LOS ANGELES _ The "Joker" composer Hildur Gu�nadottir won the Academy Award for original score. The Icelandic composer is just the fourth woman to win in the Oscars' scoring categories, and the first since 1997.
The 37-year-old Gu�nadottir, who first came to prominence in the Icelandic experimental band Mum, previously won the Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for her "Joker" score. The last woman to win in the category was the British composer Anne Dudley, who won for 1997's "The Full Monty." Only seven women have ever been nominated in the Oscars' scoring categories.
Gu�nadottir described the tense, brooding score in an interview with the Times last year, as reflective of the turmoil in the titular character's mind: "Those are the kind of forces that are trying to push through ... Those are the forces that he hasn't really figured out yet. The last time we hear this theme is the most angry version of it _ it has massive drums, and the whole orchestra's just like suffocated the cello. It's still there, but the anger has taken over Arthur."
Gu�nadottir previously won a Grammy and an Emmy for her score for HBO's "Chernobyl," and performed on the late Johann Johannsson's widely-praised scores for "Arrival" and "Sicario."
Her "Joker" score bested competitors including "1917," "Little Women," "Marriage Story" and "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker."
