Texas-raised Chanda Dancy received her first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series with her acclaimed work on “Lawmen: Bass Reeves”. She started composing orchestral works at the age of12. She has been described as a “phenomenal composer” (Ted Chung, Zacuto: Featured Filmmakers) and “quickly gaining recognition as a foremost black American contemporary composer.” (Anthony Parnther, Conductor, San Bernardino Symphony). Her works are described as “emotionally penetrating” and “rich”.

An alumnus of the USC Film Scoring Program, and the Sundance Composers Lab, Chanda is an Emmy-nominated & accomplished film, television and classical concert composer. Arts Boston named her one of “10 Contemporary Black Composers You Should Know”. She is known for her work on the Peabody Award winning documentary “Aftershock” (Disney/Onyx Collective), the hit Netflix TV Original “The Defeated”, the Korean War era epic “Devotion”, the Whitney Houston biopic “I Wanna Dance with Somebody”, directed by Kasi Lemmons, and Taylor Sheridan and David Oyelowo’s television drama “Lawmen: Bass Reeves”.

In 2022, Chanda was short-listed by the Academy for Motion Pictures for Best Original Score for her work on Sony Pictures’ “Devotion”. In 2024, Chanda received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series and a SCL Award nomination for her music to “Lawmen: Bass Reeves”