Ramin Djawadi (born 19 July 1974) is an Iranian-German

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, conductor, and record producer. He is known for his scores for the HBO series ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of high fantasy novels by ...

'', for which he was nominated for

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

s in 2018 and 2020. He is also the composer for the HBO ''Game of Thrones'' prequel series, ''

House of the Dragon ''House of the Dragon'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by George R. R. Martin and Ryan Condal for HBO. A prequel to ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), it is the second television series in Martin's ''A Song of Ice and F ...

'' (2022–present). He has scored films such as '' Clash of the Titans'', ''

Pacific Rim The Pacific Rim comprises the lands around the rim of the Pacific Ocean. The '' Pacific Basin'' includes the Pacific Rim and the islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Rim roughly overlaps with the geological Pacific Ring of Fire. List ...

'', ''

Warcraft ''Warcraft'' is a franchise of video games, novels, and other media created by Blizzard Entertainment. The series is made up of six core games: '' Warcraft: Orcs & Humans'', '' Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness'', '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos ...

'', ''

A Wrinkle in Time ''A Wrinkle in Time'' is a young adult science fantasy novel written by American author Madeleine L'Engle. First published in 1962, the book won the Newbery Medal, the Sequoyah Book Award and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and was runner-u ...

'', ''

Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...

'' and '' Eternals''. Television series including '' 3 Body Problem'', ''

Prison Break ''Prison Break'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Paul Scheuring for Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox. The series revolves around two brothers: Lincoln Burrows (Dominic P ...

'', ''

Person of Interest "Person of interest" is a term used by law enforcement in the United States, Canada, and other countries when identifying someone possibly involved in a criminal investigation who has not been arrested or formally accused of a crime. It has no leg ...

'', '' Jack Ryan'', ''

Westworld ''Westworld'' is an American science fiction dystopia media franchise that began with the Westworld (film), 1973 film ''Westworld'', written and directed by Michael Crichton. The film depicts a technologically advanced Wild West, Wild-West-th ...

'', and ''

Fallout Nuclear fallout is residual radioactive material that is created by the reactions producing a nuclear explosion. It is initially present in the radioactive cloud created by the explosion, and "falls out" of the cloud as it is moved by the ...

'' and video games such as ''

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

'', '' Gears of War 4'', '' Gears 5'', and ''

System Shock 2 ''System Shock 2'' is a 1999 action role-playing survival horror video game designed by Ken Levine and co-developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios. Originally intended to be a standalone title, its story was changed during produ ...

''. He won two consecutive

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

for ''Game of Thrones'', in 2018 for the episode "

The Dragon and the Wolf "The Dragon and the Wolf" is the seventh and final episode of the Game of Thrones season 7, seventh season of HBO's fantasy television series ''Game of Thrones'', and the 67th episode overall. It was written by series co-creators David Benioff a ...

" and in 2019 for " The Long Night".

Early life

Djawadi was born in

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

, Germany to an

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian father and a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

mother. He went to Krupp Gymnasium in Duisburg,

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

and studied at

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

Career

After graduating from Berklee College of Music in 1998, Djawadi garnered the attention of

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, five Grammy Awards, and has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmy Awards and a Tony ...

, who recruited him to Remote Control Productions. Djawadi moved to Los Angeles and worked as an assistant to Klaus Badelt. From there on he made additional music and arrangements for Badelt and Zimmer movies, such as '' Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl'', ''

The Time Machine ''The Time Machine'' is an 1895 dystopian post-apocalyptic science fiction novella by H. G. Wells about a Victorian scientist known as the Time Traveller who travels to the year 802,701. The work is generally credited with the popularizati ...

'', and the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-nominated film '' Something's Gotta Give''. He co-composed the music for ''

'' (1999). In 2003, he and Badelt composed the score of '' Beat the Drum''. In 2004, Djawadi went out on his own with '' Blade: Trinity'', collaborating with RZA for director David S. Goyer. This was the beginning of his relationship with Goyer for both film and television. The following year, Djawadi continued making additional music for Zimmer in films such as ''

Batman Begins ''Batman Begins'' is a 2005 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with David S. Goyer. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, it stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne (Dark Knight trilogy), Bruce Wayne / B ...

