John Toll, ASC was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He moved to Los Angeles at the age of 19, where he worked part-time for David Wolper Productions while pursuing a liberal arts degree. He initially worked as a production assistant, then began working on documentary camera crews and subsequently low budget feature film crews.

Toll became a member of the camera Guild very early in his career after working as an assistant on a television movie filmed in the Bahamas. His first mainstream job was on an early 1970s TV series called The Rookies. Later, he crewed with John Alonzo, ASC on a number of films beginning with Black Sunday. Toll moved up to camera operator with Alonzo, and subsequently worked with Allen Daviau, ASC, Jordan Cronenweth, ASC, Robbie Greenberg, ASC, Conrad Hall, ASC and cutting edge TV commercial director-shooters Mel Sokolsky and Steve Horn. He began shooting commercials during the late 1980s. Toll earned his first narrative film credit for the TV pilot for The Young Riders, with Rob Lieberman, a director he met through his commercial work. The telefilm earned a 1989 Outstanding Achievement Award nomination from his peers in the American Society of Cinematographers. Toll earned his first feature credit for Wind in 1992. His second and third features were Legends of the Fall and Braveheart. Toll received consecutive Oscars in 1994 and 1995 for his work on those two films. It was a remarkable milestone. Only one other cinematographer, Leon Shamroy, ASC has earned consecutive Oscars. Toll was also nominated for ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards for both films, taking top honors for Braveheart. He earned a third Oscar nomination and his second ASC Outstanding Achievement Award in 1998 for The Thin Red Line. His other narrative credits include Jack, The Rainmaker, Simpatico, and Almost Famous. Captain Corelli's Mandolin and Vanilla Sky are both slated for release later this year.