Lorne Balfe

Lorne Balfe
Lorne Balfe
	Balfe in 2007
Background information
Also known as	Oswin Mackintosh
Born	23 February 1976; Inverness, Scotland
Genres	Film score, video game score, jazz, electronic, new-age, ambient, rock, alternative rock, electronic rock, synthwave, EDM
Occupations	Composer, music producer
Instruments	Piano, keyboards, synthesizer, guitar
Years active	1999–present
Website	Official website

Lorne Balfe (born 23 February 1976) is a Scottish composer of film, television, and video game scores.

Early life and education

Balfe was born in Inverness, Scotland.^[1] He went to Fettes College in Edinburgh, where he had a music scholarship.^[2]

Career

A veteran of Hans Zimmer's Remote Control Productions, Balfe's scoring credits include the films Megamind, Penguins of Madagascar, Home, Terminator Genisys, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, The Lego Batman Movie, Mission: Impossible – Fallout and its sequel Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Bad Boys for Life and its sequel Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Black Widow, Black Adam, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Gran Turismo, and Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, as well as the video games Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Assassin's Creed III, Crysis 2, Skylanders, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. He has also scored the television series The Bible, Marcella, The Crown, and Genius, the latter for which he earned a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music. He also collaborates with the directors Michael Bay, Chris McKay, Christopher McQuarrie, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, Mikael Håfström and Jaume Collet-Serra.

He composed the new fanfare for Skydance Media transcribed as There's a World, There's A Moon. Balfe also composed the Annapurna Pictures deep note opening logo.

Balfe is also involved in The Game Awards as the conductor of the Game Awards Orchestra and the composer and arranger of several musical performances performed at the show. Since The Game Awards 2018, he has composed a medley of the themes of the six nominees for Game of the Year every year as a presentation of the award at the end of the show.

