Lisa Leone

Bronx born Lisa Leone began her career as a photographer shooting musicians Moby, Lauryn Hill and Maxwell, as well as personalities like Debi Mazar and Spike Lee. She worked for British Vogue and VIBE where she was a contributing photographer and columnist for two years. While shooting stills on a music video the director asked Lisa to shoot B roll. At that moment she traded in her stills camera for a film camera. So began her career as a cinematographer shooting music videos for artists TLC, Heavy D, D’Angelo and The Brand New Heavies. A few years later, Lisa began work on Stanley Kubrick’s last film "Eyes Wide Shut", starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Impressed with Leone’s talent and drive, Kubrick became her mentor. She started off doing research photos of New York during pre-production. Little did she know the project would consume the next four years of her life where she would do everything from set decorating, film & lighting tests, acting and directing second unit. Afterward, she continued her cinematography with work on independent films and shows for directors: Nancy Savoca’s "Dirt"; Showtime. Michael Kang’s "The Motel"; Sundance 05’. Reno’s "Rebel Without a Pause". Havana Film Festival, Florence film festival, where it received the Peace Prize and “Citizen Reno” for Bravo. "Exactly" was Leone's debut film as writer, director and cinematographer. It stars Rosie Perez (Fearless) and Sarita Choudhury (Mississippi Masala). It premiered at Tribeca film festival in 2004, and went onto Sundance 05’ and the London film festival 05’. “Good Morning Baby” was the second film Lisa directed starring Piper Perabo. Produced by Moxie Pictures it was a part of the Glamour REEL Moments shorts series. “Just For Kicks” is a full length documentary Lisa shot and co-directed. It premiered at Tribeca film festival in 2005, and was shown on SpikeTV, Canal+, among other stations around the world. It’s currently on DVD. After seeing “Just For Kicks” NIKE enlisted the team to shoot a film for the 25th anniversary of the AF1, as well as the music video “Classic” featuring Kanye West, Nas, Rakim and KRS-1. She directed and shot a series of short films for Tommy Hilfiger and Glamour Magazine that premiered in NYC June 2008. One of her latest projects had her in Ethiopia where she shot and co-directed a short with Marisa Tomei. It’ll air on PBS in 2011 and is inspired by Nicholas Kristoff’s book “Half the Sky”. In 2010 she teamed up again with Nancy Savoca to shoot her feature film “Union Square” starring Mira Sorvino and Tammi Blanchard. Currently Lisa's work can be seen on the Cooking channel, "Extra Virgin", Debi Mazar and Gabriele Corcos cooking/reality show. Lisa has also shot and directed commercial and web campaigns for clients: Revlon, Kia and Cazadores Tequila.