Declan Quinn
American cinematographer (born 1957)
title: "Declan Quinn" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1957-births", "living-people", "american-cinematographers", "american-people-of-irish-descent", "columbia-college-chicago-alumni", "film-people-from-chicago", "best-cinematography-independent-spirit-award-winners"] description: "American cinematographer (born 1957)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declan_Quinn" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American cinematographer (born 1957) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Declan Quinn |
| occupation | Cinematographer |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| children | 4 |
| spouse | Etta Quinn |
| :: |
|name = Declan Quinn |image = |caption = |occupation = Cinematographer |birth_date = |birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |children = 4 |spouse = Etta Quinn |years_active = Declan Quinn (born 1957) is an American cinematographer. He is a three-time winner of the Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography.
Early life
Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Quinn is one of four children. His mother, Teresa, was a homemaker, and also worked as a bookkeeper and in the travel business, and his father, Michael Quinn, was a professor of literature. His four siblings, the most famous of whom is Aidan, are actors. The family moved to Ireland when he was in his teens, but he returned to the United States to earn a degree in film from Columbia College Chicago.
Career
In Ireland, he met Bono and U2 at the Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, and he began his career filming several music videos and the documentaries U2: Unforgettable Fire (1984) and U2: Outside It's America (1987) for the group.
Quinn permanently returned to the States in 1989 and filmed The Kill-Off.
In 1991, he served as cinematographer on Tim Hunter's well-received Lies of the Twins, starring Isabella Rossellini, Iman, and Declan's brother Aidan.
Quinn has collaborated with director Mira Nair on five projects, including Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, Monsoon Wedding, Vanity Fair, and Hysterical Blindness, which earned him a nomination for the Emmy Award for Best Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie. Additional credits include 2x4, (which won him the Cinematography Award at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival), Vanya on 42nd Street, Leaving Las Vegas, One True Thing, In America, Cold Creek Manor, The Lucky Ones, Rachel Getting Married, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee and The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012).
Personal life
Quinn resides in Orange County, New York with his wife Etta and four daughters.
Filmography
Film
Short film ::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | U2: Unforgettable Fire | Barry Devlin | Documentary short |
| 2002 | India | Mira Nair | Segment of 11'09"01 September 11 |
| 2008 | How can it be? | Segment of 8 | |
| New York, I Love You | 1 segment | ||
| 2013 | The Tale of Timmy Two Chins | Nancy Savoca | With Mauricio Rubinstein |
| 2014 | The Suffering Kind | Kevin Liddy | Also producer |
| 2019 | Nafas | Mira Nair | |
| 2020 | New York Our Time | Vivienne Dick | |
| :: |
Documentary film ::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | U2: Outside It's America | Barry Devlin | |
| 1992 | Cousin Bobby | Jonathan Demme | With Ernest Dickerson, Craig Haagensen, Tony C. Jannelli and Jacek Laskus |
| 2007 | Man from Plains | ||
| 2009 | Neil Young Trunk Show | ||
| 2011 | Neil Young Journeys | ||
| 2016 | Sidemen: Long Road to Glory | Scott D. Rosenbaum | Interviews with Gregg Allman and Warren Haynes |
| Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids | Jonathan Demme | Concert film | |
| 2022 | Jersey Boys LIVE | Des McAnuff | |
| :: |
Feature film ::data[format=table]
Filmed stage productions ::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway | Michael John Warren |
| 2013 | Shrek the Musical | |
| 2020 | Hamilton | Thomas Kail |
| 2021 | Diana | Christopher Ashley |
| :: |
Television
::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | ABC Afterschool Special | Nancy Cooperstein | Episode "Over the Limit" |
| 1991 | American Playhouse | Noel Black | Episode "The Hollow Boy" |
| 1993 | Fallen Angels | Phil Joanou | |
| Jonathan Kaplan | Episodes "Dead-End for Delia" and "Since I Don't Have You" | ||
| 1994 | Screen Two | Barry Devlin | Episode "All Things Bright and Beautiful" |
| 1995 | Out of Order | Leslie Libman | |
| Larry Williams | Episode "Strange Habit" | ||
| 2018 | My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman | Michael Bonfiglio | 5 episodes |
| The Bobby Brown Story | Kiel Adrian Scott | ||
| 2020 | A Suitable Boy | Mira Nair | |
| Shimit Amin | Miniseries | ||
| 2022 | National Treasure: Edge of History | Mira Nair | Episode "I'm a Ghost" |
| :: |
TV movies ::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Lies of the Twins | Tim Hunter |
| 1992 | The Heart of Justice | Bruno Barreto |
| 2002 | Hysterical Blindness | Mira Nair |
| 2014 | Line of Sight | Jonathan Demme |
| 2018 | Notes from the Field | Kristi Zea |
| :: |
TV specials ::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Neighborhood Sessions: Jennifer Lopez | Alex Coletti | Live show |
| Neighborhood Sessions: Toby Keith | Stephen C. Mitchell | ||
| 2019 | Gary Gulman: The Great Depresh | Michael Bonfiglio | With Michael Richard Martin and Robert Richman |
| 2022 | Hasan Minhaj: The King's Jester | Prashanth Venkataramanujam | Stand-up comedy |
| :: |
References
References
- Turnbaugh, Kristi. "Declan Quinn '79".
- Holmes, Mannie. (2015-09-03). "Director Paul Quinn, Brother of Aidan Quinn, Dies at 55".
- Fischer, Paul. "Aidan Quinn". Cranky Critic.
- (October 6, 2009). "Death Notice: TERESA QUINN - Chicago Tribune". Articles.chicagotribune.com.
- [http://www.filmreference.com/film/42/Declan-Quinn.html FilmReference.com]
- "DECLAN QUINN".
- [http://www.theasc.com/magazine/sept04/vanity/index.html ''American Cinematographer'', September 2004]
- Harris M. Lentz, ''Science Fiction, Horror & Fantasy Film and Television Credits: Supplement 2, Through 1993'', Volume 4, (McFarland: 1994), p.495.
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