Marcelo Zarvos

Acclaimed composer Marcelo Zarvos has scored a diverse variety of high profile film and television projects throughout his career.  He is recognized for his trademark sound – a seamless blend of classical, orchestral, rock, electronic and various ethnic elements, that together create uniquely affecting and emotionally charged music for film, TV, modern dance and the concert stage. The Brazilian-born Zarvos began by studying classical music  and later began delving into jazz, rock and world music.

Zarvos has scored more than 50 films and has an expert skill with layered stories and emotive undertones.  He recently scored Sony’s A JOURNAL FOR JORDAN, starring Michael B. Jordan and directed by Denzel Washington, and previously collaborated with Washington on the award-winning FENCES, which Washington directed and starred with Viola Davis.

Throughout his career, Zarvos has also collaborated with many other celebrated filmmakers including Nicole Holofcener (ENOUGH SAID, PLEASE GIVE,  Amazon series ONE MISSISSIPPI, THE LAND OF STEADY HABITS), Barry Levinson (THE HUMBLING, YOU DON’T KNOW JACK, ROCK THE KASBAH) and Antoine Fuqua (BROOKLYN’S FINEST, the two-part HBO Sports documentary WHAT’S MY NAME | MUHAMMAD ALI  which premiered on HBO in May 2019, the documentary THE DAY SPORTS STOOD STILL which premiered on HBO in March 2021 and  THE GUILTY starring Jake Gyllenhaal which was released in select theatres by Netflix on September 24, 2021).

A classically trained pianist and composer, Zarvos earned his BFA from Cal Arts.  He burst onto the film landscape in the early 2000s with his score for KISSING JESSICA STEIN and with the film adaptation of the John Irving novel, THE DOOR IN THE FLOOR.  Some of Zarvos’ credits include THE GOOD SHEPHERD, THE WORDS, SIN NOMBRE, HOLLYWOODLAND and AMERICAN ULTRA.

Twice nominated for Primetime Emmy® Awards (for YOU DON’T KNOW JACK and TAKING CHANCE), Zarvos’ television work includes TOO BIG TO FAIL, THE BIG C, EXTANT the HBO movie PHIL SPECTOR, the Amazon series ONE MISSISSIPPI and Z:  THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING, the limited series THE ROMANOFFS for Amazon and the SHOWTIME series THE AFFAIR which aired for five seasons and RAY DONOVAN which aired for seven seasons.

Some of Zarvos’ other projects include the acclaimed hit film WONDER starring Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson and Jacob Tremblay and directed by Stephen Chbosky which opened in November 2017;  THE CHOICE (based on the Nicholas Sparks novel); THE CHAPERONE starring Elizabeth McGovern directed by Michael Engler and adapted by Julian Fellowes which opened in Spring 2019; THE BEST OF ENEMIES starring Sam Rockwell and Taraji P. Henson directed by Robin Bissell which was released in April 2019; BREAKTHROUGH starring Chrissy Metz and directed by Roxann Dawson which opened in April 1 2019;  SHOWTIME’S seven-part limited series THE LOUDEST VOICE produced by Blumhouse Television starring Russell Crowe which premiered in June 2019; and Antoine Fuqua’s EMANCIPATION.  Zarvos wrote the original score for DARK WATERS starring Mark Ruffalo and directed by Todd Haynes which was released by Focus Features in November 2019.  He also wrote the original music the feature film PENGUIN BLOOM starring Naomi Watts directed by Glendyn Ivin (2021).  Recent projects include the score for Calmatic’s WHITE MEN CAN’T JUMP and FLAMIN’ HOT, directed by Eva Longoria.