Born Adam John Kimmel on October 14, 1960, in New York City, he grew up moving back and forth between New York and California, often in a VW bus with his mother and siblings. At times they lived in communes, which led to a progressive education, mainly at alternative schools in New York and in the San Francisco area, which is where he first became interested in the arts and film.

Kimmel began his career as a Camera Trainee on the set of The Wanderers. That followed with work in the same capacity on Raging Bull and Dressed to Kill. On set, Kimmel learned the responsibilities of the camera person, the camera equipment, and the process of filmmaking. Of particular interest to Kimmel was the combination of technical expertise and artistic vision required to tell the story as a director envisions it.

Kimmel became a Camera Assistant, working on Birdy (1984), directed by Alan Parker and starring Matthew Modine and Nicholas Cage, My Favorite Year (1982), directed by Richard Benjamin, and for Tribute, directed by Bob Clark. Kimmel also worked on hundreds of commercials and became a sought after focus puller in the earliest days of Steadicam. Kimmel was often called in to work on heroic shots with Steadicam pioneers Larry McConkey and Ted Churchill, and worked as the lead assistant on Springsteen’s music video “Dancing in the Dark.” Kimmel also worked on the Bruce Springsteen segment included in the music video compilation, “The Complete Video Anthology 1978-2000.” Kimmel’s break as Director of Cinematography for a full-length feature came in 1992 when he shot director Ted Demme’s first film, “Who’s the Man?” beginning a long working collaboration with the director. Together they worked on “The Ref,” “Beautiful Girls,” and “Monument Ave.” among other long-form projects.

Kimmel is involved in the making of documentaries, music videos, short films, commercials, and full-length feature films as a Cinematographer. Project credits include Christopher Guest’s “Almost Heroes” (1998), “Jesus’ Son” (1999), “Beautiful Girls” (1996), “Lars and the Real Girl” (2007), “Capote” (2005), and” Never Let Me Go” (2010). Notable music video credits include Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia,” U2’s “One,” LL Cool J’s “Going Back to Call.” and the Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York.”

Known for establishing a distinct visual approach to projects, Kimmel was nominated in 2005 for an Awards Circuit Community Award for Best Cinematography (Capote). Kimmel has also been nominated twice for an Independent Spirit Award, once in 2006 (Capote), and in 2011 for his work on “Never Let Me Go” (2010). Kimmel also received a BAFTA shortlisting for Best Cinematography for Never Let Me Go.