'' and '' The Island'', which was his last time working in the background of another composer. The same year, he composed the Emmy-nominated main title themes and scores for ''

'' and the related show '' Breakout Kings''. In 2006, Djawadi scored the first

Sony Pictures Animation Sony Pictures Animation Inc. (also referred to as Sony Animation Studios and abbreviated to SPA) is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and found ...

project, '' Open Season'', followed by the sequel '' Open Season 2'' In 2007 Djawadi scored "Fly Me To The Moon", the first full-length animation film to be released solely in 3D (2008) by the Belgian nWave Studios. He subsequently scored 6 more films with Belgian director Ben Stassen: Sammy's Adventure, Samy II, African Safari 3D and House of Magic, Robinson Crusoe, and Queen's Corgi. Djawadi's ethereal score for the film '' Mr. Brooks'' (2007) earned him a World Soundtrack Award for Discovery of the Year nomination. His other scores include ''

Deception Deception is the act of convincing of one or many recipients of untrue information. The person creating the deception knows it to be false while the receiver of the information does not. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Tort of ...

'',

Robert Towne Robert Towne (born Robert Bertram Schwartz; November 23, 1934 – July 1, 2024) was an American screenwriter and director. He started writing films for Roger Corman, including '' The Tomb of Ligeia'' in 1964, and was later part of the New Hollyw ...

's ''

Ask the Dust ''Ask the Dust'' is the most popular novel of American author John Fante, first published in 1939 and set during the Great Depression era in Los Angeles. It is one of a series of novels featuring the character Arturo Bandini as Fante's alter eg ...

'', and ''

''. Djawadi was nominated for

Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media The Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media is an honor presented to a composer (or composers) for an original score created for a film, TV show or series, or other visual media at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was establishe ...

for his work on ''Iron Man''. Djawadi wrote the score for Goyer's horror thriller '' The Unborn'' (2009), produced by

Michael Bay Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is best known for making big-budget high-concept action films with fast cutting, stylistic cinematography and visuals, and extensive use of special eff ...

. Djawadi collaborated with Goyer on the television show ''

FlashForward A flashforward (also spelled flash-forward, and more formally known as prolepsis) is a scene that temporarily takes the narrative forward in time from the current point of the story in literature, film, television and other media. Flashforwards a ...

'' that year, earning him his second

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

nomination. In 2010, Djawadi completed Warner Brothers' '' Clash of the Titans''. The same year, he scored the soundtrack for the video game ''

''. In 2011, he was selected to score HBO's fantasy drama ''

''. His work on ''Game of Thrones'' has garnered him several industry awards and recognition including a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series in September 2018 for the score "The Dragon and the Wolf". For his work on season 7, he was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. This was his second nomination in this category after being nominated before for ''Iron Man'' in 2009. In 2011, he worked on the CBS crime drama ''

''. In 2012, he wrote the score for American

action thriller film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

Safe House A safe house (also spelled safehouse) is a dwelling place or building whose unassuming appearance makes it an inconspicuous location where one can hide out, take shelter, or conduct clandestine activities. Historical usage It may also refer to ...

''. In 2013, Djawadi composed for the science fiction film ''

''. He scored FX's vampire drama ''

The Strain ''The Strain'' is a 2009 vampire literature, vampire horror fiction, horror novel by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. It is the first installment in ''The Strain Trilogy'', and was followed by ''The Fall (del Toro and Hogan novel), The Fal ...

'', created by ''Pacific Rim'' director

Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born 9 October 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and artist. His work has been characterized by a strong connection to fairy tales, Gothic fiction, gothicism and horror fiction, horror often blending the genres ...

. In 2014, Djawadi wrote the score for an American action horror film ''Dracula Untold''. In 2016, Djawadi composed for the fantasy film ''

'' and the HBO science fiction show ''

''. The same year, Djawadi composed the score for the fantasy action monster film '' The Great Wall''. In 2017, Djawadi composed the music for American

survival Survival or survivorship, the act of surviving, is the propensity of something to continue existing, particularly when this is done despite conditions that might kill or destroy it. The concept can be applied to humans and other living things ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

'' The Mountain Between Us''. In 2018, Djawadi scored American

science fantasy file:Warhammer40kcosplay.jpg, Cosplay of a character from the ''Warhammer 40,000'' tabletop game; one critic has characterized the game's setting as "action-oriented science-fantasy." Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction ...

adventure film The adventure film is a broad genre of film. Some early genre studies found it no different than the Western film or argued that adventure could encompass all Hollywood genres. Commonality was found among historians Brian Taves and Ian Cameron in ...

'' and American

supernatural horror film Supernatural horror film is a film genre that combines aspects of supernatural film and horror film. Supernatural occurrences in such films often include ghosts and demons, and many supernatural horror films have elements of religion. Common them ...

Slender Man The Slender Man (also called Slenderman, Slender, or Slendy) is a fictional supernatural character (arts), character that originated as a creepypasta Internet meme created by Something Awful forum user Eric Knudsen (also known as "Victor Surge") ...

