John Debney

John Debney
Debney at ComicCon 2013
Background information
Birth name	John Cardon Debney
Born	(1956-08-18) August 18, 1956 (age 65) Glendale, California, U.S.
Genres	Film scores, soundtracks
Occupation(s)	Composer, conductor
Instruments	Piano, guitar
Years active	1977-present
Associated acts	Jerry Goldsmith, Louis Febre, Danny Elfman
Website	www.johndebney.com

John Cardon Debney (born August 18, 1956) is an American composer and conductor of film, television, and video game scores.^[1] His work encompasses a variety of mediums and genres including comedy, horror, thriller, and action-adventure. He is a long-time collaborator of The Walt Disney Company, having written music for their films, television series, and theme parks.

Debney has been the recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards, and an Academy Award nomination for his score for Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2004).

Early life and education[]

The son of Disney Studios producer Louis Debney (Zorro, The Mickey Mouse Club), John was born and raised in Glendale, California, nearby to Disney. He began guitar lessons at age six and played in rock bands in college. Debney earned his B.A. degree in Music Composition from the California Institute of Arts in 1979.

Career[]

After ending his career with Disney, Debney worked for Mike Post. Debney furthered his hands-on training by working with Hanna-Barbera composer Hoyt Curtin. After this, Debney went on to score television projects as diverse as Disneyland, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, SeaQuest DSV, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, The Cape, The Lazarus Man, Piggsburg Pigs!, The Further Adventures of SuperTed, Doctor Who, Cagney and Lacey, Tiny Toon Adventures, The Young Riders, The New Yogi Bear Show, Police Academy: The Animated Series, Fame, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, Dragon's Lair, Freshman Dorm, Pop Quiz and Dink, the Little Dinosaur, for which he won an Emmy for Best Main Title. In the early 1990s, Debney began to score indie films and Disneyland attractions. In 1991, Debney composed the music for Phantom Manor and It's a Small World in Disneyland Paris and SpectroMagic at Magic Kingdom. In 1993, he scored his first studio feature, the Disney comedy Hocus Pocus starring Bette Midler.

Debney has since gone on to have a career composing scores for many films including: The Passion of the Christ, Bruce Almighty, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Elf, Sin City, Chicken Little, Liar Liar, Spy Kids, The Scorpion King, The Princess Diaries^[2] and Predators.^[3]

Debney has also composed scores for the video games Lair and The Sims Medieval. In 2010, he composed the theme music for the Nickelodeon television series Supah Ninjas.

He composed some of Disney Parks's Nighttime Spectaculars, including: World Of Color Celebrate! in Disney's California Adventure, The Magic, The Memories And You! and Celebrate the Magic in Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom and Celebrate! Tokyo Disneyland in Tokyo Disneyland. He also composed the score for Phantom Manor in Disneyland Paris.

Filmography[]

Film[]

1980s[]

Year	Title	Director(s)	Notes
1987	The Wild Pair	Beau Bridges	Composed with Michel Colombier
1988	The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck	David Keith	N/A
	Seven Hours to Judgment	Beau Bridges	N/A
	Not Since Casanova	Brett Thompson	N/A
1989	Trenchcoat in Paradise	Martha Coolidge	N/A

1990s[]

Year	Title	Director(s)	Notes
1990	Jetsons: The Movie	William Hanna Joseph Barbera	N/A
1993	Hocus Pocus	Kenny Ortega	N/A
1994	Gunmen	Deran Sarafian	N/A
	White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf	Ken Olin	N/A
	Little Giants	Duwayne Dunham	N/A
1995	Chameleon	Michael Pavone	Direct-to-video
	Houseguest	Randall Miller	N/A
	Runaway Brain	Chris Bailey	Short film
	Cutthroat Island	Renny Harlin	N/A
	Sudden Death	Peter Hyams	N/A
1996	Getting Away with Murder	Harvey Miller	N/A
	Carpool	Arthur Hiller	N/A
1997	The Relic	Peter Hyams	N/A
	Liar Liar	Tom Shadyac	Themes by James Newton Howard
	I Know What You Did Last Summer	Jim Gillespie	N/A
1998	Paulie	John Roberts	Nominated- IFMCA Award for Best Original Score for a Comedy Film
	I'll Be Home for Christmas	Arlene Sanford	N/A
1999	My Favorite Martian	Donald Petrie	N/A
	Lost & Found	Jeff Pollack	N/A
	Inspector Gadget	David Kellogg	N/A
	Dick	Andrew Fleming	N/A
	Komodo	Michael Lantieri	N/A
	The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland	Gary Halvorson	N/A
	End of Days	Peter Hyams	N/A

