Born Vangelis Papathanassiou in Volos, Greece. Specializes in synthesizer-driven yet atmospheric scores and enjoyed his biggest popular success to date with CHARIOTS OF FIRE (1981). In the watershed year of 1982 Vangelis collaborated with Ridley Scott (BLADE RUNNER), Peter Weir (THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY) and Costa-Gavras (MISSING). Other notable credits include THE BOUNTY (1984), WONDERS OF LIFE (1985), SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME (1987), Liliana Cavani's ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI / FRANCESCO (1989), BITTER MOON and 1492: CONQUEST OF PARADISE (both 1992), I HOPE... (2001), ALEXANDER (2004) and EL GRECO (2007).  Music Scoring Awards (Best Original Score) 1981: CHARIOTS OF FIRE 1 nomination, 1 Award