Personal life

Born in Los Angeles, California, he is the youngest son of Mississippi-born Martha Louis Montgomery (1920-2005) and composer Alfred Newman (1900-1970), who won nine Oscars for Best Film Score. He is a member of a film-scoring dynasty in Hollywood that includes his father Alfred, brother David Newman, sister Maria Newman, uncles Lionel Newman and Emil Newman, cousin Randy Newman (also known as a singer and songwriter), and his nephew Joey Newman. During their upbringing, Martha herded her sons into violin lessons in the San Fernando Valley every weekend. Newman later studied composition and orchestration for two years at the University of Southern California, before transferring to Yale University, where he graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in 1977 and a Master of Music in 1978. While at Yale, he met composer Stephen Sondheim, who became an early mentor.

Newman and his wife, Ann Marie, have three children. They reside in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Film scoring career

At first, Newman was more interested in musical theater than in film composition, working with Sondheim in Broadway plays. Lionel, who succeeded Alfred as music director for 20th Century Fox, gave Thomas his first scoring assignment on a 1979 episode of the series The Paper Chase. In 1983, John Williams, who was a friend of both Alfred and Lionel, invited Newman to work on Return of the Jedi, orchestrating the scene where Darth Vader dies. Afterwards Newman met in New York producer Scott Rudin, who invited him to compose the score for Reckless (1984). Newman said that he thought "it was a tough job, at first" for requiring him to "develop vocabularies and a sense of procedure", only getting comfortable with writing scores "and not fraudulent in my efforts" after 8 years.

In 1992, Newman composed the score to Martin Brest's film Scent of a Woman.

In 1994, he got his first Academy Award nominations with the scores to The Shawshank Redemption and Little Women. He also scored the film The War. In 1996, he scored Diane Keaton's Unstrung Heroes, receiving yet another Oscar nomination. In 1998, he scored Robert Redford's The Horse Whisperer as well as Meet Joe Black. In 1999, Newman composed the score to Sam Mendes' first feature film American Beauty, created using mainly percussion instruments. Newman believed the score helped move the film along without disturbing the "moral ambiguity" of the script, saying "It was a real delicate balancing act in terms of what music worked to preserve that." This was his first collaboration with Mendes, and he would go on to score all of the director's subsequent films except for the comedy-drama Away We Go, which featured songs instead of a score. He received a fourth Oscar nomination for this score, and although he lost again (to John Corigliano for The Red Violin), he did receive a Grammy and a BAFTA.

His critical and commercial success has continued in the following years with his scores for films such as Meet Joe Black, The Green Mile, Erin Brockovich, In the Bedroom and The Salton Sea. He was nominated consecutively for a further three Academy Awards, for Road to Perdition (2002), Finding Nemo (2003), and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004). However, he lost on each occasion to Elliot Goldenthal (for Frida), Howard Shore (for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), and Jan A. P. Kaczmarek (for Finding Neverland) respectively.

He was again nominated for an Oscar for scoring Steven Soderbergh's The Good German (2006). At the Oscar ceremony, he appeared in the opening segment by Errol Morris, who jokingly stated that Newman had been nominated for and failed to win an Oscar eight times. Newman replied: "No, I've failed seven but this will be my eighth", and indeed, he again lost, this time to Gustavo Santaolalla for Babel.

His first score since The Good German was for the 2008 animated film WALL-E, collaborating for the second time with director Andrew Stanton (with the first collaboration being Finding Nemo). The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature (as had "Nemo"). Newman received two Oscar nominations: one for Best Original Score, and another for Best Original Song for "Down to Earth", which he co-wrote with Peter Gabriel. He was nominated in the Original Score category with two other veteran composers, James Newton-Howard and Danny Elfman, both of whom have also been nominated for several Oscars but each time unsuccessfully. Newman lost both the score and song nominations to A R Rahman for his work on Slumdog Millionaire. He and Peter Gabriel did however win a Grammy for "Down to Earth".

In 2008, Newman scored Towelhead and Sam Mendes' Revolutionary Road and in 2009 he scored Brothers. In 2011 he scored The Help, The Debt, The Iron Lady, and The Adjustment Bureau.

