Great Composers

1. Alan Silvestri

In his ongoing, decades-long career as a composer, Alan Silvestri has blazed an innovative trail with his exciting and melodic scores, winning the applause of Hollywood and movie audiences the world over. With a credit list of over 100 films Silvestri has composed some of the most recognizable and ...

Favorite scores:

Predator The Abyss Identity The Predator

2. Bear McCreary

Composer | The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Bear McCreary is a degreed graduate of the prestigious USC Thornton School of Music (in 'Composition and Recording Arts'). Bear McCreary was one of a small and select group of proteges of the late, many-honored film composer Elmer Bernstein. Although he is now firmly in the mainstream of film ...

Favorite scores:

Godzilla: King of the Monsters Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles 10 Cloverfield Lane

3. Ben Salisbury

Composer | Annihilation

Ben Salisbury was born in London in December 1970. He is best known for his collaboration with Geoff Barrow as composer on the films Annihilation, Ex Machina and Free Fire. He has composed the music for over 50 natural history films, including the last 3 of David Attenborough's 'Life Of..' strand, ...

Favorite scores:

Annihilation Free Fire

4. Benjamin Wallfisch

Composer | Blade Runner 2049

Golden Globe, BAFTA, 2x Grammy, Emmy and 5x World Soundtrack Award nominated composer Benjamin Wallfisch has worked on over 80 feature films, collaborating with directors including Ron Howard, Ted Melfi, Andy Muschietti, Christopher Nolan, David F. Sandberg, Leigh Whannell, Gore Verbinski, and ...

Favorite scores:

Hours Blade Runner 2049 The Vanishing

5. Brian Tyler

Music_department | Avengers: Age of Ultron

Brian Theodore Tyler is an American composer, conductor, arranger and producer known for his film, television and video game scores. In his 24-year career, he has scored Transformers: Prime, Eagle Eye, The Expendables trilogy, Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron with Danny Elfman, Now You See Me, ...

Favorite scores:

Rambo Modern Warfare 3 Expendables trilogy Far Cry 3

6. Daft Punk

Composer | Tron: Legacy

Daft Punk is known for Tron: Legacy (2010), The Saint (1997) and Kiss of the Dragon (2001).

Favorite scores:

TRON: Legacy

7. Daniel Pemberton

Composer | The Trial of the Chicago 7

Daniel Pemberton was born on November 3, 1977 in the UK. He is a composer and actor, known for The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) and Steve Jobs (2015).

Favorite scores:

Steve Jobs The Man from UNCLE All the Money in the World

8. Danny Elfman

Music_department | The Nightmare Before Christmas

As Danny Elfman was growing up in the Los Angeles area, he was largely unaware of his talent for composing. It wasn't until the early 1970s that Danny and his older brother Richard Elfman started a musical troupe while in Paris; the group "Mystic Knights of Oingo-Boingo" was created for Richard's ...

Favorite scores:

Mission: Impossible Terminator Salvation Good Will Hunting

9. Darren Morze

Composer | Mass

Darren Morze is an award-winning composer best known for scoring Curfew, which won over 40 film festival awards before winning the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film at the 85th Academy Awards in 2013. To date, he has scored over 100 feature and short films, in addition to several dozen ...

Favorite scores:

The Vanishing of Sidney Hall

10. Dickon Hinchliffe

Composer | Winter's Bone

Dickon Hinchliffe was born in the UK. He is a composer, known for Winter's Bone (2010), The Lost Daughter (2021) and Peaky Blinders (2013).

Favorite scores:

Locke Out of the Furnace

11. Ennio Morricone

Composer | The Hateful Eight

A classmate of director Sergio Leone with whom he would form one of the great director/composer partnerships (right up there with Eisenstein & Prokofiev, Hitchcock & Herrmann, Fellini & Rota), Ennio Morricone studied at Rome's Santa Cecilia Conservatory, where he specialized in trumpet. His first ...

Favorite scores:

Hateful Eight The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly The Thing The Best Offer

12. Hans Zimmer

Composer | Gladiator

German-born composer Hans Zimmer is recognized as one of Hollywood's most innovative musical talents. He featured in the music video for The Buggles' single "Video Killed the Radio Star", which became a worldwide hit and helped usher in a new era of global entertainment as the first music video to ...

Favorite scores:

Interstellar Dunkirk Gladiator Inferno The Thin Red Line The Last Samurai

13. Harry Gregson-Williams

Composer | Shrek

Harry Gregson-Williams is one of Hollywood's most sought-after and prolific composers whose long list of film and television credits underscore the diverse range of his talents. He most recently wrote the music for "The Last Duel" and "House of Gucci" both directed by Ridley Scott. In addition, he ...

