Mychael Danna is a Canadian film

Film score

A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

.

Life and career

Mychael Danna is the brother of fellow composer Jeff Danna

Jeff Danna

Jeffrey W. “Jeff” Danna is a composer and musician noted for his work in film scores.A reluctant piano student at age eight, he found solace in the guitar at age eleven. Danna began playing professionally at fifteen until a hand injury in 1987 curtailed his performance career...

. He has been scoring films since his 1987 feature debut for Atom Egoyan

Atom Egoyan

Atom Egoyan, OC is a critically acclaimed Armenian-Canadian stage director and film director. Egoyan made his career breakthrough with Exotica...

's Family Viewing

Family Viewing

- Plot :Van's father, Stan , is fond of video, always taping scenes of daily family life. But he does not take care of Van's grandmother, Armen . Although he could afford having her at home, she is spending her days watching TV in an old people's home. Van often visits her. He meets Aline , whose...

, a score which earned Danna the first of his thirteen Genie Award

Genie Award

Genie Awards are given out to recognize the best of Canadian cinema by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. From 1949-1979, the awards were named the Canadian Film Awards...

 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

Atom Egoyan

Atom Egoyan, OC is a critically acclaimed Armenian-Canadian stage director and film director. Egoyan made his career breakthrough with Exotica...

, Deepa Mehta

Deepa Mehta

Deepa Mehta, LLD is a Genie Award-winning Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, most known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire , Earth , and Water , among which Earth was submitted by Indian government for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film...

, Terry Gilliam

Terry Gilliam

Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...

, Scott Hicks

Scott Hicks

Robert Scott Hicks is a film director from Australia. He is best known as the screenwriter and director of Shine, the Oscar-winning biopic of pianist David Helfgott. Hicks's work has been nominated for an Academy Award as well as winning an Emmy Award.-Personal life:Hicks was born in Uganda, the...

, Ang Lee

Ang Lee

Ang Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...

, Gillies MacKinnon

Gillies MacKinnon

Gillies MacKinnon is a Scottish film director and writer.His film credits include Hideous Kinky, Small Faces and Regeneration.-Personal life:...

, James Mangold

James Mangold

James Allen Mangold is an American film director and screenwriter. He is perhaps best known for Walk the Line which he co-wrote and directed.-Life and career:...

, Mira Nair

Mira Nair

Mira Nair is an Indian film director and producer based in New York. Her production company is Mirabai Films.She was educated at Delhi University and Harvard University. Her debut feature film, Salaam Bombay! , won the Golden Camera award at the Cannes Film Festival and also earned the nomination...

, Billy Ray, Joel Schumacher

Joel Schumacher

Joel T. Schumacher is an American film director, screenwriter and producer.-Early life:Schumacher was born in New York City, the son of Marian and Francis Schumacher. His mother was a Swedish Jew, and his father was a Baptist from Knoxville, Tennessee, who died when Joel was four years old...

, and Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington

Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...

.

He studied music composition at the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

, winning the Glenn Gould

Glenn Gould

Glenn Herbert Gould was a Canadian pianist who became one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the 20th century. He was particularly renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach...

 Composition Scholarship

Scholarship

A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...

 in 1985. Danna also served for five years as composer-in-residence at the McLaughlin Planetarium

McLaughlin Planetarium

The McLaughlin Planetarium is a former working planetarium whose building occupies a space immediately to the south of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, at 100 Queen's Park. Founded by a grant from philanthropist Colonel R. Samuel McLaughlin, the facility was opened to the public on October 26,...

 in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 (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

Royal Winnipeg Ballet

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, is Canada's oldest ballet company and the longest continuously operating ballet company in North America....

's Gita Govinda (2001) based on the 1000-year-old classical Indian erotic poem

Gita Govinda

The Gita Govinda is a work composed by the 12th-century poet, Jayadeva, who was born in Kenduli Sasan near Puri in Orissa. It describes the relationship between Krishna and the gopis of Vrindavana, and in particular one gopi named Radha...

, with choreographer Nina Menon.

