Biography

Born in South Africa, Dan Mindel ASC, BSC began his journey in cinematography with a global education, studying in Australia and the United Kingdom. His early career was shaped by television commercials and feature films, where he trained under the mentorship of Tony and Ridley Scott. This experience laid the foundation for his bold and innovative style. Mindel's creative partnership with Tony Scott flourished on films such as SPY GAME and DOMINO, where his dynamic, boundary-pushing cinematography became his hallmark. Known for integrating an eclectic mix of equipment-from vintage hand-crank cameras and cross-process reversal stock to cutting-edge digital technology-Mindel crafted visually immersive narratives that brought a visceral, kinetic energy to the screen, redefining action storytelling. His innovative and fearless approach to lighting and camera movement became a signature style, establishing him as one of Hollywood's most in-demand cinematographers. A key chapter of Mindel's career has been his long-time collaboration with J.J. Abrams, resulting in some of the biggest box-office successes of the last two decades, including MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III, STAR TREK, STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS, STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, and STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER. Beyond his Abrams partnership, Mindel's versatile talents are reflected in a wide range of acclaimed films: PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING (Steven S. DeKnight), THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX (Julius Onah), ZOOLANDER 2 (Ben Stiller), THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (Marc Webb), SAVAGES (Oliver Stone), JOHN CARTER (Andrew Stanton), THE SKELETON KEY (Iain Softley), and SHANGHAI NOON (Tom Dey). Recently, he brought his signature visual style to the blockbuster hit TWISTERS (Lee Isaac Chung, Universal Pictures) and RED ONE (Jake Kasdan, Amazon MGM Studios, starring Chris Evans and Dwayne Johnson). He is currently in production on GODZILLA X KONG: SUPERNOVA, the next installment in the wildly successful Godzilla franchise, directed by Grant Sputore for Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment. Throughout his career, Mindel has combined technical mastery with an instinct for emotionally resonant imagery, forging strong creative synergies with directors and captivating audiences worldwide. With each new project, he continues to push the boundaries of visual storytelling, bringing unmatched creativity, energy, and innovation to the art of cinematography.
- IMDb mini biography by: Dan Mindel ASC, BSC

Consecutively shot seven sequel films, almost all for separate franchises: Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015), Zoolander 2 (2016), The Cloverfield Paradox (2018), Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018) and Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

With the exception of Domino (2005), which was filmed primarily in the Super 35 format, all of his features were filmed in the Panavision anamorphic format. In recent years, he has always tried to convince new directors who interview him to shoot this way, as well as on 35mm film. Zoolander 2 (2016), Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018) and Red One (2024) were filmed with Arri Alexa digital cameras.

Member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) since 2008, and the British Society of Cinematographers (BSC) since 2010.

Father of Lily Mindel.

As of 2021, he is one of four South African born cinematographers to be awarded the ASC: the others are David Millin, Vincent G Cox and Stephen Goldblatt.

I think the film medium is irreplaceable. The rendition of film is so good and the quality is so high, especially when you use large format. That is something we won't be able to do with HD for years. I was watching Vertigo (1958) yesterday, which was a VistaVision movie. My god, the quality! You could project that on the wide of the Queen Mary and it's going to look good. I think some filmmakers - Christopher Nolan is one - understand this.

I'm in the position now of working on some really great films. And I try very hard to persuade whomever I'm working with to allow me to shoot on film, and to shoot anamorphically. That's all I'm really interested in as a medium. I realize there are so many different ways of making movies. I want to focus on just one way and really learn how to do it inside and out. I am still in that process. It's phenomenal to be allowed to do that.