Discography

Feature films

Year	Title	Director(s)	Studio(s)	Notes
2004	Crazy in Love	Matt Routledge	United Home Entertainment Studio Bangkok Entertainment Co. Ltd.	N/a
2009	Crying with Laughter	Justin Molotnikov	Brit Films Cinetic Rights Management	Nominated - World Soundtrack Award for Discovery of the Year
2010	Megamind	Tom McGrath	Paramount Pictures DreamWorks Animation PDI/DreamWorks	Composed with Hans Zimmer First score for an animated film
2011	The Dilemma	Ron Howard	Universal Pictures Imagine Entertainment Spyglass Entertainment	Composed with Hans Zimmer
2011	Ironclad	Jonathan English	Warner Bros. Pictures	N/a
2012	The Sweeney	Nick Love	Entertainment One Vertigo Films	N/a
2013	The Frozen Ground	Scott Walker	Lionsgate	N/a
	Red Wing	Will Wallace	Gravitas Ventures	N/a
	Side by Side	Arthur Landon	Newtide Films Nanny Films	N/a
	Not Another Happy Ending	John McKay	Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment Synchronicity Films Ltd. British Film Company	Composed with Dan Michaelson
2014	Son of God	Christopher Spencer	20th Century Fox Lightworkers Media	Composed with Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard
	Blackwood	Adam Wimpenny	Wildcard Films	N/a
	Words with Gods	Guillermo Arriaga	N/a	Segment: "God's Blood"
	Gloria	Christian Keller	Picturehouse	Nominated – Ariel Award for Best Original Score
	Penguins of Madagascar	Eric Darnell Simon J. Smith	20th Century Fox DreamWorks Animation PDI/DreamWorks	First solo work on a DreamWorks film without Hans Zimmer
2015	Home	Tim Johnson	20th Century Fox DreamWorks Animation	Composed with Stargate
	Bone in the Throat	Graham Henman	Upload Films Hello and Company Dignity Film Finance	N/a
	Dough	John Goldschmidt	N/a	N/a
	Terminator Genisys	Alan Taylor	Paramount Pictures Skydance Productions	Replaced Christophe Beck Terminator themes by Brad Fiedel
	Sommeren '92	Kasper Barfoed	SF Film	Composed with Jeppe Kaas
	Captive	Jerry Jameson	Paramount Pictures	N/a
	American Hero	Nick Love	Screen Media Films Vertigo Films	N/a
2016	13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi	Michael Bay	Paramount Pictures 3 Arts Entertainment Bay Films	N/a
2016	War on Everyone	John Michael McDonagh	Icon Film Distribution	N/a
2017	The Lego Batman Movie	Chris McKay	Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Animation Group DC Entertainment RatPac Entertainment Lego System A/S	N/a
	Ghost in the Shell	Rupert Sanders	Paramount Pictures DreamWorks Pictures	Composed with Clint Mansell
	Churchill	Jonathan Teplitzky	Lionsgate	N/a
	The Florida Project	Sean Baker	A24 Cre Film Freestyle Picture Company Cinereach June Pictures	Orchestral version of "Celebration" by Kool & The Gang
	Geostorm	Dean Devlin	Warner Bros. Pictures Skydance Media	Replaced Pinar Toprak
2018	12 Strong	Nicolai Fuglsig	Warner Bros. Pictures Lionsgate Alcon Entertainment Black Label Media Jerry Bruckheimer Films Torridon Films	N/a
	The Hurricane Heist	Rob Cohen	Entertainment Studios	N/a
	Pacific Rim Uprising	Steven S. DeKnight	Universal Pictures Legendary Pictures Double Dare You Productions	Replaced John Paesano
	Mission: Impossible – Fallout	Christopher McQuarrie	Paramount Pictures Skydance Media Bad Robot	Mission: Impossible themes by Lalo Schifrin
2019	Georgetown	Christoph Waltz	Vertical Entertainment Paramount Pictures	N/a
	Gemini Man	Ang Lee	Paramount Pictures Skydance Media Jerry Bruckheimer Films	Replaced Marco Beltrami
	Jungleland	Max Winkler	Vertical Entertainment Romulus Entertainment Scott Free Productions	N/a
	Military Wives	Peter Cattaneo	Lionsgate	N/a
	6 Underground	Michael Bay	Netflix Skydance Media	N/a
2020	Bad Boys for Life	Adil El Arbi Bilall Fallah	Columbia Pictures Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films	Bad Boys themes by Mark Mancina
2020	Songbird	Adam Mason	STXfilms	N/a
2021	Outside the Wire	Mikael Håfström	Netflix	N/a
	The Tomorrow War	Chris McKay	Amazon Studios Paramount Pictures Skydance Media	N/a
	Black Widow	Cate Shortland	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Marvel Studios	Replaced Alexandre Desplat^[3]
	The Forgiven	John Michael McDonagh	Focus Features	N/a
	Silent Night	Camille Griffin	RLJE Films	N/a
	Rumble	Hamish Grieve	Paramount Pictures Paramount Animation WWE Studios	N/a
2022	Infinite Storm	Małgorzata Szumowska Michał Englert	Bleecker Street	N/a
	Ambulance	Michael Bay^[4]	Universal Pictures	Additional Music by Adam Price
	Top Gun: Maverick	Joseph Kosinski	Paramount Pictures Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films Skydance Media	Score producer Composed by Harold Faltermeyer, Hans Zimmer and Lady Gaga
	Secret Headquarters	Henry Joost Ariel Schulman	Paramount Pictures Jerry Bruckheimer Films
	Black Adam	Jaume Collet-Serra	Warner Bros. Pictures New Line Cinema DC Films Seven Bucks Productions FlynnPictureCo.	N/a
	Ticket to Paradise	Ol Parker	Universal Pictures Working Title Films Smokehouse Pictures Red Om Films	N/a
2023	Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves	Jonathan Goldstein John Francis Daley	Paramount Pictures eOne	N/a
	Tetris	Jon S. Baird	Apple TV+	N/a
	Ghosted	Dexter Fletcher	Apple TV+	N/a
	Gran Turismo	Neill Blomkamp	Columbia Pictures PlayStation Productions Trigger Street Productions 2.0 Entertainment	Replaced Stephen Barton^[5] Composed with Andrew Kawczynski
	Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning	Christopher McQuarrie^[6]	Paramount Pictures Skydance Media	Mission: Impossible themes by Lalo Schifrin Additional music by Max Aruj & Alfie Godfrey
2024	Argylle	Matthew Vaughn	Apple TV+ Universal Pictures	N/a
	Bad Boys: Ride or Die	Adil El Arbi Bilall Fallah	Columbia Pictures Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films Westbrook Entertainment 2.0 Entertainment	Bad Boys themes by Mark Mancina
	Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F	Mark Molloy	Netflix Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films	Beverly Hills Cop themes by Harold Faltermeyer
	Decoded	Chen Sicheng	China Media Capital As One Productions Beijing Happy Pictures	Composed with Kevin Riepl
	Slingshot	Mikael Håfström	Astral Pictures	N/a
	The Cut	Sean Ellis	Tea Shop Productions Amazing Owl	Composed with Stuart Michael Thomas
	Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl	Nick Park Merlin Crossingham	Netflix Aardman Animations	Composed with Julian Nott
	Carry-On	Jaume Collet-Serra	Dylan Clark Productions DreamWorks Pictures Netflix (distributor)	N/a
2025	Novocaine	Dan Berk Robert Olsen	Paramount Pictures Infrared Pictures	Composed with Andrew Kawczynski
	The Woman in the Yard	Jaume Collet-Serra	Blumhouse Productions Homegrown Pictures Ombra Films Universal Pictures (distributor)	N/a
	The Naked Gun	Akiva Schaffer	Paramount Pictures Fuzzy Door Productions	Replaced Joel McNeely^[7]
	7 Dogs	Adil El Arbi Bilall Fallah	General Entertainment Authority Sela	Only film scored by Balfe to be produced in Saudi Arabia

Additional music

Year	Title	Director(s)	Composer(s)	Notes
2002	666 – Traue keinem, mit dem du schläfst!	Rainer Matsutani	Henning Lohner	N/a
2003	Mimic 3: Sentinel	J. T. Petty		N/a
2004	Incident at Loch Ness	Zak Penn		N/a
2004	Laura's Star	Piet De Rycker Thilo Rothkirch	Hans Zimmer Henning Lohner Nick Glennie-Smith	N/a
2005	Hellraiser: Deader	Rick Bota	Henning Lohner	N/a
	BloodRayne	Uwe Boll		N/a
	Santa's Slay	David Steiman		Uncredited
	Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit	Steve Box Nick Park	Julian Nott	N/a
2006	The Da Vinci Code	Ron Howard	Hans Zimmer	N/a
	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	Gore Verbinski	Hans Zimmer	N/a
	The Killing of John Lennon	Andrew Piddington	Martin Kiszko Makana	N/a
	The Holiday	Nancy Meyers	Hans Zimmer	N/a
2007	Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End	Gore Verbinski	Hans Zimmer	N/a
	Transformers	Michael Bay	Steve Jablonsky	N/a
	The Simpsons Movie	David Silverman	Hans Zimmer	N/a
	Bee Movie	Simon J. Smith Steve Hickner	Rupert Gregson-Williams	N/a
2008	Iron Man	Jon Favreau	Ramin Djawadi	Also arranger
	The Dark Knight	Christopher Nolan	Hans Zimmer James Newton Howard	N/a
	Frost/Nixon	Ron Howard	Hans Zimmer	Also orchestrator
	Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa	Eric Darnell Tom McGrath		N/a
2009	Angels & Demons	Ron Howard		N/a
	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	Michael Bay	Steve Jablonsky	N/a
	Sherlock Holmes	Guy Ritchie	Hans Zimmer	Also score producer
2010	Inception	Christopher Nolan
2011	Rango	Gore Verbinski
	Kung Fu Panda 2	Jennifer Yuh Nelson	Hans Zimmer John Powell	N/a
	Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows	Guy Ritchie	Hans Zimmer	Also score producer
2012	Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted	Eric Darnell Conrad Vernon Tom McGrath		N/a
2012	The Dark Knight Rises	Christopher Nolan		N/a
2013	The Lone Ranger	Gore Verbinski		N/a
	Rush	Ron Howard		N/a
	Captain Phillips	Paul Greengrass	Henry Jackman	Uncredited
2016	Kung Fu Panda 3	Jennifer Yuh Nelson Alessandro Carloni	Hans Zimmer	Also score producer
2017	Dunkirk	Christopher Nolan	Hans Zimmer	Also score producer
2019	Looking Up	Deng Chao	Steffen Thum	Also executive score producer
2019	Ad Astra	James Gray	Max Richter	N/a

