| Don Burgess | |
| Birth Name: | Don Michael Burgess |
| Birth Date: | 28 May 1956 |
| Birth Place: | Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Cinematographer |
| Alma Mater: | ArtCenter College of Design, BFA, Film 1982 |
Don Michael Burgess, (born May 28, 1956) is an American cinematographer, best known for his collaborations with director Robert Zemeckis.[1] He was nominated for the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography for Zemeckis' Forrest Gump (1994). In 2024, he received the American Society of Cinematographers' Lifetime Achievement Award.
Burgess comes from a family of builders, and initially wanted to be an architect in his youth. His introduction to photography came through his father building a dark room for his sister since she was in a high school photography class at the time. When in high school he made ski movies and motorcycle movies.[2] He attended the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, and cited nature documentarian Mike Hoover as an influence.[3] While attending ArtCenter, he worked as a film loader on William Friedkin's Sorcerer (1977).
Burgess spent the first decade of his career shooting various independent and low-budget films, as well as nature documentaries for the National Geographic Channel. In 1987, he shot the full motion video game Night Trap, which was eventually released in 1992.
He was also a second unit cinematographer on Runaway Train (1985), Cherry 2000 (1986), and Back to the Future Part II (1989) & and Part III (1990), which brought him into contact with Robert Zemeckis.
In 1994, Zemeckis was the main cinematographer on Zemeckis' Forrest Gump, earning Oscar and BAFTA Award nominations for his work. He has subsequently worked with Zemeckis on 10 films, including Contact (1997), Cast Away (2000), and The Polar Express (2004). His work with other directors includes Spider-Man (2002),[4] Enchanted (2007), The Book of Eli (2010), Source Code (2011), The Muppets (2011), 42 (2013), The Conjuring 2 (2016), Aquaman (2018), and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023).[5]
On March 3, 2024, Burgess received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Cinematographers.[6]
Short film
| Year | Title | Director | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | The Trap | Rita Wilson | |
| 2019 | The Tattooed Heart | Sheldon Wong Schwartz |
Video game
TV movies
| Year | Title | Director | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Superstunt II | Max Kleven | Documentary film | |
| 1988 | Too Young the Hero | Buzz Kulik | ||
| 1989 | Breaking Point | Peter Markle | ||
| 1990 | The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson | Larry Peerce | ||
| 1992 | Two-Fisted Tales | Robert Zemeckis | Segment "Yellow" |
TV series
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | National Geographic Specials | Aram Boyajian Nicolas Noxon | Episode "The Sharks" |
| 1988 | ABC Afterschool Special | Gabrielle Beaumont | Episode "Tattle: When to Tell on a Friend" |
| Something Is Out There | Larry Shaw | Episode "In His Own Image" | |
| 1991 | Tales from the Crypt | Robert Zemeckis | Episode "Yellow" |
| 1993 | Space Rangers | Mikael Salomon | Episode "Fort Hope" |
2nd unit director of photography
| Year | Title | Director | DoP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Happy Birthday to Me | J. Lee Thompson | Miklos Lente |
| 1984 | Hot Dog…The Movie | Peter Markle | Paul Ryan |
| 1985 | Runaway Train | Andrei Konchalovsky | Alan Hume |
| 1986 | Quiet Cool | Clay Borris | Jacques Haitkin |
| 1987 | Cherry 2000 | Steve De Jarnatt | |
| 1988 | Moving | Alan Metter | Donald McAlpine |
| Lucky Stiff | Anthony Perkins | Jacques Haitkin | |
| 1989 | Back to the Future Part II | Robert Zemeckis | Dean Cundey |
| 1990 | Back to the Future Part III | ||
| The Rookie | Clint Eastwood | Jack N. Green | |
| 1991 | Nothing but Trouble | Dan Aykroyd | Dean Cundey |
| Backdraft | Ron Howard | Mikael Salomon | |
| 1992 | Batman Returns | Tim Burton | Stefan Czapsky |
| Death Becomes Her | Robert Zemeckis | Dean Cundey | |
| Noises Off... | Peter Bogdanovich | Tim Suhrstedt | |
Additional photography
| Year | Title | Director | DoP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Traces of Red | Andy Wolk | Tim Suhrstedt | |
| 1996 | Executive Decision | Stuart Baird | Alex Thomson | |
| 1998 | Deep Impact | Mimi Leder | Dietrich Lohmann | |
| 2002 | The Bourne Identity | Doug Liman | Oliver Wood | |
| 2014 | Divergent | Neil Burger | Alwin H. Küchler | |
| 2015 | Ted 2 | Seth MacFarlane | Michael Barrett |
| Year | Award | Category | Title | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | American Society of Cinematographers | Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Motion Picture Made for Television | The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson | ||
| 1994 | Academy Awards | Best Cinematography | Forrest Gump | ||
| BAFTA Awards | Best Cinematography | ||||
| American Society of Cinematographers | Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography | ||||
| 1997 | Satellite Awards | Best Cinematography | Contact |