Jeffrey Lane Kimball, ASC (born May 29, 1943) is an American cinematographer, known mainly for shooting action films, especially the ones directed by Tony Scott and John Woo.
Career He majored in radio and television at North Texas State University in 1964. After graduation he landed a trainee position with Warner Brothers, but left to work as a gofer for still photographer Bill Langley. In 1969, he left Hollywood to work as a director of photography for the Dallas office of TV commercial production company N. Lee Lacy/Associates. He returned to Hollywood permanently in 1972 where he worked—mainly on low budget films—as an lab technician, still photographer, assistant director, and assistant cameraman, graduating to second unit director of photography on Hell Raiders, It's Alive, Cat People and others. Before becoming a feature film cinematographer, he had "earned his reputation for innovative and sometimes risky cinematography" in commercials, many of which had won awards.
In addition to his work in features, he continues to work as a cinematographer on commercials and music videos. He also directs commercials, e.g. for Maketa Armada.
Kimball has been nominated for a Golden Satellite Award in 2001 for Mission: Impossible 2 and an MTV Video Music Award in 2011 for Beyoncé's "Run the World (Girls)."
He has been a member of the American Society of Cinematographers since 1990.
Filmography Film YearTitleDirectorNotes 1971 On the Line Lee Stanley Documentary film 1985 The Legend of Billie Jean Matthew Robbins 1986 Top Gun Tony Scott 1987 Beverly Hills Cop II 1990 Revenge Jacob's Ladder Adrian Lyne 1991 Curly Sue John Hughes 1993 True Romance Tony Scott 1994 The Specialist Luis Llosa 1998 Wild Things John McNaughton 1999 Stigmata Rupert Wainwright 2000 Mission: Impossible 2John Woo Nominated- Satellite Award for Best Cinematography2002 Windtalkers The Hire Segment "Hostage" Star Trek: Nemesis Stuart Baird 2003 Paycheck John Woo 2004 The Big Bounce George Armitage 2005 Be Cool F. Gary Gray2006 Glory Road James Gartner With John Toon Bonneville Christopher N. Rowley 2008 Four Christmases Seth Gordon 2009 Old Dogs Walt Becker 2010 The Expendables Sylvester Stallone2011 Valley of the Sun Stokes McIntyre The Double Michael Brandt 2018 Glass Jaw Jeff Celentano
Music video Source: YearTitleArtistDirector2010 "Beautiful Dangerous" Slash feat. FergieRich Lee "Coming Home" Diddy – Dirty Money2011 "Run the World (Girls)" Beyoncé Francis Lawrence "Don't Wanna Go Home" Jason Derulo Rich Lee "Lighters" Bad Meets Evil feat. Bruno Mars "T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)" will.i.am 2012 "Favorite Song" Colbie Caillat feat. Common Jay Martin 2013 "Say Something (A Great Big World song)" A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera Christopher Sims 2016 "Team" Iggy Azalea Fabien Montique
References
External links Kimball's reel at the Partos Company
Jeffrey L. Kimball Biography (1943-) on Film Reference Jeffrey Kimball on the Internet Encyclopedia of Cinematographers