Michael Giacchino

Composer Michael Giacchino has scored some of the most popular and acclaimed film projects in recent history, including Zootopia (2016), Inside Out (2015), The Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), Ratatouille (2007), The Incredibles (2004) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), the first Star Wars film to be scored by anyone other than John Williams. Giacchino’s 2009 score for the Pixar hit Up earned him an Oscar®, a Golden Globe®, the BAFTA, the Broadcast Film Critics' Choice Award and two GRAMMY® Awards.

Giacchino studied filmmaking at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. After college, he landed a marketing job at Disney and began studies in music composition, first at Juilliard and then at UCLA. He moved from marketing to producing in the newly formed Disney Interactive Division where he had the opportunity to write music for video games.

After moving to DreamWorks Interactive, he was asked to score the temp track for the video game adaptation of The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Steven Spielberg then hired him as the official composer, making The Lost World: Jurassic Park the first PlayStation game to have a live orchestral score, and it was soon recorded with members of the Seattle Symphony. Giacchino subsequently went on to score numerous video games including Spielberg’s Medal of Honor series.

Giacchino’s work in video games sparked the interest of producer and director J.J. Abrams, and thus began their long-standing relationship that would lead to his scoring the hit television series Alias and Lost, as well as the feature films Mission: Impossible III (2006), Star Trek (2009), Super 8 (2011) and Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013).

In 2017, Giacchino scored War for the Planet of the Apes, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Pixar’s Coco. In 2018, Giacchino is scoring two highly anticipated sequels: The Incredibles 2 and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

Beyond film and TV, Giacchino’s additional projects include collaborations with Disney Imagineering on music for the rides Space Mountain and Star Tours (in collaboration with John Williams), and the Ratatouille ride at Disneyland Paris. His music can be heard in concert halls internationally, and his full scores for Star Trek, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Star Trek: Beyond and Ratatouille can be experienced as film with live orchestra concerts.

Giacchino serves as the Governor of the Music Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and sits on the advisory board of Education Through Music Los Angeles. He was also the Music Director of the 81st Annual Academy Awards®.

Updated January 2018