Peter Biziou BSC was born in Bangor, North Wales, on 8 August 1944. His family had been evacuated there from London during the Second World War. His father, Leon Bijou, worked in the film industry as a cinematographer, special-effects and animation cameraman and assistant director. Through his father, Biziou was exposed to filmmaking from an early age, regularly visiting studios and locations and observing the work of film crews. He also spent time in his father's small studio, making models and experimenting with stop-motion effects.
After returning to London, Biziou attended Paddington Technical College and Kynaston Technical School, where he developed practical skills in engineering, machining and technical drawing. He left school as soon as he could and began looking for work in the film industry. His first job was with an animation company in Wardour Street, an experience that helped him find his way into professional filmmaking.
Biziou began working in cinematography during the mid-1960s, initially in TV Commercials & short films and small productions. Among his early work were short films for director Robert Freeman. His career developed through commercials and documentary-style production as well as narrative filmmaking, and the experience he gained shooting commercials became an important influence on his later approach to feature cinematography.
A major professional relationship began in the 1970s with director Alan Parker. Biziou photographed Parker's short films Footsteps and Our Cissy before working on Parker's first feature, Bugsy Malone (1976). The film, with its cast of children playing the roles of gangsters in a stylised version of 1920s Hollywood, presented Biziou with an opportunity to develop a distinctive visual world while working within the practical limitations of a relatively small production.
Biziou subsequently became associated with a series of ambitious and visually distinctive films. He photographed Terry Gilliam's Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) and Time Bandits (1981), as well as Pink Floyd – The Wall (1982). These productions required very different visual strategies, ranging from comedy and fantasy to the highly stylised combination of live action and music performance in The Wall.
In 1984, Biziou received the Award for Best Artistic Contribution at the Cannes Film Festival for his cinematography on Another Country, directed by Marek Kanievska. His photography gave the film's public-school setting a controlled and increasingly oppressive visual character, complementing the story's exploration of class, sexuality and political identity.
His work continued to encompass very different genres. He photographed Adrian Lyne's 9½ Weeks (1986), bringing a highly controlled and sensual visual style to the film, and Chris Menges' directorial debut A World Apart (1988), which won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes. Biziou's work on these films demonstrated his ability to respond to directors with very different approaches while maintaining a strong visual identity of his own.
The high point of Biziou's career came with his reunion with Alan Parker on Mississippi Burning (1988). Set in the American South during the civil-rights era, the film required a visual style that could convey both the physical environment and the tension of the story. Biziou's cinematography received widespread recognition, earning him the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography and a BSC Award for the film.
Biziou continued to work with leading directors in the following decades. His credits included Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990), City of Joy (1992), Damage (1992), Jim Sheridan's In the Name of the Father (1993) and Richard Loncraine's Richard III (1995). His photography on Richard III was subsequently recognised with a Golden Frog nomination at the Camerimage festival.
In 1998, Biziou photographed Peter Weir's The Truman Show. The film required the cinematographer to create a visual world that could initially appear natural and familiar while subtly revealing the artificiality of Truman's surroundings. Biziou's work earned him a BAFTA nomination for Best Cinematography. The film has subsequently become one of his most recognised credits and is regarded as one of the notable visual achievements of 1990s cinema.
His later feature work included Unfaithful (2002), directed by Adrian Lyne, Ladies in Lavender (2004), directed by Charles Dance, and Derailed (2005).
Biziou's contribution to cinematography has been recognised by both the BSC and the wider international cinematography community. The British Society of Cinematographers awarded him its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. In 2023 he received the EnergaCAMERIMAGE Lifetime Achievement Award, recognising a body of work that had already received an Academy Award, a BAFTA, the Cannes Award for Best Artistic Contribution and numerous other honours.