Alberto Iglesias Fernandez-Berridi (born October 21, 1955) is a Spanish composer best known for his film scores. Born in San Sebastian, he developed a musical language that combines classical composition, electronic textures, dramatic orchestration and a strong sensitivity to the rhythm of images. His work has become closely associated with some of Spain's most important filmmakers, particularly Pedro Almodovar and Julio Medem, while also earning international recognition through productions made in Britain, the United States and elsewhere.
Iglesias studied piano, harmony and counterpoint in his native city before continuing his education in Paris, where he concentrated on composition and piano. He later studied electronic music at the Phonos studios in Barcelona. Between 1981 and 1986, he performed and composed electronic music in a duo with Javier Navarrete, who would also become a prominent film composer. This early experience helped give Iglesias a broader palette than that of a conventionally orchestral composer.
He began writing for cinema in the 1980s, but his career gained particular momentum with Julio Medem's first feature, *Vacas* (1992). Iglesias subsequently scored several of Medem's distinctive films, including *The Red Squirrel*, *Earth*, *Lovers of the Arctic Circle* and *Sex and Lucia*. These collaborations established his ability to create music that could be sensual, unsettling and psychologically ambiguous without overwhelming the films' visual identities.
His long association with Pedro Almodovar became the central partnership of his career. Iglesias scored *The Flower of My Secret* (1995), *Live Flesh* (1997), *All About My Mother* (1999), *Talk to Her* (2002), *Bad Education* (2004), *Volver* (2006), *Broken Embraces* (2009), *The Skin I Live In* (2011), *I'm So Excited!* (2013), *Julieta* (2016), *Pain and Glory* (2019), *The Human Voice* (2020), *Parallel Mothers* (2021) and *The Room Next Door* (2024). Across these films, his scores move between lyrical melodrama, thriller-like tension and carefully controlled abstraction. Rather than simply illustrating action, the music often reveals concealed emotions or creates an uneasy distance between what characters say and what they feel.
Iglesias expanded his international profile with scores for Fernando Meirelles' *The Constant Gardener* (2005), Marc Forster's *The Kite Runner* (2007), Steven Soderbergh's *Che* films (2008), Tomas Alfredson's *Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy* (2011), Hossein Amini's *The Two Faces of January* (2014) and Ridley Scott's *Exodus: Gods and Kings* (2014). His work on *The Constant Gardener*, *The Kite Runner*, *Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy* and *Parallel Mothers* brought him four Academy Award nominations.
In Spain, Iglesias has received extensive recognition from the Goya Awards, including prizes for *All About My Mother*, *Talk to Her*, *Volver*, *Broken Embraces*, *The Skin I Live In*, *Pain and Glory* and *The Room Next Door*. He also received Spain's National Film Award in 2007 and a Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts in 2017. His career demonstrates how film music can remain structurally ambitious and musically modern while serving the emotional precision of cinema.