Roberto De Angelis was born on July 27, 1970, in Rome, Italy. After studying cinematography at the prestigious Istituto Roberto Rossellini in his hometown, he began his career in the camera department, working as a camera assistant and focus puller throughout the early 1990s.

By the early 2000s, De Angelis had advanced to camera and steadicam operator roles on major international productions. His early credits include The Passion of the Christ (2004), The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (2003), and La Vie en Rose (2007). He went on to contribute to the visual storytelling of films like Public Enemies (2009) and James Cameron's Avatar (2009).

His reputation for dynamic camera work carried into the 2010s, with steadicam and camera operator credits on high-profile films such as Blackhat (2015), Edgar Wright's Baby Driver (2017), Michael Bay's 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016), The Jungle Book (2016), and Netflix's The Unforgivable (2021). In recognition of his work on Baby Driver, he received the Camera Operator of the Year award from the Society of Camera Operators in 2018, along with a nomination from the British Society of Cinematographers.

In 2022, De Angelis stepped into the role of director of photography on the Michael Bay thriller Ambulance, becoming Bay's personal choice after serving as an operator on 13 Hours and 6 Underground. In an interview, he described the intense, fast-paced shooting schedule—often exceeding a hundred setups per day in East L.A.—and highlighted how his dual residence in Los Angeles and Rome informed his cinematic eye, particularly regarding the urban landscape and its street art.

Beyond feature films, De Angelis's work extends to documentary and commercial projects. He served as DP on the Oscar-nominated documentary Faces, Places and the HBO film Mary & Martha (2013) and has shot commercials for major brands such as Nike, Adidas, Dior, and Louis Vuitton. He also directed short films and second-unit sequences. He shot Lenny Kravitz's "Low" music video, which was nominated for Best Rock Video at the MTV Video Music Awards.