Simon Dennis

Director · Writer

Biography

Simon Dennis is a Bafta nominated Cinematographer who has been shooting diverse movies and high end TV drama around the world. Drawn to both fiction as well as true stories that challenge as well as entertain, he prides himself on being versatile and passionate to create visuals that are story driven and emotionally motivated. Raised in rural Devon, UK and bit of a day dreamer at school he was a very curious photographer from a young age, falling in love with Ansel Adams and Black & White imagery. It wasn’t until a course in Fine Arts as a Graphic Designer that he discovered his interest and inner love for film-making and eventually went on to graduate with a first-class Honours Degree in Film & TV studies at Napier Film School in Scotland. It was during this course he discovered the curious role of a Cinematographer for the first time and was fixated by it. So much so he took a leap and spent most of his educational grant on a 16mm Arriflex ST Camera and began to experiment with fellow students. He learnt and honed his craft initially on various 35mm Music Videos before winning a Scottish Bafta for his photography on the short film Sex & Death. He then photographed his first feature film The Last Great Wilderness for acclaimed director David Mackenzie as well other feature length projects including The Sweeney starring Ray Winstone. He then got invited to photograph TV projects including Dr.Who and Ripper Street which then led quickly to the acclaimed Peaky Blinders for which he was nominated for a Bafta and Royal Television Society award for his lighting and craft. He continued with more feature films including The Girl With All The Gifts starring Glenn Close and The Limehouse Golem starring Bill Nighy, plus TV shows Jekyll & Hyde for ITV Studios, Black Sails for Starz and Krypton for Warner Bros. In 2017 he was invited to America to photograph Ryan Murphys now Multi Emmy and Golden Globe winning The Assassination Of Gianni Versace which led to the much acclaimed shows Pose, Ratched, Hollywood and Impeachment : American Crime Story for Fox Studios / Netflix. More recently he shot the 5 part limited series Candy for Hulu and Golden Globe nominated 8 part limited series Fellow Travelers for Showtime. He was invited into the BSC in 2018 and the ASC in 2023.