The Composer
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Lorne Balfe was born on 23 February 1976 in Inverness, Scotland, UK. He is a composer, known for The Lego Batman Movie (2017), Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) and Black Widow (2021).- Composer
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Antonio Pinto was born in Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. He is known for Collateral (2004), City of God (2002) and Central Station (1998).- Music Department
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Giorgio Moroder was born on 26 April 1940 in Urtijëi, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy. He is a composer and actor, known for Top Gun (1986), Flashdance (1983) and Over the Top (1987).- Composer
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Christophe Beck was born in 1968 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is a composer and actor, known for Frozen (2013), Ant-Man (2015) and The Muppets (2011).- Composer
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Angelo Badalamenti was born on 22 March 1937 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Mulholland Drive (2001), Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) and Lost Highway (1997). He was married to Lonny Irgens. He died on 11 December 2022 in Lincoln Park, New Jersey, USA.- Composer
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Nathan Barr is a unique breed of composer. In addition to writing his scores, he also performs all of the instruments heard in many of his compositions. Skilled in many styles and genres, ranging from orchestral to rock, Barr is known for his collection and inclusion of rare and unusual instruments from around the world, such as human bone trumpets from Tibet, dismantled pianos, a rare Glass Armonica and gourd cellos, among many others.
Nathan began studying music in Tokyo, Japan at the age of four. He grew up surrounded by eclectic music, ranging from Kabuki Theater to the sounds of his mother performing on the koto and piano, and his father playing the banjo, guitar and shakuhachi. His interest in the art form was further influenced by extensive travels around the world, where he experienced music, ranging from Bali's Kecak Orchestras to China's Beijing Opera. Barr went on to study at Skidmore College, and toured Italy and Switzerland with the Juilliard Cello Ensemble in the summer of 1993.
Barr, who wrote and performed the music for all four seasons of HBO's True Blood (2008) and has scored more than 25 feature films.
Barr is also a regular collaborator with director/producer Eli Roth and has scored Cabin Fever (2002), Hostel (2005), Hostel: Part II (2007) and The Last Exorcism (2010).- Composer
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Four-time Grammy Award Winner Stanley Clarke has attained "living legend" status during his over 40-year career as a bass virtuoso. He is the first bassist in history who doubles on acoustic and electric bass with equal ferocity and the first jazz-fusion bassist ever to headline tours, selling out shows worldwide. A veteran of over 40 albums, he won the 2011 Best Contemporary Jazz Album Grammy Award for The Stanley Clarke Band. Clarke co-founded the seminal fusion group Return to Forever with Chick Corea and Lenny White. In 2012 Return to Forever won a Grammy Award and Latin Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Forever.
Clarke's creativity has been recognized and rewarded in every way imaginable: gold and platinum records, Grammy Awards, Emmy nominations, virtually every readers and critics poll in existence, and more. He was Rolling Stone's very first Jazzman of the Year and bassist winner of Playboy's Music Award for ten straight years. Clarke was honored with Bass Player Magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award and is a member of Guitar Player Magazine's "Gallery of Greats." In 2004 he was featured in Los Angeles Magazine as one of the Top 50 Most Influential People. He was honored with the key to the city of Philadelphia and put his hands in cement as a 1999 inductee into Hollywood's "Rock Walk" on Sunset Boulevard. In 2011 he was honored with the highly prestigious Miles Davis Award at the Montreal Jazz Festival for his entire body of work. Clarke won the Downbeat Magazine's Reader's and Critics Polls in the category of Best Electric Bass Player for the last three years.
An accomplished film and TV composer of over 65 projects, his credits include Boyz N The Hood, the Tina Turner biopic What's Love Got To Do With It, Romeo Must Die, The Transporter and Best Man Holiday. He has garnered three Emmy Nominations and a BMI Award for his scoring. In 2014 Clarke was invited to become a member of the exclusive Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
Born in Philadelphia, Clarke has been a constant force of nature in American music since the early 1970s with the success of the jazz-fusion group Return To Forever. That accomplishment gave way to a number of extremely successful solo albums for Clarke. Along the way, he has collaborated with Quincy Jones, Stan Getz, Art Blakey, Paul McCartney, Jeff Beck, Keith Richards, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, The Police, Herbie Hancock and many more, and has shared the stage with Bob Marley and Miles Davis.
Clarke heads his own record label, Roxboro Entertainment Group, and believes in giving back to help young musicians hone their skills. He and his wife Sofia established The Stanley Clarke Foundation thirteen years ago as a charitable organization, which offers scholarships to talented young musicians each year.- Composer
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Will Bates is an award-winning composer, multi-instrumentalist and founder of Fall On Your Sword. He has composed original scores for a myriad of filmmakers including acclaimed directors Mike Cahill (Another Earth, I Origins), Alex Gibney (We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Zero Days), Ry Russo-Young (You Won't Miss Me, Nobody Walks) and Fisher Stevens (Mission Blue, Bright Lights).
Bates has scored a number of television series: Golden Globe & Emmy-nominated Netflix series Unbelievable, SyFy's hit The Magicians, Hulu's The Path, Chance and The Looming Tower, Away for Netflix, as well as NBC's Rise. Other projects include Sweetbitter on Starz, the George R.R. Martin series Nightflyers on Netflix, and the Hulu biographical documentary Hillary. Will's recent features include Michael Tyburski's The Sound of Silence, the HBO documentary The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, and the horror-thriller Depraved. Upcoming features include Michael Haussman's Edge Of The World set in 19th century Borneo and Mike Cahill's Bliss.
As a solo artist and multi-instrumentalist, Bates has recorded and toured around the globe under the name of his own post-punk band The Rinse and has collaborated with Electric Six front-man Dick Valentine as The Evil Cowards. As a saxophonist, Bates has collaborated with legendary artists ranging from 60's icon Lulu to techno legend Marshall Jefferson. As a producer and composer, he has worked with a similarly diverse bunch including Mike Rutherford, Roy Ayers, Pussy Riot and Morcheeba's Skye Edwards. In 2007, Bates created the first of a series of videos under the name Fall On Your Sword. His videos quickly went viral on YouTube, racking up hits in the millions and an explosive FOYS live act soon followed. In 2009, Fall On Your Sword evolved into a music production company. Bates currently resides in Los Angeles, which is also the home of Fall On Your Sword's west coast studio.- Music Department
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Monty Norman was born on 4 April 1928 in London, England, UK. He was a composer, known for Dr. No (1962), GoldenEye (1995) and Thunderball (1965). He was married to Rina Caesari and Diana Coupland. He died on 11 July 2022 in Slough, Berkshire, England, UK.- Music Department
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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 nominations (five wins), twenty-odd Gold and Platinum Records, and a slew of Emmy (two wins), Golden Globe (three wins), Grammy (25 wins), National Board of Review (including a Career Achievement Award), Saturn (six wins), American Film Institute (including a Lifetime Achievement Award) and BAFTA (seven wins) citations, along with honorary doctorate degrees numbering in the teens, Williams is undoubtedly one of the most respected composers for Cinema. He's led countless national and international orchestras, most notably as the nineteenth conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1980-1993, helming three Pops tours of the US and Japan during his tenure. He currently serves as the Pop's Conductor Laureate. Also to his credit is a parallel career as an author of serious, and some not-so-serious, concert works - performed by the likes of Mstislav Rostropovich, André Previn, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham, Leonard Slatkin, James Ingram, Dale Clevenger, and Joshua Bell. Of particular interests are his Essay for Strings, a jazzy Prelude & Fugue, the multimedia presentation American Journey (aka The Unfinished Journey (1999)), a Sinfonietta for Winds, a song cycle featuring poems by Rita Dove, concerti for flute, violin, clarinet, trumpet, tuba, cello, bassoon and horn, fanfares for the 1984, 1988 and 1996 Summer Olympics, the 2002 Winter Olympics, and a song co-written with Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman for the Special Olympics! But such a list probably warrants a more detailed background...
Born in Flushing, New York on February 8, 1932, John Towner Williams discovered music almost immediately, due in no small measure to being the son of a percussionist for CBS Radio and the Raymond Scott Quintet. After moving to Los Angeles in 1948, the young pianist and leader of his own jazz band started experimenting with arranging tunes; at age 15, he determined he was going to become a concert pianist; at 19, he premiered his first original composition, a piano sonata.
He attended both UCLA and the Los Angeles City College, studying orchestration under MGM musical associate Robert Van Eps and being privately tutored by composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, until conducting for the first time during three years with the U.S. Air Force. His return to the states brought him to Julliard, where renowned piano pedagogue Madame Rosina Lhevinne helped Williams hone his performance skills. He played in jazz clubs to pay his way; still, she encouraged him to focus on composing. So it was back to L.A., with the future maestro ready to break into the Hollywood scene.
Williams found work with the Hollywood studios as a piano player, eventually accompanying such fare such as the TV series Peter Gunn (1958), South Pacific (1958), Some Like It Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960), and To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), as well as forming a surprising friendship with Bernard Herrmann. At age 24, "Johnny Williams" became a staff arranger at Columbia and then at 20th Century-Fox, orchestrating for Alfred Newman and Lionel Newman, Dimitri Tiomkin, Franz Waxman, and other Golden Age notables. In the field of popular music, he performed and arranged for the likes of Vic Damone, Doris Day, and Mahalia Jackson... all while courting actress/singer Barbara Ruick, who became his wife until her death in 1974. John & Barbara had three children; their daughter is now a doctor, and their two sons, Joseph Williams and Mark Towner Williams, are rock musicians.
The orchestrating gigs led to serious composing jobs for television, notably Alcoa Premiere (1961), Checkmate (1960), Gilligan's Island (1964), Lost in Space (1965), Land of the Giants (1968), and his Emmy-winning scores for Heidi (1968) and Jane Eyre (1970). Daddy-O (1958) and Because They're Young (1960) brought his original music to the big theatres, but he was soon typecast doing comedies. His efforts in the genre helped guarantee his work on William Wyler's How to Steal a Million (1966), however, a major picture that immediately led to larger projects. Of course, his arrangements continued to garner attention, and he won his first Oscar for adapting Fiddler on the Roof (1971).
During the '70s, he was King of Disaster Scores with The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Earthquake (1974) and The Towering Inferno (1974). His psychological score for Images (1972) remains one of the most innovative works in soundtrack history. But his Americana - particularly The Reivers (1969) - is what caught the ear of director Steven Spielberg, then preparing for his first feature, The Sugarland Express (1974). When Spielberg reunited with Williams on Jaws (1975), they established themselves as a blockbuster team, the composer gained his first Academy Award for Original Score, and Spielberg promptly recommended Williams to a friend, George Lucas. In 1977, John Williams re-popularized the epic cinema sound of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Franz Waxman and other composers from the Hollywood Golden Age: Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) became the best selling score-only soundtrack of all time, and spawned countless musical imitators. For the next five years, though the music in Hollywood changed, John Williams wrote big, brassy scores for big, brassy films - The Fury (1978), Superman (1978), 1941 (1979), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) ... An experiment during this period, Heartbeeps (1981), flopped. There was a long-term change of pace, nonetheless, as Williams fell in love with an interior designer and married once more.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) brought about his third Oscar, and The River (1984), Empire of the Sun (1987), The Accidental Tourist (1988) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989) added variety to the 1980s, as he returned to television with work on Amazing Stories (1985) and themes for NBC, including NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (1970). The '80s also brought the only exceptions to the composer's collaboration with Steven Spielberg - others scored both Spielberg's segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) and The Color Purple (1985).
