Brian Tyler


Brian Theodore Tyler is an American composer, conductor, arranger and multi-instrumentalist best known for his film, television, and video game scores. In his 26-year career, Tyler has scored seven installments of the Fast & Furious franchise, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, the fourth and fifth films of the Rambo franchise, Eagle Eye, the fourth and fifth films of the Final Destination franchise, the first three films of The Expendables franchise, the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, and Avengers: Age of Ultron alongside Danny Elfman, the Now You See Me franchise, Crazy Rich Asians, the fifth and sixth films of the Scream franchise, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and its upcoming sequel, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, among others.
Tyler also created the current arrangement of the Universal Pictures logo fanfare which debuted with The Lorax in celebration of Universal Pictures' 100th anniversary. He also composed the 2013–2016 Marvel Studios logo, which debuted with Thor: The Dark World, which he also composed the film's score. He composed the NFL Sunday Countdown Theme for ESPN, the Formula One theme, and the anthem for the Esports World Cup. He is also behind the soundtrack of many television series including Yellowstone, 1883 and 1923, all with Breton Vivian. For his work as a film composer, he won the IFMCA Awards 2014 Composer of the Year.
His composition for the film Last Call earned him the first of three Emmy nominations, a gold record, and induction into the music branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As of November 2017, his films have grossed $12 billion worldwide, putting him in the top 10 highest-grossing film composers of all time.
He also has an electronic music alias, "Are We Dreaming".

Early life and education

Tyler was born and raised in Orange County, California. His grandfather was art director Walter H. Tyler. One of his first major influences was his pianist grandmother. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and a master's from Harvard University. Growing up, he taught himself to play dozens of musical instruments, including drums, piano, guitar, bass, cello, world percussion, synthesizer, charango and bouzouki.

Career

Film

Tyler began scoring features shortly after graduating from Harvard. Robert Kraft, who was impressed with Tyler's music, encouraged him to pursue a career in film scoring. Tyler's first film score was for the independent film Bartender, directed by Gabe Torres. The following year, he and Red Elvises composed the score for Six-String Samurai.
Tyler's breakthrough came in the early 2000s, after composing for the Frailty. His work on Last Call earned him an induction into the music branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Director William Friedkin, impressed with Tyler's work on Frailty, engaged him to compose for The Hunted, which earned Tyler a World Soundtrack Award in 2002 for Best New Film Composer of the Year. Starting in 2003, Tyler began working on big-budget films, including Timeline, Godsend, The Greatest Game Ever Played, and Constantine. His cues for Children of Dune were used in multiple other theatrical film trailers, including Master and Commander, Sahara, Cinderella Man, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Star Trek. The track "Summon the Worms" was used as a leader for the Dutch show Peking Express, and in the first leaked promotional reel for The Golden Compass.
In 2007, he was hired to compose for Partition, where he integrated Indian and Middle Eastern music with orchestral writing. He conducted the orchestral portion of the score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony in Los Angeles.
On September 5, 2011, Tyler announced that he was in talks to score the 2011 remake of Highlander, and pilot episodes for the animated series Transformers: Prime. He scored four episodes of the latter.
In 2012, Tyler scored and arranged a new version of the fanfare of the Universal Pictures logo, originally composed by Jerry Goldsmith, in observance of the studio's 100th anniversary. The new score added a choir, a more majestic arranging style, and a closing drum cadence. It made its debut alongside the logo with The Lorax on March 2, 2012.
In 2013, Tyler composed the fanfare of Marvel Studios, which made its debut alongside the logo with Thor: The Dark World, which he also composed the score of the film, on October 23, 2013, at the Odeon Leicester Square.
In addition to composing the score for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, an original song was released for the film entitled "Shell Shocked", credited to Tyler, as his stage name Madsonik, Kill the Noise, Wiz Khalifa, Ty Dolla $ign, Juicy J, Moxie Raia, and Seann Bowe. It reached No. 2 on the iTunes hip-hop singles charts and has sold over 500,000 copies.
On October 12, 2016, Tyler was hired to score the 2017 action-adventure film XXX: Return of Xander Cage. He also contributed to the soundtrack by his stage name Madsonik, in a collaboration with Tom Morello and Kill The Noise entitled "Divebomb".
On March 2, 2018, he announced on Twitter that he had been hired to write a new theme for Formula One; it was released on March 23. The theme was also used in both Formula 2 and Formula 3 since 2019, as well as the F1 Academy since 2023. In August 2018, a 27-track soundtrack composed by Tyler for the cable TV series Yellowstone was issued in CD format and as an MP3 download on Amazon.
On July 16, 2024, it was announced that Tyler composed the official anthem of the Esports World Cup, entitled "Dare to Triumph".

Music

Tyler is the musician behind the audio-visual project "Are We Dreaming". In an interview with BMI, he described his project as an exploration of space and the connection to human emotion driven through his usual film soundtrack style.

Personal life

Tyler got divorced from his first wife on December 23, 2009. He remarried on June 29, 2013. He has no children.

Discography

Theatrical films

Short films

Television film

Television series

Video games

YearTitleNotes
2010Lego Universe
2011Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
2011Need for Speed: The Run
2012Far Cry 3Nominated- BAFTA Games Award for Best Audio Achievement
2013Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel
2013Assassin's Creed IV: Black FlagNominated- BAFTA Games Award for Best Original Music
2018F1 2018Composed the theme song for Formula One
2019Lost ArkComposed track "Bon Voyage"; Main score composed by Yong Kim
2019F1 2019Composed the theme song for Formula One
2020PUBG Mobile / Game for Peace Composed track "Meteor Crisis" for the Chinese version
2020F1 2020Composed the theme song for Formula One
2021F1 2021Composed the theme song for Formula One
2022F1 22Composed the theme song for Formula One
2022F1 Manager 2022Composed the theme song for Formula One
2023F1 23Composed the theme song for Formula One
2023F1 Manager 2023Composed the theme song for Formula One

Awards and nominations

YearAwardNominated workResult
2002Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie, or a SpecialLast CallNomitated
2003Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best ScoreFrailtyWon
2004International Film Music Critics Award for Best Original Score for a Horror/Thriller FilmThe Final CutNomitated
2009International Film Music Critics Award for Film Composer of the YearNomitated
2009International Film Music Critics Award for Best Original Score for a Horror/Thriller FilmThe Killing RoomNomitated
2010International Film Music Critics Award for Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive MediaLego UniverseNomitated
2011Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction and CompositionTransformers: PrimeNomitated
2011International Film Music Critics Award for Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive MediaCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3Nomitated
2013International Film Music Critics Award for Film Composer of the YearNomitated
2013International Film Music Critics Award for Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive MediaAssassin's Creed IV: Black FlagNomitated
2013International Film Music Critics Award for Best Original Score for an Action/Adventure/Thriller FilmIron Man 3Nomitated
2014Saturn Award for Best MusicIron Man 3Nomitated
2014Saturn Award for Best MusicNow You See MeNomitated
2014Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Theme MusicSleepy HollowNomitated
2022Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special 1883: 1883Nomitated-