James Newton Howard is one of the most versatile and in-demand composers currently working in films. To date, he has received eight Oscar nominations, including five for Best Original Score for Michael Clayton, The Village, The Fugutive, The Prince of Tides, Defiance, My Best Friend’s Wedding, and two for Best Original Song, including “Look What Love Has Done” from Junior and “For The First Time” from the film One Fine Day.
He has also received five Grammy nominations, for music from The Dark Knight (with Hans Zimmer), Ed Zwick’s film Blood Diamond, the animated Disney film Dinosaur, the M. Night Shyamalan film Signs, and the song from One Fine Day. His theme for Dying Young also brought a Grammy nod to performer Kenny G. In addition, he won an Emmy for the theme to the Andre Braugher series Gideon’s Crossing and two additional Emmy nominations, for the themes to the long-running Warner Bros. series ER and the Ving Rhames series Men.
Howard has also been nominated four times for Golden Globe Awards: for the Ed Zwick drama Defiance, for his massive orchestral score for Universal Pictures’ blockbuster King Kong, and for the songs of Junior and One Fine Day. Howard, who has been honored with ASCAP’s prestigious Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement, now has nearly 100 films to his credit.
