lit a candle 3h ago24 was the first show I watched properly and the cinematography was absolutely stunning. Rest well, Rodney.
Their story
Rodney Charters was a New Zealand-born cinematographer whose restless, handheld camera language helped define the look of the Fox thriller 24. Born on 25 November 1948 and raised in New Plymouth, he grew up in his father's darkroom at Charters and Guthrie Photographers, studied at Auckland's Elam School of Fine…
Rodney Charters was a New Zealand-born cinematographer whose restless, handheld camera language helped define the look of the Fox thriller 24. Born on 25 November 1948 and raised in New Plymouth, he grew up in his father's darkroom at Charters and Guthrie Photographers, studied at Auckland's Elam School of Fine Arts, and trained at London's Royal College of Art alongside future filmmakers including Tony and Ridley Scott. A student short that reached the Sydney Film Festival helped open that London door.
After documentary and news work based in Toronto, Charters moved into scripted television and features across Canada and the United States. He shot extensively on Friday the 13th: The Series, The Pretender, Roswell and Nash Bridges before joining 24 in 2001. Across the first eight seasons he photographed 184 episodes plus the telefilm 24: Redemption, directed three further installments, and earned Emmy nominations in 2005 and 2006. American Cinematographer documented the show's aggressive handheld style, whip pans and snap zooms, and Charters' preference for covering scenes in full takes. The American Society of Cinematographers later honoured him with its Career Achievement in Television Award in 2013.
Later credits included Shameless, the Dallas revival, Magnum P.I., and features such as Kull the Conqueror and Going in Style. He became an ASC member in 2004 after recommendations from Owen Roizman, John Toll and Robert McLachlan. Colleagues knew him as both a craftsman of kinetic network drama and a director who understood actors' blocking from behind the camera.
Charters died suddenly in Amsterdam on 12 September 2026, aged 77, the ASC announced. No cause was reported in The Hollywood Reporter obituary published days later. He is survived by his wife Gillian and children May, Jasmin and Robin, who shared the family's love of filmmaking.
Beyond the Emmy-nominated years on 24, Charters belonged to a generation of episodic directors of photography who treated network television as a craft equal to features. He mentored operators on covering dialogue in motion, argued for camera positions that felt unsafe until they revealed character, and carried New Zealand pragmatism into Hollywood schedules. His sudden death in Amsterdam closed a career that stretched from darkroom apprenticeship to one of the most imitated action looks on American television.
Biography adapted from The Hollywood Reporter; American Society of Cinematographers; rodneycharters.com biography; Television Academy.
In their own words
“I was raised in the darkroom.”
Charters to American Cinematographer, 2020, on growing up in his father's New Plymouth studio.
“We've evolved to the point where we always shoot a scene in its entirety - it's never broken into setups.”
Charters describing 24's method to American Cinematographer, 2004.
Photos
1Rodney Charters
by People Forever
Same. Every frame looked intentional.