Marco Beltrami was born in Long Island, New York of Italian and Greek descent. He graduated from Brown University and studied at the Yale School of Music, and then moved west to the USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, where he studied under Jerry Goldsmith.

A few classical commissions and USC student films aside, Beltrami scored his first movie feature in 1994, the thriller Death Match for director Joe Coppolletta, and reached a higher level of public acclaim in 1996 when he wrote the score for Wes Craven's smash hit shocker Scream. Since then, Beltrami has become firmly entrenched as a composer of choice for the horror/thriller and action genre, with the Scream sequels and hit movies such as Mimic (1997), The Faculty (1998), Angel Eyes (2001), Joy Ride (2001), Resident Evil (2002), which he co-composed with Marilyn Manson), Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004), I, Robot (2004) and Red Eye (2005) featuring in prominently his resume. Apart from horror/thriller and action, he also scores certain independent films such as The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys and Tommy Lee Jones' The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his score for the film David and Lisa in 1998, indicating a desire to spread his musical wings beyond the bounds of his genre pigeonholing. One of his recent works include Live Free Or Die Hard, the fourth installment in the Die Hard tetralogy, for which Beltrami used some of Michael Kamen's original themes from the previous three films due to Kamen's 2003 death. Beltrami earned an Academy Award nomination for his work on James Mangold's acclaimed 2007 western remake, 3:10 to Yuma, and shared the 2010 Academy Award nomination for the score of The Hurt Locker (Best Picture) with his longtime collaborator Buck Sanders.

Beltrami's signature style is based around highly percussive texture. He often employs both traditional percussive instruments like bass drums, as well as violins and brass instruments, forming layers of hits and stabs.

Beltrami has worked repeatedly with such directors as Len Wiseman, John Moore, Wes Craven, and Guillermo del Toro.

It was even reported in October 2002 on Marco's official website that he had worked on orchestral arrangements for the songs "Thyme", "The General", "Leave Me Alone", and "Seven" off the then unreleased Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy. None of the tracks are confirmed for release on the album, but they were confirmed as being recorded during the sessions, and may see release on one of Axl Rose's reported "sequels" if they are not released on Chinese Democracy. However, Marco was credited for providing arrangements on the songs "Street Of Dreams", "Madagascar", "There Was a Time", "This I Love" & "Prostitute". As a sidenote, 'Chinese Democracy' is also the name of a track on Beltrami's score for 3:10 to Yuma.

- www.marcobeltrami.com

PART 1: How 'Three Burials' helped to get 'The Hurt Locker', budget limitation & turning in a score in 2 weeks, working with James Mangold in '3:10 to Yuma', & why Marco had to be a part of 'The Hurt Locker'

PART 2: Working with Kathryn Bigelow, working with Tommy Lee Jones, expectations & disappointments, being typecast in the Horror genre, early influences in New York & what drove Marco to succeed, & The Epiphany

PART 3: On his mentor Jerry Goldsmith, The Obsession, & Wasted Opportunities

PART4: Collaborations, not getting the callback, working with a temp score, and Marco's advice to the next generation

The Maestro at work! Marco Beltrami working on Guillermo del Toro's latest project 'Don't Be Afraid of the Dark' (starring Guy Pearce, Katie Holmes, and Bailee Madison)

Buck Sanders plays 'The Hurt Locker' theme