Intending to retire, the composer's output became sporadic during the 1990s, particularly after the exciting Jurassic Park (1993) and the masterful, Oscar-winning Schindler's List (1993). This lighter workload, coupled with a number of hilarious references on The Simpsons (1989) actually seemed to renew interest in his music. Two Home Alone films (1990, 1992), JFK (1991), Nixon (1995), Sleepers (1996), Seven Years in Tibet (1997), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Angela's Ashes (1999), and a return to familiar territory with Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) recalled his creative diversity of the '70s.
In this millennium, the artist shows no interest in slowing down. His relationships with Spielberg and Lucas continue in A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), the remaining Star Wars prequels (2002, 2005), Minority Report (2002), Catch Me If You Can (2002), and a promised fourth Indiana Jones film. There is a more focused effort on concert works, as well, including a theme for the new Walt Disney Concert Hall and a rumored light opera. But one certain highlight is his musical magic for the world of Harry Potter (2001, 2002, 2004, etc.), which he also arranged into a concert suite geared toward teaching children about the symphony orchestra. His music remains on the whistling lips of people around the globe, in the concert halls, on the promenades, in album collections, sports arenas, and parades, and, this writer hopes, touching some place in ourselves. So keep those ears ready wherever you go, 'cause you will likely hear a bit of John Williams on your way.- Composer
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Paul Haslinger is an Austrian musician and composer. He lives and works in Los Angeles.
Paul began his career as a member of Electronic Music pioneers Tangerine Dream. He toured with the band extensively from 1985-90 and contributed to projects such as the album "Underwater Sunlight" (1986), as well as the films "Near Dark" (1987) and "Miracle Mile" (1988). In 1990, the band received a Grammy Nomination for their score to the Miramar Documentary 'Canyon Dreams'.
Paul moved to Los Angeles in 1991 to expand his creative scope. This led to a number of collaborations and began to shift his focus towards film scoring. It was his programming work for composer Graeme Revell that caught the attention of Hollywood executives which lead to his first solo credit, scoring HBO's Cheaters in 2000.
Paul's unique approach to scoring is based on his belief that, music in any genre, including film and television, should represent and be relevant to the time in which it was written. He received an Emmy nomination for his work on the Showtime Series 'Sleeper Cell' (2007)
Notable Projects Include: Fear The Walking Dead (2015 and 2016) Halt And Catch Fire (2014 - 2016) Rainbow Six Siege (2016) Underworld Awakening (2012) The Three Musketeers (2011) Rise Of The Lycans (2009) Takers (2009) Death Race (2008) Shoot Em Up (2007) Crank (2006) Sleeper Cell (2006) Underworld (2003) Blue Crush (2002) Minority Report (2002)
Notable Collaborations Include: Jon Hassell, Brian Williams (aka Lustmord), Christian Fennesz, Adam Jones, Snorri Bros, Nona Hendryx, Sussan Deihim, and Shenkar.
Upcoming Projects: Resident Evil: The Final Chapter- Composer
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Throughout his legendary career, composer John Debney has seen himself in equal demand for holiday classics such as Hocus Pocus and Elf, tentpoles like Iron Man 2, The Jungle Book, and The Greatest Showman, and the powerful epic The Passion of the Christ, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score. Debney's key to success is his immense versatility, composing for comedies (Bruce Almighty, Liar, Liar), action (Predators, The Scorpion King), horror (End of Days, Dream House), romance (Marry Me, Valentine's Day), and family films (Clifford the Big Red Dog, Dora and the Lost City of Gold) with the same confidence and panache. Debney is also known for his work in such films as Princess Diaries 1 & 2, Sin City, Spy Kids, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, No Strings Attached, The Emperor's New Groove, Chicken Little, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Ice Age: Collision Course, Isn't It Romantic, Come Away, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, Home Sweet Home Alone, and The Beach Bum.
His more recent projects include Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids: Armageddon for Netflix, Paramount Pictures' Tom Brady-produced 80 for Brady, Apple+ and Skydance Animation's Luck, Universal's Jennifer Lopez starrer Marry Me, and Disney+'s Hocus Pocus 2.
Upcoming projects include Kevin Costner's 2-part western epic Horizon: An American Saga for New Line Cinemas, Columbia Pictures' animation Garfield starring Chris Pratt, Paramount Pictures' Under the Boardwalk, Netflix's In Your Dreams, and Amazon Prime's Space Cadet.
Born in Glendale, California, Debney studied music composition at the California Institute of the Arts, and afterward began his career orchestrating and composing scores for Walt Disney Studios and various television series. He won his first Emmy Award in 1990 for the main theme for western series The Young Riders, and has since won three additional Emmy Awards and received nominations for a total of seven, with his latest being Disney+'s smash hit Hocus Pocus 2 in 2023. Debney has also worked with industry titan Seth MacFarlane on numerous episodes of his sci-fi space series The Orville, utilizing nearly 100-piece orchestras to record his bombastic adventure scores. His first foray into video game scoring, Sony's 2007 medieval adventure Lair, resulted in a BAFTA nomination and a Best Videogame Score award from The International Film Music Critics Association.
Debney has collaborated with acclaimed directors as diverse as Jon Favreau, Kevin Costner, Robert Rodriguez, David E. Talbert, Harmony Korine, Kat Coiro, Brenda Chapman, Mel Gibson, Peggy Holmes, the late Garry Marshall, Adam Shankman, Kenny Ortega, and the late Ivan Reitman. In 2005, he was the youngest recipient of ASCAP's Henry Mancini Career Achievement Award.- Composer
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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 beloved themes in movie history. His efforts have been recognized with two Oscar nominations, two Golden Globe nominations, three Grammy awards, two Emmy awards, and numerous International Film Music Critics Awards, Saturn Awards, and Hollywood Music In Media Awards.
Born in New York City and raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, Silvestri first dreamed of becoming a jazz guitar player. After spending two years at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, he hit the road as a performer and arranger. Landing in Hollywood at the age of 22, he found himself successfully composing the music for 1972's "The Doberman Gang" which established his place in the world of film composing.
The 1970s witnessed the rise of energetic synth-pop scores, establishing Silvestri as the action rhythmatist for TV's highway patrol hit "CHiPs." This action driven score caught the ear of a young filmmaker named Robert Zemeckis, whose hit film, 1984's "Romancing the Stone," was the perfect first date for the composer and director. It's success became the basis of a decades long collaboration that continues to this day. Their numerous collaborations have taken them through fascinating landscapes and stylistic variations, from the "Back to the Future" trilogy to the jazzy world of Toontown in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" the tension filled rooms of "What Lies Beneath" and "Death Becomes Her", to the cosmic wonder of "Contact;" the emotional isolation of "Castaway", to the magic of the "Polar Express". But perhaps no film collaboration defines their creative relationship better than Zemeckis' 1994 Best Picture winner, "Forrest Gump", for which Silvestri's gift for melodically beautiful themes earned him an Oscar and Golden Globe nomination and the affection of film music lovers everywhere. This 35 year, 21 film collaboration includes such recent films as "Flight", "Allied" and most recently "Welcome To Marwen". Zemeckis and Silvestri are currently working on "The Witches" based on Roald Dahl's 1973 classic book scheduled for release in October of 2020.
Though the Zemeckis/Silvestri collaboration is legendary, Silvestri has scored films of every imaginable style and genre. His energy has brought excitement and emotion to the hard-hitting orchestral scores for Steven Spielberg's "Ready Player One", James Cameron's "The Abyss" as well as "Predator" and "The Mummy Returns." Alan's diversity is on full display in family entertainment films such as "The Father of the Bride 1 and 2", "Parent Trap", "Stuart Little 1 and 2", Disney's "Lilo and Stitch", "The Croods" as well as "Night at the Museum 1, 2 and 3" while his passion for melody fuels the romantic emotion of films like "The Bodyguard" and "What Women Want".
Most recently, Alan has composed the music for Marvel's "Avengers: Endgame." The film is the culmination of a partnership with Marvel that began in 2011 with Alan's dynamically heroic score for "Captain America: The First Avenger" followed by "Avengers". Since 2011 Alan's collaboration with Marvel helped propel "The Avengers" and "Avengers: Infinity War" to spectacular world-wide success.
Silvestri's success has also crossed into the world of songwriting. His partnership with Six-Time Grammy Award winner Glen Ballard has produced hits such as the Grammy-winning and Oscar-nominated song "Believe" (Josh Groban) for "The Polar Express", "Butterfly Fly Away" (Miley Cyrus) for "Hannah Montana The Movie", "God Bless Us Everyone" (Andrea Bocelli) for "A Christmas Carol" and "A Hero Comes Home" (Idina Menzel) for "Beowulf".
Alan and his wife Sandra are long time residents of California's central coast. In 1998 the Silvestri family embarked on a new venture as the founders of Silvestri Vineyards. Their wines show that lovingly cultivated fruit has a music all its own. "There's something about the elemental side of winemaking that appeals to me," he says. "Both music making and wine making involve a magical blending of art and science. Just as each note brings it own voice to the melody, each vine brings it's own unique personality to the wine."
Their other great passion is the ongoing search for the cure to Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes. With the diagnosis of their son at two years of age (now 29) they continue to work the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and dream of the day this disease (and all of the suffering it brings to so many) will finally become a thing of the past.- Composer
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English composer and pop musician. Was a prominent member of the synthpop band The Art of Noise. Now, a critically acclaimed composer. Won an Oscar for Best Original Music or Comedy Score for work in The Full Monty (1997). Since has composed music for more than forty films, including: The Crying Game (1992), American History X (1998), and Bright Young Things (2003), and served as music producer for the film version of _Les Misérables_.- Music Department
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A highly regarded writer and arranger of music for commercials. He co-founded Elias Associates in 1980; it later became Elias Arts.
Elias is considered one of the world's most successful composers in the advertising field and helped usher electronic and rock music into advertising, bringing an end to the domination of the jingle and establishing an extraordinarily high standard for commercial scoring. He co-created the famous "Moon Landing" score in 1983 for the launch of MTV, the first sound mark for Apple, the Columbia Pictures sound logo, and the world famous Yahoo! "Yodel" sound mark. His company, Elias Arts has won countless other awards including dozens of Clios, multiple Cannes prizes and London International Advertising Awards and an Emmy. With offices in NY and LA, Elias has become the premiere agency for commercial branding, providing music for clients such as Ford, GM, Nissan, Audi, Infiniti, Mercedes, AT&T, NASDAQ, IBM, Apple, Sony, Levi's, Adidas and Nike.
