Function: Composer WSAcademy: WSA Voting Member
British composer Rachel Portman became the first woman composer to win an Academy Award, which she received for her work on EMMA. She is also the first woman composer to win a Primetime Emmy Award, for her work on BESSY. Rachel is currently collaborating with three-time Emmy nominated composer Jon Ehrlich on the Hulu Holocaust drama WE WERE THE LUCKY ONES.

With over a hundred film scores, other credits include THE DUCHESS, OLIVER TWIST, ONE DAY, BELOVED, THE VOW, GODMOTHERED, LIFE IS SWEET, and THEIR FINEST. Rachel also ventures into stage productions, like the musical LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE and an opera of THE LITTLE PRINCE for Houston Grand Opera.

She has received two further Academy Nominations for THE CIDER HOUSE RULES and CHOCOLAT, which also earned her a Golden Globe Nomination. In 2023 she received her second Primetime Emmy Award for JULIA.

Beyond film, she's composed for concerts and solo piano albums, such as “Ask the River” (2020), “Eden” (2021), “Beyond the Screen” (2023)and “Tipping Points” (2024).

West Sussex-born Rachel Portman, a composer since age 14, studied music at the University of Oxford. Given an OBE in 2010, Rachel is an honorary fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Music.