Born 09/12/1957
German-born, London-raised Hans Zimmer began his musical career as a pioneer of the use of digital synthesizers and computer technology. A musical natural who had only two weeks of piano lessons to his credit, Zimmer crafted early work that included commercial jingles and an influential stint as a record producer for such groups as Tangerine Dream and The Buggles. In the early 1980s, he joined with Stanley Myers to form Lillie Yard Studio with the pair collaborating on the soundtracks to such features as Jerzy Skolimowski's "Moonlighting" (1982) and Stephen Frears' "My Beautiful Laundrette" (1985). Since going solo in 1986, Zimmer has scored nearly 100 motion pictures, earning a reputation as one of the medium's best. His numerous credits include the infectious themes in "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989), the lilting chimes of "Green Card" (1990) and "The House of the Spirits" (1993), the appropriately unsettling sounds of thrillers like "Pacific Heights" (1990), and the stirring tones of the action films "Broken Arrow" and "The Rock" (both 1996). He also served as music producer for the Oscar-winning score to "The Last Emperor" composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Con Su and David Byrne. After receiving an Academy Award nomination for 1988's "Rain Man", Zimmer took home his own statuette supplementing Elton John's pop score with African-inspired rhythms for Disney's animated blockbuster "The Lion King" (1994). He earned another nomination for his lovely background music to James L Brooks' comedy-drama "As Good As It Gets" (1997), which was completed before he accepted the post of head of the music department at DreamWorks SKG.
With DreamWorks, Zimmer would go on to work on scores for the animated features "The Prince of Egypt" (1998) and "The Road to El Dorado (2000), as well as bring to life the appropriately epic sounds of "Gladiator" (2000, along with Lisa Gerrard). His eerie atmospheric work on the dreamy war epic "The Thin Red Line" (1998) and his electronic-fueled sounds for "Mission: Impossible 2" (2000) were outside of the tutelage of DreamWorks, as was the work he did on two of 2001's most eagerly awaited films, "Hannibal" and "Pearl Harbor". Never at a loss for work, Zimmer continually proved a reliable contributor to film, transcending his electro-pop background with an arsenal of soundscapes and a real talent for using the music to underline the themes of the film, emerging as a modern legend in the field.