In 2012, Newman scored The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. He also scored the 23rd James Bond movie Skyfall, directed by his longtime collaborator Sam Mendes, which celebrates the film franchise's 50th anniversary. His work on this film earned him his eleventh Oscar nomination and a second BAFTA win. During 2013, he scored Steven Soderbergh's Side Effects and Saving Mr. Banks. The latter score was very well received by film music critics, earning Newman BAFTA and Oscar nominations for the second consecutive year, both of which he lost to Steven Price for Gravity.

Newman's 2014 projects included The Judge and Get on Up. He scored 2015's The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, marking the first time Newman has scored a sequel to a film he also wrote the score for.

Newman likes to vary the instrumentation in his scores, ranging from full orchestra to percussion-only music. He is also fond of incorporating unusual instruments such as the zither, hurdy-gurdy, psaltery and hammered dulcimer, or unexpected sounds, like Aboriginal chants and the chirping of cicadas. The composer declared that he has "an interest in mundane experimentation."

Filmography

Film

1980s

Year	Title	Director(s)	Studio(s)	Notes
1984	Reckless	James Foley	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	N/A
	Revenge of the Nerds	Jeff Kanew	Interscope Communications 20th Century Fox	N/A
	Grandview, U.S.A.	Randal Kleiser	CBS Entertainment Production Warner Bros. CBS/Fox Video Paramount Home Entertainment	N/A
1985	Desperately Seeking Susan	Susan Seidelman	Orion Pictures	Soundtrack released by Varèse Sarabande. Album shared with Making Mr. Right
	Girls Just Want to Have Fun	Alan Metter	New World Pictures	N/A
	The Man with One Red Shoe	Stan Dragoti	20th Century Fox	N/A
	Real Genius	Martha Coolidge	TriStar Pictures	N/A
1986	Gung Ho	Ron Howard	Paramount Pictures	First collaboration with Ron Howard One track released by Milan on the compilation album Ron Howard - Passions & Achievements
	Jumpin' Jack Flash	Penny Marshall	Largo Entertainment Silver Pictures 20th Century Fox	Song album with two Newman tracks
1987	Light of Day	Paul Schrader	TriStar Pictures	Song album with one Newman track
	The Lost Boys	Joel Schumacher	Warner Bros.	Song album with one Newman track
	Less Than Zero	Marek Kanievska	20th Century Fox	Song album; no Newman score
1988	The Great Outdoors	Howard Deutch	Hughes Entertainment Universal Pictures	Song album with one Newman track
	The Prince of Pennsylvania	Ron Nyswaner	Fine Line Features New Line Cinema	N/A
1989	Cookie	Susan Seidelman	Lorimar Film Entertainment Warner Bros.	N/A

