Born: 21 November 1935, Wellesley [suburb of Boston], Massachusetts, USA.

Education: Phillips Academy, Andover; Columbia University, New York City [History and Literature].

Career: After college, he spent two years in the United States Army [one year on the Thule Airbase, Greenland], and then two more as a freight brakeman on the railroad. His then father-in-law, doph Joseph Brun, eventually led him into the movie business. During his initiation into the New York filmmaking community, Chapman met several cinematographers including Boris Kaufman. That led him to a camera crew job at MPO, a commercial company in New York, where he met Gordon Willis, Owen Roizman, director Michael Cimino and other narrative filmmakers. He became Gordon Willis' c.op for 6 years. Chapman: "It was quite a ride. I got to watch while a man made up a whole new style of 'seeing.' I knew I could never imitate Gordy, but from our years together, I took away the seriousness of purpose that he saw, and the idea that light could be organized to express strong emotions." Became doph in 1973 on 'The Last Detail' [he was introduced to dir Hal Ashby by Gordon Willis], but the New York film scene was relatively quiet, so he returned to operating ['Jaws'] after the filming of 'The White Dawn'.

Made his debut as director in 1983 with 'All the Right Moves'. Played small parts in some of the films he ph, but also in others [e.g. 'The Abyss', 1988]. He is a member of the Screen Actors Guild [SAG]. Retired in 2006. Married to editor/director Amy Holden Jones.

Appeared in the doc's 'Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography' [1991] & 'Making 'Taxi Driver'' [1999, Laurent Bouzereau; ph: Ron Siegel, Chris Meagher, a.o.].

Awards: 'Emmy' Award nom [1974/5] for 'Death Be Not Proud'; 'Oscar' AA nom [1980], NSFC Award [1981] & BSFC Award [1981] for 'Raging Bull'; ASC Film Award nom [1993] & 'Oscar' AA nom [1993] for 'The Fugitive'; ASC Lifetime Achievement Award [2003].

FILMS

1973        The Last Detail [Hal Ashby] c; + small part; originally Haskell Wexler was scheduled as doph and M. Chapman as c.op

1973        The White Dawn [Philip Kaufman] c

1975        Taxi Driver [Martin Scorsese] c; 2uc: Michael Zingale

1975        The Front [Martin Ritt] c

1976        The Next Man/The Arab Conspiracy/Double Hit [Richard Sarafian] c

1976        The Last Waltz [Martin Scorsese] c; concert film/115m; addph: Vilmos Zsigmond, László Kovács, David Myers, Bobby

                    Byrne, Michael Watkins & Hiro Narita

1977        Fingers [James Toback] c

1977        American Boy [: A Profile of Steven Prince] [Martin Scorsese] 16mm/c; doc/55m

1977        Invasion of the Body Snatchers [Philip Kaufman] c

1978        Hardcore/The Hardcore Life [Paul Schrader] c; 2uc: William Dear

1978        The Wanderers [Philip Kaufman] c

1979        Raging Bull [Martin Scorsese] b&w; + small part

1980        Personal Best [Robert Towne] c; uwph: Allan Gornick Jr.

1981        Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid [Carl Reiner] c

1982        The Slumber Party Massacre/Sleepless Nights [Amy Jones] c; prologue ph; ph: Steve Posey

1982        The Man with Two Brains [Carl Reiner] c

1986        The Lost Boys [Joel Schumacher] p/c; 2uc: Paul Goldsmith; vfx ph: Tim McHugh & Charles Schuman; aph: Frank Holgate

1987        Bad [Martin Scorsese] b&w-c; short music film with Michael Jackson

1987        Shoot to Kill/Deadly Pursuit [Roger Spottiswoode] c; addph: Robert Stevens; 2uc: Curtis Petersen; uwph: Jordan Klein;

                    + small part

1987        Scrooged [Richard Donner] c; addph New York: Peter Norman; motion control ph: Mike Shea; replaced Conrad L. Hall

1988        Ghostbusters II [Ivan Reitman] p/c; 2uc: Rexford Metz; spec vfx ph: Mark Vargo

1989        Quick Change [Howard Franklin & Bill Murray] c; + small part

1990        Kindergarten Cop [Ivan Reitman] c; 2uc: Robert Thomas; + small part

1990        Doc Hollywood [Michael Caton-Jones] c; + small part

1991        Whispers in the Dark [Christopher Crowe] c; 2uc: Michael A. Benson

1992        Rising Sun [Philip Kaufman] c; addph: Jamie Anderson & John Connor Sr.; + small part

1993        The Fugitive [Andrew Davis] c; ph b&w flashback footage: Frank Tidy; 2uc: Gary H. Holt & George Kohut; aph: Frank M.

                    Holgate; spec vfx ph: John Mesa & Chris Dawson

1995        Primal Fear [Gregory Hoblit] c; aph: Frank Holgate

1995        Space Jam [Joe Pytka] c; addph: Jon Mentzer

1996        Homegrown [Stephen Gyllenhaal] c; addph; ph: Greg Gardiner

1997        Six Days, Seven Nights [Ivan Reitman] p/c; 2uc: John M. Stephens; aph: David Nowell; + small part

1998        The White River Kid/White River [Arne Glimcher] c; 2uc: Tony Jannelli; + small part

1998        The Story of Us [Rob Reiner] c; + small part

1999        The Watcher [Joe Charbanic & Jeff Jensen] c; Los Angeles ph: Joplin Wu

2000        Evolution [Ivan Reitman] s35/c; + small part

2002        Suspect Zero [E. Elias Merhige] 8mm+16mm+35mm+v-to-35mm/c; 2uc: Philip Pfeiffer; + small part

2003        Eulogy [Michael Clancy] c; + small part

2003        House of D [David Duchovny] c; + small part

2005        Hoot [Wil Shriner] c; aph: David Norris; efx unit ph: Peter Zuccarini

2006        Bridge to Terabithia [Gabor Csupo] c; splinter unit ph: John Cavill

TELEVISION

1974        Death Be Not Proud [Donald Wrye] tvm

1977        King [Abby Mann] 3-part miniseries; addph: Gerald Hirschfeld

1980        Steve Martin: Comedy Is Not Pretty [Joseph Cates] special/60m

1988        Gotham/The Dead Can't Lie [Lloyd Fonvielle] tvm; + small part

1991        Kathleen Battle and Wynton Marsalis in Baroque Duet [Pat Jaffe (perf seg)] special for PBS-tv/90m; ph perf seg;

                    doc ph: Albert Maysles

FILMS AS CAMERA OPERATOR

1965        Who Killed Teddy Bear [Joseph Cates] c.asst; ph: Joseph Brun

1968        End of the Road [Aram Avakian] ph: Gordon Willis

1968        Loving [Irvin Kershner] ph: Gordon Willis

1969        Husbands [John Cassavetes] co-c.op. New York unit; ph: Victor Kemper

1969        The Landlord [Hal Ashby] ph: Gordon Willis

1970        Little Murders [Alan Arkin] ph: Gordon Willis

1970        Klute [Alan Pakula] ph: Gordon Willis

1971        The Godfather [Francis Coppola] ph: Gordon Willis

1971        Bad Company [Robert Benton] ph: Gordon Willis

1974        Jaws [Steven Spielberg] ph: Bill Butler

FILMS AS DIRECTOR

1983        All the Right Moves/All Right [ph: Jan de Bont]

1984        The Clan of the Cave Bear [ph: Jan de Bont]

1985        Annihilator [tvm] ph: Paul Goldsmith

1994        The Viking Sagas/The Islandic Sagas [+ story] ph: Dean Lent