A cinematographer since the late 1990's, Richard Rutkowski has worked for directors as renowned and varied as Neil Burger, Darren Aronofsky, Adrian Lyne, Joel Schumacher, Wes Craven, and Roman Polanski.  His resume includes nearly all modern camera formats, from 16mm to 3D, HD, DSLR, and 35mm anamorphic.  In addition to feature films, Richard shoots commercials, series television and gallery installation works for artists including Robert Wilson, Dan Colen and Sharon Lockhart. 

Most recently Richard began shooting the first season of The Americans, a period spy drama on the FX Network starring Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys.  In 2012 he photographed Season 2 of the Starz original series Boss, featuring the Golden Globe winning performance of Kelsey Grammer as a larger than life Mayor of Chicago.

Working over a three-year period with theater director and artist Robert Wilson, Rutkowski produced and directed a new feature documentary, The Space in Back of You. This film depicts the influence of Japanese dancer Suzushi Hanayagi on Wilson and a circle of avant-garde collaborators. A moving and quietly intense work, it had its US premiere last January at Lincoln Center and has screened at the ZKM Museum Karlsruhe, the Documentary Festival of Thessoloniki Greece, the Asian American Film Festival in San Francisco, Image Forum Tokyo, and the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York.

Early in his career, outfitted with mini-DV cameras and a minimal crew, Richard's efforts on the indie feature Homework received positive notice, helping the film earn the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Slamdance Film Festival. At that year's Sundance Festival, Rutkowski's work was represented by Alison Maclean's documentary, Persons of Interest, which chronicled the struggles of men held by the US government without charges after 9/11. In 2003, Richard received a Best Cinematography Nomination at the Independent Spirit Awards for Neil Burger's Interview with the Assassin, which was also nominated as Best First Feature that year and released by Magnolia Pictures.

Since then, Rutkowski has consistently photographed compelling narrative work. In 2010 he filmed the critically acclaimed series Lights Out, starring Holt McCallany, Stacy Keach, and Pablo Schreiber.  In 2009 Richard shot Beware the Gonzo, a feature directed by Brian Goluboff and starring Zoe Kravitz, Ezra Miller, Campbell Scott and Amy Sedaris, which was released in the fall of 2011 by Tribeca Films.

Second-unit DP credits include Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer, Wes Craven's My Soul to Take, Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream, The Number 23  directed by Joel Schumacher, and Harmony Korine's Julien Donkey Boy. More recently Richard contributed additional photography for Iron Man 2,  Neil Burger's Limitless, and the international dance film Cobu 3D.  In 2001, Rutkowski teamed with director Adrian Lyne and cinematographer Peter Biziou on Unfaithful, serving as second-unit DP and camera operator.

Born in Oklahoma, Richard grew up on eastern Long Island, the son of landscape painter Casimir Rutkowski. He began making short films while a student at Harvard College, studying with documentary filmmakers Ross McElwee, Robb Moss and Robert Gardner. Richard is also an avid still photographer, whose work has been exhibited in New York and Los Angeles and seen in publications internationally.  He lives in Los Angeles and New York City with his wife Betsy and step-daughter Daisy.