This page uses content from the Thomas Newman biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

Thomas Montgomery Newman (born October 20, 1955 in Los Angeles, California) is an American film score composer. He is a member of a film-scoring dynasty in Hollywood that includes his father Alfred Newman, his uncle Lionel Newman, his brother David Newman and his cousin Randy Newman, who is also a singer and songwriter.

Newman was educated at Yale University, and began his film-scoring career in 1984 with his score for Reckless. His breakthrough came in 1994, when he earned two Academy Award nominations for his scores to Little Women and The Shawshank Redemption. He has achieved significant critical and commercial success in recent years, with scores for American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Finding Nemo and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Newman also composed the theme music to the television series Boston Public and Six Feet Under, as well as the miniseries Angels in America. He will compose the music for the upcoming film Young Hannibal: Behind the Mask and the Todd Field film Little Children.

Musical Style

Newman's earliest scores from the 1980s were predominantly electronic. Starting with The Rapture in 1991, his scores have alternated a more traditional orchestral sound with other passages that use a shifting array of unconventional, non-Western, and modified instruments, such as processed hurdy gurdy, detuned mandolin, tabla, and xaphoon, as well as electronic elements to create a percussive, gamelan-like sound. Chas Smith and Rick Cox are frequent collaborators when Newman works in this style. Some of his scores lean more heavily towards one or the other of these modes; the scores for The Player, American Beauty, and Erin Brockovich exemplify his more percussive, "experimental" sound, while his scores for The Shawshank Redemption and Road to Perdition use conventional orchestration equally effectively.

Credits

• Hannibal Rising (2007)
• Little Children (2006)
• The Good German (2006)
• Jarhead (2005)
• Cinderella Man (2005)
• Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004; Academy Award nomination)
• Angels in America (TV) (2003)
• Finding Nemo (2003; Academy Award nomination)
• White Oleander (2002 film) (2002)
• Road to Perdition (2002; Academy Award nomination)
• The Salton Sea (2002)
• Six Feet Under (TV; main theme) (2001; Emmy Award; remixes by Photek and Rae & Christian are available)
• Boston Public (TV; main theme) (2000)
• Pay It Forward (2000)
• Erin Brockovich (2000)
• The Green Mile (1999)
• American Beauty (1999; Academy Award nomination)
• Meet Joe Black (1998)
• The Horse Whisperer (1998)
• Oscar and Lucinda (1997)
• Mad City (1997)
• Red Corner (1997)
• Up Close and Personal (1996)
• Phenomenon (1996)
• American Buffalo (1996)
• The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
• Unstrung Heroes (1995; Academy Award nomination)
• How to Make an American Quilt (1995)
• The Shawshank Redemption (1994; Academy Award nomination)
• Little Women (1994; Academy Award nomination)
• Flesh and Bone (1993)
• Scent of a Woman (1992)
• Fried Green Tomatoes (1992)
• The Player (1992)
• The Prince of Pennsylvania (1988)
• Real Genius (1985)
• The Man with One Red Shoe (1985)
• Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985)
• Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
• Grandview, U.S.A. (1984)
• Revenge of the Nerds (1984)
• Reckless (1984)

External links

• Thomas Newman Complete
• Thomas Newman at the Internet Movie Database
• Thomas Newman at Soundtrackguide.net

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