John Debney

He has frequently collaborated with film directors including Brian Robbins, Jon Favreau, Garry Marshall, Tom Shadyac, Peter Hyams, Mark Dindal, and Brad Anderson. Debney has been the recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards and was nominated for an Academy Award for his score for Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2004).

John Debney, the son of Disney Studios producer Louis Debney (Zorro, The Mickey Mouse Club), was born in Glendale, California, near Disney's headquarters. He grew up in the city, began guitar lessons at six, and played in rock bands in college. He earned a B.A. degree in music composition from the California Institute of Arts in Santa Clarita in 1979.

After ending his career with Disney, John Debney worked for Mike Post. Debney furthered his hands-on training working with Hanna-Barbera composer Hoyt Curtin. Then Debney scored television projects including Disneyland, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, SeaQuest DSV, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, The Cape, The Lazarus Man, Piggsburg Pigs!, The Further Adventures of SuperTed, Doctor Who, Cagney & Lacey, Tiny Toon Adventures, The Young Riders, The New Yogi Bear Show, Police Academy: The Animated Series, Fame, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, Dragon's Lair, Freshman Dorm, Pop Quiz, and Dink, the Little Dinosaur, for which he won an Emmy for Best Main Title. In the early 1990s, Debney began to score indie films and Disneyland attractions. In 1991, Debney composed the music for Phantom Manor and It's a Small World (also used at Disneyland from 1993 to 2002) in Disneyland Paris and SpectroMagic at Magic Kingdom. In 1993, he scored his first studio feature, the Disney comedy Hocus Pocus starring Bette Midler. In 1994, Debney wrote Friends Forever with Greg Scelsa from Greg & Steve's album We All Live Together, Vol. 5. Debney has since composed scores for Cats & Dogs, The Passion of the Christ, Bruce Almighty, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Elf, Sin City, Chicken Little, Liar Liar, Spy Kids, The Scorpion King, The Princess Diaries, Predators, and other films. He has also composed scores for Lair and The Sims Medieval, both video games. In 2010, he composed the theme music for the Nickelodeon television series Supah Ninjas. He composed some of Disney Parks's Nighttime Spectaculars including World Of Color Celebrate! in Disney California Adventure, The Magic, The Memories And You!, Celebrate the Magic in Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom, and Celebrate! Tokyo Disneyland in Tokyo Disneyland in addition to an arrangement of "When You Wish Upon a Star" as a fanfare (the music played when the Walt Disney Pictures logo was shown) from 1985 to 2006.