Nathan Matthew David
Nathan Matthew David | |
|---|---|
| Born | Nathan Matthew David United States |
| Education | University of Southern California |
| Genres | Film and television scores, electronic, experimental |
| Occupations | Composer, musician |
| Instruments | Piano, keyboards, synthesizer, guitar |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Website | nathanmatthewdavid |
Nathan Matthew David is a Filipino and American film and television composer and musician. He is known for his scoring work on independent films and documentary features, and has served as composer for the television comedy series Angie Tribeca (2016–2018), the first season of the Lifetime documentary series Surviving R. Kelly (2019), the comedy film Joy Ride (2023), and on the DreamWorks animated film Forgotten Island (2026).
Early life and education
[edit]Nathan Matthew David was born in the United States to Filipino immigrants, one from Manila and one from Pampanga; neither of them were musicians.[1]
After writing some scores for student films and playing in bands, he studied music formally, graduating from the Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program at University of Southern California.[1][2] He studied a lot of western music, before turning to traditional Filipino music, including instruments such as the kulintang to the kutyapi, and has regarded himself as "an eternal student to these practices".[1]
Career
[edit]After graduating, David was brought on as composer for the 2008 independent Singaporean drama film The Olive Depression, directed by Joshua Lim. The film was noted for its sparse use of music, which Lim noted was a choice he and David agreed on during post-production.[3] Among his other early solo work as composer was for the 2013 film Welcome Nowhere, directed by Kate Ryan and narrated by Ethan Hawke, which tackled the lives of Roma people in Bulgaria.
David later began collaborating with his mentors Ludwig Göransson and Theodore Shapiro on various projects, including We're the Millers, Community, Spy, Office Christmas Party, A Simple Favor, Bombshell, Tenet, and The Mandalorian.[4][5]
He then began working on solo composition, and composed the score for the first season of the Lifetime documentary Surviving R. Kelly in 2019. He composed music on the HBO documentary Under the Grapefruit Tree: The CC Sabathia Story.[6]
David's other notable works include Satisfaction, Slice, Deadly Class, Young Rock (TV series, 2021-2023), Hypnotic (2021), Chang Can Dunk,[7][1] Stephen Curry: Underrated, Joy Ride,[8] Addicted to Fresno, The Last Word (2017),[2] the 2022 Netflix comedy film Me Time,[9] TV comedy drama series The Brothers Sun (2024),[10] and Diarra from Detroit (2024).[11] He also composed additional music for the 2015 Warner Bros. film The Intern.[2]
He wrote the score for DreamWorks' 2026 animated film Forgotten Island. His score for this film combines elements from the 1980s and 1990s, especially Filipino and Filipino American music, and he wanted to incorporate a feeling of nostalgia. He included instruments from indigenous Filipino peoples, using traditional instruments such as chanters, the Las Piñas bamboo pipe organ, and a Filipino choir singing in Tagalog.[12] "A Parallel World", co-written and produced by David and performed by Filipino girl group Bini, was released as a promotional lead single before the film's theatrical opening on September 26.[13][14][15] The soundtrack also features other Filipino artists, including H.E.R., Sophia Laforteza, Lea Salonga, and SB19.[12][16]
David has cited various influences for his music, including Alexandre Desplat, Dario Marianelli, Gustavo Santaolalla, Jon Brion, John Adams, Steve Reich, Explosions in the Sky, Imogen Heap and Sigur Rós among others.[6][1]
Recognition and awards
[edit]In 2020, David was the recipient of several awards for his work on Surviving R. Kelly: a Peabody Award, an ASCAP award, and the 2020 Dean and Mary Kay ASCAP Foundation award.[6]
In 2021, he was nominated for a Sports Emmy Award for his work on Under the Grapefruit Tree: The CC Sabathia Story.[6]
Personal life
[edit]David is a U.S. citizen.[1] He engages in activism and volunteering, and is interested in the intersection of music with architecture.[1]
Filmography
[edit] | This section needs more citations. (August 2026) |
As composer
[edit]Film
[edit]| Year | Title | Director(s) | Studio(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Sweet Lullaby | JC Gallego | Short film | |
| Heartbreaker | Christian Carroll | Short film | ||
| 2007 | Roman Candles | Christian Carroll | Short film[17] | |
| 2008 | The Olive Depression[3] | Joshua Lim | Malacca Pictures | |
| The Lost Coast | Gabriel Fleming | Year Zero Pictures | ||
