Leo Birenberg

Leo Birenberg is an American composer and orchestrator for film and television.

Career Born in Kentucky and raised in Chicago, Birenberg studied composition at NYU and USC. While there, he started composing his first scores in collaboration with his roommate, filmmaker Jeremy Reitz. His favorite score is from Out of Africa. Under Beck's tutelage, Birenberg worked as the score coordinator on numerous large projects, including The Muppets, Pitch Perfect, Runner Runner, and Frozen. In 2014, Birenberg started composing additional music for Beck's films, including Muppets Most Wanted, Edge of Tomorrow, and Ant-Man.

In 2014, Birenberg also started composing his own original scores for television shows, including Next Time on Lonny, The Britishes, Big Time in Hollywood, FL, and the YouTube Red series Sing It!

In 2016, Birenberg received an email from producer Eric Appel, and asked to compose music for the then-upcoming FX series Son of Zorn. Upon approaching the series, he took the original up-beat synth-heavy score and replaced it with something that spanned a vast array of musical styles, sampling the styles of country music and church choirs. In 2017, Birenberg released a soundtrack for the show. That same year, Birenberg also started composing music for the Seeso original series Take My Wife. He also composed the score for the 2017 comedy F the Prom.

In 2018, Birenberg co-composed YouTube and Sony series Cobra Kai with composer Zach Robinson. They also scored the subsequent seasons through to season six. In addition, he scored the music for the DreamWorks Animation Television series Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny, Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous and Jurassic World: Chaos Theory.

In 2019, Leo composed the music for Hulu's Pen15. He also recently scored Adult Swim's animated series Tigtone, Tribeca Film Festival selection Plus One, the Peacock series Twisted Metal, the Marvel Studios Animation series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and the 2026 comedy film The Breadwinner.

Awards and honors Birenberg's score with Zach Robinson for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story won the 2023 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special (Original Dramatic Score). The duo also gained the following nominations:

Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media at the 2024 Grammys Best Score - Streamed Live Action Film in the 2022 Hollywood Music in Media Outstanding Original Score for an Independent Film at the 4th SCL Awards.

Their music for Cobra Kai has had the following nominations:

ASCAP's Composer's Choice Award for the Television Score of the Year category in 2021 ASCAP's Composer's Choice Award for the Television Score of the Year category in 2023. IFMCA's Best Original Score for Television in 2025.

Filmography

Films Year Title Notes 2026 Super Troopers 3 Composer with Zach Robinson Pizza Movie Composer with Zach Robinson The Breadwinner Composer with Zach Robinson 2024 How to Rob a Bank Composer Die Hart: Die Harter Composer with Zach Robinson 2023 Bottoms Composer with Charli XCX 2022 Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Composer with Zach Robinson Butcher's Crossing Composer Mack & Rita Anything's Possible Unplugging 2020 Impractical Jokers: The Movie Composer with Zach Robinson Secret Society of Second Born Royals Composer 2019 Red Penguins Plus One 2017 F the Prom Composer with Zach Robinson 2015 The Peanuts Movie Composer (additional music) Ant-Man Hot Tub Time Machine 2 Composer (additional music), Orchestrator 2014 Good Kill Composer (additional music) Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Score Producer Red Army Composer Edge of Tomorrow Composer (additional music) Muppets Most Wanted Endless Love Composer (additional music), Score Producer 2013 Frozen Score Coordinator Runner Runner R.I.P.D. The Internship The Hangover Part III Movie 43 Composer (segment: "Happy Birthday") Charlie Countryman Score Coordinator 2012 Struck By Lightning The Guilt Trip Pitch Perfect Music Assistant The Watch Score Coordinator This Means War 2011 The Muppets Tower Heist

Television

Shorts

Video Games