Rory Lewis Photographer Headshots & Portraiture

I return to New York this August. From Saturday 9 to Wednesday 13 August, my studio at 580 8th Avenue — twenty floors above the Garment District, a few minutes' walk from Times Square and the theatre houses — will be open for actor headshots, portrait sittings, and corporate headshots.

There are faces the camera simply agrees with, and Fedly Daniel has one of them. He came to my Midtown Manhattan studio (580 8th Avenue, 20th Floor) for a new set of actor headshots, and from the first frame the session had that quality I'm always chasing — stillness with something moving underneath.

There's a particular pleasure in a sitter you clock the moment they come through the door, and Alex Wyndham was one of them — Maecenas himself, Octavian's silken fixer from the second season of Rome, standing in my Downtown LA studio some seventeen years on and none the worse for it. I confess I said as much straight away, which is not always the done thing with actors, but there it was. One doesn't forget a face that spent a whole season murmuring political poison into a young Caesar's ear.

The stage actor's face, and what a camera asks of it

There is a particular ease to photographing an actor who has spent real time on a stage. The instrument is already tuned. Francis Price came to the Main Street studio with exactly that — a classically trained presence that knows how to hold stillness without going dead behind the eyes, which is the whole quiet art of a good headshot.

There's a particular kind of session that arrives when an actor steps back into the room after time away. The face is the same. The man behind it isn't — and the work, if it's any good, has to hold both.

Brian Kolb came to the Main Street studio to mark exactly that: a return to acting after a break, and the new narrative that comes with it. The brief was not one look, but range — the proof a casting director needs that a man can be cast in more than a single drawer. So we built six, and we built them to argue with each other.

Spent an afternoon at the Downtown studio with actor Elvis Winterbottom, in for a set of headshots built to carry across casting briefs. We talked a great deal between setups, and he turned out to be genuinely interesting company, the kind of sitter who makes the hours run away from you. We worked through a deliberate range of looks: a plain dark tee and mock neck for the stripped-back theatrical frames, a navy waffle knit, a tailored blazer over a soft blue shirt for the producer and executive read, and a weathered leather jacket for something with more grit. One man, several characters, which is exactly what a working actor needs the camera to hold.

I had the privilege this week of photographing Babs Olusanmokun in my London studio, and as I worked I found myself thinking, not for the first time, about how often I get to say that word — privilege — about the Black actors who find their way to my chair.

There is a particular quiet that settles over a portrait sitting when the subject is, by trade, a maker of sound. The performer who fills a room — who has stood in front of seventeen thousand people at the Coca-Cola Arena and held them — arrives in my studio and discovers that the only instrument I am asking him to play is his own stillness. Nick Pritchard understood this faster than most.

There is a particular satisfaction in taking down a body of work you have looked at for too long and replacing it with something better. I have just done exactly that. The headshot portfolio has been rebuilt from the ground up — newer sittings, harder edits, a great deal that didn't make the cut. What's left is, I think, the strongest the studio has put out.

Kiko Macan came to the Downtown Los Angeles studio this week for new headshots, and I was rather pleased he did. Kiko is one of those sitters who arrives with two careers in his pocket — actor and director — which makes the session a more interesting puzzle than usual. A headshot for an actor sells presence; a portrait for a director sells authority. We set out to do both.

Some sitters arrive at the studio with a CV; Jacobo Fe Gismera arrived with a biography that reads like one of his own screenplays. A Spaniard in Los Angeles by way of UCLA, he was the youngest novelist in Spain to publish in the historical genre, putting out his peplum novel Perfectus Imperator at nineteen, the same age he began a modelling career that has since run to hundreds of publications across a dozen or more countries.

There are sitters who arrive carrying their work in their face before they've said a word, and Carlo Mendez is one of them. He came into the Main Street studio on a bright Downtown morning, and within a few minutes it was clear this was a man entirely at ease in front of a lens — which, for a photographer, is both a gift and a quiet challenge. Ease can flatten a portrait if you let it. The task becomes finding the moment underneath the comfort.

There's a particular kind of luck in photographing someone you know completely. With Sasha I've now made more portraits than of any other subject I've ever worked with, and these latest frames from the LA studio are some of the ones I keep returning to. The cropped platinum hair, the stacked silver ear pieces, the Adidas track top with its three stripes — there's an austere, almost sculptural confidence to her here that the lighting was built to serve rather than soften.

Ben Palacios came through the Downtown Los Angeles studio last week, as part of an ongoing refresh of the actor look book — a deliberate evolution of lighting, styling and approach intended to give clients the distinction casting directors are now demanding.

Alex Blake came back to the studio recently for an update to his headshots — the kind of return visit that punctuates most working actors' careers every two or three years, when the credits have grown, the face has settled into something a little more itself, and the agent has started asking gently whether the current image is still doing the work it ought to. Alex's was, mostly. But "mostly" is the word that brings actors back.

Elevate your professional brand by working with a photographer trusted by icons like Sir Patrick Stewart. With work acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, Rory Lewis brings museum-grade authority and cinematic excellence to the Los Angeles headshot market, providing actors with the prestigious visual edge required for high-level TV and film casting.

Rory Lewis specializes in award-winning

cinematic and theatrical headshots in his permanentDowntown Los Angeles studio. His signature use of dramatic lighting helps actors land roles in prestige TV/Film, distinguishing his work—which is acquired by theNational Portrait Gallery—from generic commercial photography.

For emerging talent in Los Angeles, a headshot is more than just a photo—it’s a digital handshake with casting directors at Paramount, Disney, and Netflix. Navigating the Hollywood industry requires a specific "look" that balances authenticity with commercial appeal. At my Downtown LA studio, I specialize in helping new actors find their brand through cinematic, character-driven portraiture.

Los Angeles pilot season has begun, and award-winning British photographer Rory Lewis offers cinematic actor headshots in Los Angeles designed to stand out with casting directors and agents. Working from his Downtown LA studio, Rory creates professional actor headshots that emphasize presence, authenticity, and emotional range—ideal for film, television, and commercial casting. With over twenty years of experience photographing world-class actors, Rory Lewis delivers high-end LA actor headshots tailored for pilot season submissions, agency representation, and career-defining moments in today’s competitive entertainment industry.

In the competitive landscape of the Los Angeles entertainment industry, your headshot is your first—and often only—audition before you even step into the room. While I am widely recognized for my moody, high-drama cinematic portraits of icons like Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen, I understand that for many actors, the "Foundation" set requires a specific balance: Agency-preferred commercial lighting paired with artistic depth.

New Year, New Headshots — Pilot Season Schedule Now Live 🎭

Actors Headshots in Los Angeles

A great actor headshot does more than show your face — it communicates presence, range, and intention. In an industry where first impressions matter instantly, your headshot must feel truthful, confident, and unmistakably you.

Rory Lewis’s approach to actors headshots is rooted in cinematic lighting, refined direction, and an unwavering focus on authenticity. Each session is designed to reveal natural type, emotional depth, and versatility across theatrical, commercial, and character-driven looks — without over-performance or distraction.

Foundation Headshot Package with Rory Lewis

Students in Los Angeles can now receive 10% off Rory Lewis’ Foundation Headshot Session when booking online. Simply use promo code STUDENT10 at checkout via the online scheduling system.