BA in Portuguese and German Philology (NOVA University of Lisbon and Humboldt University in Berlin), Pedro Castanheira studied at the Lisbon Theatre and Film School and the AR.CO Photography School in Lisbon, and obtained a MA in Cinematography from the Madrid Film School, ECAM. In 2007 he was awarded the Kodak Film Award and was invited to work with Vilmos Zsigmond at the Budapest Cinematography Masterclass. Ever since, he has been diversifying his filmography as a cinematographer for film, documentary, advertising and television in several countries (Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, Germany, Hungary, Denmark, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, France, Brazil and Chile).

In 2012 he received an award for Best Cinematography of the Year at Alto Vincentino (Italy), for the film Viejos Perdedores; he worked in Søndag, produced by Lars Von Trier’s Zentropa company; he attended the Berlin Talent Campus at the Berlin Film Festival. For the theatre, he has directed the audiovisual plays: Viriato Rey (Osório de Castro/João Mota), Festival Internacional Teatro Clássico Mérida, 2006; El Jardín de Cerezos (Tchekov), Teatro Camino in Santiago (Chile), 2013; the feature film Rogério de Carvalho – Nómada Fiel, Festival Internacional Teatro Almada, 2015.

At the same time, he is a teacher and a researcher in cinematography and lighting design, as well as a teacher at the ParaleloB school in Madrid, which he co-founded.