John Powell
Born: 18 September 1963, London, England.
Biography:
Englishman John Powell originally trained as a violinist as a child, before studying at London's Trinity College of Music, where he was the recipient of several awards. After a brief dalliance in the world of jazz and rock music, where he was a member of the soul band "The Fabulistics", Powell graduallt became involved with various performance art and media groups, along with his long-time collaborator Gavin Greenaway. Powell's foray into film music began in the late 1980s when, supported by the publishing house Air-Edel, he co-founded the commercial music house Independently Thinking Music (ITM), and composed scores for more than a hundred high-profile European ad campaigns, in addition to working with composers such as Patrick Doyle (on "Into The West" and “Much Ado About Nothing”) and Hans Zimmer (on "White Fang"). Powell's collaboration with Zimmer led to a move to the USA in 1997, where he joined the then-fledgling Media Ventures organization. Since then, Powell's career has developed apace, with box office successes such as "Face/Off" (1997), "Chicken Run" (2000, co-composed with Harry Gregson-Williams), "Shrek" (2001, co-composed with Harry Gregson-Williams), "The Bourne Identity" (2002), and "The Bourne Supremacy" (2004) among his list of credits. Powell has since left the Media Ventures stable and become an independent composer, with largely spectacular results: he scored the three biggest box office hits of his career (X-Men: The Last Stand, Happy Feet and Ice Age: The Meltdown) in 2006. He was nominated for Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music by BAFTA in 2002 for his work with Gregson-Williams on "Shrek".
Reviews:
Antz, Bolt, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, Chicken Run, Evolution, Face/Off, Forces of Nature, Hancock, Happy Feet, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Paycheck, P.S. I Love You, Robots, Shrek, Two Weeks Notice, United 93 and X-Men: The Last Stand
Filmography:
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), Bolt (2008), Hancock (2008), Horton Hears a Who (2008), Kung Fu Panda (2008), Jumper (2008), Stop Loss (2008), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), P.S. I Love You (2007), Happy Feet (2006), Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006), United 93 (2006), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Be Cool (2005), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Robots (2005), Alfie (2004), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), Mr. 3000 (2004), Agent Cody Banks (2003), Gigli (2003), The Italian Job (2003), Paycheck (2003), Stealing Sinatra (2003), The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002), The Bourne Identity (2002), Drumline (2002), D-Tox (2002), Two Weeks Notice (2002), Evolution (2001), I Am Sam (2001), Just Visiting (2001), Rat Race (2001), Shrek (2001), Chicken Run (2000), The Road to El Dorado (2000), Chill Factor (1999), Forces of Nature (1999), Antz (1998), Endurance (1998), The Thin Red Line (1998), With Friends Like These (1998), Face/Off (1997), High Incident (1996), Human Bomb (1996), The Wild Heels (1994), Stay Lucky (1990).
Highest Grossing Films as at end of 2008 (adjusted for inflation):
Shrek ($340.5m), X-Men: The Last Stand ($257.3m), The Bourne Ultimatum ($238.1m), Hancock ($231.8m), Kung Fu Panda ($219.1m), Happy Feet ($217.5m), Ice Age: The Meltdown ($214.4m), Mr. & Mrs. Smith ($208.8m), The Bourne Supremacy ($204.3m), Face/Off ($176.1m)
Awards:
2001 BAFTA Awards - Nominee, Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music - Shrek
Links:
Media Ventures John Powell Page
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