Born in Aizu, Fukushima, Japan on August 24, 1974, Wataru Hokoyama is a composer, orchestrator, and conductor best known for his scores for film, television, and video games. Born in Japan, he relocated to Interlochen, Michigan at the age of 16 to attend the Interlochen Arts Academy. He would later attend the Cleveland Institute of Music (Ohio), and the USC Thornton School of Music (Los Angeles, California). He began composing, conducting, and/or orchestrating for films in 2000, beginning with Dungeons & Dragons. This led to a series of films including Bean Cake (2001), The Kabuki Joint (2003), Chiyo (2006), Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack (2012), and more. Wataru Hokoyama collaborated with several other composters, most notably with Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh on films such as The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Holmes & Watson (2018), and The Willoughbys (2020). Wataru Hokoyama is perhaps best known for his music for the 2008 video game Afrika. He’s worked on several video games during his career including Resident Evil 5 (2009), Ace Combat 3D: Cross Rumble (2012), Soul Sacrifice (2013), Halo Wars 2 (2017), and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (2021), another musical collaboration with Mark Mothersbaugh.
