
Biography
Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer, songwriter, and musician. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since scoring his first studio film in 1985, Elfman has garnered international recognition for composing over 100 feature film scores, as well as compositions for television, stage productions, and the concert hall. Elfman has frequently worked with directors Tim Burton, Sam Raimi, and Gus Van Sant, contributing music to nearly 20 Burton projects, including Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, Mars Attacks!, Sleepy Hollow, Big Fish, and Alice in Wonderland, as well as scoring Raimi's Darkman, A Simple Plan, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Oz the Great and Powerful, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Van Sant's Academy Award-winning films Good Will Hunting and Milk. He wrote music for all of the Men in Black and Fifty Shades of Grey franchise films, the songs and score for Henry Selick's animated musical The Nightmare Before Christmas, and the themes for the popular television series Desperate Housewives and The Simpsons. Among his honours are four Oscar nominations, three Emmy Awards, a Grammy, seven Saturn Awards for Best Music, the 2002 Richard Kirk Award, the 2015 Disney Legend Award, the Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award in 2017, and the Society of Composers & Lyricists Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022. Description above from the Wikipedia article Danny Elfman, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Awards & recognition
- Primetime Emmy Award — Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music · 2023
- Primetime Emmy Award — Outstanding Music Direction · 2016
- Disney Legends · 2015
- Primetime Emmy Award — Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music · 2005
- Grammy Award — Best Instrumental Composition · 1990
Show all 9 awards →
- Academy Award — Best Original Score · 2009 · nominated
- Academy Award — Best Original Score · 2004 · nominated
- Academy Award — Best Original Dramatic Score · 1998 · nominated
- Academy Award — Best Original Musical or Comedy Score · 1998 · nominated
Filmography50+ titles

Batman: The Animated Series

Wednesday

Good Will Hunting

The Simpsons

Tales from the Crypt

Big Fish

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Edward Scissorhands

Annie Hall

Corpse Bride

Amazing Stories

Sicko

Beetlejuice

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Spider-Man 2

Spider-Man

Psycho Path

Dolores Claiborne

Army of Darkness

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

78/52

Silver Linings Playbook

Milk

Sleepy Hollow

A Simple Plan

Men in Black

Batman

Midnight Run

Dracula

Score

Real Steel

The Next Three Days

Chicago

Send Help

The End of the Tour

Big Eyes

Captain Sparky vs. The Flying Saucers

Frankenweenie

Notorious

9

The Simpsons Movie

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Red Dragon

Mission: Impossible

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

The Grinch

American Hustle

Meet the Robinsons

The Frighteners

Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight