Sean Bobbitt

Sean Francis Bobbitt, B.S.C. is a British cinematographer, known for his collaborations with directors Steve McQueen and Nia DaCosta.
He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on Judas and the Black Messiah. For Sense & Sensibility, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.

Early life

Sean Bobbitt was born in Corpus Christi, Texas on 29 November 1958.
After his family moved to the UK, he went to school at St George’s College, Weybridge.

Career

Bobbitt started his career as a news and documentary cameraman, a role which took him to the most conflicted spots of the globe.
In 2008, Bobbitt worked with artist-turned-director Steve McQueen on British film Hunger, a hard-hitting film about the Northern Irish hunger striker, Bobby Sands. With this film Bobbitt, McQueen, editor Joe Walker and actor Michael Fassbender formed a collaborative award-winning team that have gone on to make a further two films, Shame and 12 Years a Slave. Bobbitt won a BIFA in 2008 for his work on Hunger. In 2012, Bobbitt won the Carlo Di Palma European Cinematographer of the Year Award at the European Film Awards for his work on Shame.
In 2011, Bobbitt worked on the pilot of HBO's acclaimed series Game of Thrones. The following year, Bobbitt completed filming on The Place Beyond the Pines, a Neil Jordan called Byzantium, and he concluded five years of working on Michael Winterbottom drama-film Everyday. The end of 2013 saw the release of 12 Years a Slave, for which he received multiple cinematography award nominations.
Over the next few years, he worked on Kill the Messenger, Rock the Kasbah, Queen of Katwe, On Chesil Beach, Stronger. In 2018, he collaborated with McQueen again on heist movie Widows.
In 2019, he shot Judas and the Black Messiah for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. The film was released on HBO Max in 2021, having been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, Bobbitt filmed The Marvels, directed by Nia DaCosta, and in 2024 he completed filming on both Hedda and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, also with DiCosta.

Filmography

Film

Documentary film

Year	Title	Director
2012	Trashed	Candida Brady

Television

Miniseries

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1994	Watergate	Mick Gold	Documentary series
1998	Ancient Inventions	Daniel Percival Phil Grabsky	Documentary series
2003	Canterbury Tales	Marc Munden Julian Jarrold	Episodes "The Knight's Tale" and "The Man of Law's Tale"
2004	The Long Firm	Bille Eltringham
2008	Sense and Sensibility	John Alexander
2009	Unforgiven	David Evans
2016	Codes of Conduct	Steve McQueen

TV movies

Year	Title	Director
2001	The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby	Stephen Whittaker
2001	Sweet Revenge	David Morrissey
2002	Jeffrey Archer: The Truth	Guy Jenkin
2003	Second Generation	Jon Sen

TV series

Year	Title	Director	Note
2002	Spooks	Rob Bailey	Episodes "One Last Dance" and "Traitor's Gate"