Bradford Young

Bradford Young is an Oscar-nominated cinematographer from Louisville, Kentucky.

Young served as director of photography on a variety of films including White Lies, Black Sheep (2007), Pariah (2011), Restless City (2011), Middle of Nowhere (2012), Ain't Them Bodies Saints (2013), and Mother of George (2013).

He has been nominated for a variety of awards for his cinematographic direction. He has won Cinematography Awards at the Sundance Film Festival twice -- in 2011, for his work on Pariah and two years later, for his work on Mother of George and Ain't Them Bodies Saints. In 2015, he won the BET Award for Best Movie for his cinematographic work on the movie Selma.

Young became the first African-American cinematographer to be nominated for an Academy Award, for his work on Arrival (2017). His work on Arrival also earned him a Silver Frog award from Camerimage and nominations for awards from BAFTA and the American Society of Cinematographers.

In 2018, Young was the cinematographer for Solo: A Star Wars Story. In 2019, Young was the cinematographer for the Netflix series "When They See Us," which was directed by Ava DuVernay. That series depicted the wrongful conviction of the Central Park Five.

In addition to film work, Young has collaborated with visual artist Leslie Hewitt on a dual-channel video installation work. As well, he has provided cinematography for music videos for artists such as MGMT, Nora Jones and Beck.

Young studied film at Howard University.