Brian Theodore Tyler (born May 8, 1972) is an American composer, conductor, arranger and multi-instrumentalist best known for his film, television, and video game scores. In his 26-year career, Tyler has scored seven installments of the Fast & Furious franchise, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, the fourth and fifth films of the Rambo franchise, Eagle Eye, the fourth and fifth films of the Final Destination franchise, the first three films of The Expendables franchise, the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, and Avengers: Age of Ultron alongside Danny Elfman, the Now You See Me franchise, Crazy Rich Asians, the fifth and sixth films of the Scream franchise, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and its sequel, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, among others.
Tyler also created the current arrangement of the Universal Pictures logo fanfare (originally composed by Jerry Goldsmith) which debuted with The Lorax (2012) in celebration of Universal Pictures' 100th anniversary. He also composed the 2013–2016 Marvel Studios logo, which debuted with Thor: The Dark World (2013), which he also composed the film's score. He composed the NFL Sunday Countdown Theme for ESPN, the Formula One theme (also used in Formula 2 and Formula 3), and the anthem for the Esports World Cup. He is also behind the soundtrack of many television series including Yellowstone, 1883 and 1923, all with Breton Vivian. For his work as a film composer, he won the IFMCA Awards 2014 Composer of the Year.
His composition for the film Last Call earned him the first of three Emmy nominations, a gold record, and induction into the music branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As of April 2026, his films are approaching $20 billion at the global box office, putting him in the top 10 highest-grossing film composers of all time.
He also has an electronic music alias, "Are We Dreaming".
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Early life and education
Tyler was born and raised in Orange County, California. His grandfather was art director Walter H. Tyler. One of his first major influences was his pianist grandmother. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and a master's from Harvard University. Growing up, he taught himself to play dozens of musical instruments, including drums, piano, guitar, bass, cello, world percussion, synthesizer, charango and bouzouki.
Career
Film
Tyler began scoring features shortly after graduating from Harvard. Robert Kraft, who was impressed with Tyler's music, encouraged him to pursue a career in film scoring. Tyler's first film score was for the independent film Bartender (1997), directed by Gabe Torres. The following year, he and Red Elvises composed the score for Six-String Samurai (1998).
Tyler's breakthrough came in the early 2000s, after composing for the Frailty (2001). His work on Last Call (2002) earned him an induction into the music branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Director William Friedkin, impressed with Tyler's work on Frailty, engaged him to compose for The Hunted (2003), which earned Tyler a World Soundtrack Award in 2002 for Best New Film Composer of the Year. Starting in 2003, Tyler began working on big-budget films, including Timeline (2003), Godsend (2004), The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005), and Constantine (2005). His cues for Children of Dune were used in multiple other theatrical film trailers, including Master and Commander (2003), Sahara (2005), Cinderella Man (2005), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), and Star Trek (2009). The track "Summon the Worms" was used as a leader for the Dutch show Peking Express, and in the first leaked promotional reel for The Golden Compass (2007).
In 2007, he was hired to compose for Partition (2007), where he integrated Indian and Middle Eastern music with orchestral writing. He conducted the orchestral portion of the score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony in Los Angeles.
On September 5, 2011, Tyler announced that he was in talks to score the 2011 remake of Highlander, and pilot episodes for the animated series Transformers: Prime. He scored four episodes of the latter.
In 2012, Tyler scored and arranged a new version of the fanfare of the Universal Pictures logo, originally composed by Jerry Goldsmith, in observance of the studio's 100th anniversary. The new score added a choir, a more majestic arranging style, and a closing drum cadence. It made its debut alongside the logo with The Lorax on March 2, 2012.
In 2013, Tyler composed the fanfare of Marvel Studios, which made its debut alongside the logo with Thor: The Dark World, which he also composed the score of the film, on October 23, 2013, at the Odeon Leicester Square.
Music
Tyler is the musician behind the audio-visual project "Are We Dreaming". In an interview with BMI, he described his project as an exploration of space and the connection to human emotion driven through his usual film soundtrack style.
Personal life
Tyler got divorced from his first wife on December 23, 2009. He remarried on June 29, 2013. He has no children.