Nick McLean

McLean was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of George McLean and Dorothy Jane (née Scott), and raised in the San Fernando Valley. His family was highly involved in the entertainment industry. His uncle was an actor and his step-father, Fred Jackman, Jr. was a cinematographer and the son of the second president of the American Society of Cinematographers.

McLean attended North Hollywood High School, and earned a football scholarship to the University of Southern California.^{[2][self-published source]}

After graduating, McLean opened a pool hall and a body and fender shop in Van Nuys, California. After this, Jackman introduced McLean to the camera department at Columbia Pictures. He started working as a clapper boy in 1966 for the television series The Iron Horse. In 1969, McLean became a second assistant cameraman at Universal Studios, working on many shows, before providing aerial cinematography for the film Red Sky at Morning.

While working as a cameraman on the film Sharky's Machine, McLean was approached by Burt Reynolds, who directed the film; Reynolds offered him a job as the cinematographer for his film Stroker Ace, which McLean accepted. As another favor, Reynolds offered for McLean to shoot the sitcom Evening Shade. From that point onwards, McLean worked on various film and television projects, as camera operator^[3] and director of photography.^[4][5]

In 2002, McLean received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Cinematography in a Multicamera Series for his work on Friends.^[6][7]