Photo: Peter Kramer / Getty Images

Born in Budapest, Hungary, and still lives there. Up until 1965, he worked with Hungarian Television. In 1970, he graduated from the Theatre and Film Academy in the class of Laszlo Kovacs and now works there as a professor. As the director of photography, he had made over seventy feature films and has worked with Istvan Szabo for twenty-two years, including the Acadamy Award® nominated MEPHISTO (1981) and OBERST REDL (1985). His other notable film credits include GABY: A TRUE STORY (1987), HANUSSEN (1988), WHITE PALACE (1990), MEETING VENUS (1991), BORN YESTERDAY and WRESTLING ERNEST HEMINGWAY (both 1993), WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN (1994), JUST CAUSE and HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS (both 1995), MOTHER (1996), OUT TO SEA (1997), THE LEGEND OF 1900 (1998), SUNSHINE (1999), MALÈNA (2000), TAKING SIDES (2001), TEN MINUTES OLDER: THE CELLO (segment "Ten Minutes After), THE EMPEROR'S CLUB and MAX (all 2002), BEING JULIA (2004), and ROKONOK (2006). Koltai directed SORSTALANSÁG / FATELESS (2005) and EVENING (2007).  Nominated for Achievement in Cinematography 2000: MALÈNA 1 nomination