Christopher Manley

Christopher Manley made the transition from Director of Photography to director on the award-winning series “Mad Men”. His debut as a director was the pivotal episode “Commissions and Fees”, in which partner Lane Pryce (Jared Harris) commits suicide. Chris’ confident helming on his ambitious debut was rewarded with three more episodes: “The Flood”, “Field Trip”, and “The Runaways”.

Most recently, Chris directed eleven episodes of DC’s “Doom Patrol” for HBO and Berlanti Productions, “Monarch” for FOX, and the critically-acclaimed “Masters of Sex” starring Michael Sheen for Showtime. Berlanti and HBO were so impressed with Chris’ directing vision that he was hired to supervise the other episodic directors.

As a cinematographer, he has received four Emmy and two ASC nominations for his work on “Mad Men”. Manley’s extensive television credits include “Roar” (Apple TV), “The Romanoffs” (Matthew Weiner/Amazon), “Knightfall” (History Channel), and the pilots for “Homeland” and “Revenge”, as well as the hit series “Prison Break”. He has also shot several television movies and mini-series, including “The Phantom Eye” for AMC, which earned him an Emmy. In addition to his “Mad Men” nominations, Manley was also nominated by the ASC for his work on the “Doom Patrol” pilot, “Threat Matrix”, and “CSI: NY”.

Chris has shot over a dozen independent movies, including “The Big Empty” with Jon Favreau, the critically-acclaimed “Dahmer” with Jeremy Renner, and the film “Gracie” for Oscar-winning director Davis Guggenheim (“An Inconvenient Truth”). He also lensed Matthew Weiner’s “Are You Here” with Owen Wilson, Zach Galifianakis, and Amy Poehler.

Manley studied filmmaking at Temple University in Philadelphia before earning his MFA in cinematography from the American Film Institute, where he was awarded the Eastman-Kodak Scholarship Award. His AFI thesis, “My Mother Dreams the Satan’s Disciples in New York” (1999), won the Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Film. He was inducted into the American Society of Cinematographers in 2007 and lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.