Favorite scores:

Phone Booth Kingdom of Heaven Unstoppable The Martian

14. Henry Jackman

Composer | Kingsman: The Secret Service

Henry Jackman has established himself as one of today's top composers by fusing his classical training with his experience as a successful record producer and creator of electronic music.

Jackman grew up in the southeast of England, where he began composing his first symphony at the age of six. He ...

Favorite scores:

Captain Phillips Kingsman: the Secret Service Man on a Ledge

15. Howard Shore

Music_department | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Howard Shore is a Canadian composer, born in Toronto. He was born in a Jewish family. He started studying music when 8-years-old, and played as a member of bands by the time he was 13-years-old. He was interested in a professional career in music as a teenager. He studied music at the Berklee ...

Favorite scores:

Seven Edge of Darkness

16. Jack Wall

Composer | Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments

Jack Wall is an ASCAP award-winning and BAFTA nominated composer best known for his rich, cinematic scores found within popular video game franchises such as Call of Duty: Black Ops II, III, & IV, Mass Effect I & II, the Myst series, Jade Empire and several other franchises winning multiple awards ...

Favorite scores:

Black Ops 2 & 3 Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow

17. James Horner

Music_department | Titanic

James Horner began studying piano at the age of five, and trained at the Royal College of Music in London, England, before moving to California in the 1970s. After receiving a bachelor's degree in music at USC, he would go on to earn his master's degree at UCLA and teach music theory there. He ...

Favorite scores:

Titanic Magnificent Seven Aliens Avatar Braveheart

18. James Newton Howard

Music_department | King Kong

James Newton Howard attended the University of Southern California's music school, but dropped out to tour with Elton John, and eventually compose music for film and television. He started with Head Office (1985) in 1985. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards. He currently is a songwriter, ...

Favorite scores:

Unbreakable The Fugitive The Village Nightcrawler The Sixth Sense Collateral Blood Diamond Batman Begins Marked for Death The Dark Knight

19. Javier Navarrete

Composer | El laberinto del fauno

Javier Navarrete was born in 1956 in Teruel, Aragón, Spain. He is a composer, known for Pan's Labyrinth (2006), Wrath of the Titans (2012) and Byzantium (2012).

Favorite scores:

Wrath of the Titans Byzantium

20. Jerry Goldsmith

Composer | L.A. Confidential

Born on February 10, 1929, Jerry Goldsmith studied piano with Jakob Gimpel and composition, theory, and counterpoint with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. He also attended classes in film composition given by Miklós Rózsa at the Univeristy of Southern California. In 1950, he was employed as a clerk ...

Favorite scores:

First Blood Sum of All Fears Kingdom of Heaven Django Unchained

21. Jóhann Jóhannsson

Composer | Last and First Men

Jóhann Jóhannsson was born on September 19, 1969 in Reykjavík, Iceland. He was a composer and writer, known for Last and First Men (2020), The Theory of Everything (2014) and Sicario (2015). He died on February 9, 2018 in Berlin, Germany.

Favorite scores:

Arrival Mandy Sicario

22. John Carpenter

Writer | The Fog

John Howard Carpenter was born in Carthage, New York, to mother Milton Jean (Carter) and father Howard Ralph Carpenter. His family moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where his father, a professor, was head of the music department at Western Kentucky University. He attended Western Kentucky ...

Favorite scores:

Halloween Prince of Darkness

23. John Murphy

Composer | The Suicide Squad

John Murphy is a British film composer from Liverpool. He began composing music scores for films in the early 1990s, working on several successful British movies, enjoying particular success with the soundtracks to Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000).

Since 2000, Murphy has ...

Favorite scores:

Sunshine 28 Days Later 28 Weeks Later Snatch

24. John Ottman

Editor | Bohemian Rhapsody

John Ottman holds dual distinctions as a leading film composer and an award winning film editor. Ottman has often completed both monumental tasks on the same films. Such remarkable double duties have included The Usual Suspects, X-Men 2, Superman Returns, Valkyrie, and Jack the Giant Killer. He has...

Favorite scores:

Usual Suspects Non-Stop Valkyrie

25. John Paesano

Composer | Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

John Paesano is an Emmy nominated and BAFTA winning composer, producer, conductor, and arranger for film, television, video games and records. John studied classical music with Professor Sally Dow Miller of Conservatoire de Paris, and continued his studies at Berklee College of Music focusing on ...

Favorite scores:

Maze Runner trilogy Phoenix Incident

26. John Williams

Composer | Jurassic Park

As one of the best known, awarded, and financially successful composers in US history, John Williams is as easy to recall as John Philip Sousa, Aaron Copland or Leonard Bernstein, illustrating why he is "America's composer" time and again. With a massive list of awards that includes over 52 Oscar ...

