Dariusz Wolski

Highest Rated: 91% The Martian (2015)

Lowest Rated: 10% Bad Company (2002)

Birthday: May 7, 1956

Birthplace: Warszawa, Poland

With an eye for grand-scale action, Polish-born cinematographer Dariusz Wolski first made his mark in the United States film industry with "Nightfall," a sci-fi epic based on Isaac Asimov's award-winning short story. His next big assignment came from director Tony Scott who let him work his cinematic magic on the submarine action-thriller "Crimson Tide." After the success of that big-budget film, Wolski was tapped to become director of photography for the visually elaborate "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, working behind the lens in the first three "Pirates" movies: "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." After the final film wrapped, actor Johnny Depp introduced director Tim Burton to Wolski, and the two artists found that they shared a similar cinematic sensibility. Said Wolski of the meeting: "It felt like we'd known each other for years. We both loved black-and-white films, we both loved Fellini movies, and we both had a fear of making a musical. So we decided to try and find a new way of doing it." As a result of that fateful meeting, Burton hired Wolski as cinematographer for his kitschy mock-horror musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," which also starred Depp. Wolski collaborated again with Burton and Depp in the delectable fantasy "Alice in Wonderland."