Nicole Hirsch Whitaker Welcomed Into ASC Membership
The cinematographer’s narrative credits include Shining Vale, Jupiter’s Legacy, Bad Sisters and One Piece.
Raised by parents who helped establish the Santa Monica Museum of Art (now the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles), Nicole Hirsch Whitaker was deeply immersed in fine arts during her youth.
After earning a BFA at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, she began working as a still photographer. Inspired by avant-garde and European films, she became interested in cinematography and transitioned into shooting commercials, where her credits include spots for Apple, Nike, Pepsi, Toyota, Target, Sony and Honda. Eventually, she began shooting 2nd unit on features, including Thank You for Smoking, Running Scared, Coach Carter and The Cooler.
Hirsch Whitaker earned acclaim for her camerawork in the documentaries Girl Rising (for which she shared a News & Documentary Emmy nomination with six other cinematographers) and Cobain: Montage of Heck (which also featured cinematography by her husband, James Whitaker, ASC, and Eric Edwards).
She recently shot the Netflix adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece in South Africa. Previously, she worked in the U.K. and Ireland on the Apple streaming series Bad Sisters with showrunner/writer Sharon Horgan and director Dearbhla Walsh.
Hirsch Whitaker’s narrative projects also include Shining Vale, Jupiter’s Legacy, On the Verge, Patriot,Truth Be Told and Perpetual Grace, LTD.
Learn more about her work here.
