At the age of 24, Bear McCreary was launched into pop culture with his score to Sci Fi Channel's hit, Battlestar Galactica, "the most innovative music on TV today" (Variety).   Four seasons and seventy-five episodes later, Galactica is universally revered, having won the prestigious Peabody Award and special recognition from the United Nations.   McCreary has established himself as a major creative force in the industry.   Io9.com declared Bear McCreary one of the Ten Best Science Fiction Composers of all time, listing him alongside legends John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and Bernard Herrmann.   He was the only composer under 50 on the list, (he is now 30), and the only one recognized for work in television.

His Galactica score has been described as "sharp and sensitive" (The Wall Street Journal) , "a key element in establishing the show's dark, complex tone," (The Hollywood Reporter) and "rich, raw, oddly stirring... kick-ass and powerful as hell," (E! Online).   It "fits the action so perfectly, it's almost devastating: a sci-fi score like no other," (NPR) .   Seasons One, Two, Three and Four of his best-selling Battlestar soundtrack albums have rocketed up the Amazon.com Top Music Sales Charts, reaching the #1 sales spot in both television and movie soundtrack lists, many weeks prior to their releases. The most recent album, Season 4, cracked into Amazon.com's Top 5 Music Sales and charted in the Billboard Top 150.

Currently, McCreary is scoring Trauma, a medical action / drama for NBC, as well as Caprica, the highly anticipated Galactica prequel series that begins airing in January, 2010.   He is also providing a sweeping score for FOX's new comic-book action series Human Target. His music will soon enter the video game realm, with a pulse-pounding orchestral score for CAPCOM's major franchise launch, Dark Void.

Bear McCreary has provided unique and critically acclaimed scores for FOX's iconic Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Sci Fi Channel's top-rated Eureka. McCreary's feature film work includes Warner Bros.' Rest Stop (2006), its successful sequel Rest Stop: Don't Look Back (2008), and Twentieth Century Fox's Wrong Turn 2 (2007).   His commercial scoring includes ads for Jinx clothing and Smirnoff Vodka's global Bloodline campaign.

Among the select protégés of the late Elmer Bernstein (The Magnificent Seven, Far From Heaven) , McCreary worked with the film music legend for nearly a decade, learning the tools of the trade along the way.   Working from Bernstein's own hand-written pencil sketches, McCreary completely reconstructed and re-orchestrated Bernstein's 1963 score for Kings of the Sun , starring Yul Brynner.   Elmer Bernstein himself conducted McCreary's Kings concert suite in performances around the world.   Their collaboration allowed the complete score to be available as a soundtrack album for the first time in forty years.

McCreary's unique combination of atypical instrumental background (he is a professional accordionist) with rigorous classical training (degrees in Composition and Recording Arts from the prestigious USC Thornton School of Music) prepared him to write for quirky, off-kilter ensembles or symphonic orchestras.   Or both at once.

Teaming with renowned musicians, McCreary has created the massive Battlestar Galactica Orchestra.   He has conducted this ensemble in sold-out venues around Southern California, thrilling audiences at the famous Roxy Theatre on the Sunset Strip, California Plaza in Downtown Los Angeles, and the House of Blues San Diego. The concerts "became a buzz-building showcase," (Billboard Magazine) and fans few in from around the world to experience them. "McCreary has the potential to become a true composer rock-star, complete with screaming fans and sold-out concerts, in addition to top-notch talent," raved International Musician's cover story.