As a record producer he has done full albums for Yes, Duran Duran and Grace Jones. He has also produced a diverse group of artists for various projects including BB King, Alanis Morissette, Perry Farrell, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Nusrat Fatah Ali Khan, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and David Bowie among others.
His solo recording projects as composer/performer/producer have brought together legendary collaborators from every genre of music. Those works include: "Requiem for the Americas: Songs from the Lost World" (1990) ''The Prayer Cycle'' (March 23, 1999) (Sony Classica]) ''American River (album) (August 24, 2004) (Decca Records) Grammy nominated. 'The Prayer Cycle 2'' (scheduled for late 2008 release).- Composer
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David Wittman is known for Fighting (2009), A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006) and The Son of No One (2011).- Music Department
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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 later completed his Ph.D. in Music Composition and Theory at UCLA. Horner began scoring student films for the American Film Institute in the late 1970s, which paved the way for scoring assignments on a number of small-scale films. His first large, high-profile project was composing music for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), which would lead to numerous other film offers and opportunities to work with world-class performers such as the London Symphony Orchestra. With over 75 projects to his name, and work with people such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Oliver Stone, and Ron Howard, Horner firmly established himself as a strong voice in the world of film scoring. In addition, Horner composed a classical concert piece in the 1980s, called "Spectral Shimmers", which was world premiered by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Horner passed away in a plane crash on June 22, 2015, two months short of his 62nd birthday.- Composer
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It's anything but typical for the realms of film or music... Tyler Bates regularly transitions from scoring some of the world's biggest film and television franchises, such as Guardians of the Galaxy and John Wick, to rocking massive audiences with Marilyn Manson and back to the studio again writing and producing. The musical voice of this highly sought-after composer, guitarist, songwriter, and record producer can be heard in every corner of pop culture-from video games to the Disney California Adventure attraction, Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission Breakout! In 2004, he made waves by creating the menacing audio backdrop for the popular Zack Snyder Dawn of the Dead reboot followed by his soundtrack for the filmmaker's 300, which remains one of the 21st century's biggest-selling score albums. His oeuvre expanded to include Watchmen and Sucker Punch both helmed by Snyder, several collaborations with Rob Zombie-including The Devil's Rejects, Halloween, and Halloween II-and Killer Joe directed by Academy Award® winner William Friedkin. Beyond composing for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 & Vol2., he produced a fan favorite "disco version" of his "Guardians of the Galaxy" main theme, titled "Guardians Inferno," co-written with director and long-time collaborator, James Gunn [feat. David Hasselhoff] and performed the second installment's score at the 2017 MOSMA Festival in Spain. John Wick: Chapter 2 represents the nexus of his work as a composer, performer, and songwriter. He penned the closing credits tune "A Job To Do" alongside legendary Alice In Chains guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and performed on-screen during the climactic "Rock Opera" sequence. Elsewhere, his sonic presence reverberates throughout Showtime's Californication, Audience Network's Kingdom, WGN America's Salem, and more as well as video games such as Killzone: Shadow Fall, God of War: Ascension, Army of Two 40th Day, and China's massive Crossfire. He also wrote the theme for his favorite NFL team the Tennessee Titans, and performed the "Star-Spangled Banner" solo in the rain during a 2015 game. Bates co-wrote and produced Manson's 2015 epic, The Pale Emperor. A runaway success, it crashed the Top 10 of the Billboard Top 200 at #6 and earned widespread critical acclaim with Rolling Stone hailing it as the "#1 Metal Album of 2015." As the band's lead guitarist, he dedicated over a year to touring in support of the album on the headline Hell Not Hallelujah Tour, an arena run with Slipknot, and various festivals worldwide. In 2017, he once again joined forces in the studio with Manson on the follow-up Heaven Upside Down and returns to the road for a string of high-profile touring. In 2017, he scored the blockbuster Atomic Blonde, starring Academy Award® winner Charlize Theron in addition to producing Health's cover of "Blue Monday" and re-invigorating Ministry's "Stigmata" with Manson, for two of the film's key sequences. Bates' voice also permeates NETFLIX's upcoming The Punisher. With several exciting projects slated for 2018 including Deadpool 2, The Spy Who Dumped Me & the return of The Punisher for season 2. Tyler Bates will undoubtedly continue to redefine what a composer is.- Composer
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John Frizzell has composed music for Film and Television across a wide range of genres in his career. Recently his dark mysterious score for two seasons of Kevin Williamson's CBS All Access series Tell Me A Story, is a sharp contrast to his comedic score for FOX television's Duncanville starring Amy Poehler, and his co-composed score to Mike Judge Presents: Tales From the Tour Bus on which he collaborated with the legendary George Clinton. As a Producer and Composer, he recently completed work on Alex Winter's documentary Zappa which explores the complex life and music of Frank Zappa.
Over the years, he has created scores as varied as the dark and violent Alien Resurrection, the quirky off-beat music for the cult classics Office Space and Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, the epic sound of Gods and Generals, and the dark and disturbing score for the FOX series The Following. In addition, he has composed the gentle melodies of the intimate period drama The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio and created the plaintive jazz score behind James Franco's Golden Globe winning performance in James Dean. In recent years Frizzell, a mandolin and guitar player, has worked with BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) to promote and support Bluegrass Music on the west coast.
Born in New York City, Frizzell began his music career early, singing in the chorus of the Paris Opera Company and the Metropolitan Opera Company. As a teenager he played guitar in rock bands, and later became focused on jazz, a passion that led him to pursue a formal musical education at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music as well as the Manhattan School of Music. It was during his college years that Frizzell met his mentor, guitar legend Joe Pass, and through Pass, Frizzell discovered his calling as a composer.
After college Frizzell worked for acclaimed producer/vibraphonist Michael Mainieri, who owned the first digital music workstation, a Synclavier. Frizzell became a master synthesist, a skill that led him to work with Academy Award winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, for whom Frizzell provided orchestrations to Oliver Stone's landmark mini-series Wild Palms. When he relocated to Los Angeles, Frizzell was introduced to James Newton Howard, who mentored him and composed the themes for Frizzell's first two feature films, The Rich Man's Wife and Dante's Peak.
Known to experiment with evolving music technology in his Film/TV scores, Frizzell has utilized experimental devices and software to create a fluid, collaborative and creative process, while still incorporating more traditional orchestral writing. Whether he is recording dry ice being rubbed on the inside of a piano or capturing the nuances of great violinists like Mark O'Conner or Sara Watkins, Frizzell strives to create a score intimately tied to picture and enhance the story.
A proponent for film music and film music issues, Frizzell has served on the Executive Board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, lectured to graduate students at USC Thornton School of Music and the Sundance Film Music Lab. He has also served as the Honorary President of the International Film Music Conference in Ubeda, Spain.- Composer
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Michael Wandmacher was born on 29 October 1967 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for Underworld: Blood Wars (2016), Bloodborne (2015) and Voice from the Stone (2017). He has been married to Leslie since 2 December 2000.- Composer
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There is nothing you can say about Nile Rodgers that hasn't already been heard by billions of people, in millions of cities, via thousands of radio airwaves, in hundreds of countries. The career of Nile Rodgers is one of the most enduring and prolific in music. Nile's signature is scrawled across an amazing array of music - from Madonna to Diana Ross, from David Bowie to Eric Clapton.
Nile first picked up a guitar while still in school and there was no stopping the evident talent that quickly emerged. At the age of 19, Nile not only worked for Sesame Street, but was performing nightly as part of the house band for the world renowned Apollo Theatre in Harlem, playing with luminaries such as Aretha Franklin, Parliament Funkadelic, Ben E. King and The Cadillacs. Pretty amazing for a skinny kid with glasses from New York City, but he wanted more. Nile Rodgers wanted a band of his own.
Once the decision was made, Nile searched for a partner in crime. He soon found him in local boy Bernard Edwards, whose precision with the bass was as close to Nile's precision with the guitar as either of them could hope for. The two were confident enough in their talent to introduce the world to CHIC in 1977. "Dance, Dance, Dance", the first single off CHIC's eponymous debut, hit the Top 10 and they never looked back. 1978 yielded their second hit, "Everybody Dance", while a third single, "Le Freak", hit No. 1 and became Warner Brothers' biggest selling single of all time. The dynamic duo of Edwards and Rodgers finished off the year by releasing their second album, C'est Chic, which went directly into the Top 5.
The year 1979 brought the singles "I Want Your Love", "Good Times" and a third CHIC album, Risque. While they still kept their day job as the front men of CHIC, Nile and Bernard were not content with just propelling their own band to the top. They produced and composed the album We Are Family by Sister Sledge and completed the same duties on Diana, the best selling album by Diana Ross, featuring their smash singles, "Upside Down" and "I'm Coming Out". And if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then surely the Sugarhill Gang's appropriation of the bass line from "Good Times" as the bass line for 1980's seminal rap song "Rapper's Delight" is an outstanding tribute.
Though the 70s embraced the R&B funk of CHIC, it was the 80s that secured Nile's place in music history. While forever bonded, Nile branched away from Bernard in the early 80s to collaborate with David Bowie. Their partnership may have raised more than a few eyebrows, but it offered music lovers Let's Dance, the biggest selling record in Bowie's career, and the hits "China Girl" "Modern Love" and "Let's Dance". With the success of Let's Dance, Nile proved an R&B guy could produce pop and rock. So, he followed it up by working with a girl from Michigan named Madonna, on a little record called "Like A Virgin", which went on to sell 14 million copies in the United States alone. Nile then produced Duran Duran's "The Reflex" single, which stayed at No. 1 for 15 weeks. After more production collaborations with Duran's the "Wild Boys" single and the Notorious album - Nile went on to work with a staggering array of musicians ranging from Mick Jagger on his She's The Boss record, INXS' groundbreaking "Original Sin" single, The Thompson Twins' Here's To Future Days, Grace Jones' Inside Story, the B-52s' Cosmic Thing, Eric Clapton's tribute to Jimi Hendrix album Stone Free, Paula Abdul and of course Beavis and Butthead.
Perhaps there is not a more fitting tribute than the one Nile received in Japan in 1996. Selected among his peers as Billboard Magazine's Top Producer in the World, he was honored as JT Super Producer. Nile was invited to Japan to perform a retrospective of his career, and was joined by Bernard Edwards, Sister Sledge, Steve Winwood, Simon LeBon and Slash, as they performed the hits that Nile took part in creating. To compliment the event, a TV and radio documentary, CD, and a DVD were released.
Shortly after producing Rai music superstar Cheb Mami's album Dellali featuring Sting, the events of September 11th prompted Nile to embark upon the biggest project of his life - The We Are Family Project, A Celebration of Our Common Humanity. The project encompasses a National We Are Family Day spearheaded for passage in Congress by Senator Robert Dole; a re-recording of We Are Family with over 200 celebrities and an accompanying music video directed by Spike Lee; an unprecedented recording and music video of over 100 famous children's characters singing We Are Family that aired simultaneously on Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and PBS on March 11, 2002; an 80 minute documentary entitled The Making and Meaning of We Are Family which debuted at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival with a standing ovation; limited edition prints of an interpretive artwork entitled "We Are Family" by world renowned artist Francesco Clemente; and a permanent We Are Family exhibit at The Children's Museum of Utah launched during the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.
