Masters of Music for Film and Television

1. Nino Rota

Born in Milan in 1911 into a family of musicians, Nino Rota was first a student of Orefice and Pizzetti. Then, still a child, he moved to Rome where he completed his studies at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in 1929 with Alfredo Casella. In the meantime, he had become an 'enfant prodige', famous...

Amarcord; The Godfather

2. John Williams

Composer | Jurassic Park

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

Star Wars - Episode I: A New Hope; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

3. Ennio Morricone

Composer | The Hateful Eight

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

The Good The Bad And The Ugly; The Thing

4. Hans Zimmer

Composer | Gladiator

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

Pirates of The Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl; Interstellar

5. Danny Elfman

Music_department | The Nightmare Before Christmas

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

Edward Sissorhnds; A Nightmare Before Chistmas

6. Carter Burwell

Composer | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Carter Burwell was born on November 18, 1954 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a composer and actor, known for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), Carol (2015) and The Banshees of Inisherin (2022). He has been married to Christine Sciulli since 1999.

Fargo; The Man Who Wasn't There

7. Thomas Newman

Music_department | Skyfall

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) ...

American Beauty; Pay It Forward

8. Goran Bregovic

Music_department | The Informer

In the end of '70s and all through the '80s, he was the leader of the most popular Yugoslav band "Bijelo dugme" (from Sarajevo). They published more than 10 LPs, selling altogether more than 15 million copies. He was the first one to introduce "shepperd's rock" (a kind of folk-rock) into popular ...

Undergrund; Arizona Dream

9. Michael Kamen

Soundtrack | Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Michael Kamen was born on April 15, 1948 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Don Juan DeMarco (1994) and X-Men (2000). He was married to Sandra Keenan. He died on November 18, 2003 in London, England, UK.

Brazil; The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

10. Bernard Herrmann

Composer | North by Northwest

The man behind the low woodwinds that open Citizen Kane (1941), the shrieking violins of Psycho (1960), and the plaintive saxophone of Taxi Driver (1976) was one of the most original and distinctive composers ever to work in film. He started early, winning a composition prize at the age of 13 and ...

Psycho; Taxi Driver

11. Howard Shore

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

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

The Aviator; Ed Wood

12. Angelo Badalamenti

Composer | Mulholland Dr.

Angelo Badalamenti was born on March 22, 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 December 11, 2022 in Lincoln Park, New ...

Twin Peaks (TV Series); Lost Highway

13. Tito Larriva

Soundtrack | Desperado

Tito Larriva was born Humberto Lorenzo Rodriquez Larriva in Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. He is known for his supporting roles in Road House, Despirodo, Once upon a time in Mexico, and from Dusk till Dawn. He is also known as a singer and songwriter. He has provided lead vocals for many bands such as ...

Desperado; Machete

14. Iggy Pop

Actor | Cry-Baby

Iggy Pop was born on April 21, 1947 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. He is a music artist and actor, known for Cry-Baby (1990), Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) and Dead Man (1995). He has been married to Nina Alu since November 22, 2008. He was previously married to Suchi Asano and Wendy Weissberg.

The Brave; Repo Man

15. Clint Mansell

Composer | Black Swan

Clinton Darryl Mansell is an English singer, musician and film composer known for his collaborations with Darren Aronofsky. He composed Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, Black Swan, The Wrestler, Noah, Ghost in the Shell, Peacemaker, Doom Patrol, Loving Vincent, Mass Effect 3, Titans, World ...

Requiem For A Dream; Black Swan

16. Peter Gabriel

Soundtrack | WALL·E

Peter Gabriel was educated at Charterhouse School, Surrey, England. He was the lead singer of leading progressive rock band Genesis from its inception until he left in 1975 for a successful solo career as a singer-songwriter, soundtrack composer and innovator in visual presentation of music, music ...

The Last Temptation of Christ; WALL·E

17. Neil Young

Composer | Dead Man

Neil Young is one of the most respected and prolific rock/folk guitarists of the late 20th century. Raised in Canada, he first became well-known as a guitarist and occasional vocalist for the band Buffalo Springfield. After the band's breakup, Young became a solo performer. However, he also has ...