1990s

Year	Title	Director(s)	Studio(s)	Notes
1990	Men Don't Leave	Paul Brickman	Geffen Pictures Warner Bros.	N/A
	Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael	Jim Abrahams	Paramount Pictures	Soundtrack released by Varèse Sarabande
1991	Career Opportunities	Bryan Gordon	Hughes Entertainment Universal Pictures	Song album with three Newman tracks released by Curb
	The Linguini Incident	Richard Shepard	Academy Entertainment	Soundtrack released by Varèse Sarabande
	Naked Tango	Leonard Schrader	New Line Cinema	N/A
	The Rapture	Michael Tolkin	Fine Line Features New Line Cinema	Song album with ten Newman tracks
	Deceived	Damian Harris	Touchstone Pictures	N/A
	Fried Green Tomatoes	Jon Avnet	Act III Communications Universal Pictures	Song album with three Newman tracks and separate score album, both released by MCA
1992	The Player	Robert Altman	Avenue Pictures Spelling Films Fine Line Features Pathé	Soundtrack released by Varèse Sarabande
	Whispers in the Dark	Christopher Crowe	Paramount Pictures	Varèse Sarabande album release cancelled; released by Intrada in 2012
	Scent of a Woman	Martin Brest	City Light Films Universal Pictures	Soundtrack released by MCA
1993	Flesh and Bone	Steve Kloves	Paramount Pictures	Soundtrack released by Varèse Sarabande
	Josh and S.A.M.	Billy Weber	Castle Rock Entertainment New Line Cinema Columbia Pictures	Soundtrack released by Varèse Sarabande
1994	Threesome	Andrew Fleming	Motion Picture Corporation of America TriStar Pictures	Soundtrack released by Varèse Sarabande. Twinned with American Buffalo
	The Favor	Donald Petrie	Orion Pictures	N/A
	The Shawshank Redemption	Frank Darabont	Castle Rock Entertainment Columbia Pictures	First collaboration with Frank Darabont Soundtrack released by Sony BMG
	The War	Jon Avnet	Universal Pictures	Song album with 12 Newman tracks released by MCA
	Little Women	Gillian Armstrong	Columbia Pictures	Soundtrack released by Sony Classical
1995	Unstrung Heroes	Diane Keaton	Hollywood Pictures	Soundtrack released by Hollywood Records
	How to Make an American Quilt	Jocelyn Moorhouse	Amblin Entertainment Universal Pictures	Soundtrack released by MCA
1996	Up Close & Personal	Jon Avnet	Cinergi Pictures Touchstone Pictures	Soundtrack released by Hollywood Records
	Phenomenon	Jon Turteltaub	Touchstone Pictures	Song album with one Newman track released by Reprise
	American Buffalo	Michael Corrente	Capitol Films Channel Four Films The Samuel Goldwyn Company	Soundtrack released by Varèse Sarabande. Twinned with Threesome
	The People vs. Larry Flynt	Miloš Forman	Phoenix Pictures Columbia Pictures	Soundtrack released by Angel Records
1997	Red Corner	Jon Avnet	Avnet-Kerner Productions Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer	Soundtrack released by EAR
	Mad City	Costa Gavras	Warner Bros.	Soundtrack released by Varèse Sarabande
	Oscar and Lucinda	Gillian Armstrong	Australian Film Finance Corporation Fox Searchlight Pictures	Soundtrack released by Sony Classical
1998	The Horse Whisperer	Robert Redford	Touchstone Pictures	Soundtrack released by Hollywood Records
	Meet Joe Black	Martin Brest	City Light Filmsw Universal Pictures	Soundtrack released by Universal Records
1999	American Beauty	Sam Mendes	DreamWorks Pictures	First collaboration with Sam Mendes Soundtrack released by DreamWorks Records
	The Green Mile	Frank Darabont	Castle Rock Entertainment Warner Bros.	Second collaboration with Frank Darabont Soundtrack released by Warner Bros. Records.

2000s

Year	Title	Director(s)	Studio(s)	Notes
2000	Erin Brockovich	Steven Soderbergh	Jersey Films Universal Pictures Columbia Pictures	First collaboration with Steven Soderbergh Soundtrack released by Sony Classical
	Pay It Forward	Mimi Leder	Bel Air Entertainment Tapestry Films Pathé Warner Bros.	Soundtrack released by Varèse Sarabande
2001	In the Bedroom	Todd Field	Good Machine Miramax Films	Soundtrack released by Varèse Sarabande
2002	The Salton Sea	D. J. Caruso	Castle Rock Entertainment Warner Bros.	Soundtrack released by Varèse Sarabande
	Road to Perdition	Sam Mendes	The Zanuck Company DreamWorks Pictures 20th Century Fox	Second collaboration with Sam Mendes Soundtrack released by Decca Records
	White Oleander	Peter Kosminsky	Umbrella Entertainment Warner Bros.	Soundtrack released by Varèse Sarabande
2003	Finding Nemo	Andrew Stanton	Pixar Animation Studios Walt Disney Pictures	First collaboration with Andrew Stanton, and Newman's first score for an animated film Soundtrack released by Walt Disney Records
2004	Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events	Brad Silberling	Nickelodeon Movies Paramount Pictures DreamWorks Pictures	Soundtrack released by Sony Classical
2005	Cinderella Man	Ron Howard	Imagine Entertainment Miramax Films Universal Pictures Buena Vista Pictures	Second collaboration with Ron Howard Soundtrack released by Decca Records
	Jarhead	Sam Mendes	Universal Pictures	Third collaboration with Sam Mendes Soundtrack released by Decca Records
2006	Little Children	Todd Field	New Line Cinema	Soundtrack released by Silva Screen Records
	The Good German	Steven Soderbergh	Virtual Studios Section Eight Productions Warner Bros.	Second collaboration with Steven Soderbergh Soundtrack released by Varèse Sarabande
2007	Towelhead	Alan Ball	Scott Rudin Productions This is that Corporation Warner Independent Pictures	Soundtrack released by Lakeshore Records
2008	WALL-E	Andrew Stanton	Pixar Animation Studios Walt Disney Pictures	Second collaboration with Andrew Stanton Soundtrack released by Walt Disney Records
	Revolutionary Road	Sam Mendes	BBC Films DreamWorks Pictures Paramount Vantage United International Pictures	Fourth collaboration with Sam Mendes Soundtrack released by Nonesuch
2009	Brothers	Jim Sheridan	Relativity Media Lionsgate	Soundtrack released by Relativity Music Group

