Jeff Danna

Jeff Danna blends orchestral textures with rock and electronic elements in his work as a composer, crafting scores for projects such as Resident Evil: Apocalypse, the television series Camelot, and the Disney Pixar features The Good Dinosaur and Onward. His partnership with brother Mychael Danna dates back to Jeff’s initial screen credit on the 1989 film Cold Comfort. Independent assignments encompass The Boondock Saints from 1999 and Resident Evil: Apocalypse in 2004, whereas joint efforts with Mychael produced the soundtracks for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus in 2009, The Good Dinosaur in 2015, The Addams Family in 2019, and The Addams Family 2 in 2021. For the HBO Max series Julia, which debuted in 2022 and drew from Julia Child’s life, Danna supplied both the theme and overall score.

Born in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, Danna was raised in a household immersed in church choir activities and community theater productions. Early piano instruction gave way to a deeper commitment once a friend’s guitar remained at the house; he mastered the instrument rapidly and began performing professionally at age 15. A hand injury sustained at 22 curtailed live performance, prompting a move into soundtrack composition.

After relocating to Los Angeles in 1991, Danna created music for the Warner Bros. revival series Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, establishing him as a sought-after television composer. His initial credits from that decade include the action-comedy Tropical Heat, also known as Sweating Bullets, Beverly Hills 90210, and the television film My Own Country. During the same period he scored theatrical releases such as At Sachem Farm in 1998 and The Boondock Saints in 1999.

As film opportunities expanded in the 2000s, Danna contributed to the 2001 drama O, an adaptation of Othello, the 2004 installment Resident Evil: Apocalypse, and, alongside Mychael—an established composer in his own right—the 2007 crime drama Fracture and Terry Gilliam’s 2009 fantasy The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. Animated children’s programming also remained part of his portfolio, including Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends from 2004 to 2008 and The Zula Patrol from 2005 to 2008.

An Emmy nomination arrived in 2011, shared with his brother, for the theme to Starz’ Camelot; a second nomination followed in 2015 for the theme to the FX series Tyrant. Their film collaborations continued with Disney Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur in 2015 and Storks in 2016. Further animated features paired the siblings on The Breadwinner in 2017, The Addams Family in 2019, and another Disney Pixar title, Onward, in 2020. Jeff earned a third Emmy nomination for his contributions with Mychael to the television adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace.

Sole scoring duties encompassed the ten-part Netflix series Wizards: Tales of Arcadia, conceived by Guillermo del Toro, and the 2021 CGI fantasy Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans. He rejoined Mychael for The Addams Family 2, while 2022 brought the premiere of the HBO Max series Julia, whose music and theme originated with Jeff Danna.