2000s[]

Year	Title	Director(s)	Notes
2000	Michael Jordan to the Max	James D. Stern Don Kempf	Documentary film
	Relative Values	Eric Styles	N/A
	The Replacements	Howard Deutch	N/A
	The Emperor's New Groove	Mark Dindal	Nominated- Annie Award for Music in a Feature Production
2001	See Spot Run	John Whitesell	N/A
	Heartbreakers	David Mirkin	Themes by Danny Elfman
	Spy Kids	Robert Rodriguez	Composed with Danny Elfman, Heitor Pereira, Robert Rodriguez, Los Lobos, Gavin Greenaway and Harry Gregson-Williams
	Cats & Dogs	Lawrence Guterman	N/A
	The Princess Diaries	Garry Marshall	N/A
	Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius	John A. Davis	N/A
2002	Snow Dogs	Brian Levant	N/A
	Dragonfly	Tom Shadyac	N/A
	The Scorpion King	Chuck Russell	N/A
	Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams	Robert Rodriguez	Composed with Robert Rodriguez
	Swimfan	John Polson	Composed with Louis Febre
	The Tuxedo	Kevin Donovan	Composed with Christophe Beck
	The Hot Chick	Tom Brady	N/A
2003	Most	Bobby Garabedian	Short film
	Malibu's Most Wanted	John Whitesell	Composed with John Van Tongeren
	Bruce Almighty	Tom Shadyac	N/A
	Elf	Jon Favreau	1st collaboration with Favreau
	Looney Tunes: Back in Action	Joe Dante	Additional music only. Score composed by Jerry Goldsmith.
2004	Welcome to Mooseport	Donald Petrie	N/A
	The Passion of the Christ	Mel Gibson	Nominated- Academy Award for Best Original Score Nominated- IFMCA Award for Best Original Score for a Drama Film
	The Whole Ten Yards	Howard Deutch	N/A
	Raising Helen	Garry Marshall	N/A
	Spider-Man 2	Sam Raimi	Additional music Score composed by Danny Elfman
	The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement	Garry Marshall	N/A
	Christmas with the Kranks	Joe Roth	N/A
2005	The Pacifier	Adam Shankman	N/A
	Sin City	Robert Rodriguez	Composed with Robert Rodriguez & Graeme Revell
	The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D
	Duma	Carroll Ballard	Composed with George Acogny
	Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo	Mike Bigelow	Theme music only Score composed by James L. Venable
	Dreamer	John Gatins	N/A
	The Seed	Joe Hahn	Short film Composed with Unkle & Mike Shinoda
	Venom	Jim Gillespie	Theme music only Score composed by James L. Venable
	Chicken Little	Mark Dindal	N/A
	Zathura: A Space Adventure	Jon Favreau	2nd collaboration with Favreau
	Cheaper by the Dozen 2	Adam Shankman	N/A
2006	Keeping Up with the Steins	Scott Marshall	N/A
	The Ant Bully	John A. Davis	Nominated- Annie Award for Music in a Feature Production Nominated- IFMCA Award for Best Original Score for an Animated Film
	Barnyard	Steve Oedekerk	N/A
	Idlewild	Bryan Barber	N/A
	Everyone's Hero	Colin Brady Dan St. Pierre Christopher Reeve	N/A
2007	Spider-Man 3	Sam Raimi	Additional music Score composed by Christopher Young
	Georgia Rule	Garry Marshall	N/A
	Evan Almighty	Tom Shadyac	Nominated- IFMCA Award for Best Original Score for a Comedy Film
	Big Stan	Rob Schneider	Theme music only Score composed by John Hunter
2008	Meet Dave	Brian Robbins	N/A
	The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor	Rob Cohen	Additional music Score composed by Randy Edelman
	Swing Vote	Joshua Michael Stern	N/A
	The Stoning of Soraya M.	Cyrus Nowrasteh	N/A
	My Best Friend's Girl	Howard Deutch	N/A
2009	Hotel for Dogs	Thor Freudenthal	N/A
	Hannah Montana: The Movie	Peter Chelsom	N/A
	Aliens in the Attic	John Schultz	N/A
	Old Dogs	Walt Becker	N/A

