera departments, to represent British c ...

. He has been awarded two cinematography awards at film festivals, and also has been nominated for four Film

Independent Spirit Awards The Independent Spirit Awards, originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards, and later as the Film Independent Spirit Awards, are awards presented annually in Santa Monica, California, to independent filmmakers. Founded in ...

. In 2025, Crawley won Best Cinematography at both the

97th Academy Awards The 97th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the gala, the AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly r ...

and the

68th British Academy Film Awards The 68th British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs, were held on 8 February 2015 at the Royal Opera House in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 2014. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Televi ...

for his work in the film ''The Brutalist''. The film also won him numerous other awards and nominations at other events, such as the ''Robby Müller Award'' and Best Cinematography from the

.''''

Reception

In 2016 ''The Playlist'' profiled Crawley in their filmmakers on the rise stating that, "British DP Lol Crawley isn’t quite a brand new name — he’s been doing some remarkably impressive work in features for nearly a decade now. But of late, he’s gone from an extraordinarily impressive cinematographer to staking his claim at being one of the best in the world."

Personal life

Lol Crawley was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, and grew up in

Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain is a large village in the community (Wales), community of Llansantffraid, in Powys, Mid Wales. It is close to the border with Shropshire in England, about south-west of Oswestry and north of Welshpool. It is on the A4 ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, with his parents and two older sisters, one of whom is the writer and historian Fay Bound Alberti. He attended Ysgol Llanfyllin and Oswestry College and completed a BTEC National Diploma in Audio Visual Studies at The North East Wales Institute, before studying at Northumbria University, where he earned a BA Hons. He is seen as an inspiration to the pupils of Ysgol Llanfyllin, with the current headmaster, Dewi Owen, quoted in the Borders Counties Advertizer as saying: "Lol’s journey from a pupil at Ysgol Llanfyllin to an internationally celebrated cinematographer is an inspiration to our students and the wider community. His success highlights the incredible potential of young people from our school and local area to achieve greatness in the creative industries and beyond." In the 1990s, Crawley attended

Northumbria University Northumbria University (legally the University of Northumbria at Newcastle) is a Public research university, public research university located in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England, North East of England. It has been a university since 199 ...

to study Film and Media Production.

Filmography

Feature film

Ref.: Documentary film

Television

Ref.:

Music video

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Crawley, Lol 1974 births Living people Alumni of Northumbria University Best Cinematographer Academy Award winners Best Cinematography BAFTA Award winners English cinematographers People from Shrewsbury Sundance Film Festival award winners