Cliff Martinez is an American composer and former rock drummer born in The Bronx, New York, who began his career as a drummer in the 1970s and 1980s before moving into film scoring in the early 1990s and working across electronic, ambient and orchestral genres. His musical style emphasises minimalist, synthesiser-led textures and processed acoustic elements, evolving from rhythmic, percussion-based approaches to sustained, atmospheric soundscapes frequently used in contemporary cinema, and he has often collaborated with directors such as Steven Soderbergh and Nicolas Winding Refn.
