Matthew F. Leonetti

Leonetti was born in Los Angeles, California.

His younger brother, John R. Leonetti, is also a prolific cinematographer and occasional film director.

Their father Frank was a filmmaker and cinematographer, who served as a gaffer and lighting technician on low-budget films like The Violent Years, Frankenstein's Daughter, and Beyond the Time Barrier.^[2]

Leonetti is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University.^[1]

Leonetti began his career working on a number of projects with his father, serving as a camera operator on films like Adam at 6 A.M. and The Organization.^[2][3] He soon fell in with Jerry Jameson, a prolific television director who dabbled in feature films.^[5][3]

His debut as cinematographer was The Bat People, a low-budget horror movie directed by Jameson, on which Leonetti also served as an executive producer.^[6] Though the film came and went with little fanfare, it did gain a minor cult following years later after being featured at an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.^[7] Leonetti spent much of the 1970s shooting TV films directed by Jameson.^[3]

In 1979, Leonetti worked on his first big-budget theatrical film with the Academy Award-winning Breaking Away, directed by Peter Yates.^[8]

Leonetti later shot the Poltergeist,^[9] where he was responsible for creating many of the film's iconic images.^[10] This proved to be his big break, and in the following years he quickly became one of the most prolific and accomplished DPs in the film industry, shooting a large number of iconic films of the 80s.^[11][12]

Leonetti served as DP on his brother's directorial debut, Mortal Kombat Annihilation.^[13]

In 2000s, Leonetti shot a string of blockbusters, from thrillers^[14] to action, as well as comedy films.

• Kay Weniger: Das große Personenlexikon des Films, Band 4, Page 690, Berlin (2001) ISBN 3-89602-340-3