Cliff Martinez

Composer. Born 5 February 1954 in The Bronx, New York, USA.

Titles on Fi1m

Average Fi1m score

Born

5 February 1954, The Bronx, New York, USA

Active

1989–present

Frequent collaborators

Steven Soderbergh, John Hardy, Louise Frogley, Philip Messina, Elliot Davis, Gary Frutkoff

Biography

Cliff Martinez is an American composer. Born on 5 February 1954 in the Bronx, New York, he began his career as a drummer, performing with bands including Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

He moved into film scoring in the late 1980s. His first feature credit was sex, lies, and videotape (1989) for Steven Soderbergh. Martinez has since scored multiple Soderbergh films, including Kafka (1991), King of the Hill (1993), The Underneath (1995), Schizopolis (1997), The Limey (1999), Traffic (2000), Solaris (2002) and Contagion (2011), as well as Kimi (2022). He has also worked with Nicolas Winding Refn on films such as Drive (2011).

Compiled from published sources (en.wikipedia.org, cliff-martinez.com) · 10 September 2026How we write and check

Films and series

Beyond what we have reviewed, Cliff Martinez is known for Drive (2011), Game Night (2018), War Dogs (2016), Spring Breakers (2013), The Neon Demon (2016), The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), Den of Thieves (2018) and The Foreigner (2017).