Craig Armstrong

Born in Glasgow and trained at the Royal Academy of Music, Craig Armstrong has developed a compositional voice of striking versatility and unmistakable character. His work traverses orchestral writing, electronic music, and an extensive body of film scoring with an ease that demonstrates technical mastery and an ear for cinematic pacing, as well as an unusual fluency in moving between contemporary idiom and classical form.

Across a remarkable career in film that follows a sequence of exemplary collaborations, Armstrong’s scores have shaped some of the most visually and emotionally arresting films of recent decades. From the propulsive, genre-defying soundscape he created in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet, Moulin Rouge!, and The Great Gatsby, to the modal, melodic scores which sit over brooding drones in the pastoral tale of Far from the Madding Crowd and the biographical narrative of Snowden, Armstrong’s work reflects a rare ability to synthesise and calibrate tone across very different cinematic registers. Many more films have called upon Armstrong’s compositional hand, including Love Actually and World Trade Centre, where his writing is carefully scaled with notable care to the demands of ensemble narrative in the former and to the gravity of the subject in the latter.

Alongside his work for the screen, Craig Armstrong has created a remarkable repertoire of composition beyond film. His early solo albums, released on the Melankolic label founded by Massive Attack, positioned him within a wider experimental and electronic milieu, while later orchestral and piano works, including collaborations with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, reflect his continued commitment to formal composition. Armstrong’s more recent work, notably The Edge of the Sea, released in 2020, developed in collaboration with Hebridean musicians and recorded with the Scottish Ensemble, draws on Gaelic psalm-singing traditions and extends his compositional practice into questions of musical inheritance and place.

Across Armstrong’s impressive body of work, the recognition that has followed has been both national and international: two BAFTA awards; two Ivor Novello Awards; a Golden Globe; a Grammy Award; and an OBE for Services in Music.

FILM

The Critic
Studio: BKStudio
Producers: Bill Kenwright / Jolyon Symonds
Director: Anand Tucker

The Great Escaper
Studio: Pathe Pictures International
Producers: Robert Bernstein, Douglas Rae
Director: Oliver Parker

The One and Only Ivan
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Producers: Angelina Jolie / Allison Shearmur / Brigham Taylor
Director: Thea Sharrock

Mrs. Lowry and Son
Studio: Genesius Pictures
Producer: Debbie Gray
Director: Adrian Noble

Dirt Music
Studio: Wildgaze Films
Producers: Finola Dwyer / Angie Fielder Amanda Posey / Polly Staniford
Director: Gregor Jordan
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The Burnt Orange Heresy
Studio: Indiana Production Company
Producers: William Horberg / David Lancaster / David Zander
Director: Giuseppe Capotondi

Bridget Jones’ Baby
Studio: Open Road Films
Producers: Tim Bevan / Eric Fellner / Debra Hayward
Director: Sharon Maguire

Snowden
Studio: Open Road Films
Producer: Moritz Borman
Director: Oliver Stone

Far From The Madding Crowd
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
Producers: Andrew Macdonald / Allon Reich
Director: Thomas Vinterberg

The Great Gatsby
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Producers: Lucy Fisher / Catherine Knapman
Director: Baz Luhrmann

In Time
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
Producer: Eric Newman
Director: Andrew Niccol

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
Producer: Edward Pressman
Director: Oliver Stone

The Incredible Hulk
Studio: Universal Pictures
Producer: Gale Anne Hurd
Director: Louis Leterrier

Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Studio: Universal Pictures
Producers: Tim Bevan / Eric Fellner
Director: Shekhar Kapur

World Trade Center
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Producers: Michael Shambert / Stacey Sher
Director: Oliver Stone

Ray (Grammy Award Winner)
Studio: Universal Pictures
Producer: Stuart Benjamin
Director: Taylor Hackford

Must Love Dogs
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Producers: Suzanne Todd  / Jennifer Todd
Director: Gary David Goldberg

Love Actually
Studio: Universal Pictures
Producers: Tim Bevan / Duncan Kenworthy / Eric Fellner
Director: Richard Curtis

The Quiet American
Studio: Miramax
Producers: William Horberg / Sydney Pollack
Director: Phillip Noyce

Moulin Rouge! (Golden Globe Winner)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Producers: Baz Luhrmann / Martin Brown
Director: Baz Luhrmann

Kiss of the Dragon
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Producers: Luc Besson / Steve Chasman
Director: Chris Nahon

William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (Co-Composer)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Producer: Gabriella Martinelli
Director: Baz Luhrmann

The Bone Collector
Studio: Universal Pictures
Producers: Martin / Michael Bregman
Director: Philip Noyce

The Magdalene Sisters
Studio: Film Council
Producers: Frances Higson / Ed Guiney
Director: Peter Mullan

The Clearing
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Producer: Jonah Smith
Director: Pieter Jan Brugge

Plunkett and Macleane
Studio: Polygram
Producer: Eric Fellner
Director: Jake Scott

Best Laid Plans
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Producers: Sean Bailey / Betsy Beers / Chris Moore
Director: Mike Barker

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TV

The Undeclared War – Series 2
Studio: Playground Entertainment / Channel 4 / Universal Studios
Directors: Peter Kosminsky, Paul McGuigan
Producers: Caroline Levy, Robert Jones