Biography Wikipedia
Wikipedia:
Rachel Mary Berkeley Portman, OBE (born 11 December 1960) is a British composer, best known for her film work. She was the first female composer to win an Academy Award in the category of Best Original Score (for Emma in 1996). (Previously, female songwriters Barbra Streisand, in 1977, Buffy Sainte-Marie, in 1983, and Carly Simon, in 1989, each won Oscars, but in the category of Best Original Song).
Life and career
Portman was born on 11 December 1960 in Haslemere, England, the daughter of Penelope (née Mowat) and Berkeley Charles Portman. She was educated at Charterhouse School and Worcester College, Oxford.
Portman was nominated for an Academy Award for her scores for The Cider House Rules in 1999 and Chocolat in 2000. She has also composed the scores for dozens of other feature films, as well as an unused score for the film Dangerous Beauty (George Fenton replaced her, but some of her material still remains in the film). For television, she composed the score for all thirteen episodes of Jim Henson's The Storyteller, and two episodes of The Jim Henson Hour ("Monster Maker" and "Living with Dinosaurs").
Her other works include a children's opera, The Little Prince (which was later adapted for television) and a musical based upon the Laura Ingalls Wilder books Little House on the Prairie (2008). Portman was commissioned to write a piece of choral music for the BBC Proms series in August 2007.
On 19 May 2010, Rachel Portman was honored at the BMI Film & TV Awards with the Richard Kirk Award, which is bestowed on composers who have made significant contributions to the realm of film and television music. Portman made BMI history as she became the first woman composer to receive the honor, joining an elite list that includes Christopher Young, George S. Clinton, Mark Mothersbaugh, Danny Elfman, Alan Menken, Mike Post, Lalo Schifrin, John Barry, and John Williams.
Portman was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours.