- Thomas Newman
Infobox Musical artist
Name = Thomas Newman
| Img_size = 150
Img_capt = Thomas Newman with his BMI Film Music Award
Birth_name = Thomas Montgomery Newman
Born = birth date and age|1955|10|20
Origin =Los Angeles, California
Background = non_performing_personnel
Occupation = film score composer
Years_active =
Associated_acts =
URL =
afiawards = Best Original Score
1997 "Oscar and Lucinda "
baftaawards = Best Film Music
1999 "American Beauty"
emmyawards = Outstanding Main Title Theme Music
2001 "Six Feet Under "
grammyawards = Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
2001 "American Beauty"Thomas Montgomery Newman (born
October 20 ,1955 Los Angeles, California, USA) is an American 8 timeAcademy Award -nominatedfilm score composer . He is a member of a film-scoring dynasty inHollywood that includes his fatherAlfred Newman , his uncleLionel Newman , his brother David Newman, and his cousinsJoey Newman andRandy Newman (who is best known as asinger andsongwriter ).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 twoAcademy Award nominations for his scores to "Little Women" and "The Shawshank Redemption "; he was the only double-nominee that year. His critical and commercial success has continued in recent years with his scores for "American Beauty" (winner of theGrammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media ), "Road to Perdition ", "Finding Nemo ," "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events ", "Pay it Forward ", "Erin Brockovich ", "The Good German " and "WALL-E ".Newman has composed music for
television as well, includingtheme music for the series "Boston Public " and theminiseries "Angels in America". His theme music for the television show "Six Feet Under" won twoGrammy Award s in 2003, for Best Instrumental Composition as well as Best Instrumental Arrangement. Newman also wrote a commissioned concert work for orchestra, "Reach Forth Our Hands", for the 1996Cleveland Bicentennial .At the
79th Academy Awards , Newman appeared in the opening segment byErrol Morris correcting a claim that he had been nominated for and not won anAcademy Award eight times: "I've lost seven times; tonight it will be eight."Though they were not composed specifically for the film, seven of Newman's previous score compositions were included in
Michael Moore 's 2007 documentary, "Sicko ". Newman received a special thanks credit, in addition to seven individual song credits.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 , detunedmandolin ,tabla ,xaphoon , andsaz , as well as electronic elements to create a percussive,gamelan -like sound.Chas Smith andRick 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
Compositions
(*) = soundtrack available on CD
1980s
* 1984: "Reckless"
* 1984: "Revenge of the Nerds "*
* 1984: "Grandview, U.S.A. "
* 1985: "Desperately Seeking Susan "*
* 1985: "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"
* 1985: "The Man with One Red Shoe "
* 1985: "Real Genius "
* 1986: "Jumpin' Jack Flash"
* 1987: "Less Than Zero"*
* 1987: "Light of Day "*
* 1987: "The Lost Boys"*
* 1988: "The Prince of Pennsylvania "1990s
* 1990: "Men Don't Leave "
* 1992: "The Player "
* 1992: "Fried Green Tomatoes"*
* 1992: "Scent of a Woman"*
* 1993: "Flesh and Bone "*
* 1994: "Little Women"* (Academy Award nomination)
* 1994: "The Shawshank Redemption"* (Academy Award nomination)
* 1994: "The War"
* 1995: "How to Make an American Quilt "*
* 1995: "Unstrung Heroes " (Academy Award nomination)
* 1996: "The People vs. Larry Flynt "*
* 1996: "American Buffalo"*
* 1996: "Phenomenon"*
* 1996: "Up Close and Personal"*
* 1997: "Red Corner "*
* 1997: "Mad City"*
* 1997: "Oscar and Lucinda "*
* 1998: "The Horse Whisperer "*
* 1998: "Meet Joe Black "*
* 1999: ""* (Academy Award nomination; Grammy Award; BAFTA Award)
* 1999: "The Green Mile"*2000s
* 2000: "Erin Brockovich"*
* 2000: "Pay It Forward "*
* 2000: "Boston Public " (TV; main theme)
* 2001: "In the Bedroom "
* 2001: "Six Feet Under"* (TV; main theme) (Emmy Award; Grammy Awards; remixes byPhotek andRae & Christian are available)
* 2002: "The Salton Sea "*
* 2002: "Road to Perdition"* (Academy Award nomination)
* 2002: "White Oleander"*
* 2003: "Finding Nemo"* (Academy Award nomination)
* 2003: ""* (TV)
* 2004: "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events"* (Academy Award nomination)
* 2005: "Cinderella Man "*
* 2005: "Jarhead"*
* 2006: "Little Children"*
* 2006: "The Good German"* (Academy Award nomination)
* 2007: "Nothing is Private "
* 2008: "WALL-E"*
* 2008: "Revolutionary Road" (in production)
* 2008: "Brothers"Additional soundtracks
* 2005: "Madagascar" (from "American Beauty")
* 2007: "Sicko " (from "Little Children", "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events ," and "In the Bedroom")External links
* [http://users.telenet.be/obelisk/tnc Thomas Newman Complete]
* [http://www.filmreference.com/Writers-and-Production-Artists-Me-Ni/Newman-Thomas.html Thomas Newman at Filmreference.com]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002353/ Thomas Newman] at theInternet Movie Database
* [http://www.soundtrackguide.net/?content=search&pattern=Newman&column=composer Thomas Newman at Soundtrackguide.net]
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