I had to include Austrian-American composer Erich Korngold on this list because he is truly the father of film composition art form. A classically trained composer, Korngold redefined what film composition could be and was graciously welcomed in the United States.

After completing just one simple score for the Warner Brother’s in 1934, they offered the young composer a lifetime contract which included a hefty pension, his own rehearsal building and composition studio, his own private orchestra, and gave him complete artistic control of the scores and films for which he would compose.

Canadian composer Howard Shore has a whopping 80 scores under his belt and continues to be one of Hollywood’s most sought-after living composers. A graduate of the Berklee College of Music in the United States, Shore has had an incredibly fruitful career in film composition. He is also notable in the classical music world as a composer of operas, symphonies, and concertos.

You may recognize some of his music as his scores include those from the Lord of the Rings (trilogy, 2001-2003), the Hobbit (trilogy, 2012-2014), King Kong (2005), and Twilight: Eclipse (2010). Howard Shore is the recipient of four Academy Oscar Awards, three Golden Globes, and four Grammy’s for his works on the Lord of the Rings trilogies.

Five-time Academy Oscar Awards winning film composer John Barry is another of the world’s most prominent composers. With 50 years of experience in composition for motion pictures, the English composer is most recognized for his works on the first eleven James Bond films. Having composed for over one hundred films and television series’, Barry was prolific in his work and one of the most celebrated film composers of the 20th century.

Awards for Maestro Barry include Five Academy Oscar Awards, two BAFTA awards, one Golden Globe, four Grammy’s, moreover, he was nominated for several awards including the Emmy’s and the Grammy’s. His scoring includes works for The Lion in Winter (1968), Mary, Queen of Scots (1971), Out of Africa (1985), Dances with Wolves (1990), and of course, the first eleven James Bond films (1962-1987).

Max Steiner is one of the earliest and most successful film composers of the 20th century. With Austrian-American origins, he was originally a classical composer and, after a successful career in Austria, moved to the United States and became an influential director, composer, and conductor for Broadway, often working with the famous George Gerswhin.

American Composer Danny Elfman is one of those composers within the film industry that works with directors on fantastical films, and creates very special music to match! His first movie score was in collaboration with life-long friend and movie director Tim Burton’s 1985 Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. Since then, Elfman has established himself in the Hollywood movie industry amongst the ranks of Hans Zimmer and John Williams.

In 1989, for example, he composed the main theme song for the famous television show The Simpsons and has continued to compose for the executive director and creator Matt Groener since. As a film composer, Elfman has worked on several notable films including Batman (1989), Scream 2 (1997), Pyscho (1998), Spiderman (trilogy; 2002- 2007), Hulk (2003), Taking Woodstock (2009), and the Fifty Shades of Grey (trilogy; 2015-2018).

Rachel Portman is the first female film composer to win an Academy Award for her work on the film Emma (1996), and also the first female composer to win a Primetime Emmy for the film Bessie (2015). From Surrey, England, Portman has made waves as a film composer and has fought her way through the ranks of the male-dominated field. With scores for over 100 films, Portman is also one of the 21st century most important composers in general and has written a children’s opera The Little Prince, a musical for the BBC Proms The Water Diviner’s Tale, and various other orchestral, and choral compositions.

Her most notable works include The Joy Luck Club (1993), The Cider House Rules (1999), Oliver Twist (2004), The Duchess (2008), and most recently with Disney’s 2020 film Godmothered.

American Composer Jerry Goldsmith is a celebrated composer with works on films which are also some of the most successful of the 20th century. He studied at the University of Southern California with another of Hollywood’s greats, Miklós Rózsa.

Goldsmith wrote scores for about 200 films over the span of 50 years. His works have been nominated over 30 times but he only won one award for writing the score to the 1976 film, the Omen. Despite having been unsuccessfully nominated for so many awards, Goldsmith’s track record speaks for itself.

His works include Escape from Planet of the Apes (1968), Chinatown (1974), Star Trek (1979-99, 2002-2004), First Blood (1982), Poltergeist (1982), Rambo (1985/7, 2008), The Lost World: Jurrasic Park (1997).

