John Debney is a renowned composer with an illustrious career spanning multiple genres, from holiday classics to epic blockbusters. His versatility has earned him equal demand for a wide range of projects, including comedies like Bruce Almighty and Liar, Liar, action films like Predators and The Scorpion King, horror movies like End of Days and Dream House, romantic films like Marry Me and Valentine's Day, and family films like Clifford the Big Red Dog and Dora and the Lost City of Gold.
Debney's impressive filmography boasts a diverse array of titles, including Princess Diaries 1 & 2, Sin City, Spy Kids, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, No Strings Attached, The Emperor's New Groove, Chicken Little, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Ice Age: Collision Course, Isn't It Romantic, Come Away, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, Home Sweet Home Alone, and The Beach Bum.
Recent projects have seen Debney collaborating with directors like Robert Rodriguez on Spy Kids: Armageddon for Netflix, Tom Brady on 80 for Brady for Paramount Pictures, and Jennifer Lopez on Marry Me for Universal. He has also worked on Disney+'s Hocus Pocus 2, Apple+ and Skydance Animation's Luck, and Netflix's In Your Dreams.
Upcoming projects include Kevin Costner's 2-part western epic Horizon: An American Saga for New Line Cinemas, Columbia Pictures' animation Garfield starring Chris Pratt, Paramount Pictures' Under the Boardwalk, Netflix's In Your Dreams, and Amazon Prime's Space Cadet.
Born in Glendale, California, Debney studied music composition at the California Institute of the Arts, before beginning his career orchestrating and composing scores for Walt Disney Studios and various television series. He won his first Emmy Award in 1990 for the main theme of western series The Young Riders, and has since won three additional Emmy Awards and received nominations for a total of seven, with his latest being Disney+'s smash hit Hocus Pocus 2 in 2023.
Debney has also worked with industry titan Seth MacFarlane on numerous episodes of his sci-fi space series The Orville, utilizing nearly 100-piece orchestras to record his bombastic adventure scores. His first foray into video game scoring, Sony's 2007 medieval adventure Lair, resulted in a BAFTA nomination and a Best Videogame Score award from The International Film Music Critics Association.
Throughout his career, Debney has collaborated with acclaimed directors such as Jon Favreau, Kevin Costner, Robert Rodriguez, David E. Talbert, Harmony Korine, Kat Coiro, Brenda Chapman, Mel Gibson, Peggy Holmes, the late Garry Marshall, Adam Shankman, Kenny Ortega, and the late Ivan Reitman. In 2005, he was the youngest recipient of ASCAP's Henry Mancini Career Achievement Award.
