Mark Kilian’s deep understanding and appreciation of South African music, jazz, electronica and modern classical music has formed a musical style which has been described as rhythmically sophisticated, evocative and driving, while retaining a raw emotional simplicity that draws on the creative use of everyday sound.

Mark was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. During the early ‘90s, Kilian spearheaded the popular Durban band Shades, which was one of the foremost club jazz bands to break the color barrier in South Africa at the time. He continued to perform with artists like Shirley Bassey, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Airto Moreira and the Brubeck brothers. He toured the US and Europe and recorded two albums with Darius Brubeck as Gathering Forces and the NU Jazz Connection. He also arranged many shows for big band in and around South Africa including Sammy Davis Tribute and Tom Waits Review Show.

After arriving in Los Angeles and studying at USC, he was recruited by composer Christopher Young, with whom he spent 3 years as an electronic score producer and assistant on many feature films which included Species, Copycat, Virtuosity and Hard Rain.

In 1998, Mark was hired as a staff composer by Machine Head in Venice, California. There he wrote music for hundreds of high profile TV commercials for companies such as Apple, Toyota, Budweiser, Microsoft, Mastercard and United Airlines.

In 1997 Mark scored his first film Lovergirl starring Sandra Bernhard. Since then he has written music for many features including King Solomon’s Mines, Icon, Blind Horizon, Skulls 3, The Animatrix and Raise Your Voice. His TV credits include Jake in Progress (ABC), Kitchen Confidential (Fox), FX: The Series (Rysher) and Boarding House: The Northshore (CW). He has also provided music for the video games The Matrix: Path of Neo and Full Spectrum Warrior. Mark has worked as orchestrator, arranger and conductor for Paul Oakenfold, Rob D and Juno Reactor on the film Matrix: Reloaded. His special affinity for percussive music led to producing the electronically manipulated percussion element of the score for Elektra with composer Christophe Beck.

In 2004 Mark and collaborator Paul Hepker, a fellow South African, went to South Africa to score Tsotsi for writer/director Gavin Hood. The film has subsequently garnered many prestigious awards around the world, was nominated for Golden Globe and BAFTA awards, and won the 2006 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Recent scoring projects (also with Paul Hepker) include Gavin Hood’s new film Rendition (starring Jake Gyllenhall) and The Bird Can’t Fly. Mark also recently scored Santosh Sivan's Before the Rains which will receive its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2007. Music for the Divine, (purchase from Amazon here) a new album from Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple) and producer Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), features strings written and recorded by Mark. Along with composer Christophe Beck he recently completed his second record Sedattalite with avant-garde electronica outfit Ape Quartet.