Quick Facts
Biography
John Swihart is an American musical composer for film and television. He is perhaps best known for his score to "Napoleon Dynamite", " Youth in Revolt", "Employee Of The Month", and his music for the TV shows "How I Met Your Mother", and "Go On".
John Swihart was raised in Bloomington, Indiana, the son of a physicist based at Indiana University. He spent a portion of his formative years in Europe and Asia, where his father would sabbatical.
John had some musical training at a very young age but was not deeply absorbed by music until he was about eight. Swihart would leave Indiana to attend Berklee College of Music, in Boston.
Swihart played Chapman Stick, Bass, Guitar and Zither in the Boston, New York and Las Vegas Blue Man Group shows, on his way to Los Angeles. His breakout film project Napoleon Dynamite premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004.
List of films with scores composed by Swihart
- The Brothers Solomon (Revolution)
- The Hammer (Bentley Film Group)
- The Perfect Host (Magnolia Pictures)
- The Education of Charlie Banks
- Employee of the Month (Lion's Gate)
- Full of It (New Line Cinema)
- Sasquatch Dumpling Gang
- Daltry Calhoun (Miramax)
- The Great New Wonderful (Serenade Films)
- Napoleon Dynamite (Fox Searchlight / MTV Films)
- One Last Dance (2007 film) (Mediacorp Raintree Pictures)
- Our Very Own (Miramax)
- Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas (Fox Searchlight / MTV Films)
- Mall Cop
- Randy and the Mob (Capricorn Pictures)
- Splinterheads (Paladin)
- The Other Woman (2009 film) (Incentive Filmed Entertainment)
- Youth in Revolt (Dimension Films)
- Happy & Bleeding (Mouseroar)
- Odd Thomas (Fusion Films, Future Films, Sommers Company)
- Nailed (Capitol Films)
- For a Good Time Call (AdScott Pictures)
- As Night Comes
- First Girl I Loved (2016)
List of television programs or episodes with scores composed by Swihart
- How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
- Trick My Truck (CMT)
- Hope & Faith - Main Title (ABC)
- Nadine in Dateland
- Home Blitz (CMT)
- The Drive (CMT)
- MTV Undressed (MTV Films)
- MTV Real World (MTV Films)
- Greek (ABC)
- Men at Work (TV series) (TBS)
- Switched at Birth (ABC Family)
- How to Be a Gentleman (CBS)
- Web Therapy (Showtime)
- Go On (NBC)
- The Booth at the End
Awards and nominations
- Golden Satellite Award (2004) for best original score (Napoleon Dynamite)
- Grammy Nomination (2006) for best compilation soundtrack album for motion picture, television or other visual media (Napoleon Dynamite)