Matthew J. Lloyd is a Canadian-born cinematographer. Originally from Alberta, Canada, Lloyd first engaged with moving images in the late 1990s as a skateboard videographer, travelling and filming with top Canadian skateboarders. This formative experience sparked his passion for cinematography.
He moved to Toronto to pursue formal education in film, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in film production with a concentration in cinematography from York University. Later, he relocated to Los Angeles to pursue his studies in cinematography at the American Film Institute (AFI). During and after his education, he shot numerous short-form projects, commercials and music videos, laying the groundwork for a career in narrative filmmaking.
His first feature film credit as Director of Photography was on Robot & Frank (2012), a science fiction comedy-drama directed by Jake Schreier. From there, Lloyd went on to shoot a diverse array of films, including The Better Angels (2014), Cop Car (2015), Power Rangers (2017), The Seagull (2018), The Kid (2019), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), The Water Man (2020), and Origin (2023).
On television, Lloyd has worked on significant pilots and series — among them Alpha House (2013), Fargo (2014), and Daredevil (2015) — as well as other projects, including The Defenders. His approach to cinematography has been described as prioritising "imagery that is immersed in the story, captures the director's vision and engrosses the audience."
Lloyd's talent has been recognised by his peers and by the industry: he won the cinematography award at Camerimage for his work on Until the Quiet Comes (2013) by Flying Lotus. He also received nominations for major awards, including an ASC Award in 2014 for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in a Half-Hour Episodic Series for the Alpha House pilot. For his role on Fargo, he earned nominations for both a Primetime Emmy and a Camerimage Jury Award. His work on Daredevil similarly garnered a Camerimage Jury Award nomination for the series' pilot.
Lloyd has spoken about his working philosophy, especially when switching between large-scale studio films and smaller, intimate productions. On The Water Man, for example, he applied what he calls a "scalable process," adapting his cinematographic approach to suit the project's tone and needs rather than defaulting to the heavy, technical infrastructure typical of blockbuster films.
His more high-profile collaboration is Origin (2023), directed by Ava DuVernay. For this project, Lloyd spent extensive time in preparation, helping develop a unified visual language that spanned different geographies and periods — a challenge he embraced with care to honour the film's thematic ambition.
2019
