---
name: "Alik Sakharov"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/alik-sakharov"
fi1m_id: "alik-sakharov"
imdb_id: "nm0002399"
tmdb_id: 1318704
wikidata_id: "Q4409470"
roles: ["Director","Producer"]
born: "17 May 1959"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 9
average_fi1m_score: 75
average_as: "director"
average_over: 8
updated: "2026-09-23T14:06:09.972115+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Alik Sakharov

## Identity

Alik Sakharov

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/alik-sakharov
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** alik-sakharov
- **IMDb ID:** nm0002399
- **TMDB ID:** 1318704
- **Wikidata ID:** Q4409470
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alik_Sakharov, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4409470, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002399/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1318704

Director and producer. Born 17 May 1959 in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, USSR.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Producer
- **Born:** 17 May 1959, Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, USSR
- **Active:** 1999–present
- **Also known as:** Алик Сахаров
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 9: 8 directing, 1 crew
- **Frequently works with:** [Steve Shill](https://film.one/person/steve-shill.md), [Alan Taylor](https://film.one/person/alan-taylor.md), [Daniel Sackheim](https://film.one/person/daniel-sackheim.md), [Holly Dale](https://film.one/person/holly-dale.md), [Jeremy Podeswa](https://film.one/person/jeremy-podeswa.md), [Nick Gomez](https://film.one/person/nick-gomez.md), [Tim Van Patten](https://film.one/person/tim-van-patten.md), [Allen Coulter](https://film.one/person/allen-coulter.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 75, as director, over 8 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 94 (1), 2000s 78 (2), 2010s 77 (5), 2020s 61 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 75 to 69 across 8 titles
- **Score spread:** 4 at 80+, 4 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 8, Crime 4, Action & Adventure 3, Sci-Fi & Fantasy 3, Mystery 1
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alik_Sakharov, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4409470, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002399/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1318704

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*The Sopranos*](https://film.one/tv/the-sopranos.md) (94), [*Game of Thrones*](https://film.one/tv/game-of-thrones.md) (82), [*Rome*](https://film.one/tv/rome.md) (82), [*Boardwalk Empire*](https://film.one/tv/boardwalk-empire.md) (80)
- **Apple TV:** [*Dexter*](https://film.one/tv/dexter.md) (74), [*Dark Matter*](https://film.one/tv/dark-matter.md) (61)
- **Netflix:** [*Ozark*](https://film.one/tv/ozark.md) (70), [*The Witcher*](https://film.one/tv/the-witcher.md) (61)
- **Disney+:** [*The Americans*](https://film.one/tv/the-americans.md) (91)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Alik Sakharov

> Alik Sakharov's strength is making light and location serve the people in a scene. We value his character-led approach to television, informed by his experience as a cinematographer.

Sakharov pays attention to the room around the actors. He chooses locations to contribute to the drama and favours filming from several corners of a space, with natural lighting and precise colour grading helping him follow the characters' feelings. We welcome that concern with how a scene works before anyone asks it to look impressive. The value of such care is in giving the actors a setting that helps us understand what they are doing.

He worked with showrunner David Chase as cinematographer on 38 episodes of *The Sopranos* (1999). He began moving towards directing around 2006–2008. *Rome* (2005) and *Game of Thrones* (2011) employed him in both jobs. On *Game of Thrones*, he shot four episodes of the first season before going on to direct episodes in the second, third and fourth. The continuity is his preference for matching the image to the script's mood and the characters' emotions.

*Dexter* (2006), for which he directed two episodes, shows why we need to be careful about assigning credit. Michael C. Hall makes the series worth watching, finding uneasy humour in a killer who hunts the guilty. We enjoyed that humour and felt uncomfortable with how easily the writing made him likeable. The crime plotting grips, but the script explains its central character too often, leaving less for a glance, a pause or an image to suggest. That is a reservation about the programme, not evidence that Sakharov either caused the problem or solved it.

*Ozark* (2017), where he directed across multiple seasons, offers a clearer example of his cinematographic experience informing character scenes. His work in science fiction and fantasy likewise keeps attention on people's responses to what is happening around them. A well-chosen location or carefully judged light cannot rescue every over-explained scene. For more of his directing, we would turn to *Ozark*.

