Life and career

Ballhaus was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of actors Lena Hutter and Oskar Ballhaus. Ballhaus was influenced by family friend Max Ophüls, and appears as an extra in Ophüls last film Lola Montès (1955).

He came to prominence with his work on sixteen films for Rainer Werner Fassbinder beginning with Whity (1970) and, including The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972), Satan's Brew and Chinese Roulette (both 1976).

Since settling in the United States, he has also worked on many American films, including Baby It's You (1983) for John Sayles; After Hours (1985), The Color of Money (1986), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), The Age of Innocence (1993), Gangs of New York (2002), and The Departed (2006) for Martin Scorsese; Dracula (1992) for Francis Ford Coppola, and Sleepers (1996) for Barry Levinson.

Ballhaus has been nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, for Broadcast News (1987), The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), and Gangs of New York (2002), but has never won. He won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography for Goodfellas.

Ballhaus released his documentary In Berlin together with Ciro Cappelari in May 2009.

Personal life

His wife since 1958, Helga Ballhaus, née Betten, appeared in a handful of films, including several directed by Fassbinder; she died in 2006. Their son Florian is also a cinematographer (Flightplan, The Devil Wears Prada). In 2011, he married German-American film director Sherry Hormann (Desert Flower). Michael Ballhaus is a nephew of the German stage and film actor Carl Balhaus (M, The Blue Angel).

Filmography

Year	Film	Director	Other notes
1971	Whity	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
	Beware of a Holy Whore	Rainer Werner Fassbinder	German Title: Warnung vor einer heiligen Nutte
1972	The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant	Rainer Werner Fassbinder	German Title: Die bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant
1973	World on a Wire	Rainer Werner Fassbinder	German Title: Welt am Draht
1974	Martha	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
1975	Fox and His Friends	Rainer Werner Fassbinder	German Title: Faustrecht der Freiheit
	Mother Küsters' Trip to Heaven	Rainer Werner Fassbinder	German Title: Mutter Küsters' Fahrt zum Himmel
1976	Sommergäste
	Satan's Brew	Rainer Werner Fassbinder	German Title: Satansbraten
	Chinese Roulette	Rainer Werner Fassbinder	German Title: Chinesisches Roulette
1978	Germany in Autumn	Rainer Werner Fassbinder	German Title: Deutschland im Herbst
	Despair	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
1979	The Marriage of Maria Braun	Rainer Werner Fassbinder	German Title: Die Ehe der Maria Braun
	The First Polka	Klaus Emmerich	German Title: Die erste Polka
1981	Lili Marleen	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
1982	Dear Mr. Wonderful	Peter Lilienthal
1983	Sheer Madness	Margarethe von Trotta	German Title: Heller Wahn
	Baby It's You	John Sayles
1984	Reckless	James Foley
	Old Enough	Marisa Silver
	Heartbreakers	Bobby Roth
	Das Autogramm	Peter Lilienthal
1985	After Hours	Martin Scorsese	Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography
1986	Under the Cherry Moon	Prince
	The Color of Money	Martin Scorsese
1987	The Glass Menagerie	Paul Newman
	Broadcast News	James L. Brooks	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Cinematography
1988	The House on Carroll Street	Peter Yates
	The Last Temptation of Christ	Martin Scorsese
	Dirty Rotten Scoundrels	Frank Oz
	Working Girl	Mike Nichols
1989	The Fabulous Baker Boys	Steve Kloves	Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography Nominated - Academy Award for Best Cinematography
1990	Postcards from the Edge	Mike Nichols
	Goodfellas	Martin Scorsese	Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography
1991	Guilty by Suspicion	Irwin Winkler
	What About Bob?	Frank Oz
1992	The Mambo Kings	Arne Glimcher
	Bram Stoker's Dracula	Francis Ford Coppola	Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography
1993	The Age of Innocence	Martin Scorsese	Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography
1994	I'll Do Anything	James L. Brooks
	Quiz Show	Robert Redford
1995	Outbreak	Wolfgang Petersen
1996	Sleepers	Barry Levinson
1997	Air Force One	Wolfgang Petersen
1998	Primary Colors	Mike Nichols
1999	Wild Wild West	Barry Sonnenfeld
2000	What Planet Are You From?	Mike Nichols
	The Legend of Bagger Vance	Robert Redford	Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Cinematography
2002	Gangs of New York	Martin Scorsese	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Cinematography Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Cinematography
2003	Uptown Girls	Boaz Yakin
	Something's Gotta Give	Nancy Meyers
2006	The Departed	Martin Scorsese	Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Cinematography
2013	3096	Sherry Hormann

Awards

• 2007 Bavarian Film Awards Honorary Award

[ Source: Wikipedia ]