The great achievements of Laszlo Kovacs, A.S.C., are not only those of a world-renowned and respected cinematographer, but also those of a man of courage, strength, and determination who overcame great obstacles to achieve his filmmaking dreams.

Mr. Kovacs was born in 1933 in Hungary and raised in the turbulence of World War II, the Nazi occupation of his country, and the subsequent takeover by the Soviet communist regime. He developed a love of film and filmmaking at an early age, and was accepted into the Academy of Drama and Film Art in Budapest. In his final year there in 1956 a revolt against the communist regime occurred, bringing about a brutal Soviet crackdown. With a borrowed 35 mm camera and film, Mr. Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond, a graduate of the Academy, documented the fighting of the citizens against the Soviet tanks and soldiers pouring into the city.

They decided to flee the country with the film, which they hid inside potato sacks, and headed through the forest to the Austrian border where they had to get past the Russian soldiers patrolling the border. They made it into Austria and arrived in the U.S. in 1957 as political refugees.

Starting all over in a new country and learning a new language, Mr. Kovacs found what work he could and eventually made his way to Los Angeles. There he held various jobs, gradually working his way into filmmaking, and serving as the cinematographer on a number of low-budget films. The experience and the contacts he made led to meeting Dennis Hopper, who chose Mr. Kovacs as his cinematographer on "Easy Rider," the phenomenally successful counterculture classic released in 1969.

The filmmaking career he had dreamed about and striven for since childhood had become a reality. On more than 60 films, Mr. Kovacs has left his remarkable stamp as a cinematographer, working with such directors as Robert Altman, Jon Amiel, Hal Ashby, Richard Benjamin, Peter Bogdanovich, Cameron Crowe, Richard Donner, P.J. Hogan, Dennis Hopper, Norman Jewison, Stanley Kramer, Louis Malle, Paul Mazursky, Donald Petrie, Bob Rafelson, Harold Ramis, Ivan Reitman, Richard Rush, Mark Rydell, Martin Scorsese, and Sylvester Stallone.

In the 1960s and 1970s he worked on such motion pictures as "That Cold Day in the Park," "Five Easy Pieces," "The Last Movie," "What's Up, Doc?," "The King of Marvin Gardens," "Paper Moon," "A Reflection of Fear," "For Pete's Sake," "Freebie and the Bean," "At Long Last Love," "Shampoo," "Harry & Walter Go to New York," "Nickelodeon," "New York, New York," "F.I.S.T.," "Paradise Alley," and "The Runner Stumbles." He also served as an additional cinematographer on Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and Martin Scorsese's "The Last Waltz."

Over the past two decades, his films have included "Inside Moves," "Frances," "The Toy," "Crackers," "Ghostbusters," "Mask," "Legal Eagles," "Say Anything," "Shattered," "Radio Flyer," "The Scout," "Free Willy 2," "Copycat," "Multiplicity," "My Best Friend's Wedding," "Jack Frost," and "Return to Me," among others.

Most recently, Mr. Kovacs was the cinematographer for Warner Bros. highly successful film "Miss Congeniality," starring Sandra Bullock and Michael Caine, and directed by Donald Petrie.