Amidst all of his accomplishments, Nile has still found time to win Grammys for Best Rock Instrumental for his collaboration with Jeff Beck on "Escape", Best Contemporary Blues Recording and Best Rock Instrumental Performance with the Vaughan Brothers, add his famous guitar licks to Seal's version of "Fly Like An Eagle", score films such as Coming to America, Earth Girls Are Easy and Beverly Hills Cop III, win a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), be the Musical Director of the largest commercial broadcast success in VH-1's history, VH-1's Divas Live Tribute to Diana Ross, be a Governor and Trustee of NARAS, and be responsible as either artist, producer or writer of songs that have accounted for sales of over 100,000,000 records.
History is still in the making. Nile is currently in the studio with the original members of Duran Duran producing their next album to be released in 2002. He is also working with famed French artist/producer Cerrone and finishing the highly anticipated new CHIC album - of which the single "Let's Bounce" debuted in the hit movie Rush Hour 2.
There is a lot to say about a talent as vast and far reaching as Nile Rodgers. He has been at the helm of music that has shaped two decades, and he continues to impose his influence in the next millennium. The music and genius of Nile Rodgers truly speaks for itself - just turn on your radio and listen.- Composer
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Christopher Joseph Lennertz is an American music composer from Massachusetts. He had written music for various films, video games and shows including Lost in Space, Sausage Party, Medal of Honor, Hop, Alvin and The Chipmunks, Agent Carter, Supernatural, Revolution, Think Like A Man, The Boys, UglyDolls, Tom & Jerry, Ride Along and Horrible Bosses.- Music Department
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Eric Serra was born on September 9th, 1959 near Paris in France. His mother died when he was only 7 years old. His father, Claude Serra was a well-know songwriter in France in late 50s and 60s. Serra began to learn play the guitar at 11 years old and became a professional musician for Mory Kante;, Didier Lockwood and Michel Murty at 15 years old.
In the beginning of the 80s Serra met Luc Besson who asked him to compose the score for his first short film titled L'Avant dernier (1981) and later his first feature film Le Dernier combat (1983). As he continues to contribute to every Besson movies, except Angel-A (2005), Serra played bass guitar for French singer Jacques Higelin in studio and on stage from 1980 to 1988.
In 1995s, Serra had opportunity to score James Bond's come back GoldenEye (1995) and to recorded his first rock album titled "RXRA" both in English and French Release also including spanish and Japanese tracks.
In 2000s, Serra distanced himself from Besson by scoring for French and America movies like L'Art (delicat) de la seduction (2000), Wasabi (2001), Decalage horaire (2002), Rollerball (2002), Bulletproof Monk (2003) and Bandidas (2006). He also scored Cirque du Soleil and Criss Angel collaboration called Believe in Las Vegas.
Serra finally resumed his work with Besson for Arthur's trilogy (2006, 2009 and 2010), Adele Blanc-Sec (2010) and The Lady in late 2011.- Music Department
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Elmer Bernstein was educated at the Walden School and New York University. He served in the US Army Air Corps in World War II, writing scores for the service radio unit. He also wrote and arranged musical numbers for Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Band. A prolific and respected film music composer, he was a protégé of Aaron Copland, who studied music with Roger Sessions and Stefan Wolpe. Bernstein worked in various artistic endeavors, including painting and the theatre and also performed as an actor and dancer. Among his early composition work were scores for United Nations radio programs and television and industrial documentaries. His original scores for films range over an enormous variety of styles, with his groundbreaking jazz score for The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), light musical comedies such as his Oscar-winning Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) score, and perhaps his most familiar score, for the western The Magnificent Seven (1960). Between 1963 and 1969, Bernstein served as vice president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
A few years before before his death, he acquired something of a cult status among fans of English football when his familiar main theme for The Great Escape (1963) was adopted by them and hummed and played, lustily, during matches.- Composer
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Georges Delerue was born on 12 March 1925 in Roubaix, Nord, France. He was a composer and actor, known for Platoon (1986), Twins (1988) and The Day of the Dolphin (1973). He was married to Micheline Gautron. He died on 20 March 1992 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Composer
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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 Survivor, Deep Horizon, The Island and The Amityville Horror.- Music Department
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J. Ralph (American born; 1975) is an Academy Award® nominated composer, social activist, producer and singer/songwriter from New York City. He is the founder of the internationally award winning music production company The Rumor Mill, and has written and produced the music for numerous Grammy winning artists, Orchestras, The President of The United States, and the more Oscar winning/nominated documentaries then any other composer in history of the Academy Awards.
Considered by many to have had a profound impact on the documentary medium, J. Ralph has helped elevate the experience of what it feels like to watch a documentary through his scores. The Hollywood reporter called him the "go to producer of documentary scores" J. Ralph and over the last 7 years J. Ralph has written and produced the music for 6 Oscar winning/nominated documentaries including Finding Vivan Maier, Virunga, The Cove, Man On Wire, Hell And Back Again, and Chasing Ice. In the 85 year history of the Academy Awards, J. Ralph's song "Before My Time", performed by Scarlett Johansson and Joshua Bell from Chasing Ice, is one of only four songs from a documentary ever to be nominated for an Oscar.
His professional career began at 22 with his signing to Atlantic Records by label president Jason Flom in what was one of the biggest record deals ever granted to a new artist. J. Ralph's debut album Music To Mauzner By took over a year to record virtually by himself and was released on February 23, 1999 under the nome de plume, SPY. A musical Rorschach test, it was sonic blender of rock, hip-hop, mariachi, electronic, blue eyed soul, funk, and classical. Notable music critic Charles M. Young proclaimed the album "truly an important debut."
Weeks after the release, amidst critical acclaim and MTV billing him the next big thing in pop music, J. Ralph disappeared into a self-imposed exile. He took refuge in an abandoned vaudeville theater in lower Manhattan, where he constructed a sonic laboratory and carried out a full-scale excavation of what he calls "the orchestra's universal language." Five years later he emerged with The Illusionary Movements of Geraldine & Nazu, an orchestral memoir recorded with a 75-piece orchestra, featuring players from the New York Philharmonic and Czech Philharmonic. Master film composer Carter Burwell arranged and conducted the first two chapters "Untitled 17" and "Where the Day Takes You". Released in an unprecedented artist direct deal with Barnes and Noble, the store sold every single copy of the limited edition.
J. Ralph believes the orchestra is the ultimate medium, boundless in philosophy and universal in scope. He continues to focus on documentaries where he can raise critical awareness, money and change through the films and the music.Other notable work is the music for Jean Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child which he did along with Adam Horovitz and Michael Diamond of The Beastie Boys, and the score for Marilyn Minter's installation Green Pink Caviar on exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and featured in the Destricted film series along with Matthew Barney, Richard Prince, Gaspar Noe, Larry Clark, and Cecily Brown.
J. Ralph is the founder and creative director of scoring collective The Rumor Mill. The production company creates scores, songs, and musical identities for films, artists, and brands. Over their ten year history they have scored over 1000 television commercials and created an expansive catalog featuring thousands of songs and scores. Internationally recognized, they have won every major top honor and award including the Cannes Lion, Clio, AICP, LIAA, The One Show and a Grandy. Their music has been featured in the biggest television events of the world including the Olympics, the Academy Awards, the Super Bowl, the Grammys, the Emmys, the Golden Globes, The NBA playoffs, and the World Series.
In 2008, his fascination with acoustic instruments and live performers continued when J. Ralph was commissioned to write the opening fanfare for Columbus, Ohio's Pro-musica Orchestra. His resulting Fanfare for the Uncommon Eli & Mr. Greene had its world premiere at the State Theater on November 8 of that same year.
On September 21, 2011 J. Ralph was honored with the request to score United States President Barack Obama's Open Government Partnership Presentation which the president personally delivered to 50 heads of state from around the world.
His most recent works are the Sundance Film Festival's award-winning documentary "Chasing Ice" for which he wrote and produced the score and the Academy Award nominated song "Before My Time" performed by Scarlett Johansson and Joshua Bell. In the entire history of the Oscars, "Before My Time" is one of only three songs ever nominated for an Academy Award from a documentary. Other recent projects include the score to the experimental film "Maladies" starring James Franco, Catherine Keener, David Straithern, and Alan Cumming as well as the score/soundtrack album for the autism documentary Wretches & Jabberers by Academy Award winning-director Gerradine Wurzburg. Recorded in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London, J. Ralph wrote and produced 20 original songs featuring collaborations with Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons), Devendra Banhart, Paul Brady, Bonnie Bramlett, Vashti Bunyan, Martin Carthy, Judy Collins, Lila Downs, Vincent Gallo, David Garza, Ben Harper, Scarlett Johansson, Nic Jones, Norah Jones, Leah Siegel, Carly Simon, Steven Stills, Ben Taylor, and Bob Weir.
In 2012 the reggae singer Matisyahu covered J. Ralph's song "One Million Miles Away" which was produced in collaboration with Oscar winning actor Adrian Brody.
J. Ralph is a fellow of Yale University and the only composer ever to win two consecutive AICP awards. His scores are included in the Museum of Modern Art's Permanent Collection of Film and Media in New York City.- Music Department
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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 directorial debut, Forbidden Zone (1980) (now considered a cult classic by Elfman fans). The group's name went through many incarnations over the years, beginning with "The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo" and eventually just Oingo Boingo. While continuing to compose eclectic, intelligent rock music for his L.A.-based band (some of which had been used in various film soundtracks, e.g. Weird Science (1985)), Danny formed a friendship with young director Tim Burton, who was then a fan of Oingo Boingo. Danny went on to score the soundtrack of Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), Danny's first orchestral film score. The Elfman-Burton partnership continued (most notably through the hugely-successful "Batman" flicks) and opened doors of opportunity for Danny, who has been referred to as "Hollywood's hottest film composer".- Actor
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Tony Banks is an English musician, songwriter and film composer primarily known as the keyboardist and founding member of the rock band Genesis. Banks is a prolific solo artist, releasing six solo albums that range through progressive rock, pop, and classical music.
Tony Banks co-formed Genesis in 1967 while studying at Charterhouse as their keyboardist and one of their principal songwriters and lyricists. He became a prolific user of the Mellotron, Hammond T-102 organ, ARP Pro Soloist and Yamaha CP-70 piano. In the band's earliest years Banks would play acoustic guitar for some of the mellow and pastoral songs.
