Born: ?, New Orleans, USA, as Keith L. Smith.

Education: Xavier University, Louisiana [graduated 1983]; American Film Institute [AFI], Los Angeles [1989-1992].

Career: 'Smith was raised in New Orleans, where he dreamed of playing professional basketball. He attended Xavier University in Louisiana on a basketball scholarship and lettered all four years. During his junior year, the team earned a slot at the NAIA championship tournament in Kansas City. When a local television reporter and news photographer came to the gym, Smith watched them orchestrate the story. Seeing their creativity was all it took - Smith was hooked. He changed his major to mass communications. His practical education continued at a local PBS-tv station, where he helped wire the building and install transmitters and satellite dishes. Soon he was compiling video vignettes that were used as fillers. Smith earned a resident position at the local CBS affiliate, WWL-tv. He shot news and promotional photography for a while and then decided to reach for the next level. He applied to the American Film Institute. During his first year, he won the 'Rémy Martin Student Scholarship Award', the first time that award was given to a cinematography fellow, and the first time the award went to a first year student. After a year, Smith returned to New Orleans to shoot at the Jazz & Heritage Festival for his old tv-station. When he heard that [doph Robert] Richardson was in town shooting scenes for 'JFK', he faxed a letter to the production office. "Bob invited me to the set the next day," Smith recalls. "I immediately canceled my flight back to Los Angeles. Pretty soon I was running mags and doing whatever needed to be done. I ended up staying on for the entire film. It was an incredible experience." After 'JFK', Smith returned to the AFI.' [From an article by David Heuring.]

Became c.asst, 2u op & doph. Ph music videos. Appeared in the doc's 'Hello, He Lied & Other Truths From the Hollywood Trenches' [2001, Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini; ph: Sandra Chandler & Nelson Hume; 46m] & 'The Making of 'Gang Tapes'' [2002, Adam Ripp].

Awards: Chicago Alt. Film Fest Jury Award 'Best Cinematography' [1999] for 'pURe kILLjoy'.

Website: Keith L. Smith

1994        The Spartans [David Portlock] ?; short/?m

1994        Breakdown [Jeff Byrd] ?; short/?m

1995        Statistically Speaking [Nandi Bowe] ?; short/26m

1995        Drinking Games [Joe Lawson] 16mm+s16-to-35mm/c/V

1995        pURe kILLjoy [Aaron Downing] c

1996        Psalms From the Underground [Eriq La Salle] c; short/37m

1996        The Girl Gets Moe/Love to Kill [James Bruce] c; 2uc: Rex Metz

1997        Sax's Final Orbit [Gregory N. Earls] c; short/24m; prod AFI

1997        Rough Draft/Diary of a Serial Killer [Joshua Wallace] c

1997        Point Blank/Recoil [Matt Earl Beesley] c

1997        Frontline [Quinton Peeples] c

1998        The Sex Monster [Mike Binder] c; 2uc: Mark Peterson; premiered on Cinemax

1998        Harlem Aria [William Jennings] c

1999        Any Given Sunday [Oliver Stone] s35/c; addph (+ co-c.op); ph: Salvatore Totino

1999        Luck of the Draw [Luca Bercovici] c; op 'b' cam: Chris Manley, Igor Meglic & Barry Oiffer

1999        Love and a Bullet [Kantz & Ben Ramsey] dv+35mm-to-35mm/c

1999        Rituals [Carol Mayes] c; short/24m; prod AFI; also seg of Lifetime-tv series 'Women's Film Festival'

1999        The Firing Squad [Tim Story] b&w

2000        Gang Tapes [Adam Ripp] dv/c

2000        Teen Pregnancy [?] film+HD/c; comm doc/23m

2001        Vivian [Aimee Dixon] HD/c; short/23m

2001        The Wash [D.J. Pooh] c

2001        Tara/Hood Rat [Leslie Small] c/V; cph: Kirk Douglas; 2uc: Michael Chambliss

2002        The Trial [Anita M. Cal] c

2002        With or Without You [George Stubbs] HD/c

2002        Move [Antonia March & Jacqueline McKinley] b&w-c; short/30m

2002        Malibooty! [Barry Bowles] c/V; 2uc: Andrew Parke

2002        Just Another Story [GQ = Gregory Qaiyum] HD/c

2003        Playmakers of New Orleans/The Playmaker [Peter Bunche] c

2003        Remember [Yvette Freeman] HD/c; short/20m

2003        Hair Show/Beauty Shop [Leslie Small] c; 2uc: Walter Glover III

2003        Hideous Scream [Yvette Freeman] c; short/?m; made for internet (instantfilms.tv)

2004        Faubourg Tremé [Dawn Logsdon] dv/c; doc/90m; cph: Diego Velasco & D. Logsdon

2004        Short Fuse [Jon Fong] c

2004        Tears of a Clown [Tony Spires] c

2004        House of Grimm [Desmond Gumbs] c; 2uc: Chris Tonkovich

2005        JC in tha Hood [Dale Stelly] c

2005        Ice [William Washington] c

2005        The Transition of William Grey [Kristopher Bryan] ?; short/?m

2005        Virginia [Gilbert Le] c

2005        My Name Is... [Don Handfield] c; short/32m

2005        Steppin: The Movie [Michael Taliferro (died in May 2006)] c; 2uc: Alfeo Dixon; released in May 2009

2005        Eyes of Darkness/Chain'd [Dale Stelly] HD/c

2005        Unemployed [Dale Stelly] c

2005        Coachella [Drew Thomas] HD-to-35mm/c; mus doc/120m; other ph: Randall Einhorn, Chris Manley, Cynthia Pusheck,

                    a.o.

