biography
James Hannigan is a BAFTA award-winning composer and producer, with credits spanning multi-million-selling video games, television, and audio drama. His work includes titles in the Harry Potter, Dead Space, Evil Genius, RuneScape, Warhammer, FIFA, F1, Transformers, and Command & Conquer franchises, among others — including Wing Commander spin-offs and entries in The Lord of the Rings, Art Academy, Theme Park, and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs series. His audio drama credits include full-cast adaptations such as NY Times #1 bestseller, The Sandman, the Audie-winning Alien series, and themes for the hugely popular Harry Potter and Discworld audiobook series.
Among Hannigan's other awards are a Webby People's Choice Award for The Sandman Act II (with James McAvoy , Michael Sheen, and Regé-Jean Page) and an IFMCA (International Film Music Critics Association) Award for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince VG (also BAFTA Nominated for Original Music in 2010). His themes - such as the parodic Red Alert 3 Theme: Soviet March - have been streamed hundreds of millions of times across media platforms.
Hannigan’s television work over the years has included contributing music for series such as Primeval (BBC America), with his back catalogue regularly featuring across all media - appearing in hugely varied productions and experiences ranging from Top Gear and The Grand Tour through to Disney shorts and shows including Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking, Floor is Lava and The World According to Jeff Goldblum. He is also co-founder of several industry conferences and events, including the sold-out Screen Music Connect and Game Music Connect series held in past years at London’s Southbank Centre.
Hannigan has recorded with world-class orchestras, including The Philharmonia, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra, at iconic studios such as Abbey Road, Air-Lyndhurst, and Skywalker Ranch. An occasional panelist at Comic-Con, he has been interviewed by BBC Radio, Classic FM, Sky TV, IGN, Forbes, Music Radar and others, and has penned articles on topics ranging from screen music to interactive music and AI Music - including cover features for DEVELOP magazine and PIXEL ADDICT. Hannigan has also spoken at conferences and institutions such as The School of Sound, EIGF, Musicworks, Ludomusicology, DEVELOP, Game Music Connect, and The Royal College of Music, and has been featured in BAFTA’s Conversations with Composers series at the Albert Hall.
Among his other credits are entries in the EA Sports, Grand Prix, and Space Hulk VG series; Nintendo's Art Academy (also heard in the Super Smash Bros. series), Terraria: Otherworld, Red Alert 3 (With Tim Curry and J.K. Simmons), Microsoft's Freelancer, Reign of Fire, Catwoman, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (VG), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 &2 (EA/WB), Dead Space 3, and Transformers Universe. Recent projects include The Sandman Act III, Steelrising, Call of Antia, and Evil Genius 2. Further credits include RuneScape: The Orchestral Collection, BBC Radio 4 adaptations of Good Omens and Neverwhere; Command and Conquer 4, Conquest, Brute Force, Privateer 2: The Darkening (with Christopher Walken, Clive Owen and John Hurt), The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest, Infestation, Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat, Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels, Cutthroat Island, Flight of the Amazon Queen (additional music), and more.
In his early years working with Electronic Arts, and then later from his offices at Pinewood Studios in London, Hannigan devised music systems for interactive entertainment – for titles including the BAFTA-winning Theme Park World, and the BAFTA-nominated Republic: The Revolution and Evil Genius - designed by Elixir Studios, led Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis. Hannigan's early work in other media includes sound design for films such as the Golden Reel-Nominated, Lost in Space.
Music from James Hannigan’s catalogue regularly features in television shows, documentaries, commercials, and trailers across platforms such as Disney+, Discovery, the BBC, and Netflix - heard in productions including SpongeBob SquarePants, Floor is Lava, Disney Shorts, Impractical Jokers, Saturday Night Live, The World According to Jeff Goldblum, Dance Moms, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses, and Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts, among many others. His music has also accompanied a wide range of experiences, installations, and immersive productions.
