As a composer, Nick Urata—front man of the internationally acclaimed band DeVotchKa—has scored such films as Little Miss Sunshine, the Sundance hit that garnered four Academy Award nominations. He also co-scored the hit romantic comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love (starring Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling). His other scores include Fling, I Love You Phillip Morris, The Joneses, Waiting for Forever, Father of Invention, and Dustin Lance Black’s directorial debut Virginia (starring Jennifer Connelly and Ed Harris.) Urata’s other work includes the score for Little Miss Sunshine directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’s Ruby Sparks, Arthur Newman starring Colin Firth and Emily Blunt for director Dante Ariola, What Maisie Knew starring Juliane Moore, Stephen Gyllenhaal’s comedy Grassroots, A.C.O.D. starring Adam Scott, Amy Poehler, Jessica Alba and Catherine O’Hara and Premature for director Dan Beers.
Urata’s other works include Paramount Pictures’ Whiskey Tango Foxtrot starring Tina Fey and Margot Robbie, Thomas McCarthy’s comedy The Cobbler starring Adam Sandler and Dustin Hoffman that premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, the critically acclaimed Paddington based on the classic British book series starring Nicole Kidman and voiced by Ben Whishaw, the Warner Bros. crime romance Focus directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa starring Will Smith and Margot Robbie, CBS Films’ holiday comedy Love the Coopers starring Olivia Wilde, John Goodman, and Diane Keaton, the Amazon TV series The Dangerous Book for Boys, and Stephen Gyllenhaal’s So B. It starring Cloris Leachman. Urata composed the theme music for the Netflix series A Series of Unfortunate Events, as well as score for the feature dramas: The True Adventures of Wolfboy, Measure of Revenge, and Luke Guilford’s National Anthem which premiered at SXSW. He recently scored the Peacock series, Joe vs. Carole, starring Kate McKinnon as well as the fox series Animal Control starring Joel McHale.
Urata left his native New York to play music in Chicago, then moved to Denver where he formed DeVotchKa. Their music, in particular the song “Till the End of Time,” left its impression on the indie hit Little Miss Sunshine, and Urata has enjoyed an impressive stay in film ever since.