Sherri Chung

**Sherri Chung** is an American composer who was born in Queens, New York, New York.

## Background

Sherri Chung is a composer for film and television and currently composes the scores for *Riverdale* and *Batwoman* for The CW. Her most recent show, *The Red Line*, produced by Greg Berlanti and Ava DuVernay, is a limited series which premiered on CBS and aired on CBS All Access.

Her latest Warner Bros. film, *Nancy Drew and The Hidden Staircase* was released March 2019 in theaters nationwide.

Sherri’s compositional work includes both songs and scores for t.v., films, documentaries, commercials, musicals and music libraries.

One of her recent films, *The Other Side of Home* was shortlisted for the 2017 Oscars for Best Short Documentary.

A long time collaborator with composer Blake Neely, they have worked together on a number of scores, including those for CW’s *Arrow*, *The Flash*, *Supergirl* and *DC’s Legends of Tomorrow*.

Sherri studied Music Composition and Theory at Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, FL, and attended USC's Scoring For Motion Picture and Television Graduate Program in Los Angeles, CA. Sherri has also attended the Sundance Institute's Film Music Program as well as ASCAP's Scoring Workshop. Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, she began assisting composer Walter Murphy and then continued as an orchestrator for his shows, *Family Guy* and *American Dad*.

Not only a composer, Sherri is also a pianist, vocalist and songwriter. She has recorded and produced 2 original albums and performs with her band in Los Angeles. As a vocalist, she has recorded for films, commercials, trailer music, and television (ABC’s *Resurrection*, and CW’s *Arrow*). Her voice can be heard on NBC's *Blindspot* and the Netflix documentary series *The Keepers* (Emmy nominated for Outstanding Documentary), two scores she also conducted.

## Trivia

* On April 9, 2021, several caveats of information were revealed by Sheri Chung herself, like how Chung became the first Asian-American woman responsible for the music of an hour-long network drama.
	+ This series is also celebrating both Chinese culture and Chinese-American culture.
	+ Several of the series' writers are of Asian descent as well.
	+ When it comes to the music, Chung mentioned that when it comes to the Asian parents, she leans into the Chinese elements “because the cultural specificity is there. Some of the things they talk about are unique to Chinese culture or the immigrant story”.
	+ She also employs the unusual colors of the erhu, a two-stringed bowed instrument; various Chinese percussion instruments including the paigu, zhangu, dagu and tanggu drums; and other Asian sounds including Dharma bells, tuned gongs and the pipe gamelan. Solos from the more conventional violin and cello, plus everything Chung herself plays including piano and electronics, flavor the weekly scores.
	+ Pei-ling (portrayed by: Vanessa Kai), Nicky's Shaolin mentor, also has a theme that calls on these Asian sounds.
	+ In addition,“there’s also a theme that has nothing to do with Asian culture,” she adds, referring to her “Nicky’s Calling / Journey” theme, which refers to “following one’s heart, finding one’s purpose”.
	+ Chung further revealed that she has about a week to compose each score, which can run 35 minutes or more, and that in addition to this show, she continues to co-compose for *Riverdale* and *Batwoman* (both with Blake Neely).
* On April 22, 2021, Chung was featured in a CW Spotlight video that was shared on the official Instagram account for the Kung Fu TV series.

## External Links

* Sherri Chung at the Internet Movie Database

* Follow Sherri Chung (@Sherri\_Chung) on Twitter

* Follow Sherri Chung (@sherrichung) on Instagram

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sherri Chung’s Bio - Sherri Chung Website
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 ‘Kung Fu’ Composer Sherri Chung on Breaking Ground for Asian-American Representation - Variety
3. ↑ The CW is committed to bringing diverse perspectives and voices to creative roles behind the camera - Instagram