Date of Birth: 1967 - Riverside Township, NJ

theOscarSite Bio: Michael Giacchino is an Academy Award nominated American soundtrack composer who has composed several multi-award winning scores for many popular movies, television series and video games. His scores are notable for their usage of brass. Giacchino grew up in Edgewater Park Township, NJ. He attended the Evening Division at the Juilliard School; as well as the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where he acquired a degree in film production and a minor degree in History.

Giacchino's work on various video games led to his first work on television. In 2001, J.J. Abrams, producer of the television series "Alias," discovered Giacchino through his work on the video games and tapped Giacchino to provide the new show's soundtrack. The soundtrack featured a mix of full orchestral pieces, often mixed with upbeat electronic music, a departure from much of his previous work. Giacchino would also provide the score for J.J. Abrams's next project, the 2004 television series, "Lost", which was an acclaimed soundtrack that used a unique process of using spare pieces of a plane fuselage for the percussions.

In 2004, Giacchino was given his first big feature film composition, when he was called on to provide the soundtrack for the Pixar film, THE INCREDIBLES. Director Brad Bird had heard Giacchino's work on "Alias" and asked him to work on the soundtrack for the new movie. The upbeat jazz orchestral sound was a departure in sound not only for Giacchino but for Pixar, who had previously relied on the works of Randy and Thomas Newman for all of their previous films. Brad Bird had originally sought out John Barry, who was best known for composing many of the early James Bond movie soundtracks, to compose the music, but was reportedly unwilling to write music for an animated movie. Giacchino was nominated for two Grammy® Awards in 2005 for his work on THE INCREDIBLES.

Giacchino also composed scores for the 2005 films, SKY HIGH and THE FAMILY STONE, and the television movie, "The Muppets' Wizard of Oz." Giacchino also composed the score for the movie MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III, directed by J.J. Abrams, which was released in 2006. Giacchino's latest musical achievement is his Paris-inspired score for the newest Disney-Pixar film, RATATOUILLE, which includes the theme song, "Le Festin" performed by French artist Camille. He has received an Academy Award® nomination for this score.

· Achievement in Music - Original Score 2007: RATATOUILLE