Template:Realworld Hiro Narita (born 26 June 1941; age 82) is an Emmy Award-nominated cinematographer (or director of photography) whose credits include Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
Born in Seoul, Korea and raised in Japan and Hawaii, studied graphic art and story illustration at the San Francisco Art Institute before venturing into cinematography. After serving as a designer and photographer in the US Army from 1964 through 1966, Narita apprenticed under director and cinematographer John Korty for over three years. The two first worked together on the Academy Award-winning 1972 film The Candidate. It was Korty who gave Narita his first work as cinematographer, the 1976 NBC TV movie Farewell to Manzanar (whose cast included Clyde Kusatsu), for which Narita received his first Emmy Award nomination.
Narita went on to work as a director of photography on the musical documentaries The Last Waltz and Rust Never Sleeps and as a camera operator on the films Apocalypse Now and More American Graffiti. He also worked as an additional cameraman on the hit 1983 films The Right Stuff and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi. His first feature film as cinematographer was the 1983 Disney adventure Never Cry Wolf, which earned him a number of awards, including the 1983 National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography.
One of Narita's subsequent cinematography credits was the 1984 TV adaptation of Solomon Northrup's Odyssey, starring future Star Trek: Deep Space Nine star in the title role. Narita went on to direct the photography of a number of family-friendly feature films, including Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (starring Matt Frewer), The Rocketeer (featuring Bill Campbell, Max Grodénchik, Darryl Henriques, Clint Howard, Ed Lauter, Terry O'Quinn, Tiny Ron, and Paul Sorvino), Hocus Pocus (starring Charles Rocket), and James and the Giant Peach (featuring Steven Culp). He also served as the live-action director of photography for Tummy Trouble and Rollercoaster Rabbit (two animated short films based on the motion picture Who Framed Roger Rabbit; Rollercoaster Rabbit featured the voice of Frank Welker). Some of his more adult-oriented films include Fire with Fire (starring Virginia Madsen and Tim Russ), Gunmen (starring Patrick Stewart), and The Arrival.
Narita's more recent works include the 2000 TV movie Dirty Pictures and the 2001 TV special Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks, both of which garnered him Emmy nominations. He was also cinematographer on the pilot for the WB series Gilmore Girls. Recent film credits include 2006's The Darwin Awards and Valley of the Heart's Delight.
External links
- Template:IMDb-link
- Hiro Narita at the Internet Encyclopedia of Cinematographers