Dead Man; Philadelphia

18. Wendy Carlos

Soundtrack | Ready Player One

Wendy Carlos, one of the great innovators in synthesized and electronic music, was born as Walter Carlos in Rhode Island on November 14, 1939. She underwent a sex-change operation in 1972, details of which she revealed during a surprise Playboy interview in 1979. Walter's last credited release is "...

19. Mychael Danna

Composer | Life of Pi

Mychael Danna is an Oscar and and Emmy Award-winning film composer recognized for his evocative blending of non-western traditions with orchestral and electronic music. His highly awarded works include the Oscar-winning score for Ang Lee's Life of Pi (2012), and his many Genie Award-winning scores ...

20. John Powell

Composer | How to Train Your Dragon 2

John Powell was born on September 18, 1963 in London, England, UK. He is a composer, known for How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), Happy Feet (2006) and Shrek (2001). He was previously married to Melinda Lerner.

21. Quincy Jones

Producer | The Color Purple

Considered to be one of the greatest minds in music and television history, Quincy Delight Jones, Jr. was born on March 14, 1933 in Chicago, Illinois. He is the son of Sarah Frances (Wells), a bank executive, and Quincy Delight Jones, Sr., a carpenter.

Jones found his love for music while he was ...

22. Elliot Goldenthal

Music_department | Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Elliot Goldenthal is an Academy Award-winning composer best known for his original music scores for such films as Frida (2002) and Across the Universe (2007), among his other works.

He was born on May 2, 1954, in Brooklyn, New York. His father was a house-painter, and his mother was a seamstress. ...

23. Mutt Lange

Soundtrack | Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Mutt Lange was born on November 11, 1948 in Mufilira, Zambia. He is a composer and producer, known for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Don Juan DeMarco (1994) and The Three Musketeers (1993).

24. Robert Rodriguez

Producer | El mariachi

Robert Anthony Rodriguez was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, USA, to Rebecca (Villegas), a nurse, and Cecilio G. Rodríguez, a salesman. His family is of Mexican descent.

Of all the people to be amazed by the images of John Carpenter's 1981 sci-fi parable, Escape from New York (1981), none ...

Planet Terror; Sin City

25. John Barry

Soundtrack | Out of Africa

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 ...

Midnight Cowboy; Goldfinger

26. Monty Norman

Soundtrack | Dr. No

Monty Norman was born on April 4, 1928 in London, England, UK. He was a composer, known for Dr. No (1962), GoldenEye (1995) and Moonraker (1979). He was married to Rina Caesari and Diana Coupland. He died on July 11, 2022 in Slough, Berkshire, England, UK.

The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll; Dr. No

27. Nick Cave

Soundtrack | The Proposition

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 ...

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford; The Proposition

28. Tom Waits

Actor | Seven Psychopaths

Thomas Alan Waits was born in Pomona, California, to schoolteachers Alma Fern (Johnson) and Jesse Frank Waits. Described as one of the last beatniks of the contemporary music, Waits in fact has two separate careers. From 1973 (LP "Closing Time") to 1983 ("One From The Heart" soundtrack), he ...

On From The Hearth; Night on Earth

29. David Bowie

Soundtrack | Labyrinth

David Bowie was one of the most influential and prolific writers and performers of popular music, but he was much more than that; he was also an accomplished actor, a mime and an intellectual, as well as an art lover whose appreciation and knowledge of it had led to him amassing one of the biggest ...

Labyrinth; Cat People

30. Alfred Newman

Music_department | The King and I

Alfred Newman is an American composer, arranger, and conductor of film music.

From his start as a music prodigy, he came to be regarded as a respected figure in the history of film music. He won nine Academy Awards and was nominated 45 times, contributing to the Newmans being the most nominated ...

31. Trent Reznor

Soundtrack | The Social Network

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

32. Jozef van Wissem

Composer | Only Lovers Left Alive

Composer/Actor/Director won the Cannes Soundtrack Award for best score at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013 for "Only Lovers Left Alive" a vampire film by Jim Jarmusch. He performed live with Tilda Swinton and Jim Jarmusch and made several records with the director. In the film under John Hurt's ...

