Biography

Mark Crawford is a 3x Emmy-nominated composer and music producer whose work has resonated around the globe. His contributions have been pivotal in films and games that have garnered recognition from the Primetime Emmys, News & Documentary Emmys, Heartland Emmys, Sports Emmys, Sundance Awards, BAFTAs, and Peabody Awards. Crawford is best known as the sole composer for the Emmy-nominated documentary The Social Dilemma. Premiering at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and watched by 38 million households on Netflix in its first 28 days-making it one of the most watched documentaries of all time-the film earned him nominations for a Primetime Emmy and an ASCAP Composer's Choice Award. For its soundtrack, he produced a cover of "I Put a Spell on You" featuring Grammy winners Brandi Carlile and Renée Elise Goldsberry, and penned a new rap verse.

His recent work includes Shiny Happy People: A Teenage Holy War (Amazon Studios), the second season of the hit docuseries exploring the cultural aftershocks of fundamentalist movements in the U.S., and 2x Emmy-Nominated Chasing Time, which was shortlisted for the 2026 Academy Awards. Collaborating with director Jeff Orlowski-Yang, Crawford co-composed the score and co-wrote the credit song "Only Time" featuring MILCK and Raye Zaragoza.

In 2023, Crawford scored Full Circle (available on Netflix), working with incredible musicians living with disabilities such as jazz pianist Justin Kauflin and guitarist Eric Howk. The film, which features a 24-piece string ensemble from Vienna, was nominated for a 2024 Sports Emmy. That same year, he scored the award-winning Greener Pastures, which premiered on PBS's Independent Lens and received the prestigious Television Academy Honors Award for its powerful and humane portrait of aging American farmers.

Additional recent projects include Girl Climber (Red Bull Studios), a visually striking portrait of elite climber Emily Harrington, for which he also co-wrote the original end credits song "Place on the Wall" with MILCK; Comparsa, which premiered at Sheffield DocFest and won the First Feature Jury Award; and Pacific Drive, the critically acclaimed video game for which he co-wrote an original song. The game won Best Music at the inaugural Indie Game Awards and was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Debut Game.

In 2021, Crawford collaborated with Radical Media on WILD: A Safari Experience for Atlanta's Illuminarium. This immersive installation featured an intricate soundtrack utilizing the advanced Holoplot 3D audio beam-forming system.

His earlier credits include additional music for acclaimed documentaries Chasing Coral (2017) and Chasing Ice (2012), and the short documentary The Love Bugs, which earned him a News & Documentary Emmy nomination for Outstanding Music Composition in 2021. His work has also been featured by National Geographic, the California Academy of Sciences, Harvard Kennedy School, Nike Foundation, and Fast Company.

Mark's journey to becoming a renowned composer began with a passion for storytelling. Graduating with a BFA in Film Studies from the University of Colorado, he honed his narrative instincts across various film production roles and mediums. His adventures included documenting social entrepreneurs on a 100-day sailing trip around the world, filming rhinos in Nepal, and exploring hidden gems in Brazil.

Utilizing his diverse production background and expertise in editing, sound recording, and music production, Crawford takes a holistic approach to film scoring-blending cutting-edge sample libraries with complex orchestrations to craft emotionally resonant scores that weave into the very fabric of the stories they accompany.
- IMDb mini biography by: Mark Crawford