Nicole Whitaker graduated from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, and subsequently began her career as a still photographer. Raised by artistic parents, who helped establish the Santa Monica Museum of Art, Nicole was immersed in the fine arts from an early age, which informed her unique eye, impressive taste, and drive to create. As she developed her love of the raw elements of light and camera, she made the transition to moving image. Over the last 20 years, Nicole has worked across all mediums, from fiction and nonfiction to television and commercials. Her collaborators include directors such as Academy Award winner Freida Mock and Academy Award nominees Brett Morgan, Jessica Sanders and Richard Robbins. Additionally, she has crafted relationships with Jason Reitman, Wayne Kramer, Marshall Herskowitz and Jeffrey Nachmanoff. Nicole began shooting second unit on critically acclaimed feature films including Golden Globe nominated Thank You for Smoking, Running Scared, Coach Carter and Academy Award nominated The Cooler. Her first unit credits include Rhino, Followers, Chasing the Blues, Bradford Tatum's Salt, Amateur Night, American Whore, On The Doll, and Wrestling Jerusalem. Her documentary work has garnered recognition and attention, such as her 2014 Emmy nomination for Girl Rising and 2015 Emmy nomination for Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck. In addition to her documentary and narrative work, she has also shot spots for Apple, Nike, Pepsi, Toyota, Target, Sony, and Honda, just to name a few. Most recently, Nicole has shot episodes of Amazon's critically-acclaimed series, Patriot and the first season of Are You Sleeping?, starring Octavia Spencer, Aaron Paul and Lizzy Caplan; one of the very first series to be premiered on Apple's highly-anticipated DTC service. She is currently shooting Our Lady, LTD., the upcoming neo-noir thriller series helmed by Steve Conrad & Bruce Terris, and starring Ben Kingsley, Jimmi Simpson, Jacki Weaver, and Luis Guzmán. 1/14/2019
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Biography from IMDb.
- Cinematographer
- 18 on MovieCove · 20 credits in all
What are Nicole Hirsch Whitaker's films like?
Across their 10 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Self and Society.
Genres
Their MovieCove films by primary genre. The badge is the typical Midcredits score of the genre's films, the median percentile; an up arrow marks a genre at or above their average across these genres.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 1 · Earnest 8
A split, not a type: Light 4 · Serious 2 · Dark 3
Grounded 7 · Stylized 1 · Heightened 1
Gentle 3 · Charged 4 · Intense 2
A split, not a type: Steady 5 · Shifting 4 · Whiplash 0
A split, not a type: Straight-faced 5 · Some laughs 0 · Funny 4
Slow burn 5 · Even-paced 4 · Relentless 0
Casual 4 · Engaged 4 · Full focus 1
A split, not a type: Easy watch 5 · Affecting 2 · Heavy 2
Resolved 7 · Open-ended 1 · Ambiguous 1
Moods and endings
- Happy1
- Bittersweet3
- Tragic2
- Ambiguous4
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Nicole Hirsch Whitaker's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 13 of their 18 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Nicole Hirsch Whitaker's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
20 credits, 18 with a MovieCove page.
Dust Bunny(2025)
Midcredits score: 68th percentile of all films
I Want to Feel Fun (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2025)
One Piece(2023)
Midcredits score: 95th percentile of all shows
Lioness(2023)
Midcredits score: 82nd percentile of all shows
Bad Sisters(2022)
Midcredits score: 91st percentile of all shows
Shining Vale(2022)
Midcredits score: 56th percentile of all shows
It Takes Three(2021)
Midcredits score: 18th percentile of all films
On the Verge(2021)
Midcredits score: 25th percentile of all shows
Deadcon(2019)
Midcredits score: 1st percentile of all films
Perpetual Grace, LTD(2019)
Midcredits score: 74th percentile of all shows
Chasing the Blues(2017)
Midcredits score: 64th percentile of all films
Amateur Night(2016)
Midcredits score: 16th percentile of all films
Wrestling Jerusalem(2016)
Midcredits score: 95th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
Cobain: Montage of Heck(2015)
Midcredits score: 95th percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 97th percentile of all films
Girl Rising(2013)
Midcredits score: 81st percentile of all films
Miss Representation(2011)
Midcredits score: 89th percentile of all films
On the Doll(2007)
Midcredits score: 27th percentile of all films
Salt (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2006)
Thank You for Smoking(2005)
Midcredits score: 93rd percentile of all films
Career shape
A full career of 18 titles from 2005 to 2025.
Biggest box office
Dust Bunny (2025)
Highest rated
Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)
Most popular right now
Dust Bunny (2025)
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
Awards
Nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in 2026, Best Cinematography.
Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.
How do Nicole Hirsch Whitaker's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 75th percentile, the median of all 12; across their 9 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 28th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up9
- 50th to 74th4
- 25th to 49th2
- Below 25th3
Shape of the crowd
6 of their 18 titles are Universally Loved.
- Universally Loved6
- Universally Panned1
- Cult Classic1
- Crowd Pleaser5
- Broadly Agreed1
- Mixed4
Reviewers score the cinematography 59/100 in their films, across 5 reviewed titles; fans 80, detractors 56. The element that speaks to their work as a cinematographer.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is Nicole Hirsch Whitaker's work okay for kids?
Across up to 5 MovieCove titles with content scores, 1 of the 4 categories sits near the median of all films.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted. The band's colour is the severity of their median, named beside it.
Who does Nicole Hirsch Whitaker work with?
People who share at least 2 of Nicole Hirsch Whitaker's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Robin Gonsalves shares the most, 2.
Cinematographers and editors
- Robin GonsalvesShared titles: It Takes Three (2021), Deadcon (2019)See all 2 shared titles with Robin Gonsalves
- James WhitakerShared titles: Perpetual Grace, LTD (2019), Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)See all 2 shared titles with James Whitaker
Producers
- Addison MehrShared titles: It Takes Three (2021), Deadcon (2019)See all 2 shared titles with Addison Mehr
- Ashok AmritrajShared titles: It Takes Three (2021), Deadcon (2019)See all 2 shared titles with Ashok Amritraj
- Barry BarclayShared titles: It Takes Three (2021), Deadcon (2019)See all 2 shared titles with Barry Barclay
- Floris BauerShared titles: It Takes Three (2021), Deadcon (2019)See all 2 shared titles with Floris Bauer
