Grammy-winning composer Mateo Messina has graced Oscar-winning films, indie hits, and popular television shows with his distinct, moving and wildly innovative musical voice. His folksy, guitar-led score for Jason Reitman’s Juno, starring Ellen Page and Michael Cera, contributed to the film’s runaway success, and led to Messina’s Grammy win for the film’s soundtrack. Messina recently composed the music for Universal Pictures’ comedy Blockers, starring Leslie Mann, Ike Barinholtz and John Cena, in theaters April 6, as well as Donald Petrie’s romantic comedy Little Italy, starring Emma Roberts and Hayden Christensen, coming out later this year. Messina’s work includes season four of Reitman’s Hulu comedy series Casual, the NBC comedy Superstore, starring America Ferrera, the YouTube Red original comedy series Swipe Right, McG’s Netflix comedy Tall Girl directed by Nzingha Stewart, and Happy Madison Productions’ comedy The Wrong Missy produced by Adam Sandler. Messina’s latest work can be heard in the Netflix comedy Tall Girl 2 directed by Emily Ting, Marc Cherry CBS Crime Series Why Women Kill starring Lucy Liu and Ginnifer Goodwin and the comedy feature Desperados starring Heather Graham, Nasim Pedrad and Anna Camp.
Messina has written music for numerous films including Phil Alden Robinson’s dramedy The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, starring Robin Williams, and Jim Field Smith’s satirical comedy Butter, starring Jennifer Garner, Hugh Jackman, Ty Burrell and Olivia Wilde. His music can also be heard in the independent comedies Tim Timmerman: Hope of America, Fixed, and Second Nature. Additionally, Messina scored the teenage comedy Barely Lethal, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Hailee Steinfeld, the R-rated comedy Life Happens, and the sports drama From the Rough. He also wrote additional music for the Golden Globe-winning and six-time Oscar-nominated film Up in the Air, starring George Clooney, Reitman’s Golden Globe-nominated Thank You For Smoking starring Aaron Eckhart, and Young Adult, starring Charlize Theron.
Beyond his success in film, Messina composed for a variety of television shows including Austin Winsberg’s Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, The TV movie by Peter Paige The Thing About Harry, NBC’s comedy series Growing Up Fisher starring J.K. Simmons, the high-seas adventure Crossbones starring John Malkovich, NBC’s comedy I Feel Bad starring Sarayu Blue, USA’s Fairly Legal and Dig, EPIX’s Graves, the Discovery Channel mini-series Harley and the Davidsons, and NBC’s Perfect Couples and Truth Be Told. He also wrote additional music for NBC’s hit series The Office.
Recent works include the mystery-drama What Remains and the sci-fi film Timescape. He also was Creative Director for the Grammy-winning, pitch perfect a cappella quintet Pentatonix in September 2022 at the Hollywood Bowl.
Messina loves writing music for film and television because “it’s like going to a different summer camp six to eight times every year. Each has its own style, its own discipline, shape, tone and characters. You collaborate and move a mountain with a group of inspired people. It’s a challenge and a blast.”
Growing up in Seattle, Messina was drawn to music and started playing piano at the age of three. He premiered his first symphony at the young age of 23 and has since orchestrated a total of 20 original symphonies with the proceeds benefitting the Seattle Children’s Hospital. To date, Messina has raised over $2 million for the children’s hospital and their families.