Nathan Matthew David

Nathan Matthew David was born in the United States to Filipino immigrants, one from Manila and one from Pampanga; neither of them were musicians.^[1]

After writing some scores for student films and playing in bands, he studied music formally, graduating from the Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program at University of Southern California.^[1][2] He studied a lot of western music, before turning to traditional Filipino music, including instruments such as the kulintang to the kutyapi, and has regarded himself as "an eternal student to these practices".^[1]

After graduating, David was brought on as composer for the 2008 independent Singaporean drama film The Olive Depression, directed by Joshua Lim. The film was noted for its sparse use of music, which Lim noted was a choice he and David agreed on during post-production.^[3] Among his other early solo work as composer was for the 2013 film Welcome Nowhere, directed by Kate Ryan and narrated by Ethan Hawke, which tackled the lives of Roma people in Bulgaria.

David later began collaborating with his mentors Ludwig Göransson and Theodore Shapiro on various projects, including We're the Millers, Community, Spy, Office Christmas Party, A Simple Favor, Bombshell, Tenet, and The Mandalorian.^[4][5]

He then began working on solo composition, and composed the score for the first season of the Lifetime documentary Surviving R. Kelly in 2019. He composed music on the HBO documentary Under the Grapefruit Tree: The CC Sabathia Story.^[6]

David's other notable works include Satisfaction, Slice, Deadly Class, Young Rock (TV series, 2021-2023), Hypnotic (2021), Chang Can Dunk,^[7][1] Stephen Curry: Underrated, Joy Ride,^[8] Addicted to Fresno, The Last Word (2017),^[2] the 2022 Netflix comedy film Me Time,^[9] TV comedy drama series The Brothers Sun (2024),^[10] and Diarra from Detroit (2024).^[11] He also composed additional music for the 2015 Warner Bros. film The Intern.^[2]

He wrote the score for DreamWorks' 2026 animated film Forgotten Island. His score for this film combines elements from the 1980s and 1990s, especially Filipino and Filipino American music, and he wanted to incorporate a feeling of nostalgia. He included instruments from indigenous Filipino peoples, using traditional instruments such as chanters, the Las Piñas bamboo pipe organ, and a Filipino choir singing in Tagalog.^[12] Before the film is released on September 26,^[13] one of the tracks, "A Parallel World", was released as a single performed by Filipino girl group Bini, in English and Filipino.^[14][15] Other tracks were performed by H.E.R., Lea Salonga, Sophia Laforteza.^[12]

He has cited various influences for his music, including Alexandre Desplat, Dario Marianelli, Gustavo Santaolalla, Jon Brion, John Adams, Steve Reich, Explosions in the Sky, Imogen Heap and Sigur Rós among others.^[6][1]

In 2020, David was the recipient of several awards for his work on Surviving R. Kelly: a Peabody Award, an ASCAP award, and the 2020 Dean and Mary Kay ASCAP Foundation award.^[6]

In 2021, he was nominated for a Sports Emmy Award for his work on Under the Grapefruit Tree: The CC Sabathia Story.^[6]

David is a U.S. citizen.^[1] He engages in activism and volunteering, and is interested in the intersection of music with architecture.^[1]