Rachel Portman

English composer Rachel Portman was the first woman to win an Academy Award for an original score. The award resulted from her work on the 1996 film Emma, which she followed with the Oscar-nominated scores The Cider House Rules (1999) and Chocolat (2000). Highlights from her dozens of subsequent scores include the Jonathan Demme remake of The Manchurian Candidate (2004), The Duchess (2008), and 2015's Bessie, which made her the first female score composer to win an Emmy. ~ Marcy Donelson