James A. Chressanthis Bio

James Chressanthis was born and raised in Philadelphia. His father was an engineer and an amateur photographer who documented his business travels with "fantastic photos."

Chressanthis got his first 35 mm reflex camera as a gift at the age of 10. He began shooting 8 mm films in college and later invested in a 16 mm camera. Chressanthis planned to follow in his father's footsteps, entering college as an engineering major, but his personal interests were photography, poetry and art. He earned a master's of fine arts degree at Southern Illinois University.

Chressanthis began his career as a sculptor and artist who taught at the university level for seven years. He shot a personal diary film during a visit to his grandparents' native village in Greece. After it aired on PBS, Chressanthis took a sabbatical and enrolled at AFI as cinematography major in 1984.

He subsequently filmed nearly 100 music videos before breaking into narrative filmmaking with an independent feature called Leather Jackets. His episodic series credits include Nowhere Man, The Cape, High Incident and Martial Law. He has also lensed various independent features, the studio features Hexed and Urban Legend and movies-of-the week, Father and Son, Death Dreams, Majority Rules and The Cape. He won a Cable Ace Award (shared with Bryan England) for Public Enemy # 2.