# Lol Crawley

Laurie "Lol" Crawley, B.S.C. (born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire) is an English cinematographer. He is known for his collaborations with director Brady Corbet on such films as The Childhood of a Leader (2015), Vox Lux (2018), and The Brutalist (2024), which earned him the BAFTA and Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
His other works also include Ballast (2008), Four Lions (2010), 45 Years (2015), The Humans (2020), and White Noise (2022) as well as the BBC Two series The Crimson Petal and the White (2011) and the Netflix series The OA (2016) and Black Mirror (2017).

## Career

In 2013, Crawley shot Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, which was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival and attracted critical attention for its cinematography. Crawley has been inducted into the British Society of Cinematographers. He has been awarded two cinematography awards at film festivals, and also has been nominated for four Film Independent Spirit Awards.
In 2025, Crawley won Best Cinematography at both the 97th Academy Awards and the 68th British Academy Film Awards 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 British Society of Cinematographers.

## 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, Wales, 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 to study Film and Media Production.

## Filmography
### Feature film

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 2008 | Ballast | Lance Hammer | |
| 2008 | Better Things | Duane Hopkins | |
| 2009 | Wasted | Stuart Davids Caroline Paterson | |
| 2009 | Four Lions | Chris Morris | |
| 2010 | Donkeys | Morag McKinnon | |
| 2011 | On the Ice | Andrew Okpeaha MacLean | |
| 2011 | Here | Braden King | |
| 2012 | Hyde Park on Hudson | Roger Michell | |
| 2013 | Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom | Justin Chadwick | |
| 2015 | 45 Years | Andrew Haigh | |
| 2015 | The Childhood of a Leader | Brady Corbet | |
| 2018 | Vox Lux | Brady Corbet | |
| 2019 | Dau | Ilya Khrzhanovsky | With Manuel Alberto Claro and Jürgen Jürges |
| 2020 | The Secret Garden | Marc Munden | |
| 2020 | The Devil All the Time | Antonio Campos | |
| 2021 | The Humans | Stephen Karam | |
| 2022 | White Noise | Noah Baumbach | |
| 2024 | The Brutalist | Brady Corbet | |
| 2025 | DreamQuil | Alex Prager | |
Documentary film
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 2010 | One Night in Turin | James Erskine | |
| 2011 | From the Ashes | James Erskine | With Joel Devlin and Richard Malins |
| 2015 | The Reflektor Tapes | Kahlil Joseph | With Autumn Durald Arkapaw and Malik Hassan Sayeed |
| 2021 | Shadow Kingdom: The Early Songs of Bob Dylan | Alma Har'el | Concert film |

### Television

| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
| 2003 | Reps | Andy Ross | |
| 2007 | Where There's a Will | Daniel Elliott | Documentary series |
| 2011 | The Crimson Petal and the White | Marc Munden | Miniseries |
| 2012 | Murder | Birger Larsen | Episode: "Joint Enterprise" |
| 2014 | Turn: Washington's Spies | Rupert Wyatt | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 2014 | Utopia | Marc Munden Sam Donovan | Season 2 |
| 2016 | The OA | Zal Batmanglij | Season 1 |
| 2017 | Black Mirror | John Hillcoat | Episode: "Crocodile" |

### Music video

| Year | Title | Artist |
| 2010 | "Stay Too Long" | Plan B |
| 2010 | "She Said" | Plan B |
| 2010 | "Love Goes Down" | Plan B |
| 2010 | "Hang With Me" | Robyn |
| 2011 | "Blind Faith" | Chase and Status |
| 2011 | "Charlie Brown" | Coldplay |
| 2011 | "Take Another Ride" | Kassidy |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Association | Category | Title | Result |
| 2008 | Sundance Film Festival | Excellence in Cinematography | Ballast | Won |
| 2009 | Independent Spirit Awards | Best Cinematography | Ballast | Nominated |
| 2010 | UK Music Video Awards | Best Cinematography | Plan B - "Stay Too Long" | Won |
| 2010 | Design and Art Direction Awards | Best Cinematography | Plan B - "Stay Too Long" | Nominated |
| 2011 | Woodstock Film Festival | Best Cinematography | On the Ice | Won |
| 2013 | Independent Spirit Awards | Best Cinematography | Here | Nominated |
| 2014 | Royal Television Society | Photography - Drama | Utopia | Won |
| 2017 | Independent Spirit Awards | Best Cinematography | The Childhood of a Leader | Nominated |
| 2022 | Independent Spirit Awards | Best Cinematography | The Humans | Nominated |
| 2025 | International Film Festival Rotterdam | Robby Müller Award | Robby Müller Award | Won |
| 2025 | Academy Awards | Best Cinematography | The Brutalist | Won |
| 2025 | American Society of Cinematographers | Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography | The Brutalist | Nominated |
| 2025 | BAFTA Awards | Best Cinematography | The Brutalist | Won |
| 2025 | British Society of Cinematographers | Best Cinematography | The Brutalist | Won |
| 2025 | Critics' Choice Movie Awards | Best Cinematography | The Brutalist | Nominated |