Thomas Newman

Thomas Montgomery Newman, born Los Angeles, CA, 1955 is the son of the very prolific Alfred Newman; his mother, Mississippi born, Martha Louise Montgomery. He attended the University of Southern California and then went on to receive a master’s degree in music at Yale University.

His film scoring career began in 1984 with the score for the film Reckless. His breakthrough came in 1995 when he earned 2 Academy Award nominations in film scoring, Little Women (1994) and The Shawshank Redemption (1994). He was the only double nominee that year. Some of his notable film scoring includes, American Beauty (1999), Pay It Forward (2000), Erin Brockovich (2000), Road to Perdition (2002), Finding Nemo (2003) and WALL-E (2008).

As of 2009, Thomas Newman has received 10 Academy Award nominations but has yet to receive an Oscar. He is the most nominated living composer never to have won an Academy Award (The late Composer Alex North had 14 nominations without a win); however, Thomas has won 3 Grammy Awards and an Emmy for the theme from Six Feet Under.