Recent projects include Deepa Mehta

Deepa Mehta

Deepa Mehta, LLD is a Genie Award-winning Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, most known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire , Earth , and Water , among which Earth was submitted by Indian government for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film...

's Water, Atom Egoyan's Where the Truth Lies

Where the Truth Lies

Where the Truth Lies is a 2005 Canadian/British drama film, written and directed by Atom Egoyan. It stars Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth, and Alison Lohman, and is based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Rupert Holmes.-Plot:...

, Terry Gilliam

Terry Gilliam

Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...

's Tideland

Tideland (film)

Tideland is a 2005 British-Canadian fantasy thriller film co-written and directed by Terry Gilliam, an adaptation of Mitch Cullin's novel of the same name. The film was shot in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and surrounding area in the fall and winter of 2004...

, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris are a team of American music video directors, also husband and wife, that received critical acclaim for their feature film directorial debut, Little Miss Sunshine....

' Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine is a 2006 American comedy-drama film. The road movie's plot follows a family's trip to a children's beauty pageant.Little Miss Sunshine was the directorial film debut of the husband-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The screenplay was written by first-time writer...

, Bennett Miller

Bennett Miller

Bennett Miller is an American film director.Miller is the director of the feature Capote , a film for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Director. He also directed the documentary film The Cruise...

's Capote

Capote (film)

Capote is a 2005 biographical film about Truman Capote, following the events during the writing of Capote's non-fiction book In Cold Blood. Philip Seymour Hoffman won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his critically acclaimed portrayal of the title role. The movie was...

, and Marc Webb

Marc Webb

Marc Preston Webb is an American music video, short film and major motion picture director. He directed the 2009 romantic comedy-drama Days of Summer and is currently directing the 2012 Spider-Man reboot The Amazing Spider-Man.-Life and career:Webb was born in Bloomington, Indiana, the son of...

's (500) Days of Summer.

Filmography

• Moneyball (film)
  Moneyball (film)
  Moneyball is a 2011 biographical sports drama film directed by Bennett Miller and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film is based on Michael Lewis' 2003 book of the same name, an account of the Oakland Athletics baseball team's 2002 season and their general manager Billy Beane's attempts to...
  
  (2011)
• Camelot (series) (2011)
• (500) Days of Summer (2009)
• Chloe
  Chloe (film)
  Chloe is a 2009 erotic thriller directed by Atom Egoyan, a remake of the 2004 French film Nathalie.... This version stars Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, and Amanda Seyfried in the title role...
  
  (2009)
• The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
  The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
  The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a 2009 fantasy film directed by Terry Gilliam and written by Gilliam and Charles McKeown. The film follows a traveling theater troupe whose leader, having made a bet with the Devil, takes audience members through a magical mirror to explore their imaginations...
  
  (2009, with his brother Jeff))
• The Time Traveler's Wife
  The Time Traveler's Wife (film)
  The Time Traveler's Wife is a 2009 romantic film based on Audrey Niffenegger's 2003 novel of the same name. Directed by Robert Schwentke, the film stars Eric Bana as Henry DeTamble, a Chicago librarian with a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel randomly as he tries to build a romantic...
  
  (2009)
• Lakeview Terrace
  Lakeview Terrace
  Lakeview Terrace is a 2008 American thriller film directed by Neil LaBute, co-produced by Will Smith, written by David Loughery and Howard Korder, and starring Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington. Jackson plays a racist LAPD sergeant who terrorizes his new next-door neighbors...
  
  (2008, with his brother Jeff)
• Surf's Up
  Surf's Up (film)
  Surf's Up is a 2007 American computer-animated mockumentary family comedy film directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck. It stars the voices of Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel and Jon Heder among others....
  
  (2007)
• Breach
  Breach (film)
  Breach is a 2007 American historical drama directed by Billy Ray. The screenplay by Ray, Adam Mazer, and William Rotko is based on the true story of Robert Hanssen, an FBI agent convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and later Russia for more than two decades, and Eric O'Neill, who worked as his...
  
