Jeff Danna
Background information
Born	Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Origin	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Film and television scores,Celtic,jazz,rock,electronic
Occupation	Composer
Instrument(s)	Piano,keyboards,synthesizer,guitar
Years active	1989 – present
Website	www.jeffdanna.com

Jeff Danna is a Canadian film and television composer. He has composed or co-composed scores for a wide range of films and television, includingThe Boondock Saints (1999),Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004),Silent Hill (2006),The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009),The Good Dinosaur (2015),Storks (2016),The Breadwinner (2017),The Addams Family (2019),Onward (2020),Guillermo Del Toro’s Tales of Arcadia (2019-2021),My Father’s Dragon (2022),Julia (2022),Churchill at War (2024) andThe Hunting Wives (2025).^[1]

His older brother, composerMychael Danna, is a frequent collaborator, and the two have receivedEmmy nominations for their work onCamelot (2011),Tyrant (2014-2016), andAlias Grace (2017). Additionally, Danna has been nominated for sixAnnie Awards, won fiveBMI Film & TV Awards, aGemini Award, aGenie award, twoHollywood Music in Media Awards, and 15SOCAN Awards.^[1]

Danna was born inBurlington, Ontario, to a musical family active in local theatre and church choir. A reluctant young piano student, Danna found solace in anelectric guitar left behind at his home by a friend. Unknowingly following in the path of three generations of Winnipegmandolin players, progress came quickly. He began playing professionally at the age of 15 until a hand injury brought his performance career to a halt at 22.^[2]

Danna's first foray intofilm scoring occurred while recovering from his injury. Unable to play for extended periods of time, his brother, Mychael, suggested that he record the guitar parts on some of Mychael's first scores, figuring that they could take breaks at intervals as necessitated by his injury. Seeing a way to sustain his music career, Danna turned to film scoring. Subsequently, the brothers' first co-writing venture,Cold Comfort, was nominated for a Genie award and laid the foundation for Jeff's career in film and many future collaborations with his brother.^[2]

After cutting his teeth on independent Canadian features, Danna moved to Los Angeles to begin his work in television, landing jobs on theCBS crime showSweating Bullets,Beverly Hills 90210, and theWarner Brothers' legacy title,Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. A series oftelevision movies followed, notablyShowtime'My Own Country for directorMira Nair,The Matthew Shepard Story (a Gemini Best Score winner),Ice Bound, andSpinning Boris for directorRoger Spottiswoode.

Feature film work began with the indieUncorked (At Sachem Farm), starringMinnie Driver andRufus Sewell, featuring the on-camerafingerstyle guitar solo showcase of the influential "Ross' Concert," played in the studio by Danna andDean Parks. This was followed by the cult classicThe Boondock Saints, which featured choral and orchestral elements mixed with electronica, along with "The Blood Of Cu Chulainn", a Danna brothers' offering from their album,A Celtic Romance.^[3]

Following that wasTim Blake Nelson'sO, a modern-day retelling ofShakespeare'sOthello. Danna took the opportunity of the Shakespeare connection to employ avielle and aviola da gamba in combination with dark orchestral colors, his first of many uses of early music instruments in his scores.^[4] By the timeO was released in theaters, Danna was at work again with Tim Blake Nelson on his World War II Holocaust dramaThe Grey Zone. Nelson's desire for an onerous death camp atmosphere meant that there would be no score in the film until the final credits, where Danna composed a dissonant and powerful dirge, merging a small chamber group withKlezmer soloists, using an approach akin to modes of limited transposition to evoke both a terrible beauty and desolation.^[5]

2001 brought forth the first of many collaborations with acclaimed filmmakerBrett Morgen onThe Kid Stays in the Picture, a celebrated retelling of producerRobert Evans' book of the same title.

