John Cavill (NZCS) is an Emmy Award-winning cinematographer and sought-after main unit and second unit director of photography.
Starting out as a studio cameraman for the then-NZBC, he worked his way up through the camera department before embarking on a freelance career in 1985. The role of second unit DOP on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys marked the beginning of John’s love for shooting long-form drama and feature films.
He has since worked on many of the significant features and television series that have been made in New Zealand including, Xena: Warrior Princess, The Lord of the Rings, Spartacus, Ash vs. Evil Dead, and Pete’s Dragon. In 2018 he won a Daytime Emmy Award – Outstanding Cinematography for Chinese-American co-production Scars of Nanking.
Aerial photography is a specialty area for John and he is a principal in Pacific Steadicam Company, New Zealand’s foremost Steadicam and Gimbal hire company.
