Tommy Tallarico

Tommy Tallarico is a veritable video game industry icon. As one of the most successful video game composers in history, he has helped revolutionize the gaming world, creating unique audio landscapes that enhance the video gaming experience. He is considered the person most instrumental in changing the game industry from bleeps & bloops to real music now appreciated worldwide by billions of fans. As a well-recognized on-air television personality, live performer, show producer, creative director, game console CEO/President, sound designer and composer, Tommy brings his in-depth knowledge, years of experience, and love of cutting edge multimedia and pop culture to the masses. Tommy has worked in the gaming industry as a designer, product manager, producer, writer, hardware executive, games tester and heads of both music and video departments. He produced, co-created, wrote and co-hosted 3 internationally award-winning syndicated and network television shows as well as creating, producing and hosting the continuing worldwide touring sensation Video Games Live since 2002. Since 2010 he has become a highly sought after live show creative director/producer. Clients include Disney, MGM, Blizzard/Activision, Capcom and include artists and music such as Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin & EDM artist BT. Tommy was inducted into the International Video Game Hall of Fame in 2021 for his many years of outstanding achievements in the video game industry. Tommy is also internationally known in the backgammon community and in 2024 he won the Backgammon World Championship (Division II) in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

An accomplished musician, Tallarico has been writing music for video games for over 35 years. He has won over 50 industry awards and has worked on more than 325 game titles; to date, they total sales of more than 250 million units and over 10 billion dollars in revenue. In 2008, he was enshrined in the Guinness Book of World Records with a two page feature article and interview and has been awarded 7 Guinness World Records in 4 different categories including the person who has worked on the most commercially released video games and the largest game symphony show ever seen live (over 752,000 people in China). In 2012 during the Game Developers Conference he received a Lifetime Achievement Award and is also in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. for his contributions to the game industry. In 2013 he was asked to speak at a TED Conference where he gave his very well received “Video Games – Art in Disguise” speech. In 1994, he founded Tommy Tallarico Studios, which, at the time, was the multimedia industry's largest audio production house. In video games, television, film, radio, soundtracks, toys and even on floats in the New Years Day Rose Parade in Pasadena CA, Tallarico’s music has been heard by hundreds of millions of people around the world. Tommy is a cousin of rock star legend Steven Tyler (nee Tallarico) and in 2002 Tallarico’s music was used as the opening song for Aerosmiths' “Girls of Summer” world tour. His top titles include Earthworm Jim, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Disney’s Aladdin, Spider-Man and Metroid Prime as well as top selling popular game franchises such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Pac-Man, Guitar Hero, Madden Football, Mortal Kombat, Time Crisis, Unreal, Lineage, James Bond, Blitz Football, The 7th Guest, Knockout Kings, Test Drive, Scooby Doo, WWE & Twisted Metal. His score for Advent Rising has been noted as "one of the greatest musical scores of all time" by websites such as Yahoo, Gamespot and others. Tallarico and his studio owned and created the beloved Roblox "Oof" sound which became a worldwide sensation and arguably the most famous pop culture sound of the 21st century garnishing billions of views from memes and YouTube videos around the world.

Born February 18, 1968 and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, he moved to Southern California on his own at age 21 to pursue a career in entertainment. Homeless with no means of financial support, Tommy was discovered in a music store and started working in the video game industry within 3 days of arriving in California. All four of his grandparents came to America from Italy in the early 1900's and instilled a great sense of hard work, compassion, appreciation, passion, dreaming, creativity, sense of accomplishment and love for others that he has carried with him his entire life. Tommy is a vegetarian and has been a spokesperson, supporter and contributor for many animal rights organizations including national ad campaigns for PETA. In his spare time he enjoys nature, photography, traveling, backgammon, watch collecting, cooking, practicing and learning magic, video games, comic books, Italian sports cars, baseball, Formula One, being a kid and meeting new people. He lives in Orange County, CA with his wife Shannon and their dogs Houdini, Nova, Luna and horse Rocky. His website www.tallarico.com has received over 250 million hits by more than 10 million unique users.