Ludwig Göransson

Bio

Ludwig Göransson has earned extensive global recognition in both the recording and motion picture industries as a sought-out composer and musical collaborator, having received an Academy Award®, a Golden Globe Award®, a Critics’ Choice Award®, two Emmy® Awards, and three Grammy® Awards, amongst other nominations.

Beyond these accomplishments, Göransson stands out in his field as an artist who accepts the responsibilities of his craft. By immersing himself in the traditions and musical cultures of those his music represents with a curious and collaborative spirit, he has managed to bridge and reflect worlds honestly and vividly. Treating each score as an opportunity to connect with and learn from others, approaching projects with curiosity, and embracing a broad spectrum of sounds and styles are just a few of his creative trademarks.

Most recently, Göransson was once again enlisted by acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan to score one of the year’s most anticipated films, OPPENHEIMER, which has become a box office hit. Göransson earned a 2024 Golden Globe Award® and 2024 Critics’ Choice Award® for the ever-present score, which accompanies nearly every moment of the film, immersing the viewer in sound. The score is also nominated for several 2024 Grammy Awards®. OPPENHEIMER served as the second collaboration for Göransson and Nolan following their work together on the 2020 film TENET, for which Göransson received critical acclaim for his innovative ways of depicting entropy, palindromic sequences and the very human consequences of time inversion through music in his score.

Earning multiple awards and nominations for his work on BLACK PANTHER, including a Golden Globe nomination, a Grammy® Award for “Best Score Soundtrack”, and an Academy Award® for “Best Original Score,” Göransson returned to score and produce the soundtrack for 2022’s BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER, traveling to Nigeria and Mexico to bring together musicians from around the world and honor the legacy of the late Chadwick Boseman. The soundtrack featured the critically acclaimed song “Lift Me Up,” for which he (alongside Rihanna, Tems and Ryan Coogler) earned a 2023 Academy Award® nomination for “Best Original Song.”

In addition to BLACK PANTHER, Göransson has received critical praise and countless accolades for his work on celebrated films and series such as CREED, CREED II, VENOM and his two-time Emmy®-award winning score for THE MANDALORIAN on Disney+, LucasFilm’s first STAR WARS live-action streaming series helmed by director Jon Favreau. Göransson released eight full length space-Western inspired albums for this project, one album per episode, with recurring themes throughout the season. Göransson also composed the score for Pixar's 2022 TURNING RED, which showcased his broad range of musical styles and his ability to embrace unique instruments and sounds.

As a record producer and songwriter, he’s worked with a wide range of artists including Haim, Chance The Rapper, and Adele for which he co-wrote and produced “Strangers by Nature” for her Grammy-nominated fourth studio album, 30, a major worldwide success in 2021. After getting his big break writing music for the NBC television series, COMMUNITY, a lasting friendship and collaborative partnership began with artist Donald Glover, known under the stage name Childish Gambino – working on several studio albums including BECAUSE THE INTERNET and AWAKEN, MY LOVE. Göransson has since been nominated for six Grammys® with Childish Gambino, having won two in 2019 for the Billboard Hot 100 Number One hit song “This Is America,” which became a cultural phenomenon that garnered world-wide acclaim.

Shaped by European upbringing in Linköping, Sweden, Göransson attended the Stockholm Royal College of Music before moving to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California for its Scoring for Motion Picture and Television program. While pursuing his master’s degree in film scoring at USC, Göransson first met another longtime collaborator, writer and director Ryan Coogler, when he scored his short film, LOCKS. Over the next nine years, Göransson would score all three of Coogler’s feature films. Coogler’s diverse filmography has allowed Göransson to showcase his range as a composer: combining understated melodies with found Oakland sounds for FRUITVALE STATION, hyping up audiences for CREED, and weaving a wholly unique sonic fabric for BLACK PANTHER that embodies traditional African music, hip hop and Western Orchestra.

Alongside Coogler, Göransson is a founding partner at Proximity Media: a company with a mission to create event-driven feature films, television, soundtracks, and podcasts that strive to bring audiences closer together through stories of oftentimes overlooked subject matters.

Göransson resides in Los Angeles with his wife and frequent collaborator, Serena Göransson, and their two children.