Favorite scores:

Star Wars 1/2/3/4/5/6/7 Indiana Jones franchise Lincoln The Patriot Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Saving Private Ryan Jurassic Park Jaws Superman

27. Joseph Trapanese

Composer | Oblivion

Joseph Trapanese is a composer and music producer known for integrating his extensive classical training with his skill producing electronic music. He has crafted uniquely hybrid and inventive scores for a number of film and television projects, including Tron: Legacy (with Daft Punk), Oblivion (...

Favorite scores:

Oblivion Only the Brave The Raid 2

28. Kelly Bailey

Composer | Half-Life 2

Kelly Bailey is known for Half-Life 2 (2004), Half-Life (1998) and The Orange Box (2007).

Favorite scores:

Half-Life series Portal

29. Lorne Balfe

Composer | The Lego Batman Movie

Lorne Balfe was born on February 23, 1976 in Inverness, Scotland, UK. He is a composer, known for The Lego Batman Movie (2017), Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) and The Dark Knight (2008).

Favorite scores:

13 Hours Modern Warfare 2 Assassin's Creed 3 Mission: Impossible - Fallout

30. M83

Soundtrack | Oblivion

M83 is known for Oblivion (2013), Divergent (2014) and Chronicle (2012).

Favorite scores:

Oblivion

31. Marco Beltrami

Composer | I, Robot

Marco Beltrami was born on October 7, 1966 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a composer and producer, known for I, Robot (2004), World War Z (2013) and Knowing (2009).

Favorite scores:

Live Free or Die Hard Hurt Locker Snowpiercer A Quiet Place

32. Michael A. McCann

Music_department | After Earth

Michael A. McCann was born on March 5, 1976 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is a composer, known for After Earth (2013), Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011) and It's All Gone Pete Tong (2004).

Favorite scores:

Deus Ex: Human Revolution & Mankind Divided XCOM

33. Michael Giacchino

Composer | Star Trek

Michael Giacchino is an American composer of music for films, television and video games.

Giacchino composed the scores to the television series Lost, Alias and Fringe, the video game series Medal of Honor and Call of Duty and many films such as The Incredibles (2004), Star Trek (2009), Up (2009), ...

Favorite scores:

Super 8 Star Trek reboot trilogy Mission: Impossible III War for the Planet of the Apes Rogue One

34. Mick Gordon

Composer | Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

Mick Gordon was born on July 9, 1985 in Mackay, Queensland, Australia. He is a composer, known for Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (2017), Postal (2007) and Doom Eternal (2020).

Favorite scores:

DOOM & DOOM: Eternal Prey

35. Nima Fakhrara

Composer | Lou

Nima Fakhrara is known for Lou (2022), Becky (2020) and Detroit: Become Human (2018).

Favorite scores:

The Signal Crypto Survive the Night

36. Philip Glass

Soundtrack | The Truman Show

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Glass worked in his father's radio store and discovered music listening to the offbeat Western classical records customers didn't seem to want. He studied the violin and flute, and obtained early admission to the University of Chicago. After graduating in mathematics ...

Favorite scores:

Illusionist

37. Sarah Schachner

Composer | Prey

Combining her dynamic talents as an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and modular synth artist/programmer, International Film Music Critics Award nominated composer Sarah Schachner has developed a reputation as a bold new force in film and video game scoring for blockbuster titles such as ...

Favorite scores:

Modern Warfare (2019) Infinite Warfare

38. Steve Jablonsky

Composer | Transformers

Steve Jablonsky is an American film composer who is known for his collaborations with film directors Michael Bay and Peter Berg. He composed five Transformers films, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Lone ...

Favorite scores:

Deepwater Horizon Ender's Game Lone Survivor

39. Trent Reznor

Soundtrack | The Social Network

Trent Reznor is an American songwriter/musician/producer and sole member of multi-platinum act Nine Inch Nails, and now an Academy Award, Emmy and Grammy Award winning film composer. He began creating music as a child in Western Pennsylvania, first on piano and then taking up other instruments. He ...

Favorite scores:

Patriots Day The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

40. Trevor Jones

Composer | Cliffhanger

As a child in Cape Town, Trevor Jones lived opposite the Gem Cinema. The theater was so old and worn out that there was often a loss of the soundtrack, which caused him to realize its power. The fact that everyone in his family worked in film or the theater made it easy to get support in his career...

Favorite scores:

Cliffhanger Dark City Last of the Mohicans

41. West Dylan Thordson

Composer | Glass

West Dylan Thordson is known for Glass (2019), Joy (2015) and I, Tonya (2017).

Favorite scores:

Split Glass