''. He wrote the music for Amazon Prime Video's

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

action thriller The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

television series '' Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan'' (also known simply as '' Jack Ryan''). Djawadi scored '' The Queen's Corgi'', an animation film directed by frequent collaborator Ben Stassen. He co-wrote "Hollow Crown" alongside Ellie Goulding in '' For the Throne: Music Inspired by the HBO Series Game of Thrones''. In 2019, he won his second Emmy Award in a row for the ''Game of Thrones'' episode " The Long Night". In 2019, Djawadi returned to the

Gears of War ''Gears of War'' (also referred to as ''Gears'') is a media franchise centered on a series of video games created by Epic Games, developed and managed by The Coalition (company), The Coalition, and owned and published by Xbox Game Studios. The ...

series to compose the music for '' Gears 5''. He received a third Grammy Award nomination for his work in season 8 of ''Game of Thrones'', in the Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media category. Djawadi composed the score for the 2021

Marvel Studios Marvel Studios, LLC, formerly known as Marvel Films, is an American film and television production company. Marvel Studios is the creator of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a media franchise and shared universe of films and television ser ...

film '' Eternals'', which marked his return to the

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on List of Marvel Cinematic Universe films, a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appe ...

(MCU) since 2008's ''Iron Man''. Djawadi composed music for the trailer of '' Magic: The Gathering: Theros Beyond Death'', a card game. Djawadi co-composed music with Brandon Campbell for the second episode of

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

's series ''

Amazing Stories ''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearance ...

'' titled "The Heat". He composed music for the

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

nature documentary A nature documentary or wildlife documentary is a genre of documentary film or television documentary, series about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures. Nature documentaries usually concentrate on video taken in the subject's nat ...

film ''

Elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

''. Djawadi composed the score for

Lisa Joy Lisa Joy (born May 23, 1977) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and lawyer. She is best known as the co-creator, writer, director, and executive producer of the HBO science-fiction drama series ''Westworld'' (2016–2022). For her ...

's feature film debut '' Reminiscence''. He also co-composed the music for the Amazon Game's ''

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

'' with Brandon Campbell. He scored the music for

Ruben Fleischer Ruben Samuel Fleischer (; born October 31, 1974) is an American film director, film producer, television producer, music video director, and commercial director. He is best known as the director of ''Zombieland'' (2009), his first feature film, a ...

's ''

Uncharted ''Uncharted'' is an action-adventure video game series and media franchise published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog. Created by Amy Hennig, the ''Uncharted'' franchise follows a group of treasure hunters who trav ...

'' based on the videogame franchise of same name. He reunited with ''Game Of Thrones'' creator D.B Weiss and

Tom Morello Thomas Baptist Morello (born May 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He is known for his tenure with the rock bands Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave. Between 2016 and 2019, Morello was a membe ...

, scoring the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

film, '' Metal Lords'', directed by Peter Solliet. He scored

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

's '' The Man from Toronto'', directed by Patrick Hughes and the ''

'' prequel series, ''

''. In 2023, he composed the music for the first season of American series '' 3 Body Problem'', which premiered on

on 21 March 2024. The accompanying soundtrack, titled ''3 Body Problem'' (Soundtrack from the Netflix Series), was released on

Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...

on 15 March 2024, and subsequently on

YouTube Music YouTube Music is a music streaming service developed by the American video platform YouTube, a subsidiary of Google. The service is designed with an interface that allows users to simultaneously explore music audios and music videos from YouTu ...

under the same name in March 2024. Djawadi re-teamed with ''

'' and ''

'' creators,

Jonathan Nolan Jonathan Jensen Nolan (born 6 June 1976) is a British and American screenwriter and producer. He is the creator of the CBS science fiction series '' Person of Interest'' (2011–2016) and of the HBO science fiction/Western series ''Westworld'' ...

and

for ''

'', Amazon Prime's adaptation of Bethesda Studio's famous video game franchise. In 2025, Djawadi scored Pixar's '' Win or Lose'', with the duo, CAMPFIRE, writing all the original songs for the show based on Djawadi's themes.

Personal life

Djawadi is married to Jennifer Hawks, a music executive in the film industry. They are parents of twins. According to Djawadi, he experiences the perceptual phenomenon known as

synesthesia Synesthesia (American English) or synaesthesia (British English) is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People with sy ...

whereby he may "associate colours with music, or music with colours", and it allows him to visualize music.

Works and awards

Tours

* ''Game of Thrones'' Live Concert Experience (2017–2019)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Djawadi, Ramin 1974 births Berklee College of Music alumni German classical composers German emigrants to the United States German film score composers German male classical composers German male film score composers German people of Iranian descent German record producers German television composers German video game composers Living people Male television composers Musicians of Iranian descent People from Duisburg Primetime Emmy Award winners Sony Pictures Animation people

Early life

Career

Personal life

Works and awards

Tours

See also

References

External links