Fanshawe graduate, Trevor Morris, won what he calls a ‘surprise' Emmy earlier this year for his work on the popular TV mini-series, “The Tudors.”

Morris, who graduated in 1990 from the Music Industry Arts program, won the 2007 Emmy for ‘Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music' for his work on the popular show, which is being replayed on CBC this year to much acclaim. He got his start shortly after graduation when, along with several college friends, he moved to Toronto.

“We immediately started working in the studio circles in Toronto,” Morris said during a phone interview with him from his studio in Los Angeles. “I worked as an assistant engineer, then worked my way through the ranks. Toronto, being a production community, and being an engineer, then a producer, led to being a composer.”

Morris then moved to Los Angeles in 2000 with the hope of one day breaking into the Hollywood ranks.

“I moved with the promise of nothing, and the promise of everything sort of thing,” he explained laughingly. “I think my biggest break came when I started collaborating with Academy Award winning composer, Hans Zimmer a couple years after I moved to LA, just working on his movies for a while. It was the big exposure to that level of work I'd always dreamed of being a part of back in Canada.”

His work with “The Tudors” started after he heard they were looking for a composer and Morris, who had by that time put his name on such hits as Pirates of the Caribbean, The Hulk and Shrek 2, hopped on a plane back to Toronto to speak with the producer in person about his interest.

“They were looking for someone who was Canadian and understood this kind of musical knowledge,” Morris said. “That's the great thing about the “Tudors”, because really there's a five century span of music you can choose from. We aspired for it to not be a completely period piece, and to not be a completely modern score. They wanted something that was a blend of the two, which suits me perfectly.”

Music has been a part of Morris' life since before he could remember, and believes that the musical gift chose him instead of the other way around. He relates it to Wayne Gretzky and hockey, saying that there's no rhyme or reason to it.

“Not that I'm saying I'm the musical Wayne Gretzky,” Morris continued. “I don't know why I can sit on a piano bench and start playing.

“But you take that and you nurture it into something meaningful, build a life out it.”