In 2003, Danna was in London working withThe London Philharmonia on the large-scale score forThe Gospel of John, a medley of which the Philharmonia performed in their summer concert atRoyal Festival Hall.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse followed in 2004, earning Danna four SOCAN Awards for International Film Music, and then a reunion with brother Mychael onTerry Gilliam’sTideland, their first time working together since their Celtic albums, seven years prior.

2006 and 2007 found Danna in Toronto, scoring the movie adaptation of the hit video game franchiseSilent Hill for directorChristophe Gans. Danna followed that with another Brett Morgen collaboration onChicago 10, then legendary directorLord Richard Attenborough's final film,Closing The Ring, and another collaboration with Mychael forFracture, the psychological legal crime thriller starringAnthony Hopkins andRyan Gosling.

The following year, the brothers went on to scoreSony's crime thrillerLakeview Terrace, starringSamuel Jackson. The duo then collaborated with Terry Gilliam again forThe Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, which was nominated for Best Original Score for a Fantasy Film by theInternational Film Music Critics Awards. Danna's ongoing work with Brett Morgen brought forthNimrod Nation, a30-for-30 episode, and the acclaimed documentaryKurt Cobain: Montage of Heck.

In 2014, Jeff and Mychael wrote the original music for theFX seriesTyrant, earning them both a Hollywood Music in Media Award for the Main Title, as well as Emmy nominations for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score) and Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music, the same category for which they were previously Emmy-nominated for their work onCamelot in 2011.

In 2015, the brothers composed the score forDisney andPixar'sThe Good Dinosaur, which received a BMI Film and TV Award for Film Music, three SOCAN Awards, a nomination for Best Original Score for an Animated Film by the International Film Music Critics Award, and an Annie nomination for Outstanding Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature Production. More sibling collaborations followed, notably the original score for Warner Brothers' animated filmStorks which won a BMI Film and TV Award for Film Music, andAng Lee'sBilly Lynn's Long Halftime Walk.

In 2017, Jeff and Mychael undertook scoringNora Twomey'sThe Breadwinner, which had its world premiere at theToronto International Film Festival.The Breadwinner was nominated for an Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature Production, won the Best Original Music Award from the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France and won the Canadian Screen Award for Film Score of the Year. The brothers followed up that effort withAlias Grace forNetflix, for which they were Emmy nominated in 2018 and garnered a nomination for a Canadian Screen Award.

Returning to animation in 2018, Danna wrote the music forGuillermo del Toro's animated science-fantasy seriesTales of Arcadia, which includes the titles3Below,Wizards, andRise of the Titans for Netflix and produced byDreamWorks Animation.

Jeff and Mychael then worked together to score the animated featureThe Addams Family, released in 2019, which earned a BMI Film & TV Award for Film Music, and Disney & Pixar'sOscar-nominated animated filmOnward, which opened in theaters on March 6, 2020, for which they received an Annie nomination for Best Music for a Feature, a BMI Film & TV Award for Film Music, and an International Film Music Critics Award nomination for Best Original Score for an Animated Film. Following that, he and Mychael wrote the original score for theMGM featureThe Addams Family 2, earning them a Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Original Score for an Animated Film and a BMI Film & TV Award for Film Music.

2021 and 2022 saw Danna working forHBO Max on the acclaimed seriesJulia, based on the life of iconic chefJulia Child,^[6] and he reteamed with Mychael andCartoon Saloon co-founder Nora Twomey forMy Father’s Dragon. A reunion with Guillermo del Toro followed as Danna composed the music for the episodeThe Graveyard Rats inGuillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities.^[1]

• Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia (2020)

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• Official website
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• 1964 births
• Animated film score composers
• Best Original Score Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners
• Canadian classical composers
• Canadian film score composers
• Canadian male classical composers
• Canadian television composers
• La-La Land Records artists
• Living people
• Canadian male film score composers
• Canadian male television composers
• Musicians from Ontario
• People from Burlington, Ontario
• Pixar people
• Varèse Sarabande Records artists

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