Benj Pasek Wiki: Songwriter, Net Worth, 'La La Land', 'The Greatest Showman' & Facts To Know

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul are together known as Pasek and Paul. This American songwriting duo and composing team have worked together in musical theater, films and television. Their works include A Christmas Story, Dogfight, Edges, Dear Evan Hansen, and James and the Giant Peach. They have also together written some original songs which have been featured on NBC's Smash, La La Land and The Greatest Showman. Their song 'City of Stars' for the film La La Land won them both the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Song. The song "This is Me" from The Greatest Showman also received an Oscar nomination for the Best Original Song. The song "This is Me" was a rousing ode to anyone who has ever felt marginalized or overlooked. The song has not only become a hit on the charts, but it has inspired countless covers on social media and even been used on countless promotional spots for the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games. Benk Pasek has been nominated for the Best Original Song at Oscar 2018 for the song 'This is Me'. Oscar 2018 will be held on March 4th this year. Both the artists have graduated from the University of Michigan and are also the winners of the American Theater Wing's 2007 Jonathan Larson Award which is especially given to honor the achievements of composers, librettists and lyricists. Pasek and Paul have done brilliant work on the original musical Dear Evan Hansen and it has received critical acclaim and also won them the Tony Award for the Best Original Score. Pasek and Paul started working together as freshmen at the University of Michigan where they completed their BFA degrees in musical theatre in December 2006. They both got background roles in the musical theater production of the school and this inspired them to write a series of songs, which turned into a show named Edges. While working together as a team, Paul generally writes music and Pasek mostly writes lyrics. They both opted to share the credits for both elements of songwriting. The duo became the youngest winners of the Jonathan Larson Grant in history. Benj Pasek is the son of professor Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and be credits the University of Michigan and Friends' Central School to be his alma mater. Paul considers the University of Michigan and the Staples High School to be his alma mater. Paul is married and he and his wife together have a daughter who was born in 2016.

Pasek and Paul have a distinguished career together. Their show Edges is a song cycle about the trials and tribulations of moving into adulthood. The show explores the search for love, commitment and meaning. The show was premiered at the Kerrytown Concert House in Michigan and received critical acclaim. There is a fanpage nicknamed 'Edge-heads' on social media which had a dedicated fan base. Pasek and Paul's work on 'James and the Giant Peach' was a musical adaptation of Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach. This show premiered in 2010 at the Norma Terris Theater at Goodspeed Musicals and was a massive hit. Their musical show, 'Dear Evan Hansen' premiered at the Arena Stage, Washington, D.C in 2015. The show was inspired by a traumatic incident in Pasek's life when he saw the death of a high school student. Dear Evan Hansen premiered on Broadway in 2016 and premiered at the Music Box Theater in December of 2016. It was nominated for nine awards at the 71st Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Actor in a Musical for Platt. It won six awards out of the seven nominations. Pasek and Paul have also worked on other theatrical works such as If You Give A Pig A Pancake, Duck For President and Dr. Williams. Pasek and Paul were also featured in the documentary film One Night Stand about the process. Their New York premiere was a concert of songs titled 'Become: The Music of Pasek & Paul'and was performed at Joe's Pub at the Public Theatre. As television songwriters, Pasek and Paul's original songs were featured on Season 2 of NBC's Smash. They have risen to the Top 25 on the iTunes Pop Charts too. Pasek and Paul later wrote music for six episodes of the Disney Channel show, 'Johnny and the Sprites'. Pasek and Paul also wrote the original song "Runnin' Home to You" for the musical crossover episode of The Flash "Duet" between The Flash and Supergirl. Pasek and Paul wrote the lyrics for the musical romantic comedy-drama film La La Land. Justin Hurwitz wrote the music. "City of Stars", their song from the film composed by Justin Hurwitz, won the 2017 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. "City of Stars" and "Audition" received nominations for Best Original Song at the 89th Academy Awards. They also won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "City of Stars." Pasek and Paul are currently writing new songs for Disney's upcoming 2019 live-action film adaptation of 'Aladdin' directed by Guy Ritchie. The duo will be writing songs for Disney's upcoming live-action film adaptation of 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'. Pasek and Paul also wrote the song "Get Back Up Again" for the film Trolls, as well as a deleted song called "Bringing Back Happy." They also wrote five original songs for the 2016 animated direct-to-video feature 'Tom & Jerry: Back to Oz'. 'Tom & Jerry: Back to Oz' was a fantasy/adventure film released in 2016.

The net worth of Benj Pasek is $17 million.