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Rachel Portman Residence: United Kingdom Official site: Rachel Portman website |
Born in West Sussex, Rachel began composing at the age of 14 and read music at the University of Oxford, where she became interested in writing music for student films and theatre productions. She gained experience writing music for drama in BBC and Channel 4 films, including Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Mike Leigh's Four Days In July, and Jim Henson's Storyteller series.
Since then, Portman has written over 100 scores for film, television and theatre, becoming the first female composer to win an Academy Award, which she received for the score of Emma (Douglas McGrath). She also won a Primetime Emmy Award for the film, Bessie (Dee Rees). She has received two further Academy Nominations for The Cider House Rules and Chocolat (Lasse Hallström), which also earned her a Golden Globe Nomination as well as Bafta nominations for Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and The Woman in Black. Rachel was BBC Radio 3’s Composer of the Week in 2018 including The Manchurian Candidate (Jonathan Demme), Oliver Twist (Roman Polanski), Beloved (Jonathan Demme), Benny and Joon (Jeremiah Chechik), Life Is Sweet (Mike Leigh), Never Let Me Go (Mark Romanek), Grey Gardens (Michael Sucsy), The Legend of Bagger Vance (Robert Redford), The Duchess (Saul Dibb), One Day (Lone Scherfig), The Lake House (Alejandro Agresti), Mona Lisa Smile (Mike Newell), The Human Stain (Robert Benton), Their Finest (Lone Sherfig), A Dog’s Purpose (Lasse Halstrom), Mimi and the Mountain Dragon for the BBC and Godmothered (Sharon Maguire). Most recently Rachel wrote the score for the documentary Julia which chronicles the life of TV chef and author Julia Child. The score went on to be nominated for a Cinema Eye Honors, a Critics’ Choice Award, a Society of Composers and Lyricists Award, and won the Hollywood Music in Media Award.
In 2020 Rachel released her first solo album Ask the River.
Rachel is an honorary fellow of Worcester College, Oxford. In 2010, she was appointed an Order of the British Empire (OBE). She lives in London with her husband and three daughters.
Photo credit: Giles Keyte