Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the singer-songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since scoring his first studio film in 1985, Elfman has garnered international recognition for composing over 100 feature film scores, as well as compositions for television, stage productions, and the concert hall.
Elfman has frequently worked with directors Tim Burton, Sam Raimi, and Gus Van Sant, contributing music to nearly 20 Burton projects, including Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, and Wednesday; as well as scoring Raimi's Darkman, A Simple Plan, Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Van Sant's Academy Award-winning films Good Will Hunting and Milk. He wrote music for all of the Men in Black and Fifty Shades of Grey franchise films, the songs and score for Henry Selick's animated musical The Nightmare Before Christmas, and the themes for the popular television series Desperate Housewives and The Simpsons.
Among his honors are four Oscar nominations, two Emmy Awards, a Grammy, seven Saturn Awards for Best Music, the 2002 Richard Kirk Award, the 2015 Disney Legend Award, the Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award in 2017, and the Society of Composers & Lyricists Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.
| Year | Film/Show | Role | Director | Studio/Distributor | Notes / Accolades |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | "The Gong Show" | Himself (uncredited) | Chuck Barris (Host/Producer) | NBC | Performed trombone with The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo; the group won the episode scoring 24 points out of 30 |
| 1977 | I Never Promised You a Rose Garden | Drummer (uncredited) | Anthony Page | Shout! Factory | Drummer, uncredited |
| Hot Tomorrows | Singer | Martin Brest | American Film Institute | Appeared with The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo performing the song "St. James Infirmary Blues" | |
| 1981 | Urgh! A Music War | Himself | Derek Burbidge | Lorimar | As lead singer/songwriter of Oingo Boingo |
| Longshot (aka Long Shot Kids) | Himself | E.W. Swackhamer | Greentree Productions | As lead singer/songwriter of Oingo Boingo | |
| 1982 | Forbidden Zone | Satan | Richard Elfman | Fantoma | |
| 1984 | Good Morning, Mr. Orwell | Himself | Nam June Paik | WNET TV, NYC / Centre Pompidou, Paris | As lead singer/songwriter for Oingo Boingo |
| 1986 | Back to School | Himself | Alan Metter | Orion Pictures | As lead singer/songwriter for Oingo Boingo |
| 1993 | The Nightmare Before Christmas | Jack Skellington (singing voice), Barrel, Clown with the Tear Away Face (voices) | Henry Selick | Touchstone Pictures | In addition writing and producing the score and ten original songs, Elfman provided the singing voice of main character Jack Skellington, among others |
| 1996 | Farewell: Live from the Universal Amphitheatre, Halloween 1995 | Himself | Danny Elfman, Steve Bartek, Ellen Engel (producers) | A&M Records | Appears as lead singer of Oingo Boingo in live concert recording of their final shows as a band
Released on VHS concurrent with the album and in 2001 on DVD; currently out-of-print Includes ten minutes of footage of Elfman performing with The Mystic Knight of the Oingo Boingo in the 1970s |
| 1997 | Flubber | Himself | Les Mayfield | Walt Disney Pictures, Great Oaks | |
| 2000 | The Gift | Tommy Lee Ballard | Sam Raimi | Paramount Classics | |
| 2005 | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Oompa-Loompas (voices, uncredited) | Tim Burton | Warner Bros. | In addition to composing the film's score and songs, Elfman provided the singing voices for all Oompa Loompa characters. |
| Corpse Bride | Bonejangles (voice) | Tim Burton | Warner Bros. | ||
| 2006 | The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson | Himself | Tim Mancinelli,
Brian McAloon |
CBS Television Studios | Appears as the second guest on December 19, season three, episode 64
Discusses early career, scoring Charlotte's Web and his brother Richard, who gave Ferguson his first film role |
| 2008 | Proud Iza | Narrator (voice) | Anna Condo | Fern Films | In addition to providing narration, Elfman's music from Standard Operating Procedure was used for this short film |
| 2010 | DemiUrge Emesis | Narrator (voice) | Aurelio Voltaire | Self produced by Voltaire | Part of Voltaire's stop motion short film series "Chimerascope" featuring voice-overs by music icons including Deborah Harry, Richard Butler and Gerard Way |
| 2015 | Live from Lincoln Center: Danny Elfman's Music from the Films of Tim Burton | Himself | Andrew Carl Wilk, Jim Fagan | PBS | Performed songs from The Nightmare Before Christmas
Won Outstanding Music Direction at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards, Elfman's second Emmy Award |
| 2016 | Score | Himself | Matt Schrader | Gravitas Ventures | Appeared among over 50 film composers discussing the craft of writing music for movies and influential figures in the business |
| 2019 | The Imagineering Story | Himself | Leslie Iwerks | Disney+ | Appears in episode 5, "A Carousel of Progress", to discuss his compositions for Hong Kong Disneyland's Mystic Manor |
| 2020 | Prop Culture | Himself | Jason C. Henry | Disney+ | Episode: "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas" |