Thomas Kiennast, born 1976 in Vienna and son of famous musician Erwin Kiennast studied film at the University for Music and Art in Vienna and graduated with a diploma in camera techniques. Still in school, he already worked on his first successful commercial jobs for national and international Productionhouses, which won prices at advertising festivals all over the globe: Palermo, AME and Cannes (2002), Mobius Award (2003).
2004 he shot his first TV Series „4 Frauen und ein Todesfall”, directed by Harald Sicheritz and led into his first feature film with the same director. Through this film „Mutig in die neuen Zeiten – Im Reich der Reblaus“ he earned his first National TV Award of Best Director of Photography in Austria („Romy“ 2006). In the following years, Thomas worked very successfully in the international commercial industry but as well shot several feature films. Just to name a few: a Walt Disney production „Hexe Lilly 2“, which was shot in Europe and India and three German / Austrian "Tatort" (crime) with director Harald Sicheritz as well as two feature films and a series (Bella Block) with Award winning Austrian Director Andreas Prohaska. Another feature film (Western genre) with Andreas Prohaska is released In February 2014 winning first prizes before even seen in the movie theatres and Thomas won several Awards for best Camera like the "Austrian Romy", "German Best-Camera Award" as well as the "German Lola" (Best Camera / Movie).
In 2017 Thomas Kiennast shoots the elaborate, historic television series "Maximilian" with Andreas Prohaska. In 2018 he wins the German Film Award for "3 Days in Quiberon" in the category Best Camera / Image Design and receives a nomination for the German Camera Award. This award winning black and white movie about 3 days in the life of Romy Schneider is the result of his collaboration with director Emiliy Atef. Thomas Kiennast thus manages to work successfully in both the feature film and the commercial film industry internationally.