In 2010, Tony Banks was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis. In 2015, he was named "Prog God" at the Progressive Music Awards. Banks is ranked No. 11 on MusicRadar's greatest keyboard players of all time.- Music Department
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British composer, primarily of film scores. From a military family and the son of a Royal Field Artillery colonel, John Mervyn Addison was born March 16, 1920, in Chobham, Surrey, and attended Wellington College, Berkshire, with plans for a military career. His interest and talent for music intervened, and he left Wellington for the Royal College of Music. With the opening of the Second World War, however, he was diverted back to the military and spent the war in a tank unit of the 22nd Hussars, being wounded in Normandy and rising to the rank of captain. After the war, he returned to the Royal College of Music, specializing in composition, clarinet, and oboe. By age 30, he had been made a professor of composition. He had previously won the RCM's Sullivan Award for Composition and was soon deluged with commissions for new compositions. He produced a wide variety of concerti, chamber pieces, and ballets. Although his first music for a film came in 1942 for Roy Boulting's Thunder Rock, his score was not used, and it was 1950 before he truly entered his principal profession, that of film composer. He scored numerous prominent films, among them Seven Days to Noon, Look Back in Anger, The Entertainer, and Tom Jones, for which he won an Academy Award. He received another Oscar nomination for his score to Sleuth, and a BAFTA nomination for his music for A Bridge Too Far, coincidentally the story of a World War II battle in which he himself had participated. In the late 1970s, Addison moved to the United States and focused a good deal of his work on television productions, most famously creating the popular theme music to the TV series Murder She Wrote. He died following a stroke, on December 7, 1998, in Bennington, Vermont. He was survived by his wife Pamela, 2 stepchildren, and 3 of his four biological children.- Composer
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From his days as one of the pioneering icons of electronic music to his current status as a world-renowned legendary film composer, Mark Isham continues to be one of the most prolific and provocative artists on the scene. His gift for creating unforgettable melodies and his love of fresh, innovative sonic palettes have earned Isham many awards including a Grammy, an Emmy, and a Clio, in addition to multiple Grammy, Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for his material both as a composer and a recording artist. Most recently, Mark was honored by ASCAP with the Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement. Isham's musical signature is evident in his memorable scores for such notable films as Crash, awarded the Oscar for Best Picture in 2005 (Isham's score was named Best Soundtrack of 2005 by Cinescape.com), Bobby, nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Picture, and The Black Dahlia, with its critically lauded jazz noir soundtrack (awarded Best Score for a Drama Film 2007, and nominated for Best Score of the Year by the International Film Music Critics Association). Other highlights include Eight Below, The Cooler, A River Runs Through It, Blade, Nell, Men of Honor, and The Secret Life of Bees. His list of collaborators in film is a veritable who's who of the entertainment industry, Robert Redford, Tom Cruise, Brian De Palma, Chick Corea, Jodi Foster, Robert Altman, Sting, Wil.I.Am, Sydney Lumet, Mick Jagger and too many more to name. As a performing artist, Mark has added his unique sound, melodic, moody, sexy and cool, to a wide variety of genres. He has graced the albums of such diverse artists as Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Ziggy Marley, Joni Mitchell, The Rolling Stones, Chris Isaak, and Van Morrison. His solo recordings span from electronica and classic jazz to hip-hop and ethnic world music, receiving worldwide critical acclaim including Grammy nominations for his albums Castalia and Tibet, and a win for his Virgin Records release, Mark Isham. No matter the genre, medium, or venue, Mark Isham displays a boundless ability to electrify the listener with his talent for crafting evocative new musical worlds.- Music Department
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David Foster was born on 1 November 1949 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He is a composer and producer, known for St. Elmo's Fire (1985), The Secret of My Success (1987) and The Bodyguard (1992). He has been married to Katharine McPhee since 28 June 2019. They have one child. He was previously married to Yolanda Hadid, Linda Thompson, Rebecca L. McCurdy and B.J. Cook.- Composer
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Guillaume Roussel was born on 18 March 1980 in France. He is a composer, known for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017), 3 Days to Kill (2014) and Lift (2024).- Music Department
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Bill Conti was born on 13 April 1942 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for For Your Eyes Only (1981), Rocky (1976) and The Karate Kid Part II (1986). He is married to Shelby Cox. They have two children.- Music Department
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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 be aired on MTV (August 1, 1981).
Hans Florian Zimmer was born in Frankfurt am Main, then in West Germany, the son of Brigitte (Weil) and Hans Joachim Zimmer. He entered the world of film music in London during a long collaboration with famed composer and mentor Stanley Myers, which included the film My Beautiful Laundrette (1985). He soon began work on several successful solo projects, including the critically acclaimed A World Apart, and during these years Zimmer pioneered the use of combining old and new musical technologies. Today, this work has earned him the reputation of being the father of integrating the electronic musical world with traditional orchestral arrangements.
A turning point in Zimmer's career came in 1988 when he was asked to score Rain Man for director Barry Levinson. The film went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture of the Year and earned Zimmer his first Academy Award Nomination for Best Original Score. The next year, Zimmer composed the score for another Best Picture Oscar recipient, Driving Miss Daisy (1989), starring Jessica Tandy, and Morgan Freeman.
Having already scored two Best Picture winners, in the early 1990s, Zimmer cemented his position as a preeminent talent with the award-winning score for The Lion King (1994). The soundtrack has sold over 15 million copies to date and earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Score, a Golden Globe, an American Music Award, a Tony, and two Grammy Awards. In total, Zimmer's work has been nominated for 7 Golden Globes, 7 Grammys and seven Oscars for Rain Man (1988), Gladiator (2000), The Lion King (1994), As Good as It Gets (1997), The The Preacher's Wife (1996), The Thin Red Line (1998), The Prince of Egypt (1998), and The Last Samurai (2003).
With his career in full swing, Zimmer was anxious to replicate the mentoring experience he had benefited from under Stanley Myers' guidance. With state-of-the-art technology and a supportive creative environment, Zimmer was able to offer film-scoring opportunities to young composers at his Santa Monica-based musical "think tank." This approach helped launch the careers of such notable composers as Mark Mancina, John Powell, Harry Gregson-Williams, Nick Glennie-Smith, and Klaus Badelt.
In 2000, Zimmer scored the music for Gladiator (2000), for which he received an Oscar nomination, in addition to Golden Globe and Broadcast Film Critics Awards for his epic score. It sold more than three million copies worldwide and spawned a second album Gladiator: More Music From The Motion Picture, released on the Universal Classics/Decca label. Zimmer's other scores that year included Mission: Impossible II (2000), The Road to El Dorado (2000), and An Everlasting Piece (2000), directed by Barry Levinson.
Some of his other impressive scores include Pearl Harbor (2001), The Ring (2002), four films directed by Ridley Scott; Matchstick Men (2003), Hannibal (2001), Black Hawk Down (2001), and Thelma & Louise (1991), Penny Marshall's Riding in Cars with Boys (2001), and A League of Their Own (1992), Tony Scott's True Romance (1993), Tears of the Sun (2003), Ron Howard's Backdraft (1991), Days of Thunder (1990), Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997), and the animated Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) for which he also co-wrote four of the songs with Bryan Adams, including the Golden Globe nominated Here I Am.
At the 27th annual Flanders International Film Festival, Zimmer performed live for the first time in concert with a 100-piece orchestra and a 100-voice choir. Choosing selections from his impressive body of work, Zimmer performed newly orchestrated concert versions of Gladiator, Mission: Impossible II (2000), Rain Man (1988), The Lion King (1994), and The Thin Red Line (1998). The concert was recorded by Decca and released as a concert album entitled "The Wings Of A Film: The Music Of Hans Zimmer."
In 2003, Zimmer completed his 100th film score for the film The Last Samurai, starring Tom Cruise, for which he received both a Golden Globe and a Broadcast Film Critics nomination. Zimmer then scored Nancy Meyers' comedy Something's Gotta Give (2003), the animated Dreamworks film, Shark Tale (2004) (featuring voices of Will Smith, Renée Zellweger, Robert De Niro, Jack Black, and Martin Scorsese), and Jim Brooks' Spanglish (2004) starring Adam Sandler and Téa Leoni (for which he also received a Golden Globe nomination). His 2005 projects include Paramount's The Weather Man (2005) starring Nicolas Cage, Dreamworks' Madagascar (2005), and the Warner Bros. summer release, Batman Begins (2005).
Zimmer's additional honors and awards include the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award in Film Composition from the National Board of Review, and the Frederick Loewe Award in 2003 at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. He has also received ASCAP's Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement. Hans and his wife live in Los Angeles and he is the father of four children.- Composer
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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 wrote the music for Disney's live action feature film "Mulan" which was directed by Niki Caro with whom he worked previously having scored her film "The Zookeeper's Wife." Gregson-Williams also co-wrote the original song "Loyal Brave True" for "Mulan" performed by Christina Aguilera. He and his brother, composer Rupert Gregson-Williams, wrote the original score for both seasons 1 & 2 of the HBO drama series "The Gilded Age". He also co-wrote the original score for the Netflix documentary "Return to Space" with his friend Mychael Danna, directed by Oscar-winning directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin for which he received an Emmy nomination.
Upcoming 2023 releases include "Meg 2: The Trench" starring Jason and directed by Ben Wheatley and Aardman's animated feature "Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget" directed by Sam Fell and the action thriller "Retribution" directed by Nimród Antal and starring Liam Neeson. Gregson-Williams was the composer on all four installments of the animated blockbuster "Shrek" franchise, garnering a BAFTA Award nomination for the score for the Oscar-winning "Shrek." He received Golden Globe and Grammy Award nominations for his score for Andrew Adamson's "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." He has collaborated multiple times with a number of directors including Ben Affleck on "Live by Night," "The Town" and "Gone Baby Gone", Joel Schumacher on "Twelve," "The Number 23," "Veronica Guerin" and "Phone Booth", Tony Scott on "Unstoppable," "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3," "Déjà Vu," "Domino," "Man on Fire," "Spy Game" and "Enemy of the State", Ridley Scott on "The Martian," "Prometheus," "Exodus: Gods and Kings," "Kingdom of Heaven," "The Last Duel" and "House of Gucci", Bille August on "Return to Sender" and "Smilla's Sense of Snow", Andrew Adamson on the "Shrek" series, "Mr. Pip" and the first two "Narnia" movies, and Antoine Fuqua on "The Replacement Killers," "The Equalizer," The Equalizer 2" and "Infinite". Some of his more recent film projects include Disney Nature's feature film "Polar Bear" which streamed exclusively on Disney+ in 2022, "The Ambush" directed by Pierre Morel, "Life in a Day 2020" directed Kevin Macdonald, "The Meg" directed by Jon Turteltaub, Aardman's "Early Man" directed by Nick Park for which he received an Annie Award nomination and Disney Nature's "Penguins." His television credits include "Whiskey Cavalier," the miniseries "Catch-22" co-composed with his brother Rupert Gregson-Williams and additionally he wrote the main title theme for "Electric Dreams" and earned an Emmy nomination for the episode entitled "The Commuter." Over the past two decades he has scored three of the five games in the highly successful "Metal Gear Solid" franchise for Konami as well as "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare" for Activision, which became the top-selling video game of 2014 and earned him various music gaming awards. Throughout his illustrious and successful career, Gregson-Williams has also collaborated with a diverse array of recording artists such as Regina Spektor, Imogen Heap, Tricky, Peter Murphy, Flea, Hybrid, Paul Oakenfold, Sasha, Trevor Horn, Trevor Rabin, Lebo M., Perry Farrell and Tony Visconti.
