Biography

Mark Smythe

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Mark is a New Zealand-born composer of film and concert music, based in LA. In 2023, his score for The Reef: Stalked (Hulu) was nominated in both the SCL Awards (USA) and World Soundtrack Awards (Belgium). Mark was a selected Composer Fellow for the 2024 Choral Arts Initiative Premiere Project Festival, and that same year premiered "Song of the Sea" for choir and electric guitar with LA Choral Lab. He is a regular featured composer at LA's monthly Night Temple string quintet event, having composed and performed 11 works for 6 of their concerts, most recently October 2025.

For the screen or concert venue, Mark's music interlaces lyrical melodies with mercurial harmonies. Movie Music UK compares his score for The Reef: Stalked to early Basil Poledouris: "The first thing you notice is how beautiful large parts of it are." He holds a Masters Degree in Screen Composition from the Australian Film, Television & Radio School (AFTRS), and since summer 2025 has been Department Head of Composing for Visual Media at Los Angeles College of Music.
- IMDb mini biography by: Mark Smythe

During Covid 2020, played electric guitar on four collaboration projects - most notably 'Quarantine Music Chain' feat. Kenny G.
Spent five years in the Nelson Cathedral Choir, two as Head Chorister, and once held the Martin Etherington Award: Best Chorister in New Zealand.
Was singer-songwriter/bassist/guitarist/keyboardist in four rock bands in New Zealand / Australia.

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