2010s[]

Year	Title	Director(s)	Notes
2010	Valentine's Day	Garry Marshall	N/A
	Snowmen	Robert Kirbyson	N/A
	Iron Man 2	Jon Favreau	3rd collaboration with Favreau
	Predators	Nimród Antal	Themes by Alan Silvestri
	Yogi Bear	Eric Brevig	N/A
2011	No Strings Attached	Ivan Reitman	N/A
	The Change-Up	David Dobkin	Composed with Theodore Shapiro
	Dream House	Jim Sheridan	N/A
	The Double	Michael Brandt	N/A
	New Year's Eve	Garry Marshall	N/A
2012	A Thousand Words	Brian Robbins	N/A
	The Three Stooges	Farrelly brothers	N/A
	Alex Cross	Rob Cohen	N/A
2013	The Call	Brad Anderson	N/A
	Jobs	Joshua Michael Stern	N/A
2014	Draft Day[4]	Ivan Reitman	N/A
	Walk of Shame	Steven Brill	N/A
	The Road Within	Gren Wells	Theme music only Score composed by The Newton Brothers & Josh Debney
	The Cobbler	Tom McCarthy	N/A
	Stonehearst Asylum	Brad Anderson	N/A
2015	The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water[4]	Paul Tibbitt	N/A
	Careful What You Wish For	Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum	Theme music only Score composed by The Newton Brothers & Josh Debney
	Broken Horses	Vidhu Vinod Chopra	N/A
2016	The Young Messiah	Cyrus Nowrasteh	N/A
	The Jungle Book	Jon Favreau	4th collaboration with Favreau Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Original Score in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror Film Nominated- Satellite Award for Best Original Score Nominated- IFMCA Award for Best Original Score for Action/Adventure Film
	Mother's Day	Garry Marshall	N/A
	Ice Age: Collision Course	Mike Thurmeier	Replaced John Powell
	League of Gods	Koan Hui Vernie Yeung	N/A
2017	Home Again	Hallie Meyers-Shyer	N/A
	The Greatest Showman	Michael Gracey	Composed with Joseph Trapanese Nominated- Saturn Award for Best Music
2018	Beirut	Brad Anderson	N/A
	Brian Banks	Tom Shadyac	N/A
2019	Isn't It Romantic	Todd Strauss-Schulson	N/A
	The Beach Bum	Harmony Korine	N/A
	Dora and the Lost City of Gold	James Bobin	Composed with Germaine Franco
	Sextuplets	Michael Tiddes	N/A
	Lake of Death	Nini Bull Robsahm	N/A

2020s[]

Year	Title	Director(s)	Notes
2020	Come Away	Brenda Chapman	N/A
	I Still Believe	Erwin Brothers	N/A
	Asteroid Hunters	W.D. Hogan	Documentary film
	Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey	David E. Talbert	N/A
2021	Home Sweet Home Alone	Dan Mazer	Post-production
2022	Marry Me	Kat Coiro	Completed
TBA	Clifford the Big Red Dog	Walt Becker	Completed

