Atli Örvarsson
Icelandic composer

Atli Örvarsson (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈaʰtlɪ ˈœrvar̥sɔn]) is an Icelandic-American film score composer. Atli's credits include composing and orchestrating music for some of Hollywood's biggest projects, including the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Angels & Demons, The Holiday, The Eagle, Vantage Point, Babylon A.D., Thick as Thieves, The Fourth Kind, and Season of the Witch. Atli's most recent credits include Apple TV's Silo and Defending Jacob, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, A Single Shot, NBC series Chicago Fire, and together with Hans Zimmer contributed music to the Zack Snyder Superman reinstallment Man of Steel.
Originally from the small town of Akureyri, Atli became established in the local music scene at a young age. He earned three platinum and two gold records as a member of the Icelandic band Sálin hans Jóns míns before studying film composing at Berklee College of Music and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He excelled in composing and was awarded the Pete Carpenter Fellowship, which brought him to Los Angeles. He began working alongside TV veteran Mike Post on NYPD Blue and three Law & Order brands. Atli soon caught the attention of composer Hans Zimmer, who extended an invitation to join his team at Remote Control Productions.
01Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild | Audu Paden | |
| 2007 | The Last Confederate: The Story of Robert Adams | A. Blaine Miller | |
| 2008 | Vantage Point | Pete Travis | |
| Babylon A.D. | Mathieu Kassovitz | ||
| 2009 | Thick as Thieves | Mimi Leder | |
| The Fourth Kind | Olatunde Osunsanmi | ||
| 2011 | Season of the Witch | Dominic Sena | |
| The Eagle | Kevin Macdonald | ||
| 2013 | Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters | Tommy Wirkola | |
| The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones | Harald Zwart | ||
| A Single Shot | David M. Rosenthal | ||
| 2015 | The Perfect Guy | Co-composed with David Fleming | |
| Rams | Grímur Hákonarson | ||
| 2016 | Bilal: A New Breed of Hero | Khurram H. Alavi Ayman Jamal |
|
| The Edge of Seventeen | Kelly Fremon Craig | ||
| 2017 | The Hitman's Bodyguard | Patrick Hughes | |
| 2018 | How It Ends | David M. Rosenthal | |
| 2019 | Jacob's Ladder | ||
| 2020 | Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga | David Dobkin | |
| 2021 | Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard | Patrick Hughes | |
| 2022 | No Limit | David M. Rosenthal | |
| 2025 | Dongji Rescue | Guan Hu, Fei Zhenxiang | |
| 2026 | Ladies First | Thea Sharrock |
Television
| Year | Title | Network | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002, 2005 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | NBC | Co-composed with Mike Post |
| 2003-2004 | L.A. Dragnet | ABC | |
| 2006 | Six Degrees | Co-composed with Michael Giacchino & Adam Cohen | |
| 2010 | Law & Order: Los Angeles | NBC | Theme music composed by Mike Post |
| 2012-present | Chicago Fire | ||
| 2014-present | Chicago P.D. | ||
| 2015-present | Chicago Med | ||
| 2017 | Chicago Justice | ||
| 2019-present | FBI | CBS | |
| 2020-present | FBI: Most Wanted | ||
| 2020 | Defending Jacob | Apple TV+ | Theme music composed by Ólafur Arnalds |
| 2022 | Unprecedented | Discovery+ | |
| 2023-present | Silo | Apple TV+ | |
| 2025 | On Call | Prime Video |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Atli Örvarsson”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- AtliOrvarsson.jpg by Assakarls, CC BY-SA 4.0
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