  (2007)
• The Nativity Story
  The Nativity Story
  The Nativity Story is a 2006 drama film based on the nativity of Jesus starring Keisha Castle-Hughes and Shohreh Aghdashloo. Filming began on May 1, 2006 in Matera, Italy and in Morocco. New Line Cinema released it on December 1, 2006 in the United States and one week later on December 8 in the...
  
  (2006)
• Little Miss Sunshine
  Little Miss Sunshine
  Little Miss Sunshine is a 2006 American comedy-drama film. The road movie's plot follows a family's trip to a children's beauty pageant.Little Miss Sunshine was the directorial film debut of the husband-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The screenplay was written by first-time writer...
  
  (2006)
• Lonely Hearts (2006)
• Sohni Sapna (2005)
• Eve and the Fire Horse
  Eve and the Fire Horse
  Eve and the Fire Horse is a 2005 Canadian film written and directed by Julia Kwan. It won the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Claude Jutra Award for the best feature film by a first-time film director in Canada.-Plot:...
  
  (2005)
• Tideland
  Tideland (film)
  Tideland is a 2005 British-Canadian fantasy thriller film co-written and directed by Terry Gilliam, an adaptation of Mitch Cullin's novel of the same name. The film was shot in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and surrounding area in the fall and winter of 2004...
  
  (2005, with his brother Jeff))
• Water (2005)
• Capote
  Capote (film)
  Capote is a 2005 biographical film about Truman Capote, following the events during the writing of Capote's non-fiction book In Cold Blood. Philip Seymour Hoffman won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his critically acclaimed portrayal of the title role. The movie was...
  
  (2005)
• Where the Truth Lies
  Where the Truth Lies
  Where the Truth Lies is a 2005 Canadian/British drama film, written and directed by Atom Egoyan. It stars Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth, and Alison Lohman, and is based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Rupert Holmes.-Plot:...
  
  (2005)
• Aurora Borealis
  Aurora Borealis (film)
  Aurora Borealis is a 2006 drama/romance film directed by James C.E. Burke and starring Joshua Jackson, Donald Sutherland, Juliette Lewis, and Louise Fletcher. The film was produced between November 3-December 19, 2003.-Plot:...
  
  (2005)
• Being Julia
  Being Julia
  Being Julia is a 2004 drama film with comic undertones directed by István Szabó and starring Annette Bening and Jeremy Irons. The screenplay by Ronald Harwood is based on the 1937 novel Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham...
  
  (2004)
• Vanity Fair
  Vanity Fair (2004 film)
  Vanity Fair is a 2004 British-American costume drama film directed by Mira Nair and adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray's novel of the same name...
  
  (2004)
• The Snow Walker
  The Snow Walker
  The Snow Walker is a 2003 Canadian film based on the short story "Walk Well, My Brother" by Farley Mowat. It was written and directed by Charles Martin Smith and starred Barry Pepper, James Cromwell, and Annabella Piugattuk....
  
  (2003)
• Shattered Glass (2003)
• Hulk
  Hulk (film)
  Hulk is a 2003 American superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name. Ang Lee directed the film, which stars Eric Bana as Dr. Bruce Banner, as well as Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott, Josh Lucas, and Nick Nolte...
  
  (2003) (additional cue "Mother")
• Antwone Fisher
  Antwone Fisher
  Antwone Quenton Fisher is an American director, screenwriter, author and film producer. His 2001 autobiographical book Finding Fish is a New York Times Best Seller...
  
  (2002)
• The Guys
  The Guys
  The Guys is a play by Anne Nelson about the aftereffects of the collapse of the World Trade Center. In the play, Joan, an editor, helps Nick, an FDNY captain, prepare the eulogies for an unprecedented number of firefighters who died under his command that day...
  
  (2002)
• Ararat
  Ararat (film)
  Ararat is a 2002 film directed, written, and co-produced by Atom Egoyan based loosely on the Siege of Van during the Armenian Genocide, an event that is disputed by the government of Turkey. In addition to exploring the human impact of that specific historical event, the film also examines the...
  
