Mychael Danna

Danna was born in Winnipeg, Canada, but his family moved to Burlington, Ontario when he was less than one year old. He studied musical composition at the University of Toronto, winning the Glenn Gould Composition Scholarship in 1985 and paving the way for his cinematic career. Danna frequently collaborated with the same filmmakers, one of whom being fellow Canadian director Atom Egoyan. Danna's feature film debut came scoring Egoyan's drama, "Family Viewing" (1987), which earned him his first of 13 Genie Award nominations. He also partnered on numerous occasions with his younger brother, Jeff Danna. Their first collaboration occurred in 1989, composing the musical score for the Canadian psychological thriller "Cold Comfort" (1989), which earned Danna his second Genie Award nomination. Several years later in 1994, Danna finally earned his first Best Score win at the Genie Awards for his provocative score to Egoyan's sensual thriller, "Exotica" (1994). Another of his frequent collaborators is the acclaimed Taiwanese director, Ang Lee. They began working together in 1997 with Lee's lauded drama about two dysfunctional families, "The Ice Storm" (1997). That same year, Danna worked with Egoyan again, and their union kept up Danna's Best Score winning streak at the Genie Awards after the director tasked the composer with scoring the wrenching drama "The Sweet Hereafter" (1997), and again two years later for "Felicia's Journey" (1999). Danna reunited with his brother in 1999 when the latter composed the soundtrack to the cult action movie "The Boondock Saints" (1999), sharing credit for the track "The Blood of Cuchulainn."In 2002, his music was heard in the stylish but divisive summer blockbuster "Hulk," Ang Lee's adaptation of the iconic green superhero. Three years later, the Danna Brothers worked with imaginative Monty Python alum Terry Gilliam on the director's eerie tale of childhood, "Tideland" (2005). He earned his only Grammy nomination in 2006 for his work with the eclectic band DeVotchKa on the soundtrack to the delightfully quirky indie film, "Little Miss Sunshine" (2006). Danna continued to collaborate with his brother throughout the 2000s. In an interview for their work on Terry Gilliam's ensemble fantasy "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (2009), Danna described working with his brother as "something that just comes naturally for us." In 2011, the Danna Brothers' natural proclivity for working together earned them a Primetime Emmy for composing the main title theme on Starz's sword and sorcery series, "Camelot" (2011). But it was Danna's work on Ang Lee's 2012 adaptation of the best-selling novel "Life of Pi" that earned him his greatest accolades. Lee spent four years adapting the cosmic fable about an Indian boy and an ocean-faring Bengal tiger, and Danna crafted a score that reflected that long-term dedication. He designed the movie's music to be directly tied to the on-screen action so closely that, when he was asked about the film's soundtrack, he said, "It doesn't make any sense. The music was not designed to stand on its own." Danna's original score won a Golden Globe and an Academy Award, as well as an Academy Award nomination for his original song, "Pi's Lullaby."