Kevin Kiner

Emmy-nominated composer Kevin Kiner first gained widespread recognition for the tense, dynamic orchestral music he created for multiple Star Wars animated series, yet his work across other major franchises stretches from Star Trek entries such as Enterprise and Deep Space Nine to the Tremors television series and Tremors 3: Back to Perfection, as well as the James Bond video games GoldenEye 007 and 007 Legends. He entered the television field during the mid-1980s, contributing to Superboy and Land of the Lost before making his feature-film bow with the 1993 horror picture Leprechaun. By the close of the 1990s he had become a familiar name in science-fiction scoring through his music for Stargate SG-1 and the film Wing Commander. His first assignment within the Star Wars universe came in 2008, when he joined the creative team for the animated series The Clone Wars; he remained with the program until its conclusion in 2020. During the same period he received his initial Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for his contributions to Star Wars Rebels, which aired from 2014 to 2018, and he began scoring Star Wars: The Bad Batch in 2021.

Raised in Escondido, California, Kiner absorbed the sounds of art-rock groups such as Yes and Pink Floyd along with leading figures in jazz and blues, performing as a guitarist in several local bands. While pursuing pre-med studies at UCLA he chose instead to commit to music full time, securing the role of musical director for a touring vocal ensemble. The touring experience gave him practical training in writing arrangements for large ensembles and string sections. His initial Hollywood credit arrived after a friend submitted a demo tape for a television program seeking a theme song; that opportunity quickly led to further episodic assignments, television specials, and made-for-TV movies. His first ongoing series role as principal composer was the syndicated Superboy, which ran from 1988 to 1992, followed shortly by Super Force and the revival of Land of the Lost.

In 1993 he composed for his first trio of theatrical features: the cult favorite Leprechaun, the direct-to-video thriller Kiss and Be Killed, and the science-fiction comedy Freaked. Steady assignments continued through the decade on projects including Black Scorpion, its sequel Black Scorpion II: Aftershock, and the Bermuda Triangle-themed series The Visitor. A Daytime Emmy nomination arrived in 1997 for Outstanding Music Direction and Composition on The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest. Toward the end of the 1990s he balanced additional series work on Stargate SG-1 with dozens of episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger. The 1999 theatrical release Wing Commander carried an original theme by David Arnold and featured Kiner’s score.

The following decade brought scores for children’s programming such as Harold and the Purple Crayon and the 2003 animated feature Stuart Little—the latter earning him a second Daytime Emmy nomination, shared with Van Dyke Parks—as well as science-fiction series including The Invisible Man and the Tremors television adaptation. His visibility increased further in 2003 when he joined Jeff Cardoni as composer for the long-running CBS drama CSI: Miami, remaining through all ten seasons. Midway through the run of Star Trek: Enterprise he was added to its music department in 2004.

Kiner entered the Star Wars franchise in October 2008 with the launch of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, for which he supplied both the main theme and episodic scoring across its seven seasons, receiving two additional Daytime Emmy nominations in 2013 and 2015. He also ventured into video games with the 2010 title GoldenEye 007 and the 2012 release 007 Legends. A Primetime Emmy nomination followed in 2018 for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score) on Star Wars Rebels. That project overlapped with his work on Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Jane the Virgin, and Making a Murderer. After collaborating with composer Clint Mansell on the HBO Max series Titans and Doom Patrol, Kiner helped initiate the newest Star Wars animated spin-off, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, in 2021.