Dominic Lewis
Dominic Lewis is a British film and television composer known for his dynamic scores across genres including animation, drama, and action.[1] He has composed music for high-profile projects such as the Peter Rabbit film series, the Amazon Prime series The Man in the High Castle, and films like Bullet Train, The King's Man, and The Fall Guy.[2][1] Born into a family of musicians in the United Kingdom, Lewis began his formal training at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied classical cello and composition.[3][2] Mentored early in his career by composer Rupert Gregson-Williams, he co-composed his first feature film score for The Poet at age 22 and contributed to projects like Bee Movie and How to Train Your Dragon.[4][1] In 2009, he relocated to Los Angeles and joined Hans Zimmer's Remote Control Productions, where he collaborated with composers including John Powell, Henry Jackman, and Ramin Djawadi on films such as Clash of the Titans, Puss in Boots, and Captain Phillips.[3][1][2] Lewis's work has earned recognition, including two BMI Streaming Awards for The Man in the High Castle, a BMI Film Music Award for Peter Rabbit, an Annie Award nomination for Free Birds, a World Soundtrack Awards nomination for Spooks: The Greater Good, and a 2025 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music for Your Friends & Neighbors.[2][5] His recent projects encompass the Apple TV+ series Your Friends & Neighbors and Dope Thief, the Disney+ series Baymax!, and the score for Karate Kid: Legends.[2] Living in Los Angeles, Lewis continues to blend orchestral elements with contemporary styles, establishing himself as a prominent figure in modern film scoring.[3][1]Early life and education
Early years
Dominic Alexander Charles Lewis was born on January 29, 1985, in London, England.[6] Raised in a family of working musicians, Lewis was immersed in professional music environments from an early age, with both parents actively involved in the field, exposing him to classical music during childhood.[3][1] This familial backdrop provided constant auditory stimulation, including road trips filled with recordings of artists like The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix, while his older sister introduced him to 1990s electronic music and Britpop.[7] At age three, Lewis began formal cello lessons, aspiring to follow in his parents' footsteps as a performer.[7] He later learned to play piano and guitar, along with singing in church choirs and participating in early performances that included cello recitals, vocal contributions, and playing in youth rock bands he formed during his teens.[8][6][9] These experiences, shaped by family influences, fostered his dual interest in classical traditions and contemporary genres, leading him to pursue formal studies at the Royal Academy of Music.[7][1]Education
Lewis attended the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he pursued formal studies in cello and music composition.[1] His training emphasized classical foundations, encompassing rigorous performance skills on the cello as well as theoretical aspects of composition, including harmony, counterpoint, and orchestration.[2] This curriculum provided a strong grounding in musical structure and expression, preparing him for more specialized applications.[3] Throughout his time at the academy, Lewis benefited from mentorship by composer Rupert Gregson-Williams, who offered targeted guidance in film scoring techniques.[1] Gregson-Williams, known for his work in media composition, drew from his own industry experience to provide this support.[10] The relationship provided ongoing guidance that helped Lewis develop his compositional skills for film.[3] Lewis also studied under instructors including Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Craig Armstrong, David Arnold, and Christopher Austin.[3][11] Building on early exposure to music through his family of working musicians, Lewis graduated from the Royal Academy of Music, emerging equipped for professional entry into the field.[11] His academic achievements marked a pivotal transition, solidifying the technical and artistic skills essential for a career in composition.[11]Career
Beginnings (2004–2012)
Lewis entered the professional music industry in the mid-2000s, beginning with roles in music departments on film projects while still leveraging his classical training from London's Royal Academy of Music, where he studied cello and composition under mentors like Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and David Arnold.[3][12] At age 22 in 2007, he co-composed the score for his first feature film, The Poet, directed by Damien Lee, marking an early opportunity to apply his skills in a collaborative setting.[3] In 2009, Lewis relocated from London to Los Angeles to join Hans Zimmer's Remote Control Productions, a pivotal move that immersed him in a collaborative environment with established composers such as Henry Jackman, John Powell, and Ramin Djawadi.