2005        Coda [Zeresenay Mehari] c; short/20m

2005        The Invited/The Conjuring [Ryan McKinney] c; first shown in October 2008

2006        Soulmate [Andrea Wiley] c; doc/83m

2006        Only in Your Dreams [Richard C. Montgomery] c; short/23m

2006        Single Black Female [Dale Stelly] HD/c

2006        American Dream [Derrick Dixon & Trey Haley] c; addph: Jon Mayfield

2006        Nite Tales: The Movie [Deon Taylor] c; 3 seg; 2uc: Chris Walling

2007        A Good Man Is Hard to Find [Leslie Small] HD/c

2007        Mama, I Want to Sing! [Charles Randolph-Wright] c

2007        The Sweep/What Up? [Dale Stelly] c

2007        The Black Candle [- A Kwanzaa Celebration]/Kwanzaa [M.K. Asante Jr.] dv/c; doc/71m

2008        Pastor Brown [Rockmond Dunbar] c

2009        Lean Like a Cholo [Demetrius Navarro] c; cph: Mario Ortiz

2009        Suicide Dolls [Keith L. Shaw] c

2009        The Preacher Man [Rodney-Allen Hooks] HD/c; pre-production

1994        Black Americans of Achievement [e.g. ep 'Colin Powell, Military Leader', 'Jackie Robinson, Baseball Great', 'Frederick

                    Douglass, Abolitionist Editor', 'Booker T. Washington, Educator', 'Madam C.J. Walker, Entrepreneur', 'Malcolm X, Militant

                    Black Leader', 'Sojourner Truth, Antislavery Activist' prod & dir by Rhonda Fabian & Jerry Baber] 22-part doc series/

                    b&w-c for PBS-tv

1996        Beverly Hills Bordello [ep #1 'All Night Long' dir by Robert Angelo & #2 'The Lieutenant' dir by Robert Angelo] 23-part

                    series, 1997-99; 1st season, 1997 (8 ep); other ph: Ken Blakey & Carl Oakwood

1997        Beverly Hills Bordello [ep #12 'The Assignment' dir by Robert Angelo] 2nd season, 1998 (5 ep); other ph: Ken Blakey &

                    Carl Oakwood; see 1996

1999        Hidden Blessings [Timothy Wayne Folsome] tvm

2000        Fire & Ice [Bryan Goeres] tvm

2001        One Special Moment [Nelson George] tvm

2002        Play'd: A Hip Hop Story [Oz Scott] tvm for VH1

2006        The Underground [Damon Wayans] comedy sketch series; other ph: Armand Gazarian

2008        Crusin for Love with Kym Whitley [Jamie R. Balthazar] special/60m

1991        JFK [Oliver Stone] camera intern; ph: Robert Richardson

1991        A Few Good Men [Rob Reiner] 2nd c.asst; ph: Robert Richardson

1992        The Meteor Man [: An Urban Fairy Tale] [Robert Townsend] c.asst; ph: John A. Alonzo

1992        Heaven & Earth [Oliver Stone] 2nd c.asst; ph: Robert Richardson

1993        Natural Born Killers [Oliver Stone] 2nd c.asst; ph: Robert Richardson

1993        Blankman [Mike Binder] c.asst; ph: Newton Thomas Sigel

1995        Nixon [Oliver Stone] 2nd c.asst; ph: Robert Richardson

1995        The Trigger Effect [David Koepp] 2nd c.asst; ph: Newton Thomas Sigel

1995        Steal Big, Steal Little [Andrew Davis] co-2nd c.asst; ph: Frank Tidy

1996        Fallen [Gregory Hoblit] c.op 'a' cam; ph: Newton Thomas Sigel

1999        Any Given Sunday [Oliver Stone] co-c.op (+ addph); ph: Salvatore Totino

1999        Three Kings [David O. Russell] c.op 2u; 2uc: Philip Pfeiffer; ph: Newton Thomas Sigel

2005        Waist Deep [Vondie Curtis-Hall] 2u c.op; ph: Shane Hurlbut

2006        The Pet [D. Stevens] co-c.op; ph: Clarke Cooper & D. Stevens

2007        Chris & Don. A Love Story [Tina Mascara & Guido Santi; doc] co-c.op; ph: Ralph Q. Smith