Alik Sakharov

Alik Sakharov (born May 17, 1959) is a Soviet-born American film and television director. A former Director of Photography, he is an active member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC).

Sakharov entered the U.S. film scene in 1985 as director of The Russian Touch—a topical documentary about the Russian people comprising the third wave of immigration to USA. In 1992, he directed a silent short film Pausa—a visual meditation dedicated to the memory of the great poet of cinema Andrei Tarkovsky.

He began sharing the responsibilities of a lighting cameraman in 1985 in the New York industrial video scene, eventually progressing to shooting music videos, commercials, narrative films.

Sakharov served as Director of Photography on numerous feature films, as well as a formidable number of programs for network television and premium cable, most notably on HBO's The Sopranos (38 episodes), and, as Director/cinematographer, on HBO's Rome (10 episodes), and Game of Thrones (8 episodes).

He served as Director/co-Executive Producer on the third season of Starz' television series Black Sails.

In seasons One and Two of Netflix mega project Marco Polo Sakharov directed: "Feast"; "The Fourth Step"; "Lost Crane"; "The Fellowship"). He has also directed a Marco Polo stand-alone Christmas-special episode entitled "Marco Polo: One Hundred Eyes".

In 2016 he directed episodes of Goliath for the Amazon Studios. That same year, he joined Netflix' House of Cards, directing chapters 55,56,59,66,72 ,,.

In 2018 he directed episodes of Ozark. Later that year, Sakharov joined The Witcher. After completing nearly three episodes in season one, he amicably parted ways with the project due to creative differences.

In 2019 Sakharov returned to Ozark—he directed a mega-block of the last four episodes in season three.

As a member of the Sopranos creative ensemble, Sakharov was honored twice (in 2002 & 2004) by the American Film Institute's A Year of Excellence Award.

In 2004 Sakharov earned the 19th Annual ASC Awards nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in a single camera category for The Sopranos episode "Long Term Parking."

In 2007 Sakharov won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for the ROME episode "Passover".

In 2013 Sakharov won the OFTA Award for Best Direction In A Drama Series for Game of Thrones.

Since 2006 Sakharov has worked primarily as a television director, with credits including:

• Boardwalk Empire
• Game of Thrones
• Rome
• Dexter
• Rubicon
• Brotherhood
• The Sopranos (2nd unit director "Made in America"; "Kennedy and Heidi")
• Easy Money
• The Americans
• Black Sails
• Marco Polo
• Flesh and Bone
• House of Cards
• Counterpart
• Ozark
• Goliath
• The Witcher