Bernard Hermann is not only one of the most celebrated film composers of all time but is also one of the most influential composers outside of just film music. He played the piano, and as an artist, had a deep connection with his philosophy behind film composition, one that was organic with regard to any motion picture he worked on. The works he wrote influenced other composers like Alexandre Desplat and Danny Elfman, even inspiring composer Revel Young to transition from Jazz drummer to film composer, Jazz saxophonist John Zorn, Sir George Martin (composer for the Beatles), and even Alfred Hitchcock and Martin Scorcese.

Without a doubt, Hans Zimmer is one of the world’s most recognized names world and the industry of film composition. With over 150 scores (currently), Hollywood and Hans Zimmer will continue to be in close collaboration. The German-American composer is still active in the industry and has been composing scores since his 1987 score for Terminal Exposure. His impressive career and sweeping award win and animations led to Dream Works appointing him to be head of the Film Music Division.

The film music of Hans Zimmer is also one of Hollywood’s most successful films of the past two decades. Maybe you’ve heard of them? Rain Man (1988), Pacific Heights (1990), Thelma and Louise (1991), The Lion King (1994), Prince of Egypt (1998), Gladiator (2000), Hannibal (2001), Pirates of the Caribbean (2003-2011), Batman Begins (2005), The Simpsons: Movie (2007), Dark Knight (2008), Dark Knight Rises (2012), 12 Years a Slave (2013), Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and most recently Dunkirk (2017). Aside from films and television, Zimmer has also composed video game music including the 2009 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and FIFA 2019.

Number one on this list is, of course, Juilliard-trained American-composer, John Williams. Having worked extensively throughout Hollywood, Williams’ name is associated with many of the world’s greatest movies. The artist continues to play piano and write many concert works including concertos, symphonies, chamber works, and many more. As an impressively talented man in the music world, John Williams has worked for some of the highest-grossing films of all time.

His motion picture scores include Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Jaws (1975), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Superman (1978) ET: The Extraterrestrial (1982), Schindler’s List (1993), the Jurassic Park films (1993), Indiana Jones, and most notably, the entirety of the Star Wars series (1977-2019), and the main themes and foundation for the Harry Potter (2001-2004).

Lesley Barber, a Candian native, was the first female composer to be featured in The Hollywood Reporter’s Composer Roundtable alongside Hans Zimmer and others. Check out her music on the soundtracks for Mansfield Park (1998), You Can Count On Me (2000), and Manchester by the Sea (2019).

Kathryn Bostic is the first female African American composer accepted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Music Branch. She has worked on some incredible films and documentaries including Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (2019), Clemency (2019), and Netflix’s Dear White People (2014-present). She has also worked on Broadway alongside August Wilson and his plays, Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf.

English composer Anne Dudley is on the soundtracks for notable people including songs you may have heard on the radio from Elton John, Liza Minnelli, Tina Turner, and even Robin Williams! She has also done scoring for Full Monty (1998), Les Misérables (2012), and Mammia Mia (2018).

As the first Latina composer admitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Music Branch, Germaine Franco has made her mark on the film industry with her work on films like Dope (2017), Disney’s Coco (2017), and for Curious George (2019-2020).

Iceland’s Hildur Guðnadóttir is the first female that has won awards from both the Golden Globes and BAFTA for Best Original Score. Her composing style is unique and wholistic, and you can hear recordings on soundtracks from her work on her award-winning score for Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018), HBO’s Chernobyl (2019), and The Joker (2019).

Deborah Lurie is a versatile composer working with artists from her home country, the United States. Her soundtrack work includes famous radio songs from Katy Perry, Christina Perri, Kelly Clarkson, and many others. Her compositions are also in the films Dear John (2010), 9 (2009), and Alice in Wonderland (2010).

Turkish-American Composer Pinar Toprak is Marvel’s first female composer with her 2019 work for their film Captain Marvel. She also created songs for movies like Justice League (2017), Stargirl (2020), and HBO’S 2020 McMillions.