Hans Florian Zimmer (born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and record producer.
Early life[]
Zimmer was born in Frankfurt, West Germany. As a young child, he lived in Königstein-Falkenstein, where he played the piano at home but had piano lessons only briefly, as he disliked the discipline of formal lessons. In one of his Reddit AMAs, he said: "My formal training was two weeks of piano lessons. I was thrown out of eight schools. But I joined a band. I am self-taught. But I've always heard music in my head. And I'm a child of the 20th century; computers came in very handy." Zimmer attended the Ecole d'Humanité, an international boarding school in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland.
Filmography[]
As composer[]
| Year | Title | Director | Studio | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Rain Man | Barry Levinson | United Artists | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Original Score |
| 1989 | Black Rain | Ridley Scott | Paramount Pictures | |
| Driving Miss Daisy | Bruce Beresford | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| 1990 | Days of Thunder | Tony Scott | Paramount Pictures | |
| Green Card | Peter Weir | Touchstone Pictures | ||
| 1991 | Backdraft | Ron Howard | Universal Pictures | |
| Thelma & Louise | Ridley Scott | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | ||
| Regarding Henry | Mike Nichols | Paramount Pictures | ||
| 1992 | Radio Flyer | Richard Donner | Columbia Pictures | |
| The Power of One | John Avildsen | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| A League of Their Own | Penny Marshall | Columbia Pictures | ||
| Toys | Barry Levinson | 20th Century Fox | ||
| 1993 | Cool Runnings | Jon Turteltaub | Walt Disney Pictures | |
| 1994 | I'll Do Anything | James L. Brooks | Columbia Pictures | |
| Renaissance Man | Penny Marshall | Touchstone Pictures | ||
| The Lion King | Roger Allers | Walt Disney Pictures | Won - Academy Award for Best Original Score | |
| Drop Zone | John Badham | Paramount Pictures | ||
| 1995 | Crimson Tide | Tony Scott | Hollywood Pictures | |
| Beyond Rangoon | John Boorman | Castle Rock Entertainment | ||
| Nine Months | Chris Columbus | 20th Century Fox | ||
| 1996 | Broken Arrow | John Woo | 20th Century Fox | |
| Muppet Treasure Island | Brian Henson | Walt Disney Pictures | ||
| The Rock | Michael Bay | Hollywood Pictures | with Nick Glennie-Smith and Harry Gregson-Williams | |
| The Fan | Tony Scott | TriStar Pictures | ||
| The Preacher's Wife | Penny Marshall | Touchstone Pictures | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score | |
| 1997 | The Peacemaker | Mimi Leder | DreamWorks Pictures | |
| As Good as It Gets | James L. Brooks | TriStar Pictures | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score | |
| 1998 | The Prince of Egypt | Brenda Chapman | DreamWorks Animation | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score |
| The Thin Red Line | Terrence Malick | 20th Century Fox | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score | |
| 1999 | Chill Factor | Hugh Johnson | Morgan Creek Productions | with John Powell |
| 2000 | The Road to El Dorado | Don Paul | DreamWorks Animation | with John Powell |
| Gladiator | Ridley Scott | DreamWorks Pictures | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Original Score | |
| Mission: Impossible II | John Woo | Paramount Pictures | ||
| An Everlasting Piece | Barry Levinson | DreamWorks Pictures | ||
| 2001 | Pearl Harbor | Michael Bay | Touchstone Pictures | |
| Riding in Cars with Boys | Penny Marshall | Columbia Pictures | ||
| Black Hawk Down | Ridley Scott | Columbia Pictures | ||
| 2002 | Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron | Kelly Asbury
Lorna Cook |
DreamWorks Animation | |
| The Ring | Gore Verbinski | DreamWorks Animation | ||
| 2004 | Thunderbirds | Jonathan Frakes | Universal Pictures | with Heitor Pereira |
| Shark Tale | Vicky Jenson
Bibo Bergeron |
DreamWorks Animation | ||
| 2005 | Madagascar | Eric Darnell | DreamWorks Animation | |
| Batman Begins | Christopher Nolan | Warner Bros. Pictures | with James Newton Howard | |
| The Weather Man | Gore Verbinski | Paramount Pictures | with James S. Levine | |
| 2006 | The Da Vinci Code | Ron Howard | Columbia Pictures | |
| Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest | Gore Verbinski | Walt Disney Pictures | ||
