With hundreds of scores to his credit, Emmy-nominated composer Amin Bhatia has written music for film, television, radio, theatre, and albums, for several decades, composing with as much passion as the day he started. His music has been likened to the harmonic inventiveness of Jerry Goldsmith and the technical prowess of Hans Zimmer.

Born in London England, Amin grew up in Kampala, Uganda until his family immigrated to Canada to escape political turmoil. His childhood was full of music from many cultures and his gift of perfect pitch gave him a unique ability to learn from them. Though he loved orchestral music, it was keyboards and electronics which fascinated him the most, so instead of the academic route he went with a Minimoog synthesizer and a 4-track tape recorder. In a short time this led to multiple prizes in the Roland International Synthesizer Competition and projects with Steve Porcaro of Toto and the infamous David Foster. (He even has a synth cameo on Michael Jacksons “Thriller”.) 

His solo albums The Interstellar Suite and Virtuality pay homage to his love of science fiction TV and film scores, and many album tracks have become standard repertoire in music competitions. Amin recently became the first Canadian on the Board of Advisors for the Bob Moog Foundation. 

Film and television projects include Anne with an E (CBC/Netflix); Sullivan’s Crossing (CTV/Bell Media), the internationally-acclaimed Flashpoint for CTV and CBS as well as the CBC series X Company, all while creating guest compositions for the hit series The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu/MGM Television), Beacon 23 (MGM+), Fellow Travelers (Showtime/Paramount+), and The Ray Bradbury Theatre (Showtime/Amazon). His feature film credits include Storm (Cannon Films/Groundstar), Iron Eagle II (Alliance Atlantis/Tri-star/Carolco), Rescue Heroes: The Movie (Nelvana/Fisher Price), John Woo’s Once a Thief (Alliance Atlantis/CTV) and many IMAX orchestral scores for award-winning filmmaker David Lickley.

Amin and long-time friend and collaborator Ari Posner have won numerous Canadian Screen Awards for their work on Anne with an E (CBC/Netflix), Detention Adventure (CBC/HBO Max/Broken Compass Films), Flashpoint (CTV/CBS) and Let’s Go Luna (PBS/TVO/9 Storey Entertainment/Brown Bag Films), as well as an Emmy Award Nomination for the Disney sci-fi anime series Get Ed. Other collaborators include Arlene Bishop, Johnny Clegg, Ralph Dyck, Sarah Slean, and Meiro Stamm. Amin has been nominated twice for the Louis Applebaum Composers Award, as well as recently winning the Canadian Screen Composers Award for his score to Jane Goodall Reasons for Hope.

Amin’s music is as diverse as his own personal journey. “I’ve always been an outsider”, he admits “and music has been the only place where I can just be me. We’re slowly making progress in many forms of diversity and I love making music that serves those stories.” He is also an advocate for screen composers and serves on the Board of Directors for the Screen Composers Guild of Canada.

After being mentored by such luminaries as Steve Porcaro, Oscar Peterson, and David Greene, Amin is now giving back with workshops at various institutions including the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) and The Screen Composer’s Academy.  He recently dusted off his acting resumé with speaking roles in Christoph Waltz‘s Georgetown, and CBS’s Blood and Treasure.