Born in England to a musical family, Gregson-Williams earned a music scholarship to St. John's College, Cambridge, at the age of 7 and later gained a coveted spot at London's Guildhall School of Music & Drama, from which he recently received an honorary fellowship. He started his film career as assistant to composer Richard Harvey and later as orchestrator and arranger for Stanley Myers, and then went on to compose his first scores for director Nicolas Roeg. His subsequent collaboration and friendship with composer Hans Zimmer led to Gregson-Williams providing music for such films as "The Rock," "Armageddon" and "The Prince of Egypt" and helped launch his career in Hollywood.
In 2018, Gregson-Williams received the BMI Icon Award, in recognition of his unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers, as well as the Society of Composers & Lyricists' prestigious Ambassador Award.- Composer
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Graeme Revell was born in New Zealand in 1955. He was graduated from The University of Auckland with degrees in economics and politics. He is a classically trained pianist and French horn player. Revell worked for as a regional planner in Australia and Indonesia and as an orderly in an Australian psychiatric hospital. Graeme Revell was a member of SPK, a 70s Industrial music group, for which he played keyboards and percussion. Their single "In Flagrante Delicto" was the basis for his Dead Calm score. This was his first score and won him an Australian Film Industry award. Since then he's done a number of major and minor film soundtracks including The Crow, The Crow: City Of Angels, The Craft, The Saint, and Chinese Box.- Composer
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Patrick Doyle is a classically trained composer.
His first film score, the acclaimed adaptation of "Henry V" with Kenneth Branagh for Renaissance films was scored in 1989. He has subsequently worked with Kenneth Branagh, a long time collaborator on numerous pictures including "Dead Again", "Much Ado About Nothing", "Frankenstein" and "Hamlet".
Patrick has composed over 45 internationally renowned feature film scores including "Indochine", "Sense and Sensibility", "Carlito's Way", "Gosford Park", "A Little Princess", "Bridget Jones's Diary", "Nanny McPhee" and "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire".
He has collaborated with a host of internationally acclaimed film directors including Robert Altman, Ang Lee, Brian de Palma, Alfonso Cuaron, Mike Newell, Regis Wagnier and Kenneth Branagh.
His concert works include "The Thistle and The Rose", a commission by HRH The Prince of Wales for full choir in honour of the Queen Mother's 90th birthday, "Tam O' Shanter" for the National Schools Orchestra Trust and the violin concerto "Corarsik".
He has recently completed the score for the Marvel Entertainment feature film "Thor," directed by Kenneth Branagh, "La Ligne Droite" for Regis Wagnier and the Twentieth Century Fox film "Caesar Rise of the Apes". He is currently scoring the upcoming Pixar film "Brave" directed by Mark Andrews and after which will score the Sovereign Films film "Effie" directed by Richard Laxton.- Composer
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Ramin Djawadi is an Iranian-German film score composer known for composing the hit HBO series Game of Thrones and the Marvel films Blade: Trinity, Iron Man and Eternals. He also composed Clash of the Titans, A Wrinkle in Time, Pacific Rim, Westworld, Gears of War 4 and 5, Medal of Honor, Open Season 1 and 2, Jack Ryan and Warcraft. He won two Emmy Awards for Game of Thrones.- Composer
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Joe Kraemer has been scoring films since the age of 15, when he composed the soundtrack for his high school classmate's The Chiming Hour, a feature-length indie shot on Super 8 in 1986. This lead to three career-defining projects for Kraemer: The Way of the Gun, Jack Reacher, and Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation.
Kraemer attended the renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston to study film composition. In the following years, Kraemer carved out an eclectic career scoring various genres. He has written music for over 100 films, with about 40 of those just for the Hallmark Channel/Larry Levinson Productions. Furthermore, he has scored for episodic television, television movies, documentaries, and short films, including his scores for John Putch's The Poseidon Adventure and A Time To Remember, as well as the Mystery Woman series, and westerns such as Hard Ground, Lone Rider, and The Trail To Hope Rose.
Kraemer frequently does Masterclasses in composition for media for various colleges and organizations, including Columbia College Chicago, Media Sound Hamburg, and the Hollywood Music Workshop.- Music Department
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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 College of Music, a college of contemporary music located in Boston.
For a few years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Shore was a member of Lighthouse, a jazz fusion band. In the 1970s, Shore mainly composed music for theatrical performances and a few television shows. His most notable work was composing the music for the one-man-act show of stage magician Doug Henning. He also served as a musical director in then-new television show "Saturday Night Live" (1975-). He was hired by the show's producer Lorne Michaels, who was a close friend of Shore since their teen years.
In 1978, Shore started his career as a film score composer, with scoring the B-movie " I Miss You, Hugs and Kisses" (1978). His next film score was composed for the horror film "The Brood" (1979). Shore had a good working relationship with the film's director David Cronenberg. Cronenberg would continue to use Shore as the composer of most of his films, with the exception of "The Dead Zone" (1983).
In the 1980s, Shore also composed the film scores of works by other directors, such as "After Hours" (1985) by Martin Scorsese, and "Big" (1988) by Penny Marshall. He received more acclaim for composing the film score for "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991), a major hit of its era. Shore was nominated for a BAFTA award for this film score.
By the 1990s, Shore was an established composer of high repute and worked in an ever increasing number of films. Among his better known works were the film scores for comedy film "Mrs. Doubtfire" (1993) and crime thriller "Seven" (1995). Shore received even more critical acclaim in the 2000s, when he composed the film score for fantasy film "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (2001). He won an Academy Award and a Grammy for the film score, and received nominations for a BAFTA award and a Golden Globe.
Shore continued his career with the film scores of acclaimed films "Gangs of New York" (2002), "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (2002), and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003). He received his second Academy Award for the film score of "The Return of the King", and his third Academy Award as the composer of hit song "Into the West". He won several other major awards for these film scores. His film scores for "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy are considered the most famous and successful works of his career.
For the rest of the 2000s, Shore closely collaborated with director Martin Scorsese. Shore won a Golden Globe for the film score of Scorsese's "The Aviator" (2004). In the 2010s, Shore continues to work regularly, mostly known for composing film scores for works by directors David Cronenberg, Martin Scorsese, and Peter Jackson. He was the main composer for "The Hobbit" trilogy by Peter Jackson, and the fantasy film "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" (2010) by David Slade.- Music Department
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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 typist in the music department at CBS. There, he was given his first embryonic assignments as a composer for radio shows such as "Romance" and "CBS Radio Workshop". He wrote one score a week for these shows, which were performed live on transmission. He stayed with CBS until 1960, having already scored The Twilight Zone (1959). He was hired by Revue Studios to score their series Thriller (1960). It was here that he met the influential film composer Alfred Newman who hired Goldsmith to score the film Lonely Are the Brave (1962), his first major feature film score. An experimentalist, Goldsmith constantly pushed forward the bounds of film music: Planet of the Apes (1968) included horns blown without mouthpieces and a bass clarinetist fingering the notes but not blowing. He was unafraid to use the wide variety of electronic sounds and instruments which had become available, although he did not use them for their own sake.
He rose rapidly to the top of his profession in the early to mid-1960s, with scores such as Freud (1962), A Patch of Blue (1965) and The Sand Pebbles (1966). In fact, he received Oscar nominations for all three and another in the 1960s for Planet of the Apes (1968). From then onwards, his career and reputation was secure and he scored an astonishing variety of films during the next 30 years or so, from Patton (1970) to Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) and from Chinatown (1974) to The Boys from Brazil (1978). He received 17 Oscar nominations but won only once, for The Omen (1976) in 1977 (Goldsmith himself dismissed the thought of even getting a nomination for work on a "horror show"). He enjoyed giving concerts of his music and performed all over the world, notably in London, where he built up a strong relationship with London Symphony Orchestra.
Jerry Goldsmith died at age 75 on July 21, 2004 after a long battle with cancer.- Composer
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Photek was born on 13 May 1972 in England, UK. He is a composer and actor, known for Into the Night (2020), The Main Event (2020) and Life in a Year (2020). He has been married to Stephanie Chao-Parkes since 22 December 2012. They have two children.- Music Department
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John Barry was born in York, England in 1933, and was the youngest of three children. His father, Jack, owned several local cinemas and by the age of fourteen, Barry was capable of running the projection box on his own - in particular, The Rialto in York. As he was brought up in a cinematic environment, he soon began to assimilate the music which accompanied the films he saw nightly to a point when, even before he'd left St. Peters school, he had decided to become a film music composer. Helped by lessons provided locally on piano and trumpet, followed by the more exacting theory taught by tutors as diverse as Dr Francis Jackson of York Minster and William Russo, formerly arranger to Stan Kenton and His Orchestra, he soon became equipped to embark upon his chosen career, but had no knowledge of how one actually got a start in the business. A three year sojourn in the army as a bandsman combined with his evening stints with local jazz bands gave him the idea to ease this passage by forming a small band of his own. This was how The John Barry Seven came into existence, and Barry successfully launched them during 1957 via a succession of tours and TV appearances. A recording contract with EMI soon followed, and although initial releases made by them failed to chart, Barry's undoubted talent showed enough promise to influence the studio management at Abbey Road in allowing him to make his debut as an arranger and conductor for other artists on the EMI roster.
A chance meeting with a young singer named Adam Faith, whilst both were appearing on astage show version of the innovative BBC TV programme, Six-Five Special (1957), led Barry to recommend Faith for a later BBC TV series, Drumbeat (1959), which was broadcast in 1959. Faith had made two or three commercially unsuccessful records before singer/songwriter Johnny Worth, also appearing on Drumbeat, offered him a song he'd just finished entitled What Do You Want? With the assistance of the JB7 pianist, Les Reed, Barry contrived an arrangement considered suited to Faith's soft vocal delivery, and within weeks, the record was number one. Barry (and Faith) then went from strength to strength; Faith achieving a swift succession of chart hits, with Barry joining him soon afterwards when the Seven, riding high on the wave of the early sixties instrumental boom, scored with Hit & Miss, Walk Don't Run and Black Stockings.
Faith had long harboured ambitions to act even before his first hit record and was offered a part in the up and coming British movie, Wild for Kicks (1960), at that time. As Barry was by then arranging not only his recordings but also his live Drumbeat material, it came as no surprise when the film company asked him to write the score to accompany Faith's big screen debut. It should be emphasised that the film was hardly a cinematic masterpiece. However, it did give Faith a chance to demonstrate his acting potential, and Barry the chance to show just how quickly he'd mastered the technique of film music writing. Although the film and soundtrack album were both commercial successes, further film score offers failed to flood in. On those that did, such as Never Let Go (1960) and The Amorous Mr. Prawn (1962), Barry proved highly inventive, diverse and adaptable and, as a result, built up a reputation as an emerging talent. It was with this in mind that Noel Rogers, of United Artists Music, approached him in the summer of '62, with a view to involving him in the music for the forthcoming James Bond film, Dr. No (1962).
