Heitor Pereira discovered composing film music in a unique way. He had been brought in as a songwriter for the film As Good As It Gets, but soon found that his melodies and arrangements were of perfect fit to film scores. He made such an impression on producer James L. Brooks that in Brooks' next film, 2001's Riding in Cars with Boys, Heitor was co-composer.
Heitor Pereira's original film scores include: The Smurfs, A Little Bit of Heaven, From Prada to Nada, Despicable Me, Nancy Meyers' It's Complicated, The Canyon, Curious George, Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!, the Disney's hit Beverly Hills Chihuahua, the documentary Running the Sahara, the John Singleton produced Illegal Tender, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, and Robert Towne's Ask the Dust. He has been the recipient of seven ASCAP awards, for Beverly Hills Chihuahua, It's Complicated, and Despicable Me.
Heitor also has collaborated on a number of projects, and has composed music, written songs, or played various instruments on the scores of: I Am Sam, Madagascar, The Pledge, Shrek 2, Mission Impossible II, The Rundown, Black Hawk Down, Spy Kids, August Rush, Spanglish, Something's Gotta Give, Man on Fire, Domino, Unstoppable, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, and The Dark Knight.
Heitor's reputation for being able to bring his unique sensibility to film scores comes from his solid foundation of craftsmanship. Soon after completing his conservatory studies, Heitor began playing guitar with some of Brazil's leading artists, and then went on to entertaining millions as the guitarist for Simply Red. He has released three solo albums of his own music, and has either arranged music or played with such artists as: Sergio Mendes, Alejandro Sanz, Caetano Veloso, Ivan Lins, Jack Johnson, The Chieftains, Bryan Adams, Elton John, Willie Nelson, Shania Twain, Seal, Nelly Furtado and many others. It came as no surprise that in 2005, Heitor won a Grammy for "Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist" for his collaboration with Sting and Chris Botti.
Heitor Pereira lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.