About Alan Silvestri

Alan Anthony Silvestri is an American composer, conductor, and musician. He is best known for his film and television scores, such as those for the Back to the Future films, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump, The Polar Express, Cast Away, Ready Player One, Avengers: Endgame and many more. He was awarded an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score in 1995 for Forrest Gump. In addition to his film and television scores, he has written several concert works including the Denver Symphony Orchestra's 2009 premiere performance of his Celtic Concerto.

Early Life of Alan Silvestri

Silvestri was born in New York City on March 26, 1950. He is of Italian descent. His family moved to California when he was seven years old. He began piano lessons at an early age and soon took up the trumpet as well. He attended Van Nuys High School and then pursued a degree in music at California State University, Northridge.

Career of Alan Silvestri

Silvestri started his career in the 1970s as a jingle writer for television commercials. In the 1980s he moved into scoring films with some smaller projects such as the horror film The Entity (1982) and Romancing the Stone (1984). His big break came when he was asked to score Back to the Future (1985) which became a box-office hit and earned him widespread recognition. Since then he has composed music for over 100 films including Forrest Gump (1994), The Avengers (2012), Cast Away (2000), Night at the Museum (2006) and Ready Player One (2018).

Awards & Accolades

Silvestri has been nominated for two Academy Awards; Best Original Score for Forrest Gump (1995) and Best Original Song for “Believe” from The Polar Express (2004). He has also won numerous BMI Awards for his film scores as well as a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for his score for Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014).

Personal Life

Silvestri resides in Los Angeles with his wife Sandra. They have two sons; Aaron who is a director and producer, and Matthew who is an actor and composer. He has been active in charity work over the years; he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2017 in recognition of his charitable work.