2010s

Year	Title	Director(s)	Studio(s)	Notes
2011	The Adjustment Bureau	George Nolfi	Media Rights Capital Universal Pictures	Soundtrack released by Relativity Music Group
	The Help	Tate Taylor	Reliance Entertainment Participant Media Image Nation 1492 Pictures Touchstone Pictures DreamWorks Pictures	Score album released by Varèse Sarabande
	The Debt	John Madden	Marv Films Miramax Films Focus Features Universal Pictures	Soundtrack released by Relativity Music Group, Silva Screen Music
	The Iron Lady	Phyllida Lloyd	Pathé Film4 UK Film Council Canal+ Goldcrest Films The Weinstein Company 20th Century Fox	Soundtrack released by Sony Classical
2012	The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel	John Madden	Participant Media Blueprint Pictures Fox Searchlight Pictures	Soundtrack released by Sony Classical
	Skyfall	Sam Mendes	Eon Productions Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Columbia Pictures	Fifth collaboration with Sam Mendes Soundtrack released by Sony Classical
2013	Side Effects	Steven Soderbergh	FilmNation Entertainment Open Road Films	Third collaboration with Steven Soderbergh Soundtrack released by Varèse Sarabande
	Saving Mr. Banks	John Lee Hancock	Walt Disney Pictures BBC Films Essential Media Entertainment	Soundtrack released by Walt Disney Records
2014	Get on Up	Tate Taylor	Imagine Entertainment Universal Pictures	N/A
	The Judge	David Dobkin	Village Roadshow Pictures Warner Bros.	Soundtrack released by WaterTower Music
2015	The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel	John Madden	Participant Media Blueprint Pictures Fox Searchlight Pictures	N/A
	He Named Me Malala	Davis Guggenheim	Imagenation Abu Dhabi FZ Participant Media	Soundtrack released by Sony Classical
	Bridge of Spies	Steven Spielberg	Touchstone Pictures DreamWorks Pictures 20th Century Fox	First Steven Spielberg theatrical film without his long-time composer John Williams since The Color Purple (1985), and Newman's first collaboration with Steven Spielberg
	Spectre	Sam Mendes	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Columbia Pictures	Sixth collaboration with Sam Mendes Soundtrack released by Decca Records
2016	Finding Dory	Andrew Stanton	Walt Disney Pictures Pixar Animation Studios	Third collaboration with Andrew Stanton

Television

Year	Title	Director(s)	Notes
1985	Amazing Stories	Various	Episode "Santa '85." Soundtrack released by Intrada
1990	Heat Wave	Kevin Hooks
1992	Those Secrets	David Manson	Soundtrack released by Masters Film Music
	Citizen Cohn	Frank Pierson
2001	Six Feet Under	Various	Main title theme
2003	Angels in America	Mike Nichols	Soundtrack released by Nonesuch
2012	The Newsroom	Various	Main Theme and Pilot

Additional soundtracks

• 2005: Brokeback Mountain (Trailer) (from The Shawshank Redemption)
• 2005: "Corpse Bride" (Trailer) (from Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events)
• 2005: Madagascar (from American Beauty)
• 2005: Fun with Dick and Jane (from Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events)
• 2007: Sicko (from Little Children, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and In the Bedroom)
• 2009: Bigfoot (Trailer) (from WALL-E)
• 2010: Alice in Wonderland (Teaser Trailer) (from Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events)

Newman has composed music for television as well, including theme music for the series Boston Public and the miniseries Angels in America. His theme music for the television show Six Feet Under won two Grammy Awards in 2003, for Best Instrumental Composition as well as Best Instrumental Arrangement. Newman also wrote a commissioned concert work for orchestra, Reach Forth Our Hands, for the 1996 Cleveland Bicentennial. The Los Angeles Philharmonic has commissioned a new work by Newman to be performed by the Kronos Quartet and Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Leonard Slatkin, during the orchestra's 2009-2010 season.

