Cody Westheimer
- Composer
- Music Department
- Director
When he's not running, riding his bike or exploring the wilderness Cody Westheimer is racking up credits as diverse as they are interesting. To date, he's amassed well over 100 hours of music for feature films, documentary series and iconic sports themes.
He is perhaps best known for his Tour de France theme on NBC. An avid cyclist, his iconic music has been airing each July since 2011. That theme made Cody a sought after force for other sports themes including Major League Soccer, The National Dog Show, The America's Cup and NBC Swimming to name a few. His music has played side by side his hero, John Williams on "Meet the Press."
A nature junkie, Cody was written for many nature and wildlife documentaries. Credits include "H is for Hawk: A New Chapter" (BBC/Nature) which won a NaturVision award for best score, "America's Badlands" (Smithsonian Channel), "Midway: Edge of Tomorrow" (Tandem) and "Laws of the Lizard" (Smithsonian Channel) which recently won the coveted Helix Award for best science show. He wrote the epic orchestral score to "Journey to Space 3D" - an IMAX film that plays daily at science centers and museums worldwide. His next giant screen film "Hidden Pacific" is due out in early 2019. His riveting score to "Warren Jeffs: Prophet of Evil" (Asylum/A&E) helped send shivers while "Days that Shaped America" (Pilgrim/A&E) hit the more emotional heartstrings. On the narrative side "Halfway There," a TV pilot starring Matt Lillard and Blythe Danner premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. "Doubt," starring Katherine Heigl and Laverne Cox aired on CBS in 2017. He scored the star studded indie comedy "Conception," "National Lampoon's Cattle Call" and "Detention of the Dead."
Cody started making movies before writing music for them. A child of the video camera era during the mid-eighties, he had a family reputation for making silly music videos and short films. During junior high he started writing and playing music. He had his first orchestral work premiered by his hometown orchestra - the Santa Barbara Symphony - at age 17. While at USC's Thornton School of Music he wrote the music for nearly 40 short films. He graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2001, while concurrently completing USC's Film Score Certification program. Since then he has written hundreds of hours of music for independent narrative features, documentaries, network and cable television shows and movies and video games.
Cody is an avid craftsman who's sometimes called "the happy scientist." In addition to building his studio desk and portable studio (which was profiled by OutsideTV and Mix Magazine) he recently added a walking treadmill and lift to his studio to log in some extra miles while working. A DIY champion, the koi pond and deck surrounding his studio are his own work.
A multi-instrumentalist, Cody plays dozens of instruments. Back in his 'gigging days' he was primarily a jazz trombonist and classical tuba player. Today he spends most of his time on the piano, shakuhachi (the Japanese bamboo flute he started studying in college) and the 5 string banjo.
Additionally Cody is an avid photographer and short form filmmaker. There's not a major life moment that hasn't either been photographed (he still occasionally shoots on film!) or edited into a short video. His arsenal includes a mirrorless Sony, Canonet 35mm, Fujifilm Rangefinder 6x9 a DJI Mavic Air and several other gadgets.
His other hobbies include playing with his 2 dogs and hanging with his wife, Julia and (perhaps most of all) spending time with his daughter, Malia.
He is perhaps best known for his Tour de France theme on NBC. An avid cyclist, his iconic music has been airing each July since 2011. That theme made Cody a sought after force for other sports themes including Major League Soccer, The National Dog Show, The America's Cup and NBC Swimming to name a few. His music has played side by side his hero, John Williams on "Meet the Press."
A nature junkie, Cody was written for many nature and wildlife documentaries. Credits include "H is for Hawk: A New Chapter" (BBC/Nature) which won a NaturVision award for best score, "America's Badlands" (Smithsonian Channel), "Midway: Edge of Tomorrow" (Tandem) and "Laws of the Lizard" (Smithsonian Channel) which recently won the coveted Helix Award for best science show. He wrote the epic orchestral score to "Journey to Space 3D" - an IMAX film that plays daily at science centers and museums worldwide. His next giant screen film "Hidden Pacific" is due out in early 2019. His riveting score to "Warren Jeffs: Prophet of Evil" (Asylum/A&E) helped send shivers while "Days that Shaped America" (Pilgrim/A&E) hit the more emotional heartstrings. On the narrative side "Halfway There," a TV pilot starring Matt Lillard and Blythe Danner premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. "Doubt," starring Katherine Heigl and Laverne Cox aired on CBS in 2017. He scored the star studded indie comedy "Conception," "National Lampoon's Cattle Call" and "Detention of the Dead."
Cody started making movies before writing music for them. A child of the video camera era during the mid-eighties, he had a family reputation for making silly music videos and short films. During junior high he started writing and playing music. He had his first orchestral work premiered by his hometown orchestra - the Santa Barbara Symphony - at age 17. While at USC's Thornton School of Music he wrote the music for nearly 40 short films. He graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2001, while concurrently completing USC's Film Score Certification program. Since then he has written hundreds of hours of music for independent narrative features, documentaries, network and cable television shows and movies and video games.
Cody is an avid craftsman who's sometimes called "the happy scientist." In addition to building his studio desk and portable studio (which was profiled by OutsideTV and Mix Magazine) he recently added a walking treadmill and lift to his studio to log in some extra miles while working. A DIY champion, the koi pond and deck surrounding his studio are his own work.
A multi-instrumentalist, Cody plays dozens of instruments. Back in his 'gigging days' he was primarily a jazz trombonist and classical tuba player. Today he spends most of his time on the piano, shakuhachi (the Japanese bamboo flute he started studying in college) and the 5 string banjo.
Additionally Cody is an avid photographer and short form filmmaker. There's not a major life moment that hasn't either been photographed (he still occasionally shoots on film!) or edited into a short video. His arsenal includes a mirrorless Sony, Canonet 35mm, Fujifilm Rangefinder 6x9 a DJI Mavic Air and several other gadgets.
His other hobbies include playing with his 2 dogs and hanging with his wife, Julia and (perhaps most of all) spending time with his daughter, Malia.
