Ludwig Emil Tomas Göransson (/ˈɡɔːrənsən/;[2] Swedish: [ˈlɵ̌dːvɪɡ ˈjœ̂ːranˌsɔn]; born 1 September 1984) is a Swedish musician, composer, conductor, songwriter, and record producer. For his work in music, film and television, he has won several accolades including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and four Grammy Awards.
As a record producer, he has frequently collaborated with Childish Gambino, producing his studio albums Camp, Because the Internet and "Awaken, My Love!", among others. Göransson's producing work on Gambino's 2018 single "This Is America" was met with acclaim and accolades, including two Grammy Awards — for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. He has also produced for other recording artists, such as Adele, Alicia Keys, Rihanna, Chance the Rapper, Haim, Justin Timberlake, Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott and Moses Sumney.
On television, he received his first break as a composer for the NBC comedy series Community (2009–2015) followed by the Fox sitcom New Girl (2011–2018). He transitioned into dramatic work, scoring the Disney+ series The Mandalorian (2019–2020), which earned him two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series. He also composed the main theme for The Book of Boba Fett (2021–2022).
For his work on film he has earned two Academy Awards for Best Original Score, for Ryan Coogler's superhero film Black Panther (2018) and Christopher Nolan's biopic Oppenheimer (2023). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Lift Me Up" performed by Rihanna featured in Wakanda Forever (2022). He has collaborated with Coogler serving as composer for Fruitvale Station (2013), Creed (2015), Creed II (2018), and Sinners (2025). He is also known for scoring Venom (2018), Tenet (2020) and Turning Red (2022).
Göransson was born and raised in Linköping. His mother Maria, a florist, is from Warsaw, Poland, and his father Tomas, a guitar teacher,[3][4] is Swedish. He has an older sister named Jessika.[5][6][7] He is named after Ludwig van Beethoven.[5]
He began music lessons at a young age and went on to graduate from the Stockholm Royal College of Music. In 2007, he moved to Los Angeles to study at the University of Southern California Scoring for Motion Picture and Television program.[8] It was at that university that Ludwig met Ryan Coogler, for whom Ludwig composed the score for the award-winning short film locks in 2009, which Coogler wrote and directed while at USC.[3] Soon after graduating from USC, he began work assisting Theodore Shapiro, a composer known for films such as Along Came Polly, The Devil Wears Prada, Idiocracy, and Tropic Thunder. Göransson's first break came in 2009 as the composer for the sitcom Community.[4]
In 2013, Göransson's first feature film came from fellow USC graduate Ryan Coogler. Göransson composed the score to Coogler's critically acclaimed drama Fruitvale Station, based on the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Oscar Grant. The film won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience awards in the Dramatic category at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, also taking home the Avenir Prize and Un Certain Regard awards at the Cannes Film Festival.[citation needed] In August 2013, Göransson signed a management deal as a composer for Jay-Z's label, Roc Nation.[9][5] That year he also composed the music for the movie We're the Millers.[citation needed] In 2015, Coogler and Göransson again worked together this time on the critically acclaimed Rocky franchise film Creed. By 2016–17, he was scoring True Memoirs of an International Assassin, Central Intelligence and Everything, Everything.[citation needed]
In 2018, Göransson and Coogler came together for their third collaboration, Black Panther.[10] Göransson set out to create a score that would sit somewhere between traditional African instrumentation and a traditional superhero score. In order to do this he travelled to Senegal to research traditional African music and instruments. There he met musician Baaba Maal whose voice is featured in the score, singing in his native Fula language. He later traveled to the International Library of African Music in South Africa, founded by Hugh Tracey, where he listened to recordings of traditional musicians to ensure the score had a culturally traditional sound.[11] In 2019, Göransson's score for Black Panther won the Academy Award for Best Original Score and the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.[12][13]
On 22 May 2019, it was announced that Göransson was composing the film score for Christopher Nolan's Tenet.[14] Göransson was chosen after Nolan's frequent collaborator and first choice, Hans Zimmer, turned down the offer in favor of the 2021 film Dune.[15][16] Göransson experimented with retrograde composition and sampling to match the themes and tone of the film. The first scoring session was held in November 2019, and sessions continued into early 2020.[17] He worked on original songs and music with Justin Timberlake for the 2020 film Trolls World Tour.[5]