He composed the incidental music for the Washington Shakespeare Theatre Company's 2014 production of As You Like It, directed by Michael Attenborough and starring Zoe Waites.

Awards and nominations

As of 2016, Newman has received a total of thirteen Academy Award nominations, however he has yet to win the award, making him the most nominated living composer to have never won an Oscar, and behind Alex North, who received 14 unsuccessful nominations. Twelve of his nominations are in the Best Original Score category, while one is for Best Original Song.

His first major successes for which he was recognised, came in 1994, when he earned two Academy Award nominations for his scores to Little Women and The Shawshank Redemption; he was the only double-nominee that year, although he lost to Hans Zimmer for The Lion King.

He received his third Academy Award nomination in 1996 for the score to Diane Keaton's comedy Unstrung Heroes, but again lost, this time to Alan Menken for Pocahontas.

He has also received three Golden Globe nominations including one for Best Original Score for 1999's American Beauty and two for Best Original Song, as well as nine Grammy nominations and five wins.

Award	Year	Category	Project	Outcome
Academy Award	1995	Best Music, Original Score	Little Women	Nominated
		Best Music, Original Score	The Shawshank Redemption	Nominated
	1996	Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score	Unstrung Heroes	Nominated
	2000	Best Music, Original Score	American Beauty	Nominated
	2003	Best Music, Original Score	Road to Perdition	Nominated
	2004	Best Music, Original Score	Finding Nemo	Nominated
	2005	Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score	Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events	Nominated
	2007	Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score	The Good German	Nominated
	2009	Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score	WALL-E	Nominated
		Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song (with Peter Gabriel) for "Down to Earth"		Nominated
	2013	Best Music, Original Score	Skyfall	Nominated
	2014	Best Music, Original Score	Saving Mr. Banks	Nominated
	2016	Best Music, Original Score	Bridge of Spies	Nominated
Annie Award	2004	Outstanding Music in an Animated Feature Production	Finding Nemo	Won
BAFTA Award	2000	Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music	American Beauty	Won
	2009	Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music	WALL-E	Nominated
	2013	Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music	Skyfall	Won
	2014	Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music	Saving Mr. Banks	Nominated
Classical Brit Award	2010	Soundtrack of the Year	Revolutionary Road	Won
Emmy Award	1991	Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Theme Music	Against the Law	Nominated
	2002	Outstanding Main Title Theme Music	Six Feet Under	Won
Golden Globe Award	2000	Best Original Score - Motion Picture	American Beauty	Nominated
	2009	Best Original Song - Motion Picture (with Peter Gabriel) for "Down to Earth"	WALL-E	Nominated
	2012	Best Original Song - Motion Picture (with Mary J. Blige, Harvey Mason, Jr. and Damon Thomas) for "The Living Proof"	The Help	Nominated
Grammy Award	1995	Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television	The Shawshank Redemption	Nominated
	1997	Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television	Unstrung Heroes	Nominated
	2001	Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or other Visual Media	American Beauty	Won
	2003	Best Instrumental Composition for Title Theme	Six Feet Under	Won
		Best Instrumental Arrangement for Title Theme	Six Feet Under	Won
	2005	Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media	Angels in America	Nominated
	2009	Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media	WALL-E	Nominated
		Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media (with Peter Gabriel) for "Down to Earth"		Won
		Best Instrumental Arrangement (with Peter Gabriel) for Score Track, "Define Dancing"		Won
	2014	Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media	Skyfall	Won
	2015		Saving Mr. Banks	Nominated
World Soundtrack Awards	2003	Best Original Soundtrack of the Year	Road to Perdition	Nominated
	2005	Soundtrack Composer of the Year	Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events	Nominated
	2008	Best Original Song Written Directly for Film (with Peter Gabriel) for "Down to Earth"	WALL-E	Won
		Best Original Score of the Year		Nominated

American Film Institute

Newman's scores for American Beauty and The Shawshank Redemption were nominated for AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]