| The Holiday | Nancy Meyers | Columbia Pictures | with Heitor Pereira | |
| 2007 | Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End | Gore Verbinski | Walt Disney Pictures | |
| The Simpsons Movie | David Silverman | 20th Century Fox | ||
| 2008 | Kung Fu Panda | John Stevenson
Mark Osborne |
DreamWorks Animation | with John Powell |
| The Dark Knight | Christopher Nolan | Warner Bros. Pictures | with James Newton Howard | |
| Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa | Eric Darnell
Tom McGrath |
DreamWorks Animation | ||
| Frost/Nixon | Ron Howard | Universal Pictures | ||
| 2009 | Angels & Demons | Ron Howard | Columbia Pictures | |
| Sherlock Holmes | Guy Ritchie | Warner Bros. Pictures | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Original Score | |
| It's Complicated | Nancy Meyers | Universal Pictures | with Heitor Pereira | |
| 2010 | Inception | Christopher Nolan | Warner Bros. Pictures | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Original Score |
| Megamind | Tom McGrath | DreamWorks Animation | with Lorne Balfe | |
| How Do You Know | James L. Brooks | Columbia Pictures | ||
| 2011 | The Dilemma | Ron Howard | Universal Pictures | with Lorne Balfe |
| Rango | Gore Verbinski | Paramount Pictures | ||
| Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides | Rob Marshall | Walt Disney Pictures | ||
| Kung Fu Panda 2 | Jennifer Yuh Nelson | DreamWorks Animation | with John Powell | |
| Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows | Guy Ritchie | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| 2012 | Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted | Eric Darnell
Tom McGrath |
DreamWorks Animation | |
| The Dark Knight Rises | Christopher Nolan | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| 2013 | Man of Steel | Zack Snyder | Warner Bros. Pictures | |
| The Lone Ranger | Gore Verbinski | Walt Disney Pictures | ||
| Rush | Ron Howard | Universal Pictures | ||
| 12 Years a Slave | Steve McQueen | Fox Searchlight Pictures | ||
| 2014 | Winter's Tale | Akiva Goldsman | Warner Bros. Pictures | with Rupert Gregson-Williams |
| Interstellar | Christopher Nolan | Paramount Pictures | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Original Score | |
| 2015 | Chappie | Neill Blomkamp | Columbia Pictures | |
| 2016 | Kung Fu Panda 3 | Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Alessandro Carloni |
DreamWorks Animation | |
| Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice | Zack Snyder | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| The Little Prince | Mark Osborne | Paramount Pictures | with Richard Harvey | |
| Inferno | Ron Howard | Columbia Pictures | ||
| Hidden Figures | Theodore Melfi | 20th Century Fox | with Pharrell Williams and Benjamin Wallfisch | |
| 2017 | The Boss Baby | Tom McGrath | DreamWorks Animation | with Steve Mazzaro |
| Dunkirk | Christopher Nolan | Warner Bros. Pictures | Nominated - Academy Award for Best Original Score | |
| Blade Runner 2049 | Denis Villeneuve | Warner Bros. Pictures | with Benjamin Wallfisch | |
| 2018 | Widows | Steve McQueen | 20th Century Fox | |
| 2019 | Dark Phoenix | Simon Kinberg | 20th Century Fox | |
| The Lion King | Jon Favreau | Walt Disney Pictures | ||
| 2020 | Rebuilding Paradise | Ron Howard | National Geographic Documentary Films | with Lorne Balfe |
| The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run | Tim Hill | Paramount Pictures | with Steve Mazzaro | |
| Hillbilly Elegy | Ron Howard | Netflix | with David Fleming | |
| Wonder Woman 1984 | Patty Jenkins | Warner Bros. Pictures | ||
| 2021 | The Boss Baby Family Business | Tom McGrath | DreamWorks Animation | with Steve Mazzaro |
| Dune | Denis Villeneuve | Warner Bros. Pictures | Won - Academy Award for Best Original Score | |
| No Time to Die | Cary Fukanaga | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | ||
| Army of Thieves | Matthias Schweighöfer | Netflix | ||
| 2022 | Top Gun: Maverick | Joseph Kosinski | Paramount Pictures | |
| 2023 | Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret | Kelly Fremon Craig | Lionsgate | |
| The Creator | Gareth Edwards | 20th Century Studios | ||
| 2024 | Dune: Part Two | Denis Villeneuve | Warner Bros. Pictures | |
| Kung Fu Panda 4 | Mike Mitchell | DreamWorks Animation | with Steve Mazzaro | |
| Mufasa: The Lion King | Barry Jenkins | Walt Disney Pictures |
As additional composer[]
- Johnny English (2003) - "A Man for All Seasons"