Since 2019, Göransson has composed the score for the Disney+ television series The Mandalorian, which is set in the Star Wars universe, as well as the fanfare for the franchise's brand logo.[5] He won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for both season 1[18] and season 2's[19] finales. In 2021, he started scoring sessions for The Mandalorian's spinoff series, The Book of Boba Fett,[20] which premiered on 29 December 2021. In 2021, he was chosen to be the composer of the new fanfare for Warner Bros. Pictures, which combines a new arrangement of "As Time Goes By" with elements of the original Max Steiner fanfare.[citation needed] In 2022, he worked on the scores of the Pixar film Turning Red and the second Black Panther installment, Wakanda Forever. For the latter, he co-wrote the song "Lift Me Up" performed by Rihanna, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.[21]
He worked for a second time with Christopher Nolan on his 2023 film Oppenheimer.[22] Its accompanying soundtrack received critical acclaim and earned Göransson the BAFTA Award for Best Original Music, the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Score, the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, and the Academy Award for Best Original Score.[23]
In 2010, when Donald Glover first approached Göransson about his side project, Childish Gambino, the two were working on the set of Community.[4] Since then they have released four albums: Camp, Because the Internet, "Awaken, My Love!", and 3.15.20. Göransson served as producer and writer for every song on the album "Awaken, My Love!", inspired by Parliament-Funkadelic and black power music of the '70s. In November, they earned four Grammy nominations for their work, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for "Redbone".[24] Overall, his work with Gambino earned him six Grammy Award nominations.[citation needed] In 2012, Göransson produced Haim's debut EP and helped establish the band with a new sound on the song "Forever".[citation needed] He also produced two songs on the band's debut album Days Are Gone.[citation needed]
On 5 May 2018, "This Is America" was released. Produced by Gambino and Ludwig Göransson, the song features a gospel-style choir and background contributions from various American rappers Young Thug, Slim Jxmmi, BlocBoy JB, 21 Savage, Quavo and Offset. "This Is America" debuted at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming the 31st song to do so in the chart's history. The song won in all four of its nominated categories at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap/Sung Performance, and Best Music Video.[25]
Göransson married American violinist Serena McKinney in 2018.[26] Their first child was born in 2019.[5] He has two sons.[27]
As a composer
| Year | Title | Director(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 30 Minutes or Less | Ruben Fleischer | |
| 2013 | Fruitvale Station | Ryan Coogler | First collaboration with Coogler. |
| We're the Millers | Rawson Marshall Thurber | ||
| 2014 | Stretch | Joe Carnahan | |
| The Town That Dreaded Sundown | Alfonso Gomez-Rejon | ||
| A Merry Friggin' Christmas | Tristram Shapeero | ||
| Top Five | Chris Rock | ||
| 2015 | Creed | Ryan Coogler | Second collaboration with Coogler. |
| 2016 | Central Intelligence | Rawson Marshall Thurber | |
| True Memoirs of an International Assassin | Jeff Wadlow | ||
| 2017 | Everything, Everything | Stella Meghie | |
| 2018 | Black Panther | Ryan Coogler | Third collaboration with Coogler. |
| Death Wish | Eli Roth | ||
| Slice | Austin Vesely | ||
| Venom | Ruben Fleischer | ||
| Creed II | Steven Caple Jr. | ||
| 2020 | Tenet | Christopher Nolan | First collaboration with Nolan. |
| 2021 | Bad Trip | Kitao Sakurai | |
| 2022 | Turning Red | Domee Shi | |
| Black Panther: Wakanda Forever | Ryan Coogler | Fourth collaboration with Coogler. | |
| 2023 | Oppenheimer | Christopher Nolan | Second collaboration with Nolan. |
| 2025 | Sinners | Ryan Coogler | Fifth collaboration with Coogler. Also executive producer[28] |
| 2026 | The Odyssey | Christopher Nolan | Third collaboration with Nolan. |
| Year | Title | Showrunner(s) | Network |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009–2015 | Community | Dan Harmon | NBC (seasons 1–5) Yahoo! Screen (season 6) |
| 2011–2013 | Happy Endings | David Caspe | ABC |
| 2011–2018 | New Girl | Elizabeth Meriwether | Fox |
| 2014–2015 | Satisfaction | Sean Jablonski | USA Network |
| 2016–2018 | Angie Tribeca | Steve Carell Nancy Carell |
TBS |
| 2017 | Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King | Hasan Minhaj | Netflix |
| 2018–2020 | Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj | Richard A. Preuss | |
| 2019–2020 | The Mandalorian | Jon Favreau | Disney+ |
| 2021–2022 | The Book of Boba Fett | Jon Favreau |
Göransson composed the Disney+ drama series The Mandalorian, which earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for both season 1 and season 2's finales. He composed the main theme for The Mandalorian's spinoff series, The Book of Boba Fett, which debuted in 2021. On film, he composed the Ryan Coogler directed 2018 superhero film Black Panther, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Score and the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. He further scored the second Black Panther film, 2022's Wakanda Forever, achieving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Lift Me Up" performed by Rihanna. His work on Christopher Nolan's epic biopic Oppenheimer (2023) earned his first wins at the BAFTA Awards and Golden Globe Awards, and a second win at the Academy Awards.
I called him and I was like: 'Hey, my name is Ludwig Göransson and I'm a film composer ...'
.jpg/250px-Ludwig_Göransson_2018_Interview_(cropped).jpg){kind=small}
.jpg)
