User:MisterElectricity/sandbox

Ousama Rawi (Arabic: لادن‎ راوي; born March 3, 1939) is an Iraqi-born British-Canadian cinematographer. Since 1968, he has shot numerous feature films and television programmes in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. He won a Primetime Emmy Award, two Gemini Awards, and three CSC Awards for his work on the Showtime period drama The Tudors (2007-2010). He resides in Los Angeles, and is a member of the British and Canadian Society of Cinematographers.

Life and career
Rawi was born in Baghdad, Iraq, but moved to Scotland with his family at an early age. His passion for photography began at an early age, and he began working as a production assistant at a commercial production company in London. The job gave him the opportunity to observe and absorb the workings of a film set, and make contact with and befriend filmmakers for whom he would come to work with in later years. At the age of 21, he shot a short film during the spare hours of his day job, The Collector, which would later be picked by Rank Film Distributors and screened at the Cannes Film Festival, gaining him international recognition.

Rawi's professional career began in at ITV Border in Carlisle, first as a newsreel cameraman and later shooting documentaries. After securing some work shooting shorts, he managed to segue into filming commercials. His transition to long form feature films was a result of occasionally working with Features Directors who were also directing commercials. His first feature was the Mike Hodges-directed crime thriller Pulp, starring Michael Caine. Distributor United Artists was initially opposed to the unknown Rawi as DOP, but Caine, one of the co-producers, was persuaded by industry friends to hire the young shooter. It was just about the time Pulp was released that Rawi was invited to join the British Society of Cinematographers.

Rawi's introduction to Canada came in 1977 as director of photography on the UK/Canada co-production Power Play. Writer/director Martyn Burke, a Canadian, initially shot scenes in West Germany, to be followed by the rest of the shoot in Toronto. However, money problems shelved the project until 1977, when Rawi crossed the Atlantic to film the balance of the picture. During those eight to nine weeks, Rawi met several Canadian producers and, shortly after returning to the U.K., he was offered a 12-month contract to shoot commercials in Canada. He then joined two commercial producers to form a production company, and shot numerous commercials for over ten years before returning to features.

Personal life
Rawi was married to actress Rita Tushingham in 1981, the couple divorced in 1994. He moved to Los Angeles in 1995, but maintained a home in Toronto and now travels back and forth for personal and professional reasons. He is fluent in Arabic and Turkish.