Laura Karpman

Oscar® and Grammy®-nominated, five-time Emmy® award-winning composer LAURA KARPMAN creates powerful, imaginative scores that push the boundaries of storytelling. Her bold, incandescent work spans film, television, theater, interactive media and live performance, reflecting an audaciously creative, prodigious spirit. Karpman collaborates with some of the most renowned filmmakers of our time, including J.J. Abrams, Kevin Feige, Steven Spielberg, Cord Jefferson, Nia DaCosta, Alex Gibney, Misha Green, Rory Kennedy, Kasi Lemmons, Laura Nix and Sam Pollard.

The last two years have been especially prolific for Karpman, including the release of the top-grossing “Captain America: Brave New World” for which she was Oscar shortlisted. Other acclaimed projects include “American Fiction” (Amazon MGM), written/directed/produced by Cord Jefferson, which garnered five Oscar® nominations including Best Picture, and for which Karpman received her first Oscar nomination for Original Score as well as a Grammy® nomination for Best Score Soundtrack; “The Marvels” (Marvel Studios); “Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed” (Max) for which she was Emmy® nominated; “What If...?” now in its third season (Marvel Television for Disney+); and “Ms. Marvel” (Marvel Television for Disney+).

Karpman wrote the original music for the recent Max series “Duster,” created by J.J. Abrams and LaToya Morgan. Other recent projects include the animated mini-event series “Marvel Zombies,” which she scored with Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum, which premiered on Disney+ on September 24; the series “Down Cemetery Road,” starring Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson for Apple, which premiered October 29; the themes for the acclaimed documentary “Ask E. Jean,” which just debuted at the Telluride Film Festival; and a musical based on Dorothy Arzner’s groundbreaking MGM film, “Dance Girl Dance.” She also scored the documentary “Give the Ball!” about world champion tennis trailblazer Billie Jean King which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2026.

Her opera, “Balls,” chronicling Billie Jean King’s epic 1973 “Battle of the Sexes”' tennis match, was performed by the London Philharmonia conducted by Marin Alsop on November 20, 2025 at Royal Festival Hall.

Karpman’s scores span HBO’s acclaimed hit “Lovecraft Country;” the Oscar®-winning documentary short films “The Only Girl in the Orchestra;" “Walk Run Cha-Cha” and the docuseries “Why We Hate.” Karpman was Emmy® nominated for “Ms. Marvel" and “Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed,” and won an HMMA award for “The Marvels.” For her “American Fiction” score, to date she has received Academy Award®, GRAMMY, SCL, NAACP Image Award, and HMMA nominations, as well as inclusion in the 2024 BAFTA Longlist.

Other accolades include a 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award from “She Rocks;” a Critics’ Choice Award for her song “Jump” (from the film “Step”), co-written with frequent collaborators Raphael Saadiq and Taura Stinson, sung by Cynthia Erivo. Her animated work includes “Sitara,” directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, executive produced by Darla Anderson and Gloria Steinem; her Annie-nominated score for “Monkey’s Tale” and three seasons of “What If…?” for Marvel Television. Her celebrated scores for interactive media and blockbuster video games include “Guardians of Middle Earth,” “Everquest 2,” “Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom” and “Kung Fu Panda 2.”

Across concert halls, Karpman is renowned for her Grammy® Award-winning album “Ask Your Mama,” a multimedia opera based on the iconic cycle of poems by Langston Hughes. For this Carnegie Hall commission, Karpman collaborated with The Roots, soprano Jessye Norman, performer De’Andre Aziza, and jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon. Other notable works include “All American,” commissioned and performed by The Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl; “Brass Ceiling,” commissioned and recorded by the U.S. Army Band; “And Still We Dream,” commissioned by Lyric Opera of Kansas City, honoring 100 years of suffrage; “Wilde Tales,” commissioned by Glimmerglass Festival, and a pandemic opera for Opera Theatre of St. Louis with libretto by Taura Stinson & Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum.

Karpman is a fierce champion for DEI in Hollywood. After founding the Alliance for Women Film Composers, she was elected the first female Governor in the Music Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. During her two consecutive three-year terms, she implemented sweeping change, facilitating the admission of dozens of underrepresented voices, co-founded the Academy Women’s Initiative, co-chaired the LGBTQ+ Affinity Group, helped to create the Code of Conduct, and updated the bylaws with more inclusive, representative language. Her leadership in creating opportunity and advocating for inclusion is unparalleled.

Karpman serves as a mentor and is on the Advisory Board for the Chanel/Tribeca Through Her Lens Program. She received a doctorate from The Juilliard School, where she studied with 20th-century icon Milton Babbitt.

She lives and works in Los Angeles with her wife, composer Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum, their son and two unruly dogs.