Documentary films

Year	Title	Director(s)	Notes
2013	Girl Rising	Richard Robbins	N/a
2013	Salinger	Shane Salerno	N/a
2014	Manny	Leon Gast Ryan Moore	N/a
	The Last Man on the Moon	Mark Craig	N/a
	Pantani: The Accidental Death of a Cyclist	James Erskine	N/a
	Above and Beyond	Roberta Grossman	N/a
2016	Le Mans: 3D	James Erskine	N/a
2016	The Fresco Fiasco	Victoria Wimpenny	N/a
2018	Studio 54	Matt Tyrnauer	N/a
2019	Where's My Roy Cohn?	Matt Tyrnauer	N/a
2020	Rebuilding Paradise	Ron Howard	Composed With Hans Zimmer
2024	Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid!	Matt Tyrnauer	N/a
2025	We Are Storror	Michael Bay	N/a

Short films

Year	Title	Director(s)	Notes
2002	Cigarette	Oliver Moran	N/a
2003	Loved, Alone	Indra Bhose	N/a
2010	Uganda: Friends of the Gorilla	Rachel Layne McDonald	N/a
2010	Sodales	Jessica Biel	N/a
2011	When You Find Me	Bryce Dallas Howard	N/a
2011	J.A.W.	Nate Parker	N/a
2013	Evermore	Biz Stone	N/a
	Making a Scene	Janusz Kamiński	N/a
	The Championship Rounds	Daniel Stine	N/a
2014	Almost Home	Todd Wilderman	N/a
2015	Wasted Beauty	Martin Paves	N/a
2016	Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll	Rodolphe Guenoden	Composed with John Powell & Hans Zimmer
2016	Alibi	Cameron Burnett	N/a
2017	Them	Nate James Williams	N/a
	Rakka	Neill Blomkamp	Main composer
	Firebase
	Zygote
	Adam: The Mirror
	Happy Birthday to Me	Michael Reilly	Composed with Max Aruj

Television

Year	Title	Notes
2004	Shoebox Zoo^[8]
2005-06	Nova	Documentary series
2006-07	How to Look Good Naked
2007	The Science of Superstorms
2007	River City	Main theme by Hard Todd
2009	WWII in HD	Documentary series
2012	Restless
2013	The Bible	Miniseries Composed with Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard
2014	The Driver
2015	Sons of Liberty	Miniseries Main theme composed by Hans Zimmer
	A.D. The Bible Continues	Miniseries Composed with Hans Zimmer
	Saints & Strangers	Miniseries
2016	The Story of God with Morgan Freeman	Documentary series
2016-18	The Investigator: A British Crime Story	Documentary series
2016-18	Marcella
2017	Le Mans: Racing Is Everything	Documentary series
2017	The Crown	Main theme composed by Hans Zimmer Composed with Rupert Gregson-Williams
2017–present	Genius	Main theme composed with Hans Zimmer Nominated- Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music
2018	The Cry	Miniseries
2019	This is Football	Documentary series
2019–2022	His Dark Materials^[9]
2020	Pennyworth
2021	Dopesick	Miniseries
2021	The Wheel of Time	Replaced David Buckley; soundtracks
2022–present	Sherwood
2022	Man vs. Bee
2022	Mayflies
2023	Life on Our Planet
2025	The Hack	Miniseries Composed with Joshua Pacey
2025	The War Between the Land and the Sea	Miniseries
2025	Man vs. Baby

Video games

Year	Title	Notes
2009	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2	Composed with Hans Zimmer Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Original Score Nominated - IMFCA Award for Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media Nominated - Interactive Achievement Award for Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition^[10]
2011	Rango	N/a
	Crysis 2	Main theme composed by Hans Zimmer Composed with Borislav Slavov, Hans Zimmer & Tilman Sillescu
	Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure	Main theme composed by Hans Zimmer Additional music by Andrew Kawczynski & Pete Adams
	Assassin's Creed: Revelations	Cinematics and multiplayer music with Jesper Kyd Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Original Music
2012	Skylanders: Giants	N/a
2012	Assassin's Creed III	Nominated- BAFTA Award for Best Original Music
2013	Beyond: Two Souls	Finished score due to the death of Normand Corbeil Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Original Music Nominated - IMFCA Award for Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media Nominated - D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition^[11]
2013	Skylanders: Swap Force	N/a
2014	Skylanders: Trap Team	N/a
2015	Skylanders: SuperChargers	N/a
2015	Honor of Kings	Composed with Hans Zimmer, Duncan Watt & Jeff Broadbent
2016	Skylanders: Imaginators	Stock Music from the Previous Skylanders Games only.
2018	FIFA 19	Composed with Hans Zimmer^[12]
2024	Dragon Age: The Veilguard	Composed with Hans Zimmer^[13]

