John Powell recognized by AFI, Film Critics, and Annie Awards

By Patrick Luce Dec 13, 2006, 16:52 GMT

This past year proves to be more than just busy for composer John Powell as three of the films he scored in 2006 earn top honors. Powell received an Annie Award nomination for Music in an Animated Feature Production for "Ice Age: The Meltdown." Both "Happy Feet," which Powell scored, arranged, orchestrated and acted as musical director, and "United 93" were among AFI's top 10 films of the year.

In addition, "Happy Feet" earned the title of Best Animated Film from the New York Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and received a nomination for the Annie Awards' Best Animated Feature. "United 93" was named Best Picture by the New York Film Critics Circle and runner-up Best Picture by the Boston Society of Film Critics.

In less than ten years, Powell has established himself as a leading composer with nearly fifty films to his credit. Powell has demonstrated his flair for melody, layers and sonic textures in virtually every genre from action, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" and "The Bourne Identity," to comedies, including "Shrek" and "Robots." Other films include "Two Weeks Notice," "I Am Sam" and "Drumline."

Powell began his career composing music for commercials and television at London's Air-Edel Music in 1988.  Later, he started his own jingle house with longtime collaborator, Gavin Greenaway and worked on many mixed media art installation works with artist Michael Petry as well as the opera An Englishman, an Irishman and a Frenchman. After moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film music, Powell immediately scored several projects for DreamWorks Television, but it was his stirring score for John Woo's blockbuster Face/Off that put him on Hollywood's short list.

John Powell is currently working on "Horton Hears a Who" for Fox/Bluesky Studios animation and will be continuing the "Bourne" series with "The Bourne Ultimatum" next year. Several of his film scores were highlighted at a special concert for the World Soundtrack Awards in Belgium recently.