## Biography

Alik Sakharov is a Soviet-born American director and former cinematographer. Born on 17 May 1959 in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, USSR, he moved to the United States in 1981. He began his career in the 1980s shooting industrial videos, music videos and commercials before progressing to feature films and television.

Sakharov served as director of photography on HBO's *The Sopranos* (1999–2007), contributing to 38 episodes. He later directed episodes of series including *Game of Thrones* (2012–2014), *House of Cards* (2017–2018), *Ozark* (2018–2022) and *The Witcher* (2019). He is a member of the American Society of Cinematographers and won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series for the *Rome* episode "Passover" (2007).

*Sources: imdb.com, nofilmschool.com, theasc.com, en.wikipedia-on-ipfs.org.*

## On Fi1m (9)

### Directed (8) — the average rests on these

- *Dark Matter* (2024), Fi1m 61, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/dark-matter.md)
- *The Witcher* (2019), Fi1m 61, Executive Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-witcher.md)
- *Ozark* (2017), Fi1m 70, Consulting Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/ozark.md)
- *The Americans* (2013), Fi1m 91, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-americans.md)
- *Game of Thrones* (2011), Fi1m 82, Cinematography, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/game-of-thrones.md)
- *Boardwalk Empire* (2010), Fi1m 80, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/boardwalk-empire.md)
- *Dexter* (2006), Fi1m 74, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/dexter.md)
- *Rome* (2005), Fi1m 82, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/rome.md)

### Crew (1)

- *The Sopranos* (1999), Fi1m 94, Cinematography — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-sopranos.md)

## Complete filmography (34)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Dark Matter* (2024), series, Director — Fi1m 61, [page](https://film.one/tv/dark-matter.md)
- *Invasion* (2021), series, Director, Executive Producer
- *The Witcher* (2019), series, Executive Producer, Director — Fi1m 61, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-witcher.md)
- *Counterpart* (2017), series, Director
- *Ozark* (2017), series, Director, Consulting Producer — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/tv/ozark.md)
- *Gypsy* (2017), series, Director
- *Goliath* (2016), series, Director
- *Marco Polo: One Hundred Eyes* (2015), Director
- *Flesh and Bone* (2015), series, Director
- *Marco Polo* (2014), series, Director
- *Black Sails* (2014), series, Director
- *Chicago P.D.* (2014), series, Director
- *House of Cards* (2013), series, Director
- *The Americans* (2013), series, Director — Fi1m 91, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-americans.md)
- *Chicago Fire* (2012), series, Director
- *Straw Dogs* (2011), Director of Photography
- *Game of Thrones* (2011), series, Director, Director of Photography — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/game-of-thrones.md)
- *Boardwalk Empire* (2010), series, Director — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/boardwalk-empire.md)
- *1%* (2008), Director of Photography
- *Nothing But the Truth* (2008), Director of Photography
- *Dexter* (2006), series, Director — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/tv/dexter.md)
- *Rome* (2005), series, Director — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/tv/rome.md)
- *Law & Order: Special Victims Unit* (1999), series, Director
- *The Sopranos* (1999), series, Director of Photography — Fi1m 94, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-sopranos.md)
- *Lulu on the Bridge* (1998), Director of Photography
- *Sex and the City* (1998), series, Director of Photography
- *Animals with the Tollkeeper* (1998), Director of Photography
- *The Repair Shop* (1998), Director of Photography
- *Love! Valour! Compassion!* (1997), Director of Photography
- *Jack Reed: Death and Vengeance* (1996), Director of Photography
- *Comfortably Numb* (1995), Director of Photography
- *Midnight Edition* (1993), Director of Photography
- *A Walk with Death* (1993), Director of Photography
- *Unbroken Sword*, Director

## Gallery

- ![Alik Sakharov](https://film.one/media/person/60874/gallery-975270418610.jpg) Alik Sakharov — Harte-thompson, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Sakharov_image.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Alik Sakharov](https://film.one/media/person/60874/gallery-4493a6de5817.jpg) Alik Sakharov — Image via TMDB

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/alik-sakharov