Dean Cundey
Cinematographer Dean Cundey, ASC has been making movies for over fifty years.
Born and raised in Alhambra, CA, Dean attended UCLA in 1965 to study both architecture and cinema. During his time there, he learned from the late, great Oscar-winning Cinematographer James Wong Howe, ASC ("Hud”). After graduation, Dean entered low-budget independent filmmaking and lensed a variety of early features including “Where the Red Fern Grows.”
It was in 1976, that Dean collaborated with an up-and-coming filmmaker named John Carpenter and together they crafted “Halloween.” The massive success of this horror film propelled Dean and Mr. Carpenter into worldwide acclaim. From there, Dean worked with Carpenter on other classics including “The Fog,” “Escape from New York,” “The Thing” and “Big Trouble in Little China.” During the 1980’s, Dean also shot “Halloween II,” “Halloween III”, “Psycho II,” “Project X” and “Road House.”
Notably, in 1984, Dean began a creative collaboration with director Robert Zemeckis and together they made “Romancing the Stone,” the “Back to the Future” Trilogy, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (for which Dean was nominated for an Oscar), and “Death Becomes Her.” After that, Dean worked with Steven Spielberg on “Hook” and the monster hit “Jurassic Park.” The 1990’s saw Dean lensing additional classics including “Apollo 13,” “The Flintstones,” “Casper” and “The Parent Trap.” For his work on “The Face: Jesus in Art” Documentary in 2001, he won an Emmy.
Other projects that Dean shot in the new millennium include “What Women Want” (another Nancy Meyers collaboration), “Garfield,” “The Holiday” and “Home Again.” Most recently, Dean worked on the Disney Star Wars universe series “The Book of Boba Fett” and “The Mandalorian.”
In 2014, Dean received the Lifetime Achievement Award from The American Society of Cinematographers. He has taught at UCLA, USC, AFI, and The ASC. He continues to teach Master Classes all over the world for The ASC.
Mr. Cundey is currently working on a feature-length documentary about his fifty-year career making movies.
-written by Mike Valinsky
