Portland native scores ‘surreal’ Emmy win for ‘Kung Fu Panda’ series

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – As a kid, Kevin Lax was inspired by film scores in movies such as “The Land Before Time,” and “Star Wars.”

After following the adventures of Duckie and Littlefoot and journeying through a galaxy far, far away – Lax found himself accepting his first Emmy in December for composing the Netflix series “Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight.”

“I had a blossoming interest in film music after seeing some pivotal films as a youngster, including ‘The Land Before Time,’ and ‘Willow,’ and getting a John Williams anthology with a lot of his piano reductions for ‘Star Wars,’ themes for ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Superman,’ and ‘Indiana Jones,’ and love playing those on piano,” Lax tells KOIN 6 News.

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“Winning the Emmy for ‘Kung Fu Panda’ was a cool surprise and kind of surreal journey, but even getting that initial work with DreamWorks, that whole franchise, was so cool,” Lax said.

The Portland native says as a teen, he had the opportunity to explore music while taking an electronic music course at Central Catholic High School.

“We had a great instructor who actually allowed us to score a film, he was able to remove some of the audio assets so we could put in new music over a scene, and it was such a neat process,” Lax explained.

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Lax studied film composition at the University of Southern California – winning several awards for his concert works along with film and video game scores – and started his career writing music for Lifetime and Hallmark rom-coms and Christmas movies before landing a gig for the 2018 film “The First Purge.”

Lax’s resume includes projects for Netflix, Apple TV, DreamWorks, and EA Sports, and work with artists like Snoop Dogg, Too Short, Bone Thugs, and Desiigner.

He also had the opportunity to connect to the John Williams anthology he grew up with while composing LucasArts’ Star Wars video game franchise, which was recorded at Abbey Road Studios.

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In December 2023, he found himself on another “surreal” journey: he and his “Kung Fu Panda” co-composer, Robert Lydecker, were nominated in the Children and Family Emmys under the Music Direction and Composition for an Animated Program category.

“We submitted [the Kung Fu Panda nomination] kind of out of sight, out of mind. You’re like ‘Hopefully, something comes of it.’ Then we got word that we’re on a shortlist, and we’re like, ‘Oh, that’s kind of cool.’ And then you finally get nominated, you’re like ‘Oh, this could actually amount to something,'” Lax said.

“When you get there, and it all seems, again, kind of surreal,” he added. “You’re honored to be nominated.”

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Lax recalls the heart-racing moment leading up to ‘Kung Fu Panda’ being announced on stage, noting, “they announced the category…so, then your heart rate increases again, and then they open the envelope and right when I heard ‘Kung Fu’, I was like ‘All right,’ and stood up and I gave my co-composer Bob a big hug.”

“Bob and I had to flip a coin to see who would speak because you’re only allowed 30 seconds. He won the coin toss, but it’s okay,” Lax said.

“I think being part of a franchise that’s so rich, and well known, and working with a great studio like DreamWorks, it was cool to know that you’re part of this large team of people contributing something [that] hopefully people find inspiring or enjoyable,” he furthered.

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“I feel so grateful that this is my job, I get to write music every day. And it’s nice to work on a variety from ‘Kung Fu Panda,’ to horror music, to rock music, and hip hop,” Lax said.

His favorite compositions he’s written include fantasy pieces for the Star Wars video game and his own rendition for the ‘Willow’ series.

“That’s where my greatest love of film music lies is sweeping scores of ‘Harry Potter,’ and ‘Lord of the Rings,’” he explained.

Lax also enjoys the variety of projects he’s worked on, especially when it comes to “epic” film scores.

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“I think those epic scores, and how much they can impact people, and feeling so connected with the characters and narrative is where my greatest passion lies,” Lax said.

Throughout his career, Lax has learned the importance of who you surround yourself with — especially when it comes to late nights in the studio.

“I think developing that sense of network and getting to the rungs of that takes time and can be challenging. Sometimes you wake up under a piano because you work at the studio all week long, you barely slept. But as you look back at those days, it’s like you were in the trenches then and that’s what allows you to be in this position now,” Lax said.

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He’s also learned the importance of trusting yourself.

“I think there can be a lot of doubt and for a number of reasons, occasionally maybe the bar that you set for yourself, and sometimes what [studios] throw in for temp music to illustrate what they want for a scene … they might throw in John Williams, and you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, this is gonna be a tough level,'” Lax said. “But then you continue to push through it. And trust that through the years you’ve developed something that can really be meaningful and contributed in a great way to this project.”

He added, “I think you push yourself to explore, which can bring unknown things to movies too, which filmmakers always appreciate when you explore things as well, because I think you’re trying to up your ante that you’re offering to that as opposed to just meeting the standard, you’re like, ‘Here, I want to try this.’ And I think when you build that confidence, then you can really offer more of that spice that maybe someone didn’t foresee initially.”

Coming off his Emmy win, Lax’s latest project — scoring DreamWorks’ “Orion and the Dark” — was released on Netflix Feb. 2.

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