He was also assisted onto the cinematic ladder as a result of a burgeoning relationship with actor/writer turned director Bryan Forbes, who asked him to write a couple of jazz numbers for use in a club scene in Forbes' then latest film, The L-Shaped Room (1962). From this very modest beginning, the couple went on to collaborate on five subsequent films, including the highly acclaimed Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964), King Rat (1965) and The Whisperers (1967). Other highlights from the sixties included five more Bond films, Zulu (1964), Born Free (1966) (a double Oscar), The Lion in Winter (1968) (another Oscar) and Midnight Cowboy (1969).
In the seventies he scored the cult film Walkabout (1971), The Last Valley (1971), Mary, Queen of Scots (1971) (Oscar nomination), wrote the theme for The Persuaders! (1971), a musical version of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and the hit musical Billy. Then, in 1974, he made the decision to leave his Thameside penthouse apartment for the peace of a remote villa he was having built in Majorca. He had been living there for about a year, during which time he turned down all film scoring opportunities, until he received an invitation to write the score for the American TV movie, Eleanor and Franklin (1976). In order to accomplish the task, he booked into the Beverly Hills Hotel for six weeks in October 1975. However, during this period, he was also offered Robin and Marian (1976) and King Kong (1976), which caused his stay to be extended. He was eventually to live and work in the hotel for almost a year, as more assignments were offered and accepted. His stay on America's West Coast eventually lasted almost five years, during which time he met and married his wife, Laurie, who lived with him at his Beverly Hills residence. They moved to Oyster Bay, New York and have since split their time between there and a house in Cadogan Square, London.
After adopting a seemingly lower profile towards the end of the seventies, largely due to the relatively obscure nature of the commissions he accepted, the eighties saw John Barry re-emerge once more into the cinematic limelight. This was achieved, not only by continuing to experiment and diversify, but also by mixing larger budget commissions of the calibre of Body Heat (1981), Jagged Edge (1985), Out of Africa (1985) (another Oscar) and The Cotton Club (1984) with smaller ones such as the TV movies, Touched by Love (1980) and Svengali (1983). Other successes included: Somewhere in Time (1980), Frances (1982), three more Bond films, and Peggy Sue Got Married (1986).
After serious illness in the late eighties, Barry returned with yet another Oscar success with Dances with Wolves (1990) and was also nominated for Chaplin (1992). Since then he scored the controversial Indecent Proposal (1993), My Life (1993), Deception (1992), Cry, the Beloved Country (1995) and has made compilation albums for Sony (Moviola and Moviola II) and non-soundtrack albums for Decca ('The Beyondness Of Things' & 'Eternal Echoes').
In the late nineties he made a staggeringly successful return to the concert arena, playing to sell-out audiences at the Royal Albert Hall. Since then he has appeared as a guest conductor at a RAH concert celebrating the life and career of Elizabeth Taylor and made brief appearances at a couple of London concerts dedicated to his music. In 2004 he re-united with Don Black to write his fifth stage musical, Brighton Rock, which enjoyed a limited run at The Almeida Theatre in London.
He continued to appear at concerts of his own music, often making brief appearances at the podium. In November 2007, Christine Albanel, the French Minister for Culture, appointed him Commander in the National Order of Arts and Letters. The award was made at the eighth International Festival Music and Cinema, in Auxerre, France, when, in his honour, a concert of his music also took place.
In August 2008 he was working on a new album, provisionally entitled Seasons, which he has described as "a soundtrack of his life." A new biography, "John Barry: The Man with The Midas Touch", by Geoff Leonard, Pete Walker, and Gareth Bramley, was published in November 2008.
He died following a heart-attack on 30th January 2011, at his home in Oyster Bay, New York.- Composer
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Craig Armstrong, born in Glasgow, 1959. Studied composition and piano at the Royal Academy of Music, London from 1977 to 1981.
From his base in Glasgow he has written for film, classical commissions and solo recordings. He has composed for Baz Lurhmann's Romeo and Juliet and Moulin Rouge!, The Quiet American, Ray, Orphans, Oliver Stone's World Trade Centre, and Elizabeth:The Golden Age. Most recently Armstrong collaborated for the third time with Baz Luhrmann on his new film, The Great Gatsby, for which Armstrong was Grammy nominated for his original score.
For his film scores Armstrong has been awarded two BAFTA's, two Ivor Novellos, a Golden Globe, an American Film Institute Award, a Grammy and in 2007 an outstanding International Achievement award from Scottish BAFTA.
Armstrong has released two solo records to Massive Attack's label Melankolic and Piano Works on Sanctuary in 2004. Memory Takes My Hand was released on EMI Classics in 2008 featuring the violinist Clio Gould and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Armstrong has composed concert works for the RSNO, London Sinfonietta, Hebrides Ensemble and the Scottish Ensemble. Armstrong's second Scottish Opera commission, 'The Lady From The Sea', premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2012 winning the Herald Angel Award.
Craig is visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music, London and was awarded an O.B.E for services to the music industry.- Composer
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Film composer Harry Manfredini specializes in writing for horror films, but is also a song writer and jazz soloist. From his haunting dramatic scores for The Friday the 13th films, to his adventurous music for The Omega Code, Harry Manfredini has established himself as a motion picture music composer of the same style as Bernard Herrmann.
Manfredini's works in the film industry began when he joined Sean S. Cunningham for his low budget film Manny's Orphans (1978) in 1978, but it was his haunting score for Paramount's 1980 major motion picture Friday the 13th (1980) that really gave the film its ideal and realistic and suspenseful score. Friday the 13th was also directed by Sean Cunningham, and Manfredini continued creating the scores for all the Friday the 13th sequels except for Part 8 which was taken over by Fred Mollin.
Manfredini's scores for House (1985), DeepStar Six (1989) and Cameron's Closet (1988) also confirmed his appeal as a popular horror film composer, but he also composed for adventure, comedy and family films including Spring Break (1983), Aces: Iron Eagle III (1992) and Follow Your Heart (1999). In recent years, he composed the scores for major motion pictures, including Wes Craven's Wishmaster (1997), The Omega Code (1999) and recently Jason X (2001) for New Line Cinema.- Composer
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Known for his work in major productions such as Captain America: Civil War, Captain Philips, Kingsmen: A Secret Service, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Kong: Skull Island, and many more. A Kentucky native, Alex spent years working under famed composer Henry Jackman after studying at Belmont University and Berklee College of Music.- Music Department
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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 studied classical music at Oxford and sang in the St. Paul's Cathedral Choir-but simultaneously got involved in the underground rave scene and began producing popular electronica music and dance remixes, eventually working with artists such as Seal and The Art of Noise.
In 2006 he caught the attention of film composers Hans Zimmer and John Powell, and began writing additional music for Powell on Kung Fu Panda and then for Zimmer on The Dark Knight, The Da Vinci Code, and The Pirates of the Caribbean films, which rapidly led to scoring blockbuster films on his own. His first solo feature film then came to be 'Monsters v Aliens' directed by Rob Letterman.
"I've spent a lot of time working in the record industry," says Jackman, "and for my money being a film composer is way more fun. You can be working on X-Men, and then a movie set in 17th-century Italy. It's not about showing off what you think is cool or what you want to hear, but 'what is this movie about, and what would best serve it?' That process just leads to strange and remarkable places."
Jackman is known for his recent scores for Marvel Studios' 'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier', Showtime's 'The Comey Rule', The Russo Brothers' 'Cherry', as well as 'Jumanji: The Next Level', a continuation of the magical board game adventure story, and 'Detective Pikachu', following the story of the beloved Pikachu Pokémon character starring Ryan Reynolds. His other recent work includes 'Ralph Breaks the Internet', which was nominated for Best Animated Feature. His other diverse credits include Captain America: Civil War, Kong: Skull Island, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Big Hero 6, and Kingsman: The Golden Circle.- Composer
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Marco Beltrami was born on 7 October 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).- Composer
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Mastodon formed in Atlanta, Georgia in the late 90's by the fusion of two errant duos. Guitarist\vocalist Brent Hinds and bassist\vocalist Troy Sanders one one side, and drummer [Brann Dailor] and guitarist Bill Kelliher (former members of Lethargy and Today Is The Day) on the other. Mastodon recorded one demo only (know as Mastodon 7") before enlisting with metal label Relapse records. They recorded three full length albums for Relapse: "Remission" (2002), which features on its cover artist Paul Romano's interpretation of a dream Brann once had, a burning horse); "Leviathan" (2004), a concept album with central theme Melville's "Moby Dick" (Brann Dailor read the book during a flight and had the idea of using that theme for a concept album); "Blood Mountain" (2006), which features the song "Colony of Birchmen", recently nominated for a Grammy Award as "Best Metal Performance of the year" (2006). Both "Leviathan" and "Blood Mountain" have been elected "Album Of The Year" by Metal Magazine "Metal Hammer". Mastodon also recorded an EP by the title "Lifesblood" (2001, re-edited including their first demo as "Call of the Mastodon" in 2005) featuring songs that would later become some of their best assets on live performances.- Composer
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Composer Christopher Young was born in Red Bank, New Jersey. After graduating from Hampshire College in Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music, Young went on to pursue his post-graduate studies at North Texas State University. After college Christopher moved to Los Angeles, California. He was originally a jazz drummer, but decided to become a film composer instead after listening to some of Bernard Herrmann's work. Moreover, Young not only has studied with noted composer David Raksin at UCLA Film School, but also teaches at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. Christopher was honored with the prestigious Richard Kirk Award at the 2008 BMI Film and TV Awards.- Composer
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Pinar Toprak is a Turkish-American Emmy-nominated composer, conductor and performer, who specializes in creating thematic scores for everything from superhero sagas and blockbuster comedies to TV series and dramas. With her work on Captain Marvel and Fortnite, Pinar is the first female composer to score both a film and video game with gross revenues of over $1 billion and $5 billion respectively.
Pinar also brings her fresh perspective and unique vision to a diversity of others musical projects, to name a few: composing the new theme for Amazon Prime Video Sports, popularly used on NFL's Thursday Night Football, composing and producing the soundtrack for Disney theme parks, including the new Epcot theme, writing and producing music for Christina Aguilera's 2019 Xperience Live Show in Las Vegas and conducting Billie Eilish's performance of "No Time To Die" at the 2022 Oscars ceremony.
2023 will see the releases of the highly anticipated Paramount animation film PAW Patrol: The Might Movie and the Netflix comedy Family Switch, starring Ed Helms and Jennifer Garner, both with a score by Pinar Toprak.
As the recipient of an ASCAP Shirley Walker Award and three International Film Music Critics Association Awards for Best Original Score, Pinar's dynamic style has attracted accolades across genres and earned her an Emmy nomination for Best Original Score as well as a spot on the Academy Awards shortlist.
