Alexandre Desplat

Two-time Oscar and Golden Globe winning composer Alexandre Desplat is one of the most respected film composers in the world today. He is noted for his collaborations with some of the world’s top filmmakers: Greta Gerwig, Wes Anderson, Guillermo del Toro, George Clooney (The Midnight Sky, Suburbicon, The Boys In The Boat), Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty), Stephen Daldry (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close), Gareth Edwards (Godzilla), David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Stephen Frears (Florence Foster Jenkins & The Regime), Tom Hooper (The Danish Girl), Ang Lee (Lust, Caution), Terrence Malick  (The Tree of Life) and Angelina Jolie (Unbroken).

Desplat first captivated American audiences with his scores for The Girl With The Pearl Earring and Birth. He has since worked on a range of acclaimed films, the scores for which have earned him eleven Oscar nominations: The Queen, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The King’s Speech,  Argo, Philomena, The Imitation Game, Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, Isle of Dogs; and two wins for Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel and Guillermo del Toro’s Shape of Water. In his ongoing collaboration with del Toro, Desplat wrote thematic scores and songs for Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio,  which received Golden Globe nominations for Best Original Score and for Best Original Song “Ciao Papa”.

In addition to his range of acclaimed films, Desplat has scored high grossing top box office features from Illumination Entertainment’s The Secret Life Of Pets and the sequel The Secret Life of Pets 2 to fantasy cult classics Twilight Saga: New Moon and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pts. 1 & 2.

Desplat  teamed up with director Malcolm Washington for the Netflix film The Piano Lesson based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by August Wilson. Alexandre scored Wes Anderson’s Phoenician Scheme and the highly anticipated next installment to the iconic Universal blockbuster franchise Jurassic World: Rebirth. Desplat wrote music for Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein for which he received a Golden Globe nomination, SCL nomination, and was selected for the 98^th Oscars Shortlist for best score.

Born to a Greek mother and French father, Desplat grew up in France with a budding love for Hollywood film music and broke into the French film industry in the 1990s. “I was in a car with a friend who had offered me a double vinyl of Star Wars,” Desplat remembers. “It might have been ’78. He gave me this record, and I remember having said to him, “Hmm. ‘Music composed and conducted by John Williams.’ That’s what I want to do.” And that’s what I’m doing.” With a penchant for lyricism, elegant orchestrations, and precise dramatization, Desplat has quickly joined the pantheon of all-time greats.