  (2002)
• Hearts in Atlantis
  Hearts in Atlantis (film)
  Hearts in Atlantis is a 2001 American/Australian drama thriller directed by Scott Hicks. It is loosely adapted from Stephen King's novella "Low Men in Yellow Coats", from his story collection Hearts in Atlantis.-Plot:...
  
  (2001)
• Monsoon Wedding
  Monsoon Wedding
  * Originally featured in the Hindi film Loafer * Originally featured in the Hindi film Biwi No.1 -Awards:The movie won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival...
  
  (2001)
• The Hire: Chosen (2001)
• Green Dragon
  Green Dragon (film)
  Green Dragon is a 2001 American film directed by Timothy Linh Bui and starring Patrick Swayze, Forest Whitaker and Duong Don.-Plot:The film follows the experience of Vietnamese refugees in the United States immediately following the Fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War. Tai Tran has been...
  
  (2001, with his brother Jeff))
• Bounce
  Bounce (film)
  Bounce is a 2000 romantic drama film starring Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow and directed by Don Roos.-Plot:Advertising executive Buddy has just signed an airline in Chicago as a big client but is later delayed by a snow storm waiting for a flight to Los Angeles on the same airline...
  
  (2000)
• The Boondock Saints
  The Boondock Saints
  The Boondock Saints is a 1999 American action comedy film written and directed by Troy Duffy. The film stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus as Irish fraternal twins, Connor and Murphy MacManus, who become vigilantes after killing two members of the Russian Mafia in self-defense...
  
  (1999. with his brother Jeff))
• Girl, Interrupted
  Girl, Interrupted (film)
  Girl, Interrupted is a 1999 drama film about a teenager's 18-month stay at a mental institution, starring Winona Ryder, Brittany Murphy, Angelina Jolie, Whoopi Goldberg and Vanessa Redgrave, with Jolie winning an Academy Award for her performance....
  
  (1999)
• Don't Think Twice (1999 short)
• Ride with the Devil (1999)
• Felicia's Journey
  Felicia's Journey
  Felicia's Journey is a 1999 film starring Elaine Cassidy and Bob Hoskins, based on a prize winning 1994 novel by William Trevor. It was directed by Atom Egoyan...
  
  (1999)
• 8MM
  8mm (film)
  8mm is a 1999 mystery/thriller film, directed by Joel Schumacher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. It stars Nicolas Cage as a private investigator who delves into the world of snuff films.-Plot:...
  
  (1999)
• The Confession
  The Confession (1999 film)
  The Confession is a 1999 drama film directed by David Jones, starring Ben Kingsley and Alec Baldwin. It is based on the novel by Sol Yurick.-Plot:...
  
  (1999)
• At the End of the Day: The Sue Rodriguez Story
  At the End of the Day: The Sue Rodriguez Story
  At the End of the Day: The Sue Rodriguez Story is a 1998 Canadian documentary/drama film about the life of Canadian right to die advocate Sue Rodriguez....
  
  (1998)
• Behind the Lines
  Behind the Lines (film)
  Behind the Lines is a 1916 silent drama film featuring Harry Carey.-Cast:* Edith Johnson - Nina Garcia* Harry Carey - Dr. Ralph Hamlin* Ruth Clifford - Camilla* Mark Fenton - Señor Garcia * Miriam Shelby - Señnora Cano...
  
  (1997)
• The Sweet Hereafter
  The Sweet Hereafter
  The Sweet Hereafter is a 1991 novel by American author Russell Banks. It is set in a small town in the aftermath of a deadly school bus accident that has killed most of the town's children...
  
  (1997)
• The Ice Storm
  The Ice Storm (film)
  The Ice Storm is a 1997 drama film directed by Ang Lee, based on the 1994 novel of the same name by Rick Moody.The film features an ensemble cast of Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood, and Sigourney Weaver...
  
  (1997)
• Dangerous Offender: The Marlene Moore Story (1996 TV movie)
• Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love
  Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love
  Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love is a 1996 American drama film directed by Mira Nair. The film takes its title from the ancient Indian text, the Kama Sutra, but this only serves as a common link between the characters....
  
