Germaine Franco is an American film composer, conductor, songwriter, arranger, record producer, and percussionist. She is a Grammy-winning and Oscar-nominated composer. Her extensive resume, coupled with her curiosity, and inventiveness, has made her a trailblazer. Franco was the first Latina to win a Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media with her score for Encanto (2021),[1] and the first to receive the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature with Coco in 2018. In addition, Encanto received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score, an SCL Award for Outstanding Original Score for a Studio Film, an Annie Award for Best Music in a Feature, a Billboard Music Award, and a World Soundtrack Awards nomination for Film Composer of the Year in 2022. She is also the first Latina to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score, as well as the first to join the music branch of the Academy.[2] She recently completed work on the Netflix smash hit The Mother directed by Niki Caro. The film is one of Netflix's most successful releases to date, going No.1 in 82 countries.[3]

In 2018, Univision named Franco one of the Top 15 Latinas who are changing the world.[4] Other film and television scores Franco has contributed to include Coco (2017), Tag (2018), Dope (2015), Vida (2018), Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019), and Little (2019).[5][6] Her work has been performed at concert halls such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall with The Los Angeles Master Chorale,[7] The Puerto Rico Symphony, The Dallas Symphony Orchestra, The National Symphony Orchestra, and The Chicago Philharmonic, among others.

Early life

Franco was born in California.[8] She attended the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University where she studied percussion and composition, earning a bachelor's degree in 1984 and a master's in 1987. It was during this time she started writing music in addition to performing.[9]

Filmography

Year Title Director Notes
2007 3 Américas Cristina Kotz Cornejo —
2009 Entre Nos Paola Mendoza and Gloria La Morte
A Crushing Love Sylvia Morales
2010 Visions of Aztlan Jesus Salvador Treviño
2012 Margarita Dominique Cardona
Laurie Colbert 		—
2013 Living on One Dollar Zach Ingrasci, Sean Leonard, and Chris Temple
2014 The Book of Life Jorge Gutierrez
East LA Interchange Betsy Kalin composer: additional music
2015 Dope Rick Famuyiwa Nominated — Black Reel Award for Outstanding Original Score
2016 Shovel Buddies Adam Townley
Simon Atkinson 		—
2017 Coco Lee Unkrich Score composed by Michael Giacchino
Additional music and Songwriter with Adrian Molina and Giacchino
Annie Award for Music in a Feature Production (Shared with Giacchino, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez, and Molina)
Walk with Me: On The Road With Thich Nhat Hanh Marc Francis, Max Pugh
Coco VR Experience
Motiongate Steve Hickner & Gary Trousdale
2018 Tag Jeff Tomsic —
Public Disturbance Danny Lee —
Kung Fu Panda: The Emperor's Quest Steve Hickner & Gary Trousdale
Chiefs Zenta Fuentes Composed with John Debney
Life-Size 2 Steven K. Tsuchida
Vida Various
2019 Epcot Center: The Music of Coco Music Producer, Arranger and Curator
Little Tina Gordon —
Someone Great Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
Dora and the Lost City of Gold James Bobin Composed with John Debney
Curious George: Royal Monkey Doug Murphy —
The Casagrandes Miguel Puga
Mike Nordstrom 		Main Titles Theme Composer/Songwriter;
Score Composed by Jonathan Hylander
The Loud House Michael Rubiner Songwriter/Composer – "Greatest One Of All Time"
2020 Work It Laura Terruso —
The Sleepover Trish Sie —
Curious George: Go West, Go Wild Michael LaBash —
Kung Fu Panda Land of Awesomeness - Theme Park Dean Orion
Yearley Departed – TV Special Linda Mendoza
2021 Encanto[10] Byron Howard
Jared Bush 		Composer
Songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Annie Award for Music in a Feature Production
Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Original Score
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score
2022 A Cloud Never Dies Marc J. Francis and Max Pugh
2023 The Mother[11] Niki Caro —

References

  1. ^ "Encanto Composer Germaine Franco on the New Disney Classic". 25 January 2022.
  2. ^ "Germaine Franco Talks Scoring 'Tag' & The Lack of Female Composers in Hollywood: 'It's Not a Glass Ceiling, It's Made of Cement'". Billboard. 15 June 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  3. ^ "Why The Mother Broke A 2023 Netflix Streaming Record". ScreenRant. 27 May 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  4. ^ "Germaine Franco: For bringing Mexican music to the big screen".
  5. ^ "Interview with Germaine Franco :: Film Music Magazine". Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  6. ^ "Dora and the Lost City of Gold". People en Español. 15 August 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  7. ^ "Composer".
  8. ^ "Germaine Franco".
  9. ^ "Oscar nominee Germaine Franco on building a career in music: 'Whatever it is you love to do, that's what you should be doing'". Rice News | News and Media Relations | Rice University. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  10. ^ "Germaine Franco Scoring Disney's 'Encanto'". filmmusicreporter.com. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  11. ^ "Germaine Franco Scoring Niki Caro's 'The Mother'". Film Music Reporter. 1 May 2023.

Further reading

External links