Film & TV / Visual art
Newton Thomas Sigel
born 1955 · cinematographer, director
Detroit-born cinematographer, a painter turned camera artist, who shot The Usual Suspects, the first X-Men films and Drive.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 71- Also known as
- Tom Sigel
- Detroit years
- 1955
- Field
- Film & TV, Visual art
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Newton Thomas Sigel was born in Detroit on August 29, 1955. He first set out to be a painter, studying art in New York City and becoming an artist-in-residence at the Whitney Museum of American Art before moving into film, first through documentaries. As a director of photography he built a long partnership with director Bryan Singer, shooting The Usual Suspects, X-Men and X2, and he also photographed David O. Russell's Gulf War film Three Kings and Nicolas Winding Refn's neon-lit thriller Drive. His later work includes Bohemian Rhapsody and the Russo brothers' Cherry. A member of the American Society of Cinematographers, he has also directed. Detroit is his birthplace; his career was made in New York and Los Angeles.
Highlights
- Cinematographer of The Usual Suspects (1995)
- Shot X-Men (2000) and X2 (2003) for Bryan Singer
- Photographed Three Kings (1999) and Drive (2011)
- Former painter and Whitney Museum artist-in-residence