33. Jeff Danna

Composer | Onward

Jeff Danna is an award-winning Canadian film composer. Born in Burlington, Ontario, to a musical family active in local theatre and church choir, Danna was a reluctant young piano student but found solace in an electric guitar left behind at his home by a friend. Unknowingly following in the path ...

34. Ludwig Göransson

Composer | The Mandalorian

Ludwig Göransson is a Swedish composer known for composing Black Panther, the Creed films, Venom, Fruitvale Station, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Turning Red, New Girl, Community, Top Five, Central Intelligence, 30 Minutes or Less and Tenet. He had a son from Serena McKinney, who was ...

35. James Horner

Music_department | Titanic

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

36. Trevor Jones

Composer | Cliffhanger

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

37. Kiril Marichkov

Composer | Vchera

Kiril Marichkov was born on October 30, 1944 in Sofia, Bulgaria. He is a composer, known for Yesterday (1988), Vampiri, talasami (1992) and Adio, Rio (1989).

38. Thom Yorke

Soundtrack | Suspiria

Thom Yorke was born on October 7, 1968 in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England, UK. He is a composer and actor, known for Suspiria (2018), Children of Men (2006) and Motherless Brooklyn (2019). He was previously married to Rachel Owen.

Motherless Brooklyn; Suspiria

39. Yann Tiersen

Composer | Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain

Yann Tiersen was born on June 23, 1970 in Brest, Finistère, France. He is a composer and writer, known for Amélie (2001), Good Bye Lenin! (2003) and Inescapable (2012).

Amélie; Good Bye Lenin!

40. John Kander

Soundtrack | Chicago

John Kander was born on March 18, 1927 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. He is a composer and writer, known for Chicago (2002), Cabaret (1972) and Shame (2011). He has been married to Albert Stephenson since 2010.

New York, New York; Chicago

41. Ralph Burns

Music_department | All That Jazz

Songwriter ("Early Autumn", "Bijou"), bandleader, composer, conductor, arranger and pianist, educated at the New England Conservatory. He studied piano with Marion Deviney. He was a pianist and arranger for the Charlie Barnet orchestra, and later with Woody Herman for seven years. He arranged for ...

All That Jazz; All Dogs Go to Heaven

42. Franz Waxman

Composer | Sunset Blvd.

Franz Waxman (Wachsmann) pursued his dream of a career in music despite his family's misgivings. He worked for several years as a bank teller and paid for piano, harmony and composition lessons with his salary. He later moved to Berlin, where he continued his study and progress as a musician. He ...

The Bride of Frankenstein; Sunset Blvd.

43. Max Steiner

Composer | Casablanca

Austrian composer Max Steiner achieved legendary status as the creator of hundreds of classic American film scores. He was born Maximilian Raoul Walter Steiner in Vienna, Austria, the son of Marie Mizzi (Hasiba) and Gabor Steiner, an impresario, and the grandson of actor and theater director and ...

Casablanca; King Kong (1933)

44. James Newton Howard

Music_department | King Kong

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

45. Daniel Pemberton

Composer | The Trial of the Chicago 7

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

46. Anne Dudley

Composer | The Crying Game

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 ...

47. Elmer Bernstein

Composer | Far from Heaven

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, ...

48. Jonny Greenwood

Soundtrack | The Master

Jonny Greenwood was born on November 5, 1971 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK. He is a composer and actor, known for The Master (2012), There Will Be Blood (2007) and Phantom Thread (2017). He has been married to Sharona Katan since 1995. They have three children.

49. Henry Mancini

Soundtrack | Breakfast at Tiffany's

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, but brought up in Pennsylvania, where he played the flute in a local band, as a youth, before sending some arrangements to Benny Goodman. Goodman offered him a job and, after serving in WWII, he joined the rearranged Glenn Miller band. In 1952, he was given a two-week ...

50. Robbie Robertson

Music_department | Killers of the Flower Moon

Robbie Robertson was born on July 5, 1943 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was a music artist and actor, known for Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) and Ladder 49 (2004). He was married to Janet Zuccarini and Dominique Robertson. He died on August 9, 2023 in Los ...

51. Dimitri Tiomkin

Soundtrack | High Noon

Dimitri Tiomkin was a Russian Jewish composer who emigrated to America and became one of the most distinguished and best-loved music writers of Hollywood. He won a hallowed place in the pantheon of the most successful and productive composers in American film history, earning himself four Oscars ...