[1][13] There, he contributed to music departments on major studio films, often handling additional music and orchestration tasks that honed his technical expertise. Representative examples include his work on How to Train Your Dragon (2010) with John Powell and X-Men: First Class (2011) under Henry Jackman, where he provided supplementary compositions blending orchestral elements with modern production techniques.[14][1] During this foundational period, Lewis's experiences at Remote Control fostered the development of a versatile compositional style that integrated classical foundations with electronic and orchestral innovations, evident in early contributions like additional music for Puss in Boots (2011) and preparatory work on Captain Phillips (2013).[14][1] These assistant roles under seasoned mentors allowed him to absorb industry practices, emphasizing collaborative scoring processes that would later define his approach.[13]Breakthrough and mid-career (2013–2019)
Lewis's breakthrough as a lead composer came in 2013 with his first solo score for the animated film Free Birds, directed by Jimmy Hayward, where he crafted a whimsical orchestral soundtrack blending upbeat rhythms and adventurous motifs to complement the film's time-traveling turkey protagonists.[14] This project marked his independent debut after years of assisting on scores at Remote Control Productions.[15] Building on this momentum, Lewis transitioned to live-action thrillers, scoring the British action film Spooks: The Greater Good in 2015, which earned him a nomination for Discovery of the Year at the World Soundtrack Awards for its tense, pulsating electronic-orchestral hybrid that heightened the spy intrigue.[16] The following year, he composed the score for Jodie Foster's financial thriller Money Monster, delivering a score under three and a half weeks that featured urgent, minimalist strings and percussion to underscore the real-time hostage crisis.[17] A major television milestone arrived with Lewis's work on Amazon's The Man in the High Castle from 2015 to 2019, where he co-composed the first season with Henry Jackman before taking over solo for subsequent seasons, creating an eerie alternate-history soundscape by morphing classical American jazz and big-band elements into distorted, unfamiliar tones to evoke a dystopian 1960s America under fascist rule.[13] This innovative approach, using software to twist orchestral samples, earned two BMI Streaming Awards and established his reputation for genre-defining atmospheric scores.[18] In 2018, Lewis embraced family-oriented projects, collaborating with director Will Gluck on the live-action/animated adaptation Peter Rabbit, where his playful score incorporated folk-inspired melodies and buoyant orchestration to capture Beatrix Potter's whimsical world, contributing to the film's commercial success.[11] That same year, he scored Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, blending spooky synths with humorous brass for a kid-friendly horror-comedy vibe that amplified the film's monstrous antics.[19] Throughout this period, Lewis's compositional style evolved, drawing from influences like John Williams's epic orchestration and The Beatles' melodic ingenuity, allowing him to adapt seamlessly across genres from lighthearted animation to brooding dystopian drama while maintaining a signature blend of orchestral depth and modern production techniques.[20][19]Contemporary works (2020–present)
In the 2020s, Dominic Lewis has demonstrated a refined stylistic maturity in his compositions, building on his earlier successes to explore more nuanced integrations of orchestral, electronic, and thematic elements across diverse genres. His score for Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (2021), a sequel to his 2018 work on the franchise, blends whimsical adventure motifs with heartfelt emotional underscores, enhancing the film's family-oriented narrative of self-discovery.[21] Similarly, for The King's Man (2021), Lewis crafted a score that fuses historical drama with pulse-pounding action cues, incorporating period-inspired brass and strings to evoke the film's World War I backdrop while maintaining rhythmic drive.[22] These projects highlight his growing ability to tailor music to narrative depth, often collaborating closely with directors like Matthew Vaughn on The King's Man.[2] Lewis's contemporary output has increasingly embraced high-octane action, exemplified by his energetic scores for Bullet Train (2022) and Violent Night (2022). In Bullet Train, directed by David Leitch, Lewis delivered a kinetic soundscape of propulsive percussion, synth layers, and quirky motifs that mirror the film's fast-paced, ensemble-driven chaos, earning praise for amplifying the comedic violence without overpowering the ensemble cast.[23] For Violent Night, a holiday action thriller helmed by Tommy Wirkola, his composition features bombastic orchestral swells and industrial beats to underscore brutal set pieces, blending festive undertones with gritty intensity to suit the film's unconventional tone.[24] He continued this action trajectory with The Fall Guy (2024), directed by David Leitch, where his score combined high-energy rock influences with stunt-driven rhythms to complement the film's meta Hollywood satire starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt.