Geoff Zanelli is an Emmy Award-winning composer, garnering accolades and recognition for his work since going solo after numerous collaborations with Academy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer.
A Southern California native, Zanelli began his musical career as a guitar player and songwriter for numerous local acts. In 1994, he met Zimmer and was offered a job at Remote Control Productions after Zimmer recognized Zanelli's musical talents. Now, Zanelli is known as a versatile composer in his own right, who combines music from different genres and cultures.
In 2006, Zanelli earned his first Emmy after scoring the original music for Steven Spielberg's miniseries Into The West. A few years later, Spielberg once again tapped Zanelli to score HBO's The Pacific, which earned him his second Emmy nomination. Other credits include: DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures' Disturbia, 20th Century Fox's Hitman, The Weinstein Company's Outlander and Lionsgate's Gamer, among many others. He co-wrote the song "Don't Make Me Wait" for Disturbia.
Zanelli contributed music to many feature films including: Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl; the Golden Globe-nominated scores for Warner Bros.' The Last Samurai and Touchstone Pictures' Pearl Harbor; Paramount Pictures' Rango, MGM's Hannibal, Columbia Pictures' Angels & Demons, DreamWorks' Antz, Chicken Run, Shark Tale and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, working alongside composers Hans Zimmer, John Powell, Harry Gregson-Williams and Steve Jablonsky.
He has written music for directors Gore Verbinski, Ridley Scott and David Koepp; writer/directors Peter Hedges and David Duchovny; producers Jeffrey Katzenberg and Jerry Bruckheimer; as well as actor/producer Tom Hanks.
Zanelli has degrees in Film Scoring and Music Production & Engineering from the prestigious Berklee College of Music, which he attended on scholarship. He is an active alumnus at his alma mater and has participated in Berklee's Curriculum Review Initiative as well as given seminars to students studying composition. During his time at Berklee, Zanelli received the Doug Timm Award in recognition of his film scoring work and the Music Production/Engineering Scholar Award.
Zanelli recently scored Disney's fantasy drama The Odd Life of Timothy Green, starring Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton. His organic and stirring score for the film was recognized by many in the industry including Variety's Eye on the Oscars issue. Next for Zanelli is the indie-film After the Fall starring David Duchovny and Timothy Hutton; Nick Cannon's comedy School Dance; Love Has Come For You the bluegrass album from Steve Martin and Edie Brickell for which Geoff wrote all the string arrangements; and the highly-anticipated album release for Zanelli's Emmy-Award Winning score to Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks television's 2008 miniseries Into The West from Paramount Pictures and La La Land Records.
He resides in California with his wife and daughter.