52. Joseph Kosma

Soundtrack | The Score

Joseph Kosma was born in Budapest. He took an interest in music at a very young age, writing an opera called "Noel dans les Tranchées" as a teenager. One of his greatest loves in Budapest was the music of Bela Bartok. Finding the political atmosphere to be more and more oppressive in Budapest, ...

53. Arvo Pärt

Soundtrack | Avengers: Age of Ultron

Arvo Pärt is one of those composers in the world, whose creative output has significantly changed the way we understand the nature of music. In 1976, he created a unique musical language called tintinnabuli, that has reached a vast audience of various listeners and that has defined his work right ...

54. Philip Glass

Soundtrack | The Truman Show

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

55. Ry Cooder

Soundtrack | Primary Colors

Born in Santa Monica, Ca., Ry Cooder, at the age of four had an accident which left him blind in one eye. He became a bit secluded and began playing the guitar. His biggest influences include Blind Willie Johnson, Arthur "Blind" Blake, Joseph Spence and Curtis Mayfield. Cooder has played on several...

56. Elton John

Soundtrack | Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Sir Elton John is one of pop music's great survivors. Born 25 March, 1947, as Reginald Kenneth Dwight, he started to play the piano at the early age of four. At the age of 11, he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. His first band was called Bluesology. He later auditioned (...

57. Alan Menken

Soundtrack | Beauty and the Beast

Alan Menken is an American composer, songwriter, music conductor, director and record producer.

Menken is best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores and songs for The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and ...

58. Randy Newman

Soundtrack | The Princess and the Frog

Randy Newman is an American film composer and singer who is well-known for composing The Princess and the Frog, Meet the Parents and various Pixar films including the Toy Story, Monsters, Inc and Cars franchises as well as A Bug's Life. He wrote iconic songs such as "Short People", "You've Got A ...

59. Krzysztof Komeda

Composer | Rosemary's Baby

Krzysztof Komeda was born on April 27, 1931 in Poznan, Wielkopolskie, Poland. He was a composer and actor, known for Rosemary's Baby (1968), The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) and Knife in the Water (1962). He was married to Zofia von Tittenbrun. He died on April 23, 1969 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, ...

60. Alberto Iglesias

Composer | La piel que habito

Alberto Iglesias was born in 1955 in Donostia-San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa, País Vasco, Spain. He is a composer and actor, known for The Skin I Live In (2011), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) and The Constant Gardener (2005).

61. Alexandre Desplat

Composer | The King's Speech

Composer and conductor Alexandre Desplat, Oscar winner and seven-time Academy Award nominated, for his prolific filmography and his collaborations with Stephen Frears, Terrence Malick, Ang Lee, Kathryn Bigelow, Jacques Audiard, Wes Anderson, Roman Polanski, George Clooney or Matteo Garrone is one ...

62. Boris Karadimchev

Composer | Nyama nishto po-hubavo ot loshoto vreme

Boris Klimentov Karadimchev is famous Bulgarian composer , longtime artistic director of the children's choir "Pim-Pam," a professor at the National Academy for Theatre and Film Art, Sofia, Bulgaria. He comes from the big race Karadimchev from the city of Ohrid, Macedonia. His grandfather is ...

63. David Arnold

Soundtrack | Casino Royale

David Arnold was born on January 23, 1962 in Luton, England, UK. He is a composer and actor, known for Casino Royale (2006), Independence Day (1996) and Godzilla (1998). He has been married to Ellie Pole since June 8, 1996. They have three children.

64. Lin-Manuel Miranda

Soundtrack | Hamilton

Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the first incarnation of "In the Heights" his sophomore year at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Off-Broadway, "In The Heights" received nine Drama Desk nominations, including best music, best lyrics, and it won the award for outstanding ensemble performance; received ...

65. Benj Pasek

Soundtrack | The Greatest Showman

Pasek helped compose Dear Evan Hansen with Steven Levenson and Justin Paul. He has worked with Justin in many other scenarios, and are known as Pasek and Paul. They are a songwriting duo and composing team for musical theater, films, and television. They've worked on A Christmas Story, Dogfight, ...

66. Justin Paul