McGarvey was born in Armagh, Northern Ireland. He began his career as a still photographer, before attending film school at the University of Westminster in London. Upon graduating in 1988, he began shooting short films and documentaries, including Skin, which was nominated for a Royal Television Society Cinematography Award, and Atlantic, directed by Sam Taylor-Wood. The latter project, an experimental, three-screen projected film created in 1997, earned Taylor-Wood a nomination for the 1998 Turner Prize and led to an ongoing collaboration between McGarvey and the director. His four dozen credits as director of photography include Joss Whedon's superhero film The Avengers; Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin; Oliver Stone's World Trade Center; Gary Winick's Charlotte's Web; John Hamburg's Along Came Polly; Stephen Frears' High Fidelity; Mike Nichols' Wit; Michael Apted's Enigma; Michael Winterbottom's Butterfly Kiss; and two projects marking actors' directorial debuts: Tim Roth's The War Zone and Alan Rickman's The Winter Guest. He served as cinematographer on the pilot for the TV series The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, directed by Anthony Minghella. He reunited with director Wright for his 2009 drama The Soloist, and filmmaker Sam Taylor-Wood on her acclaimed 2008 drama Nowhere Boy, her 2011 short, James Bond Supports International Women's Dayand the Death Valley segment of the 2006 erotic drama Destricted. Following his work on Godzilla, he teamed with Taylor-Johnson on her big screen adaptation, and Hollywood directorial debut, of the bestselling novelFifty Shades of Grey. He has photographed Pan, The Accountant, Nocturnal Animals, Life, The Greatest Showman, Greta, and Bad Times at the El Royale, and The Nevers. His documentary work includes Lost Angels: Skid Row Is My Home, which followed his work on Wright's The Soloist, and filmed in the same locales; Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction; Rolling Stones: Tip of the Tongue; and The Name of This Film Is Dogme95. Supplementing his work on features and telefilms, McGarvey has photographed and directed over 100 music videos for various artists, including Coldplay, Paul McCartney, Dusty Springfield, The Rolling Stones, U2, and Robbie Williams. In 2015, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Dundee University and an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of Ulster. He is an Honorary Fellow of Edinburgh College of Art. He is featured in the book In Conversation with Cinematographers by David A. Ellis and in the book Ballinger, Alexander; New Cinematographers . His children are Stella McGarvey, Samuel Blake McGarvey, and Ossian McGarvey Arenlind.
