# Rachel Morrison

Rachel Morrison (born April 27, 1978) is an American cinematographer and director. For her work on Mudbound (2017), Morrison became the first woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography. She has twice worked with director Ryan Coogler, as cinematographer on the films Fruitvale Station (2013) and Black Panther (2018). Morrison's feature film directorial debut is the biographical sports drama The Fire Inside (2024).

## Early life

Morrison grew up in a Jewish family in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and graduated from Concord Academy in 1996. She took up photography at a young age, and attended New York University, where she completed a double major in film and photography because she was unable to choose between the two; by the end of her degree, she had decided to concentrate on cinematography. She then attended the AFI Conservatory's graduate cinematography program and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in 2006.

## Career

Morrison began her career in television, working on series and telefilms for a number of networks. Her cinematography on the 2005 television documentary Rikers High, about high school education within the Rikers Island prison complex, was nominated for an Emmy Award.
Morrison worked on The Hills for two years, then shot Zal Batmanglij's Sound of My Voice, which premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Over the next two years, she photographed Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie and Fruitvale Station, which premiered at Sundance in 2012 and 2013 respectively, as well as Any Day Now (2012), Some Girl(s) (2013) and The Harvest (2013).
At the 2013 Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards, Morrison was awarded the Kodak Vision Award for her work in cinematography and her collaboration with other women filmmakers. The same year, Variety named her as one of the "Up Next" in their Below The Line Impact Report, while Indiewire named her as one of their "Cinematographers To Watch".
In 2014, she photographed Cake, directed by Daniel Barnz, which she followed up with the 2015 film Dope. Dope premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, making it Morrison's seventh film to screen at the annual festival in six consecutive years.
2014 marked Morrison's first foray into directing, as she was offered the chance to direct an episode of the television series American Crime, which aired in 2015. In 2017 she became a member of the American Society of Cinematographers.
Morrison was the cinematographer for Dee Rees's 2017 film Mudbound. For her work on the film, Morrison became the first woman to win the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cinematographer, the first woman to be nominated for the feature category of the American Society of Cinematographers Outstanding Achievement Awards, and the first woman ever nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
Morrison served as cinematographer for Marvel's Black Panther (2018).
On June 19, 2019, it was announced Morrison would make her directorial debut on Flint Strong, which was later retitled The Fire Inside and released in 2024.
In March 2023, Morrison directed an episode of the Star Wars streaming series The Mandalorian season 3.

## Personal life

Morrison married Rachel Garza in December 2011. They have one son, who was born in 2014, and a daughter born in 2018.

## Filmography
### Cinematographer
#### Short film

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 2002 | Alchimie | Anna Condo | With Bill Heuberger, Alec Jarnagin and Michael Vicarelli |
| 2002 | Citlalli's Prayer | Diana Kongkasem | |
| 2004 | House Broken | Michael Jason Schiff | |
| 2005 | Lost and Found | Rhiannon Hyde | |
| 2007 | Redemption Maddie | Aaron Drew King | |
| 2007 | Still Life | Mahesh Pailoor | |
| 2009 | Ceremonies of the Horsemen | Peter Biegen | |
| 2009 | Sunday Afternoons | Erin Daniels | |
| 2009 | Rich Dicks | Jonathan Krisel | |
| 2011 | The Terrys | Tim Heidecker Eric Wareheim | |
| 2011 | Last Words of the Holy Ghost | Ben Sharony | |

#### Feature film

| Year | Title | Director |
| 2007 | Palo Alto | Brad Leong |
| 2011 | Sound of My Voice | Zal Batmanglij |
| 2011 | Dorfman in Love | Brad Leong |
| 2012 | Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie | Tim Heidecker Eric Wareheim |
| 2012 | Any Day Now | Travis Fine |
| 2013 | Fruitvale Station | Ryan Coogler |
| 2013 | Some Girl(s) | Daisy von Scherler Mayer |
| 2013 | The Harvest | John McNaughton |
| 2014 | Little Accidents | Sara Colangelo |
| 2014 | Druid Peak | Marni Zelnick |
| 2014 | Cake | Daniel Barnz |
| 2015 | Dope | Rick Famuyiwa |
| 2017 | Mudbound | Dee Rees |
| 2018 | Black Panther | Ryan Coogler |
| 2019 | Seberg | Benedict Andrews |

