Masanobu "Masa" Takayanagi (高柳 雅暢, Takayanagi Masanobu, born 17 February 1974) is a Japanese cinematographer whose works include Silver Linings Playbook (2012), Warrior (2011) and The Grey (2011).

Takayanagi was raised in Tomioka, a city in Gunma Prefecture.^[1] He briefly attended Tohoku University^[2] in Japan before deciding to pursue a career in cinematography in the American film industry; he was inspired by Masters of Light: Conversations with Contemporary Cinematographers, which he saw in a bookstore.^[3] He migrated to the United States around 1996^[4] in order to attend film school at California State University, Long Beach at the university's Film and Electronics Arts Department, although he could not speak English at the time.^[3][5] He later attended the AFI Conservatory in Los Angeles and graduated in 2002.^[6] His short film Shui Hen, a graduate project he produced at the AFI Conservatory, won the 2003 Palm Springs International Film Festival's award for Best Student Cinematography.^[1] In 2004, he was awarded the American Society of Cinematographers' John F. Seitz Student Heritage Award.^[1]

After working on the film crews of various low-budget projects, in 2005 Takayanagi was hired as a Tokyo-based second unit cinematographer for the film Babel under Rodrigo Prieto.^[3] He later photographed the second units of State of Play, Eat Pray Love, The Eagle, and Monte Carlo. His first turn as a main unit cinematographer was on Meet Monica Velour, followed by The Grey, both released in 2011.^[1] In 2012, he was named one of Variety magazine's "10 Cinematographers to Watch".^[4] He photographed David O. Russell's 2012 film Silver Linings Playbook, followed by Out of the Furnace in 2013 and Rupert Goold's 2015 film True Story.^[3]

In 2015, Takayanagi became a member of the American Society of Cinematographers.^[7]