  (1996)
• Lilies
  Lilies (film)
  Lilies is a 1996 Canadian film directed by John Greyson. It is an adaptation by Michel Marc Bouchard and Linda Gaboriau of Bouchard's own play Les feluettes. It depicts a play being performed in a prison by the inmates.-Expository narration:...
  
  (1996)
• Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
• Dance Me Outside
  Dance Me Outside
  Dance Me Outside is a 1995 drama film directed and co-written by Bruce McDonald. It was based on a book by W.P. Kinsella,-Plot:Set on the Kidabanesee reserve in Northern Ontario. Silas Crow is a young man confused about his direction in life; he wants to take an automobile mechanic's course in...
  
  (1995)
• Exotica
  Exotica (film)
  Exotica is a 1994 Canadian film set primarily in and around the Exotica strip club in Toronto, Canada. It was written and directed by Atom Egoyan. Music used includes "Montagues and Capulets".-Synopsis:...
  
  (1994)
• The Darling Family (1994)
• Narmada: A Valley Rises (1994 documentary)
• Hush Little Baby
  Hush Little Baby
  Hush, Little Baby is a traditional lullaby. It is thought to be American , but the author and date of origin are unknown. The lyrics promise all kinds of rewards to the child if he or she is quiet....
  
  (1993 TV movie)
• Gross Misconduct
  Gross Misconduct
  Gross Misconduct is the second album from crossover thrash metal band, M.O.D.. It was released in 1989 on Megaforce Records and Noise International and follows 1988's Surfin' M.O.D. It was three years until the band released another record, with Rhythm of Fear in 1992.-Overview:Lyrically, Milano...
  
  (1993 TV movie)
• Ordinary Magic
  Ordinary Magic
  Ordinary Magic is a 1993 Canadian film about a boy who is raised in India by his father. The story is based on a novel by Malcolm Bosse.-Plot:...
  
  (1993)
• The Adjuster
  The Adjuster
  The Adjuster is a 1991 Canadian drama film directed by Atom Egoyan. It premiered at the New York Film Festival.The Adjuster tells the story of an insurance adjuster who becomes intimate with his clients. The adjuster initially appears to want to help his clients but as the movie unfolds it is clear...
  
  (1991)
• Johann's Gift to Christmas (1991 TV short)
• Montréal vu par... (1991) - (segment "En passant")
• The Big Slice (1991)
• Still Life: The Fine Art of Murder (1990)
• Speaking Parts
  Speaking Parts
  Speaking Parts is a 1989 Canadian drama film from Atom Egoyan. It earned a Best Motion Picture nomination, including five others, at the 1989 Genie Awards.- Plot :...
  
  (1989)
• Road to Avonlea
  Road to Avonlea
  Road to Avonlea was a television series which was first broadcast in Canada and the United States between 1990 and 1996. It was created by Kevin Sullivan and produced by Sullivan Films in association with CBC and the Disney Channel, with additional funding from Telefilm Canada.It was adapted from...
  
  (1989 TV series)
• One Man Out (1989)
• Cold Comfort (1989)
• Without Work: Not by Choice (1989 short)
• Termini Station
  Termini Station
  Termini Station may refer to:* Termini Station, a train station in Rome,* Termini Station, a Canadian drama film released in 1989....
  
  (1989)
• Murder One (1988)
• Blood Relations (1988)
• Caribe (1987)
• Family Viewing
  Family Viewing
  - Plot :Van's father, Stan , is fond of video, always taping scenes of daily family life. But he does not take care of Van's grandmother, Armen . Although he could afford having her at home, she is spending her days watching TV in an old people's home. Van often visits her. He meets Aline , whose...
  
  (1987)

External links

• Official Mychael Danna website
• http://www.tracksounds.com/specialfeatures/Interviews/interview_mychael_danna_2007.htmDanna talks about The Nativity Story
  The Nativity Story
  The Nativity Story is a 2006 drama film based on the nativity of Jesus starring Keisha Castle-Hughes and Shohreh Aghdashloo. Filming began on May 1, 2006 in Matera, Italy and in Morocco. New Line Cinema released it on December 1, 2006 in the United States and one week later on December 8 in the...
  
  ]