James Newton Howard

James Newton Howard Born June 9 1951 Is An American Composer Conductor And Music Producer. He Has Scored Over 100 Films And Is The Recipient Of A Grammy Award Emmy Award And Nine Academy Award Nominations. Throughout His Prolific Career James Newton Howard Has Scored Films Of All Scales And Genres Earning Multiple Award Nominations For His Work. Howard Began Studying Music As A Young Child And Went On To Attend The Music Academy Of The West In Santa Barbara California And Then Majored In Piano Performance At The University Of Southern California. After Howard Left College He Toured With Elton John And Toto As A Keyboardist During The Late 1970s And Early 1980s Before Moving Into Film Music In The Mid-1980s. By The 1990s Howard Truly Hit His Career Stride Scoring The Surprise Blockbuster Romantic Comedy Pretty Woman 1990 And Receiving His First Academy Award Nomination For His Score For Barbra Streisand's Drama The Prince Of Tides 1991 . Setting The Musical Mood For Numerous Films Throughout The Decade Howard's Skills Encompassed A Plethora Of Genres Including Two More Best Original Score Oscar Nominations The Harrison Ford Actioner The Fugitive 1993 And The Julia Roberts Romantic Comedy My Best Friend's Wedding. In Addition Howard Scored The Western Epic Wyatt Earp 1994 The Legal Drama Primal Fear 1996 And The Blockbuster M. Night Shyamalan Suspense Thrillers The Sixth Sense 1999 Unbreakable 2000 Signs 2002 And The Village 2004 . His Collaborations On Tunes For One Fine Day 1996 And Junior 1994 Garnered Best Song Nods. Along With Scoring Such Smaller Character-Driven Films As Five Corners 1988 Glengarry Glen Ross 1992 And American Heart 1993 Howard Proved Equally Skilled At Composing For Big-Budget Hollywood Spectacles Including Space Jam 1996 Dante's Peak 1997 Dinosaur 2000 And Collateral 2004 . Although For Dante's Peak He Only Composed The Main Theme Only The Score Itself Was Composed By John Frizzell. Though He Concentrated Primarily On Films Howard Has Also Contributed Music For TV Series Earning An Emmy Nomination In 1995 For His Theme To NBC's Ratings Smash ER. Howard Is Now One Of The Most Recognized Composers For Film. His Work In 2004 On The Village With Violin Solos By Hilary Hahn Earned Him An Oscar Nomination. Since He Has Composed For Several Major Motion Pictures Notably The Score For Batman Begins Which He Co-Wrote With Hans Zimmer. On October 14 2005 It Was Officially Announced That Howard Would Replace Howard Shore As Composer For King Kong Due To "differing Creative Aspirations For The Score" Between Shore And Director Peter Jackson. The Resultant Score Earned Howard His First Golden Globe Nomination For Best Original Score. Since Then He Has Been Nominated For Best Original Score For The Legal Thriller Michael Clayton In 2008 And The War Film Defiance In 2009. Since Then He Has Composed Music For Blockbuster Franchises And Solo Films Including I Am Legend The Dark Knight With Hans Zimmer All Of The Hunger Games Films And Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. He Was Nominated For Another Academy Award Nomination In 2021 For His Work On News Of The World read less