
Danny Elfman
Department: Sound
Biography
Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer, songwriter, and musician. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since scoring his first studio film in 1985, Elfman has garnered international recognition for composing over 100 feature film scores, as well as compositions for television, stage productions, and the concert hall. Elfman has frequently worked with directors Tim Burton, Sam Raimi, and Gus Van Sant, contributing music to nearly 20 Burton projects, including Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, Mars Attacks!, Sleepy Hollow, Big Fish, and Alice in Wonderland, as well as scoring Raimi's Darkman, A Simple Plan, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Oz the Great and Powerful, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Van Sant's Academy Award-winning films Good Will Hunting and Milk. He wrote music for all of the Men in Black and Fifty Shades of Grey franchise films, the songs and score for Henry Selick's animated musical The Nightmare Before Christmas, and the themes for the popular television series Desperate Housewives and The Simpsons. Among his honours are four Oscar nominations, three Emmy Awards, a Grammy, seven Saturn Awards for Best Music, the 2002 Richard Kirk Award, the 2015 Disney Legend Award, the Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award in 2017, and the Society of Composers & Lyricists Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022. Description above from the Wikipedia article Danny Elfman, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For

Corpse Bride
2005

The Nightmare Before Christmas
1993

Forbidden Zone
1980

Oingo Boingo: Farewell (Live from the Universal Amphitheatre)
1996

Hot Tomorrows
1977

Oingo Boingo: October 25th, 1990
1990

The Magical World of Chuck Jones
1992

Back to School
1986

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Special Edition
1994

Oingo Boingo: 1983 US Festival
2011

Oingo Boingo: Skeletons in the Closet
1989

The Making of 'The Frighteners'
1998

Hollywood in Vienna 2017 - Fairytales
2017

Live From Lincoln Center: Danny Elfman's Music from the Films of Tim Burton
2015

A Look Into 'The Forbidden Zone'
—

Good Morning, Mr. Orwell
1984

Score: A Film Music Documentary
2017

78/52
2017

Proud Iza
2008

DemiUrge Emesis
2010

Urgh! A Music War
1981

Psycho Path
2000

Sleepy Hollow: Behind the Legend
2000

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
2005

Oingo Boingo: Halloween '87
1987

Oingo Boingo: Live at the Ritz
1985

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Sweet Sounds
2005

Cosmic Symphonies: Elfman in Space
2002

Fantasporto – Carnaval no Porto
2000

The Gift
2000

A Conversation with Danny Elfman & Tim Burton
2011

Shadows of the Bat: The Cinematic Saga of the Dark Knight
2008

Behind the Scenes of 'Spider-Man'
2004

The Making of Tim Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'
1993

Tim Burton: Life in the Line
2024

A Danny Elfman Christmas Story
2025

The Hollywood Soundtrack Story
1995

Prisoners of Gravity
1989

Hollywood in Vienna
2011

The Holiday Movies That Made Us
2020

Tim Burton: Life in the Line
2025

Saturday Night Live
1975