#### Television

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 2003-2009 | Room Raiders | | |
| 2007 | Newport Harbor: The Real Orange County | Gary Shaffer | |
| 2008-2009 | The Hills | Hisham Abed | 24 episodes |
| 2011 | Funny or Die Presents... | Ken Marino Matt Piedmont Jordan Vogt-Roberts | 1 episode |
| 2020 | Homemade | Herself | Episode "The Lucky Ones" |
| 2021 | VAX LIVE: The Concert to Reunite the World | Ryan Polito | TV special |
TV movies
| Year | Title | Director |
| 2016 | Confirmation | Rick Famuyiwa |
| 2023 | Play is your superpower | Ellen Kuras |

#### Documentary works

Film
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 2003 | Just an American Boy | Amos Poe | With Duke Johnson, Abdul O'Toole, Amanda Phillips, Nick Tiger Poe and Lindsey Tibbetts |
| 2015 | Life on the Line | Isaac Feder | |
Short film
| Year | Title | Director |
| 2012 | Eye Candy | Alexis Spraic |
TV movies
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 2005 | Rikers High | Victor Buhler | |
| 2010 | Summit on the Summit | Michael Bonfiglio | With Éric Guichard, Kent Harvey and Bill Winters |
| 2011 | Lady Gaga: Inside the Outside | Davi Russo | |
| 2012 | Oprah's Master Class: Special Edition | Joe Berlinger Michael Bonfiglio Bruce Sinofsky | |
| 2015 | Oprah's Master Class: Civil Rights Special | Joe Berlinger Michael Bonfiglio Bruce Sinofsky Annetta Marion | With Jonathan Furmanski, Robert Richman and Etienne Sauret |
| 2015 | Oprah's Master Class: Belief Special | Joe Berlinger Michael Bonfiglio Bruce Sinofsky Annetta Marion | With Matt Bass, Jonathan Furmanski, Robert Richman and Etienne Sauret |
TV series
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 2011 | Visionaries: Inside the Creative Mind | Michael Bonfiglio | Segment "Will.i.am" |
| 2012-2013 | Oprah's Master Class | Michael Bonfiglio Joe Berlinger Andrew Flakelar Annetta Marion | 5 episodes |
| 2014 | The System with Joe Berlinger | Joe Berlinger | Episode "False Confessions" |
| 2022 | They Call Me Magic | Rick Famuyiwa | |

### Director

Film
* The Fire Inside (2024)
Television
| Year | Title | Notes |
| 2015 | Quantico | Episode "Kill" |
| 2015–2016 | American Crime | 2 episodes |
| 2020 | Homemade | Episode "The Lucky Ones" (Also writer) |
| 2020–2021 | Hightown | 4 episodes |
| 2021 | The Morning Show | Episode "A Private Person" |
| 2021 | American Crime Story | Episodes "Stand by Your Man" and "The Grand Jury" |
| 2023 | The Mandalorian | Episode "Chapter 18: The Mines of Mandalore" |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Title | Result |
| 2012 | News and Documentary Emmy Awards | Outstanding Achievement in a Craft: Cinematography | Rikers High | Nominated |
| 2013 | Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards | Kodak Vision Award | — | Won |
| 2016 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program | What Happened, Miss Simone? | Nominated |
| 2017 | New York Film Critics Circle | Best Cinematographer | Mudbound | Won |
| 2017 | Academy Awards | Best Cinematography | Mudbound | Nominated |
| 2017 | American Society of Cinematographers | Outstanding Cinematography | Mudbound | Nominated |
| 2017 | Critics' Choice Movie Awards | Best Cinematography | Mudbound | Nominated |
| 2017 | Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society | Best Cinematography | Mudbound | Nominated |
| 2017 | Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association | Best Cinematography | Mudbound | Nominated |
| 2018 | Satellite Awards | Best Cinematography | Black Panther | Nominated |