| 2009 | Command or Truth | Darine Hotait | Cinephilia Productions | Short film[18] |
| The Philosopher Kings | Patrick Shen | Transcendental Media | Documentary film | |
| The Far Side of Laughter | Darine Hotait | Cinephilia Productions | Short film[19] | |
| My Homework Ate My Dog | Crystal Page | Short film[20] | ||
| The Afterlight | Alexei Kaleina Craig William Macneill |
Wintersea Films | ||
| 2010 | Children of God | Kareem Mortimer | Mercury Rising Films | |
| Less | Gabriel Diamond | OutsideFilms | with Ivy Ross, Hands, Dylan Trees, Tommy Rickard | |
| 2011 | 4.2.3. | Ryan Colucci[21] | Spoke Lane Entertainment Filmworks/FX |
Short film |
| 2012 | Tina for President | Carmen Emmi | USC School of Cinematic Arts | Short film |
| Veer! | Patrick Barry | Blue Llama Studios | ||
| 2013 | 10 Rules for Sleeping Around | Leslie Greif | Screen Media Films | with Alan Ett |
| Welcome Nowhere | Kate Ryan | One Small Instrument Pictures | Documentary film | |
| 2015 | Don Quixote: The Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha | various | Rabbit Bandini Productions USC School of Cinematic Arts |
with Jeremy Lamb |
| The House on Pine Street | Aaron Keeling Austin Keeling |
E3W Productions | with Jeremy Lamb | |
| Addicted to Fresno | Jamie Babbit | Andrea Sperling Productions Gamechanger Films Gravitas Ventures |
||
| Drunk Wedding | Nick Weiss | Weston Pictures Paramount Pictures |
||
| Jane Wants a Boyfriend | William Sullivan | Orion Pictures | First collaboration with William Sullivan | |
| 2016 | Trust Fund | Sandra L. Martin | KC Film Office | |
| 2017 | The Last Word | Mark Pellington | Bleecker Street | |
| Actors Anonymous | Juel Taylor and others | Rabbit Bandini Productions USC School of Cinematic Arts Front Row Filmed Entertainment |
with Jongnic Bontemps | |
| Dismissed | Benjamin Arfmann | BoulderLight Pictures | ||
| 2018 | The Game Changers | Louie Psihoyos | Oceanic Preservation Society Refuel Productions Diamond Docs The Djinn Foundation |
Documentary film |
| Summer '03 | Becca Gleason | Big Cat Productions Blue Fox Entertainment |
||
| Slice | Austin Vesely | Frëhand N2ition Cinema A24 |
with Ludwig Göransson | |
| 2019 | Hold On | Tarek Tohme | Flipped Out Entertainment Joule Entertainment Stone Canyon Pictures |
with Jeremy Lamb |
| 2020 | Under the Grapefruit Tree: The CC Sabathia Story | Aaron Cohen | HBO Sports | Documentary film |
| 2021 | Accepted | Dan Chen[22] | Jubilee Media Greenwich Entertainment Concordia Studio |
Documentary film |
| Beauty Queen | Myra Aquino | Short film | ||
| American Insurrection | William Sullivan | Saban Films | Second collaboration with William Sullivan | |
| Hypnotic | Matt Angel Suzanne Coote |
The Long Game Netflix |
||
| A Man Named Scott | Robert Alexander | Mad Solar Film 45 Amazon Studios |
Documentary film | |
| 2022 | Defy | Jon Jon Augustavo | A Bunch of Savages | Short film with Christophe Beck, Matthew Wang, DeadMono[23] |
| 2023 | Stephen Curry: Underrated | Peter Nicks | A24 Apple TV+ |
Documentary film |
| Chang Can Dunk | Jingyi Shao | Hillman Grad Productions Makeready Walt Disney Pictures |
||
| Joy Ride | Adele Lim | Lionsgate Films | ||
| 2025 | Take No Prisoners | Adam Ciralsky Subrata De |
P3 Media Vanity Fair Studios |
|
| 2026 | Forgotten Island | Joel Crawford Januel Mercado |
DreamWorks Animation Universal Pictures |
|
Television
[edit]| Year | Title | Director(s) | Production company | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-2015 | Satisfaction | USA Network | 20 episodes, with Ludwig Göransson | |
| 2016-2018 | Angie Tribeca | TBS[2] | 30 episodes, with Ludwig Göransson | |
| 2018-2019 | Deadly Class | Lee Toland Krieger Adam Kane Alexis Ostrander Paco Cabezas Anthony Leonardi Ami Canaan Mann Wayne Yip |
Syfy | 10 episodes |
| 2019 | Surviving R. Kelly | Nigel Bellis Astral Finnie |
Lifetime | Documentary series |
| 2021-2023 | Young Rock | NBC | 37 episodes | |
| 2024 | The Brothers Sun | Kevin Tancharoen Viet Nguyen |
Brad Falchuk Teley-Vision Netflix |
8 episodes |
| Diarra from Detroit | Chioke Nassor Brennan Shroff Sadé Clacken Joseph America Young |
BET+ | ||
| 2024-2025 | Chef's Table | Brian McGinn | Boardwalk Pictures Netflix |
Documentary series; 2 episodes |
Additional music
[edit]- The Intern (2015)
- Office Christmas Party (as assistant to Theodore Shapiro; 2016)
- The Mandalorian (2019–2023)
- Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023)
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 David, Nathan Matthew (May 28, 2021). "Nathan Matthew David" (Interview). Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Musicians. Retrieved August 11, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 "Nathan Matthew David". ASCAP. Retrieved August 11, 2026.