References

^ Glen, Louise (19 July 2021). "Inverness composer Lorne Balfe is raffling Black Widow signed score for Highland Hospice at only £10 a try". The Inverness Courier. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
^ "Composing a career of note in LA". The Scotsman. 9 July 2002. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019.
^ Erlich, David (21 May 2020). "Alexandre Desplat on Wes Anderson's Amazing 'French Dispatch' and del Toro's Musical 'Pinocchio'". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 22 May 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
^ "Lorne Balfe Scoring Michael Bay's 'Ambulance'". Film Music Reporter. 4 August 2021. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
^ "Lorne Balfe to Score Neill Blomkamp's 'Gran Turismo' | Film Music Reporter".
^ "Lorne Balfe to Return for Christopher McQuarrie's 'Mission: Impossible 7 & 8' | Film Music Reporter". Archived from the original on 10 October 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
^ "Lorne Balfe Scoring Akiva Schaffer's 'The Naked Gun'". Film Music Reporter. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
^ Lorne Balfe [@Lornebalfe] (18 August 2016). "#TBT Shoebox Zoo for the BBC . This was my first TV show . Listen to the main theme" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
^ "Lorne Balfe to Score BBC's & HBO's 'His Dark Materials'". Film Music Reporter. Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
^ "2010 Awards Category Details Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
^ "2014 Awards Category Details Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
^ Hopkins, Tom (31 August 2018). "Full FIFA 19 Soundtrack Revealed; Hans Zimmer Working on The Journey's Score". Twinfinite. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
^ Hans Zimmer - Topic (30 September 2024). Dragon Age: The Veilguard Main Theme [From "Dragon Age: The Veilguard (Original Soundtrack)"]. Retrieved 1 October 2024 – via YouTube.

External links

Official website
Lorne Balfe at IMDb
Lorne Balfe Interview at www.reviewgraveyard.com
Interview with Lorne Balfe at FilmMusicSite.com
Composing a career of note (Scotsman)

[1] Glen, Louise (19 July 2021). "Inverness composer Lorne Balfe is raffling Black Widow signed score for Highland Hospice at only £10 a try". The Inverness Courier. Retrieved 8 November 2022.

[Scotsman20020709-2] "Composing a career of note in LA". The Scotsman. 9 July 2002. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019.

[DesplatBalfe-3] Erlich, David (21 May 2020). "Alexandre Desplat on Wes Anderson's Amazing 'French Dispatch' and del Toro's Musical 'Pinocchio'". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 22 May 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2020.

[4] "Lorne Balfe Scoring Michael Bay's 'Ambulance'". Film Music Reporter. 4 August 2021. Archived from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.

[5] "Lorne Balfe to Score Neill Blomkamp's 'Gran Turismo' | Film Music Reporter".

[McQuarrie-6] "Lorne Balfe to Return for Christopher McQuarrie's 'Mission: Impossible 7 & 8' | Film Music Reporter". Archived from the original on 10 October 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2020.

[7] "Lorne Balfe Scoring Akiva Schaffer's 'The Naked Gun'". Film Music Reporter. Retrieved 18 June 2025.

[8] Lorne Balfe [@Lornebalfe] (18 August 2016). "#TBT Shoebox Zoo for the BBC . This was my first TV show . Listen to the main theme" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

[9] "Lorne Balfe to Score BBC's & HBO's 'His Dark Materials'". Film Music Reporter. Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2019.

[10] "2010 Awards Category Details Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 17 April 2024.

[11] "2014 Awards Category Details Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 17 April 2024.

[12] Hopkins, Tom (31 August 2018). "Full FIFA 19 Soundtrack Revealed; Hans Zimmer Working on The Journey's Score". Twinfinite. Retrieved 31 August 2018.

[13] Hans Zimmer - Topic (30 September 2024). Dragon Age: The Veilguard Main Theme [From "Dragon Age: The Veilguard (Original Soundtrack)"]. Retrieved 1 October 2024 – via YouTube.

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