Biography

Joel Douek is an award-winning composer and instrumentalist whose music has underscored many films and television productions, including in some of the most prestigious documentaries of the last few years - those of naturalist Sir David Attenborough. Born in London, England, Douek draws deeply from the orchestral complement, he also brings a fascination with world music and electronica into many of his scores.

From big-screen IMAX features such as the BAFTA-winning film 'Flying Monsters 3D' and the Everest adventure: 'The Wildest Dream' (feat. Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes), dark thrillers such as the recent film 'Manhattan Night' (feat. Adrien Brody, Yvonne Strahovski), "The Tall Man" (feat. Jessica Biel) and over 80 documentaries, including the multi-EMMY-winning BBC series 'First Life with Sir David Attenborough' and 2016 Emmy winner 'Rise of Animals', Douek's music has brought many a scene and story to life.

Douek's love of dance has led him to write lead music for NBC's 'World of Dance', the 'Pas de Deux' Virtual Reality piece featured on Oculus Rift, music and key themes for 'So You Think You Can Dance' - a show in which he has also appeared on camera as a fire dancer, as well as many other dance-oriented scores.

His score to "The Wildest Dream" was nominated for Best Original Score for a Feature Documentary by the International Film Music Critics Association. His score to "Galapagos" was nominated for the 2014 International Film Music Festival, and together with "Micro Monsters" (both with Sir David Attenborough) won the 2014 Global Music Awards. Joel's score for "Flying Monsters 3D" garnered him Best Documentary Score at the 2012 Park City Film Music Festival. His music for BAFTA-nominee "Kingdom of Plants 3D" won him Best Documentary Score at the 2012 International Film Music Festival, was a finalist in the IFMCA Awards and was hailed "2012 soundtrack most worth owning" by Film Music Magazine.

Drawing on his giant screen cinematic experience, Douek recently co-wrote IMAX's new brand theme, now playing before all IMAX films across the world. Earlier in his composing career he scored iconic animations such as 'YU-GI-OH!', 'Sonic X' and 'The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'.

On the record side, Douek is a past winner of the Song Of The Year Contest. Working with Brazilian singer Bebel Gilberto, he also arranged and co-produced a re-imagining of Nat King Cole's classic Brazilian Love Song for EMI's 'Re:Generations' Album, and in a similar vein brought Destiny's Child back in time with his Big Band Latin remix of their hit 'Lose My Breath'.

Douek is on the Board of Directors of the Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL), and serves as the Chairman of its Advocacy & Education Committee. Now living in Los Angeles, Douek is the West Coast Creative Director for Man Made Music, the top sonic branding studio. He also runs Virtual Reality startup EccoVR, and moonlights as a professional Fire Dancer.

- IMDb mini biography by: Danna Rosenthal