# Mychael Danna

Mychael Danna (born September 20, 1958) is a Canadian composer of film and television scores. He won both the Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Original Score for Life of Pi. He has also won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Original Dramatic Score) in his work on the miniseries World Without End.

## Personal life

Danna's family moved to Burlington, Ontario, when he was four weeks old. He is the brother of fellow composer Jeff Danna. He studied music composition at the University of Toronto. He has two children with his wife, Aparna.

## Career

Danna served for five years as composer-in-residence at the McLaughlin Planetarium in Toronto (1987–1992). Works for dance include music for Dead Souls (Carbone Quatorze Dance Company, directed by Gilles Maheu 1996), and a score for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's Gita Govinda (2001) based on the 1000-year-old classical Gita Govinda, with choreographer Nina Menon. In June 2014, Danna was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Toronto, for his career achievements in the field of music.
He has been scoring films since his 1987 feature debut for Atom Egoyan's Family Viewing, a score which earned Danna the first of his thirteen Genie Award nominations. He has won five times for Achievement in Music - Original Score. Danna is recognized as one of the pioneers of combining non-Western sound sources with orchestral and electronic minimalism in the world of film music. This reputation has led him to work with such directors as Atom Egoyan, Deepa Mehta, Terry Gilliam, Scott Hicks, Ang Lee, Gillies MacKinnon, James Mangold, Mira Nair, Billy Ray, Joel Schumacher, and Denzel Washington. His soundtrack for Ang Lee's Life of Pi earned two Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for Pi's Lullaby.
Other films include Dan Scanlon's Onward, Mimi Leder's On the Basis of Sex, Nora Twomey's The Breadwinner, Bennett Miller's Capote and Moneyball and Marc Webb's (500) Days of Summer.
On September 30, 2021, Danna received a Career Achievement Award from the Zurich Film Festival.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1987 | Family Viewing | |
| 1987 | Caribe | |
| 1988 | Murder One | |
| 1988 | Blood Relations | |
| 1989 | Speaking Parts | |
| 1989 | Road to Avonlea | TV series |
| 1989 | One Man Out | |
| 1989 | Cold Comfort | |
| 1989 | Without Work: Not by Choice | Short Film |
| 1989 | Termini Station | |
| 1990 | Still Life: The Fine Art of Murder | |
| 1991 | The Adjuster | |
| 1991 | Johann's Gift to Christmas | TV Short series |
| 1991 | Montréal vu par... | segment: "En passant" |
| 1991 | The Big Slice | |
| 1993 | Hush Little Baby | TV movie |
| 1993 | Gross Misconduct | TV movie |
| 1993 | Ordinary Magic | |
| 1994 | Exotica | |
| 1994 | The Darling Family | |
| 1994 | Narmada: A Valley Rises | Documentary |
| 1994 | Dance Me Outside | |
| 1995 | Johnny Mnemonic | |
| 1996 | Dangerous Offender: The Marlene Moore Story | TV movie |
| 1996 | Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love | |
| 1996 | Lilies | |
| 1997 | The Ice Storm | |
| 1997 | The Sweet Hereafter | |
| 1998 | At the End of the Day: The Sue Rodriguez Story | |
| 1999 | The Boondock Saints | With his brother Jeff Danna |
| 1999 | Girl, Interrupted | |
| 1999 | Don't Think Twice | Short Film |
| 1999 | Ride with the Devil | |
| 1999 | Felicia's Journey | |
| 1999 | 8MM | |
| 1999 | The Confession | |
| 2000 | Bounce | |
| 2001 | Hearts in Atlantis | |
| 2001 | Monsoon Wedding | |
| 2001 | The Hire: Chosen | |
| 2001 | Green Dragon | With his brother Jeff Danna |
| 2002 | Antwone Fisher | |
| 2002 | The Guys | |
| 2002 | Ararat | |
| 2003 | The Snow Walker | |
| 2003 | Shattered Glass | |
| 2003 | Hulk | Additional cue "Mother" |
| 2004 | Being Julia | |
| 2004 | Vanity Fair | |
| 2005 | Sohni Sapna | |
| 2005 | Eve and the Fire Horse | |
| 2005 | Tideland | With his brother Jeff Danna |
| 2005 | Water | Background score only Genie Award for Best Original Score |
| 2005 | Capote | |
| 2005 | Where the Truth Lies | |
| 2005 | Aurora Borealis | |
| 2006 | The Nativity Story | |
| 2006 | Little Miss Sunshine | |
| 2006 | Lonely Hearts | |
| 2007 | Surf's Up | First score for an animated film. |
| 2007 | Breach | |
| 2007 | Fracture | With his brother Jeff Danna |
| 2008 | Adoration | |
| 2008 | Management | |
| 2008 | Lakeview Terrace | With his brother Jeff Danna |
| 2009 | (500) Days of Summer | With Rob Simonsen |
| 2009 | Chloe | |
| 2009 | The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus | With his brother Jeff Danna |
| 2009 | The Time Traveler's Wife | |
| 2011 | Camelot | TV series With his brother Jeff Danna |
| 2011 | Moneyball | |
| 2012 | Life of Pi | Academy Award for Best Original Score Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score Nominated – Academy Award for Best Original Song ("Pi's Lullaby") |
| 2013 | Devil's Knot | |
| 2014 | Transcendence | |
| 2014 | The Captive | |
| 2014 | Tyrant | TV series With his brother Jeff Danna |
| 2015 | Sanjay's Super Team | Short Film |
| 2015 | Remember | |
| 2015 | The Good Dinosaur | With his brother Jeff Danna Replaced Thomas Newman |
| 2016 | Storks | With his brother Jeff Danna |
| 2016 | Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk | With his brother Jeff Danna |
| 2017 | The Breadwinner | With his brother Jeff Danna |
| 2017 | The Man Who Invented Christmas | |
| 2018 | On the Basis of Sex | |
| 2019 | A Dog's Way Home | |
| 2019 | The Red Sea Diving Resort | |
| 2019 | After the Wedding | |
| 2019 | Guest of Honour | |
| 2019 | The Addams Family | With his brother Jeff Danna |
| 2020 | Onward | With his brother Jeff Danna |
| 2021 | Stillwater | |
| 2021 | The Addams Family 2 | With his brother Jeff Danna |
| 2022 | Return to Space | with Harry Gregson-Williams |
| 2022 | Where the Crawdads Sing | |
| 2022 | My Father's Dragon | With his brother Jeff Danna |
| 2023 | No Hard Feelings | with Jessica Rose Weiss |