Reed Morano

In 2020, Morano released her third feature film as director The Rhythm Section, starring Blake Lively, Jude Law and Sterling K. Brown. The film was a box-office bomb, grossing less than $6 million on an estimated $50 million budget. It is expected to cause Paramount a $30 million loss.

Her stepfather, realizing her interest in theater and drama, "gave me a video camera and said, 'You’re gonna be the family documentarian.' So I documented birthday parties and things. When it was time to go to college, I was going to apply to Boston University for journalism and dad said, 'Why not apply to NYU film school, because you love telling stories and taking pictures?' And I thought, 'Oh, I can do that for a job? Cool!'"

In 2018, Morano directed and shot I Think We're Alone Now, a post-apocalyptic drama based on the companionship between Del (Peter Dinklage) and Grace (Elle Fanning). The film premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, and was later released to theaters on September 14, 2018.

In 2017, Morano directed three episodes of the television adaptation of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, which was released by the streaming service Hulu in April 2017. For her work on The Handmaid's Tale, she won an Emmy Award. She also won a Directors Guild of America Award for directing a drama series for the episode "Offred" of The Handmaid's Tale, which makes her the first woman to win the Emmy and Directors Guild Award for directing a drama series.

In 2017, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for the Hulu series The Handmaid's Tale.

Morano was director of photography on her first directorial feature, the drama Meadowland, starring Olivia Wilde, Luke Wilson, Giovanni Ribisi, Elisabeth Moss, Juno Temple and John Leguizamo. It premiered in the dramatic competition at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2015.

In 2015, Morano was named Woman of the Year at the Fusion Film Festival.

Morano also filmed the series premiere of HBO's drama Looking in 2014. and episodes of Vinyl, produced by Martin Scorsese, Terence Winter and Mick Jagger.

In 2013, Morano became the youngest member of the American Society of Cinematographers, and one of 14 women in an organization of approximately 345 active members. Two years later, she made her directorial debut with her feature film Meadowland. She also directed the first three episodes of Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale, for which she won an Emmy Award. She also won a Directors Guild of America Award for directing a drama series for the episode "Offred" of The Handmaid's Tale, which makes her the first woman to win the Emmy and Directors Guild Award for directing a drama series.

In 2013, Kill Your Darlings, a 35mm period piece about the beat poets, set in 1943, premiered there , and screened as the Toronto International Film Festival and the Venice film festival. The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete (2013) premiered at Sundance as well. and theatrically released; In 2014, two feature films shot by Morano premiered there: The Skeleton Twins, a dark comedy starring Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader, directed by Craig Johnson, and Mark Jackson’s War Story, a dark drama filmed in Sicily starring Catherine Keener and Sir Ben Kingsley.

Later in 2012, Morano's work was featured in IndieWire’s "On the Rise '12: 5 Cinematographers Lighting Up Screens in Recent Years." IndieWire also featured Morano as a “Heroine of Cinema” in both 2011 and 2013. In 2012, Morano was featured in Kodak’s long-running OnFilm series. The following year, she became the youngest member of the American Society of Cinematographers, and one of 14 women in an organization of approximately 345 active members.

In 2011, Morano was honored at the Women in Film and Television International's Crystal + Lucy awards with the 2011 Kodak Vision Award. The same year, she was named one of Variety's “10 Cinematographers to Watch”. Morano has also been featured as one of Ioncinema.com’s “American New Wave 25″ and one of five innovative cinematographers in ICG Magazine’s “Generation Next” spotlight.

Morano's cinematography has appeared regularly at the Sundance Film Festival beginning in 2008 with Frozen River (credited as Reed Dawson Morano), which won the Grand Jury prize. The film was also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Picture. In 2011, Little Birds, shot by Morano, premiered at Sundance as well. The following year, two films shot by Morano premiered there: a feature-length documentary about the band LCD Soundsystem, Shut Up and Play the Hits, and So Yong Kim’s For Ellen (credited as Reed Morano Walker), starring Paul Dano.

Morano married fellow cinematographer and gaffer Matt Walker in 2008. They divorced in 2018. They have two sons together. Reed lives with her sons in Brooklyn, New York. Elder son Casey played Olivia and Luke's son in Meadowland.

Morano subsequently attended New York University and graduated from the Tisch School of the Arts Film and TV program in 2000. She returned to NYU as an adjunct cinematography professor and co-instructed the first Advanced Television classes offered.

Reed Morano (born April 15, 1977) is an American cinematographer and director. Morano is known for her cinematography on feature films such as Frozen River (2008), Kill Your Darlings (2013) and The Skeleton Twins (2014).