Gabriel Beristain was born in Mexico, raised in Spain and educated in England.
While working toward his Master of Arts degree at the British National Film School, "Gaby" gained a reputation as a cinematographer on a number of award-winning student, short and television films produced by the NFTS as well as via documentaries for London's Channel Four. One of the early documentaries he shot, "Bienvenida a Londres," won first prize at the Bogota Film Festival, which later honored Beristain with their Best Photography award for his first feature film, "Carne de tu Carne."
He became associated with independent filmmaker Derek Jarman on "Caravaggio" and won the Silver Bear Award for Best Cinematography at the Berlin Film Festival. For Jarman, Gaby also began to shoot music videos, a field which led to his introduction to director Ken Russell, for whom he would photograph the "Nessum Dorma" segment of the innovative anthology "Aria."
Beristain's video credits include pieces for artists ranging from Aerosmith to Bryan Ferry to Tina Turner to Michael Crawford; he received a 1994 MTV Award nomination for Best Cinematography on Aerosmith's "Amazing." He has also experimented in technique by way of shooting television commercials for British-based directors like Barry Kinsman, Michael Radford, Carlton Chase and Peter Pullum.
Gaby's role as Director of Photography has taken him on projects all over the world. It was following his experience in the Himalayas on Franc Roddam's "K-2" that he came to the attention of "DOLORES CLAIBORNE" director Taylor Hackford, who recruited him to shoot "Bound by Honor ( Blood In, Blood Out)" after seeing his work on "Venus Peter," a film he shot in the Orkney Islands starring Ray McAnnally and Sinead Cusack.
His additional Hollywood film credits include Jonathan Lynn's "Greedy " and "The Distinguished Gentleman" and Carl Reiner's "Fatal Instinct."
He currently maintains residences in London, Los Angeles and Cuernavaca.
