Nainita Desai is an Emmy®-winning composer whose genre-spanning scores have made her a leading voice in contemporary screen music. Her awards include an Emmy for The Reason I Jump, alongside RTS Craft, IFMCA, SCL and World Soundtrack Award Discovery of the Year wins, with nominations from the Ivor Novello, BIFA, Critics’ Choice, Grierson and Cinema Eye Honors juries. In 2025, she won ASCAP’s top video game prize for her score to EA’s BAFTA-acclaimed Tales of Kenzera: Zau, while her title theme for Nautilus earned a Television Theme of the Year nomination.

Her television drama credits include the Disney+/AMC/Prime Video adventure series Nautilus, all three seasons of ITV’s The Tower, BBC One’s Crossfire, starring Keeley Hawes, and Sky’s Funny Woman, starring Gemma Arterton. She also co-scored StudioCanal’s feature Something in the Water. Her current slate includes BBC One’s scripted series The Split Up (Sister Pictures), alongside projects for National Geographic, Netflix and the BBC.

Desai gained international acclaim for her scores to the Oscar-nominated, BAFTA- and Cannes-winning For Sama, Netflix’s 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible and Body Parts, both of which earned Emmy nominations for their scores, and the hit Netflix film The Deepest Breath. Her documentary work also includes the Sundance craft-winning Nocturnes, a 2025 Cinema Eye music nominee, Hulu’s The Contestant, and Netflix hits American Murder: The Family Next Door and What Jennifer Did.

Her passion for natural history is reflected in landmark series including Apple TV+’s The Wild Ones and Earthsounds, James Cameron’s OceanXplorers, National Geographic’s Emmy-winning Secrets of the Penguins, and Netflix’s Predators.

In games, Desai is celebrated for her collaborations with acclaimed creator Sam Barlow on the BAFTA-winning interactive titles Telling Lies and Immortality. Her credits also include Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, with new AAA franchise games currently in development. Her work in immersive storytelling also includes a multi-year international installation project and the solo album Tessellation, created for a large-scale permanent installation in California and Australia.

Her music has been performed by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and presented at Film Music Krakow, the World Soundtrack Awards in Ghent, MOSMA Málaga, the Camille Awards in Paris and SXSW London 2025. Her collaborations range from Eivør to the London Contemporary Orchestra and include documentary-musicals such as the BBC’s City of Dreams.

Born in London to Indian parents, Desai grew up studying sitar, piano, guitar, tabla, violin and voice. After earning a degree in mathematics, she trained in sound design at the National Film and Television School. She went on to work on feature films for directors including Bernardo Bertolucci and Werner Herzog, and as an assistant music engineer for Peter Gabriel.

Rooted in narrative empathy, Desai’s music ranges from sweeping orchestral fantasy and understated acoustic writing to experimental sound design and dark electronics. She combines custom-built instruments, vintage synths, found sounds and global influences to give each project a distinctive sonic world, guided by the emotional truth of the story.