Academy Award®-winning composer and director Michael Giacchino has crafted the sonic landscape for some of the most acclaimed and beloved projects in contemporary cinema. His illustrious film scoring portfolio includes The Incredibles, Coco, Jojo Rabbit, Ratatouille, Star Trek, Jurassic World, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Spider-Man: No Way Home, War for the Planet of the Apes, and The Batman. In 2009, his evocative score for Pixar's Up earned him an unprecedented sweep of major awards: an Oscar®, Golden Globe®, BAFTA, Broadcast Film Critics' Choice Award, and two GRAMMY® Awards. After nearly two decades establishing himself as one of Hollywood's premier composers, Giacchino made his directorial debut with Marvel's first special presentation, Werewolf By Night (2022).

Giacchino's artistic journey began at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where he studied filmmaking. Following graduation, he secured a marketing position at Disney while pursuing music composition studies at both Juilliard and UCLA. His career evolved when he joined Disney's newly formed Interactive Division, where he discovered opportunities to compose music for video games.

At DreamWorks Interactive, Giacchino was tasked with creating a temporary score for the video game adaptation of The Lost World: Jurassic Park. His work so impressed Steven Spielberg that the legendary director hired him as the official composer— resulting in the first PlayStation game to feature a live orchestral score, performed by members of the Seattle Symphony. This breakthrough led to numerous video game scoring opportunities, including Spielberg's acclaimed Medal of Honor series.

Giacchino's innovative approach to video game music caught the attention of visionary filmmaker J.J. Abrams, initiating a prolific creative partnership. Their collaboration has produced memorable scores for hit television series like Alias and Lost, as well as blockbuster films including Mission Impossible III, the reimagined Star Trek trilogy, and Super 8.

Beyond traditional media, Giacchino has partnered with Disney Imagineering to enhance iconic theme park experiences through music. His compositions enrich Space Mountain, Star Tours (in collaboration with John Williams), the Ratatouille attraction at Disneyland Paris, and the Incredicoaster at Disney California Adventure. His cinematic scores continue to reach audiences worldwide through live-to-picture concert performances of Star Trek, Ratatouille, Jurassic World, Up, and Coco, accompanied by full orchestras.

In June 2018, Giacchino premiered his first concert work for symphony orchestra,

Voyage, commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops

Orchestra to commemorate NASA's 60th anniversary. A third movement, Advent, was added in July 2019 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Moon Landing.

Expanding his artistic horizons, Giacchino released his first LP of original music, Travelogue Vol. 1, in 2019 on Mondo Records, featuring his Nouvelle Modernica orchestra in what he describes as "a story in song." That same year, his holiday composition Christmas Number One, co-written with Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson and performed by UK band Itchy Teeth, was released as a specialty single with Death Waltz Records.

Werewolf By Night marked Giacchino's feature directorial debut, following his earlier directing work on the Star Trek short Ephraim and Dot and his comedy short Monster Challenge.

His recent compositional achievements include the score for J.A. Bayona's International Academy Award-nominated Society of the Snow, John Krasinski's IF, the upcoming Marvel film Fantastic Four and is slated to direct the remake of the legendary sci-fi film Them.

Beyond his creative pursuits, Giacchino demonstrates his commitment to nurturing future talent through his position on the advisory board of Education Through Music Los Angeles.

Video compilation edited by Marc Delforte. Photograph by Evan Mulling.