Joel McNeely

The scion of a musical family, Joel McNeely was a multi-instrumentalist as a child and studied music at several prestigious institutions before making his way to Hollywood. His first job out there was to compose for the Wilford Brimley TV series "Our House"; he then proceeded to write the musical scores of multiple projects for Walt Disney, like the made-for-TV sequel "Splash, Too," an episode of the documentary series "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color," and both "Parent Trap III" and "Parent Trap: Hawaiian Honeymoon." He switched teams, so to speak, by working on the modernization of the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes characters on "Tiny Toon Adventures" and eventually landed on another venerable franchise with "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles," on which he worked with George Lucas. They worked together so well that Lucas rehired McNeely to produce music for the "Star Wars"-related video game "Shadows of the Empire." Off of television, McNeely has scored moves like National Lampoon's "Vegas Vacation," the Kurt Russell sci-fi epic "Soldier," and, with Disney again, the children's favorite "Holes." The composer has carved a niche in family movies and science fiction, but he strays into comedy, too, as with the satirical send-up "American Dad!"