Paul Zaza


Paul Zaza is a Canadian Genie Award-winning film score and songwriter who worked frequently with director Bob Clark and with fellow composer Carl Zittrer. He has composed scores for more than 100 films.

Early life and education

Zaza trained as a classical pianist, graduating from the Toronto Conservatory of Music.

Career

In 1980 Zaza won the Genie Award for Best Music Score alongside Carl Zittrer for their work on Murder by Decree. That year the pair teamed up again to write the score for the film Prom Night.
In 1981 Zaza composed the score for the slasher film My Bloody Valentine; in 1983 he once more collaborated with Zittrer to write the score for the well-known film A Christmas Story, which was released as an album much later in 2009.
He was nominated for the same award in 1985 for Isaac Littlefeathers. In 1987 he received a Genie nomination for Best Original Song alongside Peter Simpson for the film Bullies. In contrast, in 1986 he was nominated for the Razzie Award for Worst Musical Score for the film Turk 182. He also composed the theme music for Mr. Wizard's World.
Zaza wrote the new television theme song and composed an all-new soundtrack for the 1993 Canadian English dub of Osamu Tezuka's anime, Kimba the White Lion in Toronto, originally released in 1965 in Japan.

Selected filmography