Pimentel is a third-generation photographer in his family. His grandfather was the town photographer in a small island of the Azores and both his father and uncle were also photographers.[1] Through the late 1970s and 1980s, he spent Saturdays helping his father photograph weddings out of a family business in Little Portugal.[4]
Pimental got his start in 1993 when he was mistaken for a credentialed photographer at the Toronto International Film Festival and managed to get a shot of Robert DeNiro.[6]
Over 30 years, Pimentel worked his way up from being a streetside photographer to being invited to cover A-list events.[4] His subjects have included Beyoncé, Tom Cruise, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Aniston and Taylor Swift, among many others.[4]
Pimental’s photographs were exhibited at Yorkdale Shopping Centre at a 2023 monthlong retrospective called “30 Years of Red Carpet Style with George Pimentel.”[4][7][8]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Pimentel catalyzed Canada COVID Project, a collaborative photography initiative to document Canada during COVID.[9]