Paul Laufer has a long-standing creative collaboration with Tarsem Singh. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Laufer arrived in Los Angeles in 1977 and attended USC and the Art Center College of Design, graduating in 1982. After assisting camera for five years, he became part of the first wave of music video directors of photography, creative videos for such artists as Sade, Whitney Houston, Simply Red, REM, Roy Orbison, Belinda Carlisle, Fine Young Cannibals and Jody Watley among many others.
By the beginning of the nineties, the vanguard of music video makers moved into commercials, offering additional creative opportunities. Some of the commercials Laufer shot were nominated for, and have won, at Cannes, the London International Advertising Awards, the Clio, and the Directors and Art Directors Association. In 1994, eight of the commercials he shot for Tarsem were installed in the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection as a tribute to the director.
In addition, Laufer was the director of photography on director Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s feature film Frankie Starlight, and the TNT television movie Habitations of Dragons.
