Leo Birenberg is an American composer and orchestrator for film and television.
Born in Kentucky and raised in Chicago, Birenberg studied composition at NYU and USC. [1] While there, he started composing his first scores in collaboration with his roommate, filmmaker Jeremy Reitz. [2] His favorite score is from Out of Africa . [3]
After graduating, he had a chance encounter with composer Christophe Beck, who ended up taking Birenberg on as a mentee. [4] Under Beck's tutelage, Birenberg worked as the score coordinator on numerous large projects, including The Muppets, Pitch Perfect , Runner Runner , and Frozen. In 2014, Birenberg started composing additional music for Beck’s films, including Muppets Most Wanted , Edge of Tomorrow , and Ant-Man. [5]
In 2014, Birenberg also started composing his own original scores for television shows, including Next Time on Lonny, The Britishes, Big Time in Hollywood, FL , [6] and the YouTube Red series Sing It! [7]
In 2016, Birenberg received an email from producer Eric Appel, and asked to compose music for the then-upcoming FX series Son of Zorn . [8] Upon approaching the series, he took the original up-beat synth-heavy score and replaced it with something that spanned a vast array of musical styles, sampling the styles of country music and church choirs. [9] In 2017, Birenberg released a soundtrack for the show. That same year, Birenberg also started composing music for the Seeso original series Take My Wife. He also composed the score for the 2017 comedy F the Prom . [10]
In 2018, Birenberg co-composed YouTube and Sony series Cobra Kai with composer Zach Robinson. [11] They also scored the subsequent seasons through to season six. In addition, he recently scored the music for Dreamworks' Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny. [12]
In 2019, Leo composed the music for Hulu's Pen15. [13] He also recently scored Adult Swim's animated series Tigtone and Tribeca Film Festival selection Plus One. [3]
The joint score with Zach Robinson for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story won the 2023 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special (Original Dramatic Score). [14] The duo also gained the following nominations:
Their music for Cobra Kai has had the following nominations:
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
2024 | How to Rob a Bank | Composer |
2024 | Die Hart: Die Harter | Composer with Zach Robinson |
2023 | Bottoms | Composer with Charli XCX |
2022 | Weird: The Al Yankovic Story | Composer with Zach Robinson |
2022 | Butcher's Crossing | Composer |
2022 | Mack & Rita | Composer |
2022 | Anything's Possible | Composer |
2022 | Unplugging | Composer |
2020 | Impractical Jokers: The Movie | Composer with Zach Robinson |
2020 | Secret Society of Second Born Royals | Composer |
2019 | Red Penguins | Composer |
2019 | Plus One | Composer |
2017 | F the Prom | Composer with Zach Robinson |
2015 | The Peanuts Movie | Composer (additional music) |
2015 | Ant-Man | Composer (additional music) |
2015 | Hot Tub Time Machine 2 | Composer (additional music), Orchestrator |
2014 | Good Kill | Composer (additional music) |
2014 | Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day | Score Producer |
2014 | Red Army | Composer |
2014 | Edge of Tomorrow | Composer (additional music) |
2014 | Muppets Most Wanted | Composer (additional music) |
2014 | Endless Love | Composer (additional music), Score Producer |
2013 | Frozen | Score Coordinator |
2013 | Runner Runner | Score Coordinator |
2013 | R.I.P.D. | Score Coordinator |
2013 | The Internship | Score Coordinator |
2013 | The Hangover Part III | Score Coordinator |
2013 | Movie 43 | Composer (segment: "Happy Birthday") |
2013 | Charlie Countryman | Score Coordinator |
2012 | Struck By Lightning | Score Coordinator |
2012 | The Guilt Trip | Score Coordinator |
2012 | Pitch Perfect | Music Assistant |
2012 | The Watch | Score Coordinator |
2012 | This Means War | Score Coordinator |
2011 | The Muppets | Score Coordinator |
2011 | Tower Heist | Score Coordinator |
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
2025 | Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man | Composer with Zach Robinson (10 episodes) |
2024–present | Jurassic World: Chaos Theory | Composer; Original Jurassic Park themes by John Williams (10 episodes) |
2023–2025 | Twisted Metal | Composer with Zach Robinson (10 episodes) |
2023 | Obliterated | Composer with Zach Robinson (8 episodes) |
2023 | Florida Man | Composer with Zach Robinson (7 episodes) |
2022 | Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin | Composer with Zach Robinson (6 episodes) |
2022–2023 | Interrupting Chicken | Composer (11 episodes) |
2022 | The Boys Presents: Diabolicals | Composer (TV mini series, 1 episode) |
2020–2023 | Die Hart | Composer with Leo Birenberg (18 episodes) |
2020–2022 | Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous | Composer; Original Jurassic Park and Jurassic World themes by John Williams and Michael Giacchino (50 episodes) |
2020–2021 | Central Park | Composer (12 episodes) |
2020 | Helter Skelter: An American Myth | Composer (TV mini series, 6 episodes) |
2019–2021 | PEN15 | Composer (24 episodes) |
2019–2020 | Tigtone | Composer (20 episodes) |
2018–2019 | Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny | Composer (26 episodes) |
2018–2025 | Cobra Kai | Composer with Zach Robinson (65 episodes) |
2018 | In Search of Greatness | Composer |
2016–2018 | Adam Ruins Everything | Composer (7 episodes) |
2016 | Take My Wife | Composer (7 episodes) |
2016 | Son of Zorn | Composer (13 episodes) |
2016 | A Classy Broad | Composer |
2016 | Sing It! | Composer with Zach (10 episodes) |
2015 | Big Time in Hollywood, FL | Composer (12 episodes) |
2014 | The Britishes | Composer |
2014 | Next Time on Lonny | Composer (10 episodes) |
2014 | 30 for 30: Soccer Stories | Composer (1 episode) |
2012 | The Kindly Midwesterner | Composer (TV mini series, 8 episodes) |
2011–2013 | Dropout | Composer (18 episodes) |
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
2023 | Every Part of You | Composer |
2023 | One Night With Love | Composer |
2020 | Pretty People | Composer |
2016 | Remember This Voice | Composer |
2015 | Scatterwild | Composer |
2014 | Grooming | Composer |
2013 | After I've Gone | Composer |
2013 | Three Little Words | Composer |
2013 | The Desert Son | Composer |
2012 | Goat Sucker | Composer |
2011 | Dani and Wayne | Composer |
2011 | Shock Troop | Composer |
2011 | Baby Ruth | Composer |
2010 | The Harbinger | Composer |
2010 | The Half Man | Composer |
2009 | Caring Hearts & Caring Hands | Composer |
2009 | Kouzelnik | Composer |
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
2022 | Cobra Kai 2: Dojos Rising | Composer with Zach Robinson |
2020 | Cobra Kai: The Karate Kid Saga Continues | Composer with Zach Robinson |