[25] In 2025, Lewis scored Nobody 2, the sequel to the 2021 action film, infusing it with intense, visceral electronic-orchestral elements to heighten the chaotic violence and humor of Bob Odenkirk's return as Hutch Mansell.[26] On television, Lewis has sustained his presence in animation while adapting to streaming platforms, showcasing versatility in episodic storytelling. His contributions to DuckTales (2017–2021) extended into the early 2020s, with music for the final season's episodes emphasizing adventurous escapades and character arcs through lively, thematic reprises.[27] The Disney+ series Monsters at Work (2021–2024), for which Lewis composed across multiple seasons, incorporates playful jazz-infused tracks and monstrous sound design to complement the workplace comedy spin-off from Monsters, Inc.. He also scored the Disney+ shorts series Baymax! (2022), creating lighthearted, heroic themes that extended the Big Hero 6 universe with uplifting orchestral and electronic touches.[28] Transitioning to adult-oriented streaming content, Lewis scored the Apple TV+ limited series Dope Thief (2025), a heist drama that prompted him to weave tense, urban grooves with suspenseful builds, marking his deepening engagement with prestige television formats. That same year, he composed for the Apple TV+ series Your Friends & Neighbors (2025), blending suburban mystery with emotional depth through subtle, character-driven motifs, including an Emmy-nominated theme co-created with Hamilton Leithauser.[29] Additionally, Lewis provided the score for the Disney+ series Karate Kid: Legends (2025), merging martial arts action with nostalgic orchestral swells to support the franchise's intergenerational storyline.[2] Overall, this period underscores Lewis's range—from animated whimsy and explosive action to dramatic intrigue—fostered by repeat collaborations that allow for iterative creative refinement.[2]Filmography
Feature films
Lewis served as lead composer for several feature films, beginning with his debut on Free Birds (2013). Subsequent credits include Spooks: The Greater Good (2015), where he provided the original score for the British spy thriller. He composed the music for Money Monster (2016), Jodie Foster's financial thriller starring George Clooney.[17] In 2018, Lewis scored the live-action/animated adaptation Peter Rabbit, marking the first of two collaborations with director Will Gluck. That same year, he composed for the family horror-comedy Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween. He returned for the sequel Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (2021). Lewis co-composed the score for The King's Man (2021) alongside Matthew Margeson.[30] His later lead credits encompass the action-thriller Bullet Train (2022), the holiday action film Violent Night (2022), the stuntman comedy The Fall Guy (2024), and the martial arts drama Karate Kid: Legends (2025).[31] Additionally, Lewis contributed to music departments on other feature films, including additional music for X-Men: First Class (2011) under composer Henry Jackman.[32]| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | X-Men: First Class | Additional music |
| 2013 | Free Birds | Composer |
| 2015 | Spooks: The Greater Good | Composer |
| 2016 | Money Monster | Composer |
| 2018 | Peter Rabbit | Composer |
| 2018 | Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween | Composer |
| 2021 | Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway | Composer |
| 2021 | The King's Man | Co-composer |
| 2022 | Bullet Train | Composer |
| 2022 | Violent Night | Composer |
| 2024 | The Fall Guy | Composer |
| 2025 | Karate Kid: Legends | Composer |
Television series
Lewis began composing for television in the mid-2010s, contributing scores to a range of genres from dystopian drama to animated adventure and limited series. His television work often involves full scores, main themes, and occasional songs, tailored to the platform's narrative style.| Year(s) | Title | Platform | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–2019 | The Man in the High Castle | Amazon Prime Video | Co-composed season 1 with Henry Jackman; composed seasons 2–4 alone, creating an eerie, alternative American soundscape.[13][33] |
| 2017–2021 | DuckTales | Disney XD / Disney+ | Full score composer, including the new theme song arrangement and original songs like "Hear My Voice" performed by Lewis himself.[34][35][36] |
| 2021–present | Monsters at Work | Disney+ | Original score composer for the animated series set in the Monsters, Inc. universe.[37] |
| 2022 | Baymax! | Disney+ | Original score composer for the animated series.[38] |
| 2023 | Kaleidoscope | Netflix | Original score for the limited heist thriller series.[39] |
| 2023–present | My Adventures with Superman | Adult Swim / HBO Max | Co-composer with Daniel Futcher for the animated superhero series.[40] |
| 2025 | Dope Thief | Apple TV+ | Original score composer for the limited series, premiered March 14, 2025.[41][42] |
| 2025 | Your Friends & Neighbors | Apple TV+ | Original score and main titles theme "The Joneses" for the drama series.[29][43][44] |