Chris Westlake is an American composer of electronic and orchestral music. His early life was fed by a love of all things strummed. This tendency was encouraged by his Cuban mother and American father, who is a guitarist in his own right having opened for The Beach Boys and Dick Dale & the Deltones.

He spent his teenage years studying classical and flamenco guitar with Celino Romero and Sharon Isbin, head of the guitar department at Juilliard. Brimming with satirical rebellion, he formed a faux glam-rock band playing synths and lead keytar. Taking the stage name “Angelo Pentatonic”, his classical teachers were none the wiser.

Soon after completing his studies at USC’s Thornton School of Music, Chris composed his first feature length film score for “The Beat”, a drama that went on to premiere at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. Fusing elements of traditional orchestration and hip-hop, this score brought Westlake to the attention of music supervisor Bonnie Greenberg. Ms. Greenberg hired Chris to write and produce additional music for a multitude of projects, including Nancy Meyers’ “Something’s Gotta Give” and the hit ABC series “Desperate Housewives”.

Pursuing a passion for animation, Chris was selected by producer Chris Meledandri to score several short films featuring the Minions from the mega-hit “Despicable Me”.

Most recently Westlake was tapped by Chris Evans to score his directorial debut, “Before We Go”. Westlake was also hired by Oscar-winning composer Steven Price (Fury, Gravity) to write additional music for Alfonso Cuaron’s “Believe”.