Television[]

Years	Title	Notes
1982	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	2 episodes
1984	Dragon's Lair	13 episodes
1984-1985	Disney Family Album	5 episodes
1985-1987	Fame	30 episodes
1986	The Twilight Zone	Episode: "The Storyteller/Nightsong"
	Cagney & Lacey	Episode: "The Marathon"
1987	CBS Summer Playhouse	Episode: "Changing Patterns"
	ABC Afterschool Special	Episode: "The Day My Kid Went Punk"
1988-1991	A Pup Named Scooby-Doo	27 episodes
1988	Police Academy	14 episodes
1989	The Further Adventures of SuperTed	13 episodes
	Trenchcoat in Paradise	Television film
	Nightmare Classics	Episode: "The Eyes of the Panther"
1989-90	Dink, the Little Dinosaur	5 episodes
1989-92	The Young Riders	6 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series Nominated- Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music
1990	The Yum Yums: The Day Things Went Sour	Television film
	The Face of Fear
	Tiny Toon Adventures	2 episodes: "Gang Busters" and "Hollywood Plucky"
	Piggsburg Pigs!	Episode: "Mummies From Outer Space"
1991	A Seduction in Travis County	Television film
	Vidiots
	Into the Badlands
1992	Do Not Bring That Python in the House
	Still Not Quite Human
	Sunstroke
	The Plucky Duck Show	Episode: "Hollywood Ducky"
1993	I Yabba-Dabba Do!	Television film
	Jonny's Golden Quest
	Class of '61
	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	2 episodes
	Jack's Place	3 episodes
	Praying Mantis	Television film
	For Love and Glory
	The Halloween Tree
	The Town Santa Forgot
	Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby
1993-94	SeaQuest DSV	19 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music
1994	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Episode: "The Pegasus"
1995	In Pursuit of Honor	Television film
	Kansas
1996	Doctor Who
	The Cape	Episode: "Pilot" Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series Nominated- Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music
1997	Justice League of America	Television film Composed with James Raymond
2000	Running Mates	Television film
	G-Saviour
2012	Hatfields & McCoys	Miniseries Composed with Tony Morales Nominated- Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series or Special
2013	Bonnie & Clyde	Miniseries
2014	The After	Television film
	Houdini	Miniseries
2014-15	Forever	22 episodes
2015	Point of Honor	Television film
	American Odyssey	13 episodes
	Texas Rising	Miniseries Composed with Bruce Broughton Nominated- Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music Nominated- Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Main Title Music in a TV Series Nominated- IFMCA Award for Best Original Score for Television
2016	Game of Silence	4 episodes
2017	Flint	Television film
2017–present	Santa Clarita Diet	10 episodes
	The Orville	19 episodes IFMCA Award for Best Original Score for Television
	Young Sheldon	3 episodes Composed with Jeff Cardoni
2021–present	The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers	10 episodes

Video games[]

Year	Title	Notes
2007	Lair	N/A
2011	The Sims Medieval	N/A
2018	Madden NFL 19	N/A

Awards and nominations[]

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Year	Award	Result
2015	Emmy Award – Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music: Texas Rising (with Bruce Broughton) (2015)	Nominated
2012	Emmy Award – Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special (Original Dramatic Score): Hatfields & McCoys: Part 1 (with Tony Morales) (2012)	Nominated
2005	Academy Award – Best Original Score: The Passion of the Christ (2004)	Nominated
1997	Emmy Award – Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music: The Cape (1996)	Nominated
1997	Emmy Award – Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore): The Cape: Pilot (with Louis Febre) (1996)	Won
1994	Emmy Award – Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music: SeaQuest DSV (1993)	Won
1991	Emmy Award – Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore): The Young Riders: Kansas (1989)	Won
1990	Emmy Award – Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music: The Young Riders (1989)	Nominated

References[]

External links[]

• John Debney at IMDb
• John Debney's official website
• John Debney Tribute at Filmtracks.com