Father Harry was an Academy Award winning set designer / art director.
Grew up in England where he attended the Royal College of Music.
Returns to Los Angeles in his teens, but did not consider film composing as serious artistic outlet.
Despite the fact that his father worked in the film industry, Horner felt that film composing was not a serious artistic outlet.
Began composing for film while at UCLA in 1978 for the American Film Institute (AFI), composes music for friend’s short film.
First major film score: The Lady In Red (1979).
Breakthrough score was Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan (1982).
Best known work: Aliens (1986: conflict with director James Cameron due to time constraints/creative differences), Field Of Dreams (1989), Braveheart (1995), Apollo 13 (1996).
Greatest success in 1997: Titanic
Two Academy Awards: Best Original Score, Best Original Song “My Heart Will Go On” by Will Jennings.