Chris Bacon (composer)

Christian Paul Bacon (born March 17, 1977) is an American composer of film and television scores.^[1][2][3] He is a four-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee – Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score) for Smash (2012–13), Bates Motel (2013–17) and Wednesday (2022–present); Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music for The Tick (2016–19).

Chris Bacon
Born	Christian Paul Bacon (1977-03-17) March 17, 1977 (age 48) Provo, Utah, U.S.
Other names	Chris P. Bacon
Alma mater	Brigham Young University University of Southern California
Musical career
Genres	Film score
Occupations	Composer Orchestrator Producer

Early life and education

Bacon was born in Provo, Utah. His parents are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

As a youth, Bacon learned to play piano and saxophone, and from an early age he knew he wanted to be a film composer. He has said, "From the point that I could start thinking about what I wanted to do when I grew up... it was always to write movie music."^[4]

Bacon received a Bachelor's Degree in music composition from Brigham Young University and completed the Scoring For Motion Pictures and Television program at University of Southern California.^[5][6] He interned under film composer James Newton Howard. Bacon cites his internship with Howard as his most valuable musical training,

"While I learned a ton from school, my real-world education came under James. It felt like I was on scholarship because I was being paid to learn what it means to be a film composer at the pinnacle of the industry. James gave me my first opportunities on projects that he couldn't fully take on for a variety of reasons, and his endorsement was very comforting to producers who appreciated the work still being performed under his 'umbrella'."^[7]

Career

Bacon worked under Howard on several of his scores between 2005 and 2011. His solo debut as a film composer came with the 2007 Lifetime film Angels Fall, for which he composed the main theme. Bacon's first solo feature film score was the thriller Source Code.^{[8][better source needed]}

Bacon has also contributed music to many film and TV productions, including American Hustle, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Goosebumps. Bacon's next project was the Amazon Prime Video reboot of The Tick, directed by Wally Pfister.^[4]

Bacon has been nominated for four Emmy Awards: one for his work on the NBC series Smash:, two for this work on the A&E series Bates Motel, three for Amazon Prime series The Tick and four for Netflix series Wednesday.^[4]

Bacon frequently collaborates with Danny Elfman.^[9]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Notes
2008	Space Chimps	Kirk DeMicco	Composed with Blue Man Group
2009	Waking Sleeping Beauty	Don Hahn	Documentary
2010	Love Ranch	Taylor Hackford
	Alpha and Omega	Anthony Bell Benjamin Gluck
2011	Gnomeo & Juliet	Andy Riley	Composed with James Newton Howard
	Source Code	Duncan Jones
	Beethoven's Christmas Adventure	John Putch
2012	High Ground	Michael Brown	Documentary
	Atlas Shrugged: Part II	John Putch
2013	Alpha and Omega 2: A Howl-iday Adventure	Richard Rich
2015	Being Charlie	Rob Reiner
2016	Patient Seven	Danny Draven
2017	Snatched	Jonathan Levine	Composed with Theodore Shapiro
2018	Sherlock Gnomes	John Stevenson
	The Weight of Water	Michael Brown	Documentary
2019	Men in Black: International	F. Gary Gray	Composed with Danny Elfman
2022	Immanence	Kerry Bellessa
	Strong Enough	John Foss
2023	65	Scott Beck Bryan Woods
2024	Heretic

Composer of additional music

Year	Title	Director	Composer	Notes
2005	King Kong	Peter Jackson	James Newton Howard	Also score producer
2006	RV	Barry Sonnenfeld
2007	Earth	Alastair Fothergill Mark Linfield	George Fenton
2010	Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang	Susanna White	James Newton Howard
	Inhale	Baltasar Kormákur
2011	Water for Elephants	Francis Lawrence
	Larry Crowne	Tom Hanks
	Arthur Christmas	Sarah Smith	Harry Gregson-Williams
2013	American Hustle	David O. Russell	Danny Elfman
2014	Mr. Peabody & Sherman	Rob Minkoff
	Paddington	Paul King	Nick Urata
2015	Avengers: Age of Ultron	Joss Whedon	Danny Elfman Brian Tyler
	Goosebumps	Rob Letterman	Danny Elfman
2016	Alice Through the Looking Glass	James Bobin
2017	Tulip Fever	Justin Chadwick
2018	The Grinch	Scott Mosier Yarrow Cheney
2019	Dumbo	Tim Burton
2020	Dolittle	Stephen Gaghan
2022	Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness	Sam Raimi
	Disenchanted	Adam Shankman	Alan Menken
2024	Beetlejuice Beetlejuice	Tim Burton	Danny Elfman

Television

Year	Title	Notes
2007	Angels Fall	TV film; composed with Stuart Michael Thomas
	Blue Smoke
2009	Northern Lights
	Midnight Bayou
2011	Ricochet	TV film
	Wonder Woman	TV film
2012	Hornet's Nest	TV film
2012–13	Smash	26 episodes; composed with Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman
2013	An Amish Murder	TV film
	Reckless	TV film
2013–17	Bates Motel	50 episodes
2015	Living with Lincoln	TV film
2016	Finding Fortune	TV film
2016–19	The Tick	22 episodes
2017	A Series of Unfortunate Events	2 episodes
	When We Rise	Miniseries; composed with Danny Elfman
2022–present	Wednesday	7 episodes; composed with Danny Elfman[10]

Awards and nominations

Award	Year	Category	Work	Result
Grammy Award	2024	Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella	"Paint It Black" (from Wednesday)	Nominated
Primetime Emmy Award	2012	Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score)[11]	Smash ("Publicity")	Nominated
	2016		Bates Motel ("Forever")	Nominated
	2018	Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music[11]	The Tick	Nominated
	2013	Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score)[11]	Wednesday ("Woe is the Loneliest Number")	Nominated
World Soundtrack Award	2023	Television Composer of the Year	Wednesday	Nominated