---
name: "Michael Abels"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/michael-abels"
fi1m_id: "michael-abels"
imdb_id: "nm8752173"
tmdb_id: 1761126
wikidata_id: "Q2413003"
roles: ["Composer"]
born: "8 October 1962"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 5
average_fi1m_score: 79
average_over: 5
updated: "2026-10-21T04:27:43.143470+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Michael Abels

## Identity

Michael Abels

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/michael-abels
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** michael-abels
- **IMDb ID:** nm8752173
- **TMDB ID:** 1761126
- **Wikidata ID:** Q2413003
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Abels, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2413003, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8752173/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1761126

Composer. Born 8 October 1962 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Composer
- **Born:** 8 October 1962, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
- **Active:** 2017–present
- **Also known as:** The Behemoth! Collective
- **Frequently works with:** [Jordan Peele](https://film.one/person/jordan-peele.md), [Daniel Kaluuya](https://film.one/person/daniel-kaluuya.md), [Jason Blum](https://film.one/person/jason-blum.md), [Sean McKittrick](https://film.one/person/sean-mckittrick.md)
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 84 (2), 2020s 76 (3)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 79 to 76 across 5 titles
- **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 4 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Horror 3, Mystery 3, Science Fiction 2, Thriller 2, Action 1, Comedy 1
- **Screen time:** 8 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $717m across 4 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Abels, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2413003, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8752173/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1761126

## Coming up

- *Behemoth!* (2026-12-03), Original Music Composer — [page](https://film.one/film/behemoth.md)

## Streaming the US now

- **Netflix:** [*Nope*](https://film.one/film/nope.md) (77), [*Sirens*](https://film.one/tv/sirens.md) (75)
- **Disney+:** [*Get Out*](https://film.one/film/get-out.md) (89)
- **HBO Max:** [*Us*](https://film.one/film/us.md) (78)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Michael Abels is an American composer. He was born on 8 October 1962 in Phoenix, Arizona, and studied at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music.

Abels composed the scores for Jordan Peele’s films *Get Out* (2017), *Us* (2019) and *Nope* (2022). He also wrote the music for the Netflix series *Sirens* (2025) and the Disney+ series *The Acolyte* (2024). He is credited as part of the Behemoth! Collective on the 2026 film *Behemoth!*. With Rhiannon Giddens, he co-composed the opera *Omar*, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2023.

Abels co-founded the Composers Diversity Collective, an advocacy group for composers of colour working in film, gaming and streaming media.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, filmmusicreporter.com.*

## On Fi1m (5)

- *Hope* (2026), Fi1m 77, Original Music Composer, Music — [page](https://film.one/film/hope.md)
- *Sirens* (2025), Fi1m 75, Music, Original Music Composer — [page](https://film.one/tv/sirens.md)
- *Nope* (2022), Fi1m 77, Music, Original Music Composer — [page](https://film.one/film/nope.md)
- *Us* (2019), Fi1m 78, Music, Orchestrator, Original Music Composer — [page](https://film.one/film/us.md)
- *Get Out* (2017), Fi1m 89, Music, Original Music Composer — [page](https://film.one/film/get-out.md)

## Complete filmography (20)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Behemoth!* (2026), Original Music Composer — coming soon, [page](https://film.one/film/behemoth.md)
- *Hope* (2026), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/hope.md)
- *The 'Burbs* (2026), series, Original Music Composer
- *Sirens* (2025), series, Original Music Composer — Fi1m 75, [page](https://film.one/tv/sirens.md)
- *The Acolyte* (2024), series, Original Music Composer
- *The American Society of Magical Negroes* (2024), Original Music Composer
- *The Burial* (2023), Music
- *Landscape with Invisible Hand* (2023), Original Music Composer
- *Chevalier* (2023), Music Arranger, Music Producer
- *Breaking* (2022), Original Music Composer
- *Nope* (2022), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/nope.md)
- *Nightbooks* (2021), Original Music Composer
- *Allen v. Farrow* (2021), series, Original Music Composer
- *Fake Famous* (2021), Original Music Composer
- *All Day and a Night* (2020), Original Music Composer
- *Bad Education* (2019), Original Music Composer, Orchestrator
- *See You Yesterday* (2019), Original Music Composer
- *Us* (2019), Original Music Composer, Orchestrator — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/us.md)
- *Get Out* (2017), Original Music Composer — Fi1m 89, [page](https://film.one/film/get-out.md)
- *An Ode to Mary Jo*, Original Music Composer

## Gallery

- ![Michael Abels](https://film.one/media/person/304/gallery-31d35c877e26.jpg) Michael Abels — Costacommunicationsinc, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/Michael_Abels%288%29.Photo_by_Eric_Schwabel.jpg/1280px-Michael_Abels%288%29.Photo_by_Eric_Schwabel.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Michael Abels](https://film.one/media/person/304/gallery-6b6e33aac219.jpg) Michael Abels — Image via TMDB
- ![Michael Abels](https://film.one/media/person/304/gallery-4618adc937ad.jpg) Michael Abels — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Other awards — 1 won

- Pulitzer Prize for Music 2023: Pulitzer Prize for Music (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/michael-abels