Biography
Shawn Thomas Odyssey is a film, television, and video game music composer, as well as an Edgar and Agatha award nominated author, an actor, and filmmaker.
Shawn grew up in Bakersfield, California where he developed an early passion for reading books, listening to music, and watching movies. It wasn’t long before he wanted to create his own books, music, and films. He began playing guitar and piano at age thirteen and soon developed an interest in classical music.
“I remember one day I bought a Beethoven cassette tape because it was the cheapest album in the store–I think it cost around 50 cents–and I was blown away at how powerful the music was. I was hooked!”
Of course he had other early influences as well: Led Zeppelin, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Metallica, and Pink Floyd to name a few. It was around his sophomore year in high school that he began writing his first novel; he still has the original typed manuscript tucked in a drawer. In 1994 he moved to Santa Barbara, California, where he joined the renowned Ensemble Theatre company. There he worked under veteran director Robert-Grande-Weiss as his assistant, as well as an actor, sound designer, and composer.
In 2000 Shawn began working with film music composers Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimeck, and Bruce Winter, together creating soundtracks for films such as Blood and Chocolate (2007), Land of the Dead (2005), The Cave (2005), Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005), Iron Jawed Angels (HBO) (2004), as well as music for the iconic television series Deadwood (HBO) (2006), and Without A Trace (CBS) (2002).
He worked with Heitor Pereira at Hanz Zimmer‘s Media Ventures studio on the soundtrack for Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, and Jennifer Wilson on Lifetime’s Wildcard. In 2008 Shawn scored the music for the Dreamworks/Activision video game Kung Fu Panda.
Shawn’s middle-grade/young-adult novel The Wizard of Dark Street was published in 2011. The book was a top 20 pick from the American Booksellers Association and was subsequently nominated for both an Edgar Award and an Agatha Award. His second published novel, The Magician’s Tower (A Sequel To The Wizard Of Dark Street), was published February 2013. The third book in The Wizard Of Dark Street series, The Magician’s Dream, is scheduled for release in spring 2015. http://thewizardofdarkstreet.com
Though writing books and writing music are completely different skills, Shawn loves both equally.
“I’m a storyteller at heart. Writing books about fantastical worlds and impossible mysteries comes naturally to me. It’s something I know I’m good at. Likewise, creating film and TV scores is just as much a part of me as writing. It allows me to explore narrative themes and dramatic composition just as I do in my novels…only through music instead of words. I can’t imagine a better job.”