John Debney facts for kids

Quick facts for kids John Debney
Debney at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con
Background information
Birth name	John Cardon Debney
Born	(1956-08-18) August 18, 1956 (age 68) Glendale, California, U.S.
Genres	Film scores, soundtracks
Occupation(s)	Composer, conductor
Instruments	Piano, guitar
Years active	1974–present
Associated acts	Jerry Goldsmith, Louis Febre, Danny Elfman

John Cardon Debney (born August 18, 1956) is an American composer and conductor. He creates music for films, television shows, and video games. His work includes many different types of stories, like comedies, horror, science fiction, thriller, fantasy, and action-adventure movies.

John Debney has worked for a long time with The Walt Disney Company. He has written music for their films, TV series, and even theme parks. He has also worked with many well-known film directors. Debney has won three Primetime Emmy Awards. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for his music in the movie The Passion of the Christ (2004).

Early Life and Education

John Debney was born and grew up in Glendale, California. This city is close to the Disney headquarters. His father, Louis Debney, was a producer at Disney Studios. His father worked on shows like Zorro and The Mickey Mouse Club.

John started taking guitar lessons when he was six years old. He played in rock bands when he was in college. In 1979, he earned his college degree in Music Composition from the California Institute of Arts.

Career Highlights

After working with Disney, Debney gained more experience with other composers. He then started writing music for many TV projects. These included shows like Disneyland, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He also scored A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and Tiny Toon Adventures. For Dink, the Little Dinosaur, he won an Emmy for Best Main Title music.

In the early 1990s, Debney began scoring independent films. He also created music for Disneyland Paris attractions like Phantom Manor and It's a Small World. In 1993, he scored his first major movie, the Disney comedy Hocus Pocus.

Since then, Debney has composed music for many popular films. Some of these include Cats & Dogs, The Passion of the Christ, Bruce Almighty, Elf, Sin City, Chicken Little, Liar Liar, Spy Kids, and The Princess Diaries.

He has also composed music for video games like Lair and The Sims Medieval. In 2010, he wrote the theme music for the Nickelodeon TV series Supah Ninjas.

John Debney has also created music for Disney Parks' Nighttime Spectaculars. These are big shows with lights and fireworks. Some examples include World Of Color Celebrate! at Disney's California Adventure and The Magic, The Memories And You! at Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom. He also arranged the famous song "When You Wish Upon a Star" for the Walt Disney Pictures logo used from 1985 to 2006.

Film Music

Television Music

Video Game Music

Awards and Nominations

John Debney has received many awards and nominations for his music.

See also

In Spanish: John Debney para niños