Marvin V. Rush

Real world article

(written from a production point of view)

Marvin V. Rush (born 9 October 1953; age 71) worked as Director of Photography on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise. In addition, he directed five episodes across three Star Trek series. Rush earned two Emmy Award nominations for his work on Star Trek; 1991 for Outstanding Cinematography for a Series for the TNG episode "Family" and 1995 for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Cinematography for a Series for the Voyager episode "Heroes and Demons". In 1995, he was also nominated for an American Society of Cinematographers Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Regular Series for the Deep Space Nine episode "Crossover".

In 1996, Rush also worked as Director of Photography on the video game Star Trek: Borg. Several in-universe references to him were made throughout the series; Marvin Rush (Captain), Marvin Rush (Lieutenant), M. Rush, and Rush Dilithium Crystals. Rush was photographed for a card in the trading card set Star Trek: The Next Generation - Behind the Scenes. He was also interviewed for the The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine, Issue 19, article "Marvin V. Rush: Guide to The Host" by Bill Florence, in 1992 and the Star Trek Monthly issue 110, article "Gold Rush" by Joe Nazzaro, in 2003. In addition, he was interviewed for the special features "Shooting Future Tense" on the ENT Season 2 DVD and "Behind the Camera: Marvin Rush" on the ENT Season 3 DVD.

Rush twice appeared on screen in Star Trek: Voyager. The second unit call sheet of Thursday 5 January 1995 identified him as the photo double for Tolen Ren in the first season episode "Ex Post Facto". Rush was noted to be in wardrobe for hand-held shots, identifying him as the cameraman for the steadi-cam shots from the view of Tolen Ren. He also filmed scenes as the cameraman for 3 Action News in the fifth season episode "11:59". According to the call sheets, he filmed these scenes on Tuesday 16 February 1999 and Wednesday 17 February 1999 at the New York Street backlot.

Rush started to work as camera operator and director of photography in the late 1980s with credits such as the comedy Say Yes (1986), Armed Response (1986), the comedy series Easy Street (1986, starring James Cromwell), the television special The Jets in Hawaii (1987), Dear John (1988), and Meet the Hollowheads (1989, written and directed by Thomas R. Burman).

During his time on Star Trek, 1989 – 2005, Rush was the director of photography on the Flesh 'n' Blood episode "Blood Is Thicker Than Arlo" in 1991 and on Les Landau's drama Archibald the Rainbow Painter in 1998. The latter one featured Trek performers Michael McKean, Robert Picardo, Mel Johnson, Jr., Andrew Robinson, Ann Gillespie, and Spice Williams and second assistant director Paul Lawrence.

Following the end of Star Trek: Enterprise, Rush worked as director of photography on E-Ring (2006), Close to Home (2006-2007), and Moonlight (2007-2008), the short film Poet's War (2007), Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh (2008, directed by Michael Grossman), S. Darko (2009), and the comedy Cherry (2009). As of 2017, Rush is one of many Star Trek alumni involved in The Orville, as the show's cinematographer.