- 1 2 Ortmann, Mathias (March 18, 2009). "Interview with Joshua Lim, director of "The Olive Depression"". Sinema.SG. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
- ↑ "Meet award-winning film composer Nathan Matthew David who's on an epic roll". inquirer.net. Retrieved May 20, 2026.
- ↑ "Nathan Matthew David". AAPI Musicians. Retrieved May 20, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 "Nathan Matthew David". USC Thornton School of Music. Retrieved May 20, 2026.
- ↑ Shuler, Skyler. "Composer Nathan Matthew David to Score Disney+'s 'Chang Can Dunk'". The DisInsider. Retrieved May 20, 2026.
- ↑ Giroux, Jack. "Joy Ride Composer Nathan Matthew David is Grateful For The Moment". mande.net. Below the Line. Retrieved May 20, 2026.
- ↑ "That Breakthrough Moment". www.ascap.com. November 19, 2021. Retrieved August 11, 2026.
- ↑ "Nathan Matthew David & Nick Lee Scoring Netflix's 'The Brothers Sun'". Film Music Reporter. November 22, 2023. Retrieved August 11, 2026.
- ↑ "Diarra From Detroit: Season 2, Episode 3". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 11, 2026.
- 1 2 Tangcay, Jazz (June 19, 2026). "H.E.R., Bini, Lea Salonga, Katseye's Sophia Laforteza Lead Dreamworks Animation's 'Forgotten Island' Soundtrack (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved August 11, 2026.
- ↑ "Nathan Matthew David to Score DreamWorks Animation's 'Forgotten Island'". Film Music Reporter. Retrieved May 20, 2026.
- ↑ Lola, Lauren (July 29, 2026). "Filipino Girl Group BINI on the Making of "A Parallel World" for the 'Forgotten Island' Soundtrack – The Nerds of Color". The Nerds of Color. Retrieved August 11, 2026.
- ↑ Custodio, Bianca (August 1, 2026). "Exclusive: Bini on the Making of "A Parallel World"". Vogue Philippines. Retrieved August 11, 2026.
- ↑ GMA News (August 18, 2026). "'Forgotten Island': Lea Salonga, BINI, SB19 headline full tracklist of Filipino-themed songs". GMA News Online. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
- ↑ Carroll, Christian (January 20, 2011). Roman Candles. Vimeo. Event occurs at 23:57. Retrieved August 26, 2026.
A 30 minute film I made just after graduating college.
- ↑ Hotait, Darine (May 10, 2009). Command or Truth. Vimeo. Retrieved August 27, 2026.
35mm, USA, 2009.
- ↑ Hotait, Darine (July 27, 2009). The Far side of Laughter. Vimeo. Retrieved August 27, 2026.
Original Score by Nathan Matthew David
- ↑ Page, Crystal (February 16, 2011). My Homework Ate My Dog (Screener). Vimeo. Event occurs at 14:22. Retrieved August 27, 2026.
This screener is for private use only.
- ↑ Colucci, Ryan (November 16, 2011). 4.2.3. (Trailer). Vimeo. Retrieved August 27, 2026.
Structured around the riddle of the sphinx, the film depicts the relationship between neuroscientist Michael and mathematician Eva over four years.
- ↑ "Accepted". Dan Chen - Film Director. June 30, 2022. Retrieved August 11, 2026.
- ↑ Ramos, Dino-Ray (May 27, 2022). "'Defy': Filipino American Creative Collective A Bunch Of Savages Debut Visual Poem Directed By Jon Jon "J.J." Augustavo". The Diaspora Times. Retrieved August 27, 2026.