Alan Anthony Silvestri (born March 26, 1950) is an Academy Award-nominated American film score composer and conductor.

Life and career

Silvestri was born in New York City. He studied guitar at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but dropped out after two years to tour with Wayne Cochran and the C.C. Riders.

Silvestri is best known for his numerous collaborations with director Robert Zemeckis, having scored Romancing the Stone (1984), the Back to the Future trilogy (1985, 1989, 1990), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Forrest Gump (1994), Contact (1997), Cast Away (2000), The Polar Express (2004) and Beowulf (2007). He received Oscar nominations for Best Original Score for Forrest Gump[1], a Best Song for "Believe" on The Polar Express soundtrack, and two Grammy Awards for the music from Cast Away and (with Glen Ballard) the song "Believe" from The Polar Express.