Mauro Fiore, a renowned Italian-American cinematographer, was born on November 15, 1964, in Marzi, California. He later relocated to the United States with his family in 1971 and grew up in Palatine, Illinois. Fiore attended Palatine High School, graduating in 1982, and initially pursued a career in sociology before becoming captivated by photography and art.
He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia College Chicago in 1987 and subsequently moved to Los Angeles to kickstart his career. Fiore graduated from the AFI Conservatory, where he befriended fellow cinematographers Janusz Kamiński and Phedon Papamichael.
Early in his career, Fiore worked with Janusz Kamiński on several projects, including B-movies, before collaborating on higher-profile films such as The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Amistad in 1997. He also served as Kamiński's grip, camera operator, and second-unit photographer on these films.
Fiore's breakthrough as a cinematographer came with his work on the television series Tracey Takes On..., for which he shot 17 episodes. His first major motion picture credit was Get Carter, a Sylvester Stallone vehicle, in 2000. He then established a partnership with director Antoine Fuqua, beginning with Training Day in 2001, and went on to shoot six more of Fuqua's films.
During this period, Fiore also worked on films such as Wayne Wang's The Center of the World, Michael Bay's The Island, Joe Carnahan's Smokin' Aces, and The A-Team. He then collaborated with James Cameron on Avatar in 2009, a film that utilized cutting-edge techniques to combine live-action footage with computer-generated characters and environments.
Fiore's work on Avatar earned him the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, and he continued to work on notable films such as Real Steel, Dark Phoenix, Spider-Man: No Way Home, A Good Person, and The Killer. In 2021, he shot his first film produced in his native Italy, Security.
Fiore is married to Christine Vollmer, whom he married in 2000, and they have three children together.