Pinar's talent for illuminating a story with her music is evident throughout her work, including scores for The Lost City (starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, directed by Adam Nee and Aaron Nee), Stargirl on the CW (created by Geoff Johns and Greg Berlanti ), Syfy's Krypton (created by David S. Goyer and Damien Kindler), HBO's McMillions (directed by James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte), Slumberland (starring Jason Momoa, directed by Francis Lawrence) and Shotgun Wedding (starring Jennifer Lopez, directed by Jason Moore), among many others.- Music Department
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Randy Edelman was born on 10 June 1947 in Paterson, New Jersey, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for The Last of the Mohicans (1992), xXx (2002) and Anaconda (1997). He has been married to Jackie DeShannon since 3 June 1976. They have one child.- Music Department
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Thomas Newman is an American film score composer. He was born in Los Angeles. His father was notable film score composer Alfred Newman (1900-1970). The Newman family is of Russian-Jewish descent, and includes several other well-known musicians. Thomas' mother Martha Louis Montgomery (1920-2005) wanted her sons to have a musical education. Thomas attended regular lessons in violin as a child. An older Thomas received his musical education while attending the University of Southern California and Yale University. Thomas Newman graduated as Bachelor of Arts in 1977, and a Master of Music in 1978.
Thomas originally composed music for theatrical productions in Broadway, working with his mentor Stephen Sondheim. His uncle Lionel Newman asked him to compose music for the television series "The Paper Chase" (1978-1979, 1986), which was Thomas' first credit in a television production.
In the 1980s, Thomas first worked in film. Composer John Williams, a close family friend, hired Thomas to work in the music department for space opera film "Return of the Jedi" (1983). Thomas' main work in the film was orchestrating the music in a scene where character Darth Vader dies. Afterwards, Thomas was approached by film producer Scott Rudin and hired to work as a film score composer in his own right. His first work in the field was the film score of romantic drama "Reckless" (1984).
While he worked regularly as a film score composer during the 1980s, Thomas reportedly felt he had to retrain himself for a hard and demanding job. It reportedly took him 8 years to not feel fraudulent in his efforts. In 1994, Thomas received his first Academy Award nominations, for the film scores of "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994) and "Little Women" (1994). He lost the Award to rival composer Hans Zimmer, who had been nominated for the film score of the animated film "The Lion King" (1994).
Newman was an established and increasingly famous composer in the 1990s. He received further Academy Award nominations, although he never actually won. Among his more notable works was the film score of the drama film "American Beauty" (1999), which earned Thomas both a Grammy and a BAFTA award. Newman had a good working relationship with the film's director Sam Mendes. Mendes has kept hiring Thomas as the composer for most of his films. The main exception being the comedy-drama film "Away We Go" (2009), which did not have a film score.
In the 2000s, Thomas continued working in high-profile films, such as "Road to Perdition" (2002), "Finding Nemo" (2003), and "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events". By 2006, he had been nominated eight times for an Academy Award, while never winning it. He started joking about his lack of victories in public.
In 2008, Thomas was nominated for two Academy Awards, for both the film score and an original song for the animated film "WALL-E" (2008). He won neither, though the hit song "Down to Earth" earned him a Grammy Award. He continues to work regularly in the 2010s. Among his more acclaimed works were the film scores for spy film "Skyfall" (2012) and period drama "Saving Mr. Banks" (2013). He has continued being nominated for Academy Awards. As of 2020, he has been nominated 15 times for the Academy Award. He is the most nominated living composer to have never actually won an Academy Award, tied with Alex North. He has won a total of 5 Grammy awards.- Composer
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Dario Marianelli was born in Pisa and studied piano and composition in Florence and London. After a year as a postgraduate composer at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he spent 3 years at the National Film and Television School, from which he graduated in 1997. Dario's film scores include 'Paddington 2' (2017), 'Darkest Hour' (2017), 'Kubo and the 'Two Strings' (2016) Everest (2015), 'The Boxtrolls' (2014), 'Anna Karenina' (2012), 'Jane Eyre' (2011), 'Salmon Fishing In The Yemen' (2011), 'Eat Pray Love' (2010), 'The Soloist' (2009), 'Agora' (2009), 'Atonement' (2007), 'V for Vendetta' (2006) and 'Pride and Prejudice' (2005). He has written orchestral music for the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and the Britten-Pears Orchestra, as well as vocal music for the BBC Singers, incidental music for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and several ballet scores. Dario won the Oscar, Golden Globe and Ivor Novello Award in the Best Original Score category for the award-winning Working Title film 'Atonement', for which he also won the World Soundtrack Award and was BAFTA nominated. He was also nominated for a Classical Brit Award in the Soundtrack Of The Year category for 'Atonement'. In 2006, Dario was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Original Score category for his music to Joe Wright's 'Pride & Prejudice'. This score won him the Classical Brit Award in the Soundtrack/ Musical Theatre Composer of The Year category and also earned him an Ivor Novello Award nomination. Dario's collaboration with Joe Wright on the film 'Anna Karenina' led to his nomination for an Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe for Best Original Score, and in May 2013, he won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Film Score for 'Anna Karenina'. In 2014 Dario composed the score for Laika animation 'The Boxtrolls', which was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award. He has recently completed work on the score to his second Laika animation, 'Kubo and the Two Strings', for which he won an Ivor Novello Award, and also worked on his fifth film collaboration with director Asif Kapadia on live action feature 'Ali and Nino'.
During 2014 Dario's 'Voyager' Violin Concerto also had its world premiere in Brisbane, Australia, performed by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra as part of a spectacular event combining science, music, voice, and film titled 'Journey Through The Cosmos'. The piece was featured alongside a lecture given by Professor Brian Cox and has since gone on to be performed by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Harding and featuring highly acclaimed violinist Jack Liebeck.
In 2017, Dario continued his working relationship with Joe Wright on 'Darkest Hour' and also scoring Paul King's 'Paddington 2'. Dario was commissioned by The Royal Opera House to compose their new ballet, 'The Unknown Soldier', which premiered in November 2018. He also worked with Travis Knight, composing the score for the latest film in the Transformers film series, 'Bumblebee.' Dario collaborated with Matteo Garrone to score the Italian feature film 'Pinocchio'. Most recently Dario composed the original score for 'A Boy Called Christmas', directed by Gil Kenan, which was released in late 2021.- Composer
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Simon Franglen is a composer and producer of film, classical and contemporary music.
He was the winner of the World Soundtrack Awards 'Discovery of the Year' award for 2023, ASCAP Award winner for the top score of 2023 and was nominated for the 2023 Ivor Novello award. He has spent a large portion of the last three years composing the three-hour score to the box office topping Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), traveling to New Zealand to collaborate with James Cameron. Franglen's credits include three of the four top grossing films of all time and six of the top selling albums (Wikipedia). He also has a Golden Globe nomination for work on Avatar (2009) and a Grammy as a producer on 'My Heart Will Go On' for 'Record of the Year' for Titanic (1997) among other awards.
A musical nomad, he's collaborated with singers and musicians from across the world, from the South Pacific Islands to Mongolia.
Franglen is also known for his cutting-edge work in immersive audio, and is a consultant to several multi-national companies on the intersection of music and immersive audio. He has major art and commercial installations running around the world, including a permanent installation for "The Highest Art Space In The World" (CNN) at the top of the Shanghai Tower, a third of a mile high.
Franglen was a top line producer and session musician in Los Angeles for several years, with dozens of multi-platinum albums and singles. Franglen's music credits range from The Weeknd, Celine Dion and Toni Braxton to producing UK grime acts. Well-known for his long time collaboration with with his friend, James Horner, he was the arranger and producer on films such as 'The Amazing Spider-man', 'Avatar', 'Titanic' and others. His work in films as an arranger and musician also included multiple films with Alan Silvestri, Thomas Newman, Howard Shore and his first mentor, John Barry. He created the gritty electronica for David Fincher's Se7en (1995) and David Cronenberg's Crash (1996) and produced the vocals for Moulin Rouge! (2001). Alongside film scores, upcoming work includes a multi-year immersive and installation project in the USA, and a new orchestral and choral work to be premiered in late 2024.- Composer
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Tom Holkenborg, aka Junkie XL, is a Grammy-nominated multi-platinum producer, musician, composer and educator whose versatility puts him on the cutting edge of contemporary music, and whose thirst for innovation is helping to reimagine the world of composition.
A full-contact composer, Holkenborg is hands-on at every stage of the composing process, a multi-instrumentalist who combines a mastery of studio engineering, classical musical training and an innate sense of curiosity. He's as adept working with a 50 piece philharmonic orchestra as he is with a wall of modular synths, playing a bass guitar or building his own physical and digital instruments. His drive to reimagine what's possible and share that knowledge with the next generation of composers is what makes Holkenborg a unique force, and one of the most in-demand film composers in the world.
Tom's film scoring credits have grossed over $2 billion at the box office and include Mad Max: Fury Road, Deadpool, Black Mass, Alita: Battle Angel, Divergent, Brimstone, Justice League: The Snyder Cut, Godzilla vs. Kong, The Dark Tower, Tomb Raider, Terminator: Dark Fate, the record setting Sonic the Hedgehog and forthcoming projects including The 355, Army of The Dead, 3000 Years of Longing and more. He has worked with directors and producers including Peter Jackson, Robert Rodriguez, James Cameron, George Miller, Christopher Nolan, Zack Snyder and Tim Miller among many others.
An educator as well as a creator, Tom is committed to breaking down the barriers of entry in the world of film composition, creating the free SCORE Academy program in Los Angeles, a music composition program at the ArtEZ conservatorium in his home country of the Netherlands, and on YouTube, where he hosts his educational series StudioTime, which has been watched millions of times.
Tom is able to draw on his extensive knowledge of classical forms and structures while keeping one finger planted firmly on the pulse of popular music. When his eclectic background is paired with his skill as a multi-instrumentalist (he plays keyboards, guitar, drums, violin, and bass) and a mastery of studio technology, a portrait emerges of an artist for whom anything is possible. Outside of his own artistry Tom's desire to marry technology and classical composition to initiate change and evolution led him to partner with Orchestral Tools in 2019 to create Junkie XL Brass, his first sample library, making world-class sounds available to composers everywhere.- Music Artist
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- Actor
Nick Cave is a man of many talents. Musician. Songwriter. Screenwriter. Novelist. Actor. The Australian was born in Warracknabeal, Victoria in 1957, and would go onto form the alternative rock band Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, who have since successfully released a string of hit albums.
In film, Nick has starred in two films with Brad Pitt: Johnny Suede (1991) by Tom DiCillo and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007). He scripted the dark western, The Proposition (2005) and has contributed to over 50 soundtracks including Gas Food Lodging (1992) with fellow rocker J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr.. His first contribution was in the Marlon Brando film, The Freshman (1990): 'From Her To Eternity'.
Nick is also a lyricist and poet. His first offering was 'King Ink' (1988).- Composer
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- Actor