Michael Giacchino (; born October 10, 1967) is an American composer of music for film, television, and video games. Beginning in 2018, he ventured into directing as well, and as a director is best known for Marvel Studios' Werewolf by Night. He has received many awards, including an Oscar for his work on Up (2009), an Emmy for his work on Lost (2004), and three Grammys for his work on Ratatouille (2007) and Up (2009). Giacchino is known for his collaborations with directors J. J. Abrams, Brad Bird, Matt Reeves, Pete Docter, Colin Trevorrow, Jon Watts, Drew Goddard, The Wachowskis, Taika Waititi, and Thomas Bezucha. Giacchino's film scores include several films from the Mission: Impossible, Jurassic World, Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Star Trek reboot series; eight Pixar Animation Studios films; and several other films. Giacchino also composed the score for the video game series Medal of Honor and Call of Duty and the television series Alias, Lost, and Fringe. He is also known for composing the 2016 Marvel Studios fanfare, the Marvel Studios Special Presentations fanfare, and the 2011 Paramount Pictures fanfare for the studio's 100th anniversary, which has been carried onto logos for Paramount Players, Paramount Animation logos, Paramount Television Studios, and Paramount Network Original Productions. Early life Giacchino was born in Riverside Township, New Jersey. His father's ancestors were Italians, coming from Sicily, and his mother's ancestors emigrated from Abruzzo (in the center of Italy). Giacchino grew up in Edgewater Park Township, New Jersey, and graduated from Holy Cross High School in Delran Township, New Jersey in 1986. He holds dual American and Italian citizenship. His brother Anthony Giacchino is a documentary filmmaker. Giacchino began combining images and music at age 10, when he began creating stop-motion animation with homemade soundtracks in his basement. While in high school, an art teacher who mentored Giacchino recommended to his parents that he attend the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Giacchino describes visiting the school with his parents thus: I thought, wow, this is fantastic. They actually have colleges like this? Where I can do the things that I am really interested in doing? That was amazing to me. I loved SVA. I loved the kind of freedom that it provided. It was kind of like this great experiment—okay, you're here because you like something. So let's see how much you like it. We're not going to regulate