Hildur Guðnadóttir

Hildur Guðnadóttir, yeah, she's not your run-of-the-mill composer. Born in Iceland in ‘82, she basically grew up surrounded by music—her dad was a composer, and her mom sang opera. So, no surprise she wound up making a name for herself in the wild world of film scores. You probably know her best for that haunting, almost suffocating soundtrack in Joker (2019). Like, seriously, that music just crawls under your skin and refuses to leave. People couldn’t stop talking about it, and she even snagged an Oscar for it—no big deal, right? But it’s not just Joker. She took on Women Talking (2022) and Tár (2022), proving she’s not a one-hit wonder. Each project sounds totally different, too; she doesn’t just recycle the same moody cello riffs. Instead, she sort of bends the rules, blending classical, electronic, and, honestly, whatever feels right in the moment. You can tell she’s not afraid to get weird with it, which is kind of refreshing in a world full of formulaic soundtracks. She’s also dabbled in acting, but, let’s be real, it’s her music that grabs all the headlines. Married to Sam Slater, another brainy music producer, and they have a kid together. You get this sense that creativity just oozes out of their household. Hildur’s basically redefined what film music can do—she makes you feel stuff you didn’t even know you could feel from a movie score. Not many people can say that.