Texas-raised Chanda Dancy received her first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series with her acclaimed work on “Lawmen: Bass Reeves”.
An alumnus of the USC Film Scoring Program, and the Sundance Composers Lab, Chanda is an accomplished film, television and classical concert composer. Arts Boston named her one of “10 Contemporary Black Composers You Should Know”. She started composing orchestral works at the age of 12 and has been described as “display(ing) a unique command of the orchestra and an ability to manipulate sound to build a scene…her full breadth as a composer spans genres…while maintaining a distinct sonic throughline to her other scores.” (Arielle Paul, Lakeshore Records “On Cue”), “Dancy’s voice is assertive (while never approaching cinematic cliche) …a concert hall composer…on her way up.” (Pierre Ruhe, ArtsATL) and “possessed a musical fearlessness” (Jennifer Stewart, Texas Monthly Magazine). Her works are described as “beautiful… heightening each action scene and dramatic beat.” (Clayton Davis, Variety), “comes to the fore with sophisticated compositional techniques.” (Jon Burlingame, Variety), and “elegiac score, that often defines Westerns of the best kind (Akos Peterbencze, Paste Magazine).
She is known for her work on the Sony Pictures hit comedy “One Of Them Days” starring Keke Palmer and Sza; Zoe Kravitz’s directorial debut “Blink Twice” (Amazon MGM) starring Channing Tatum, Naomi Aki and Geena Davis; the Peabody Award winning documentary “Aftershock” (Disney/Onyx Collective) directed by Paula Eiselt and Tonya Lewis Lee; the hit Netflix TV Original “The Defeated” starring Taylor Kitsch and Nina Hoss; the Korean War era epic “Devotion” (Sony Pictures) starring Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell; the Whitney Houston biopic “I Wanna Dance with Somebody”, starring Naomi Aki and directed by Kasi Lemmons; and Taylor Sheridan and David Oyelowo’s television epic “Lawmen: Bass Reeves”.
Chanda’s most recent projects include Columbia Pictures’ “I Know What You Did Last Summer” starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze, Jr., Chase Sui Wonders, Madelyn Cline and Tyriq Withers, and “Swiped” (20th Century) starring Lily James and Dan Stevens, which will release Fall 2025.
In 2022, Chanda was short-listed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (OSCARS) for Best Original Score for her work on Sony Pictures’ “Devotion”, and again in 2024 for her work on Amazon MGM’s “Blink Twice”. In 2024, Chanda received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series and a SCL Award nomination for her music to “Lawmen: Bass Reeves”.
