Began studying piano at an early age; never had formal music studies

Moved to New York City at age 16

Served as musical director/arranger for Bette Midler's live shows

Film debut as music arranger, "Divine Madness", a concert film starring Midler

Stage music-writing debut, "Gotta Getaway!" at Radio City Music Hall

Broadway acting debut, "Harlem Nocturne"

Feature acting debut, "Broadcast News"

First TV job as music director, "Women of the Night" (HBO)

Wrote special music for TV series, "Saturday Night Live" (NBC); first collaborations with Billy Crystal; received 1987 Emmy nomination

Was music supervisor on two films starring Midler, "Big Business" and "Beaches"

Association with Crystal led to the job of adapting songs for "When Harry Met Sally"; first collaboration with director Rob Reiner; also wrote two of the film's songs; served as producer along with Harry Connick Jr on Connick's resulting Grammy-winning album; received a Grammy nomination for Best Arrangement Accompanying a Vocal; would also receive Grammy nod for his arrangements accompanying the vocals of Connick's "We Are in Love" (1991)

First film score, Reiner's "Misery"

First collaboration with producer Scott Rudin, Barry Sonnenfeld's "The Addams Family"

Composed music for "Scenes From a Mall", starring Midler; was a song producer on "For the Boys" (also starring Midler), for which he co-wrote the song "Dixie's Dream"

Reteamed with Crystal on "City Slickers"; also first film with director Ron Underwood

Scored Crystal's feature directing debut, "Mr. Saturday Night"

Wrote special musical material for Crystal for "The 64th Annual Academy Awards" (ABC), earning an Emmy; had received an Emmy nomination for the previous year's awards

Garnered first Oscar nomination for song "A Wink and a Smile" (from "Sleepless in Seattle"), co-written with Ramsey McLean; performed by Connick

Reteamed with Rudin and Sonnenfeld for the sequel "Addams Family Values" and with Midler for "Hocus Pocus" (as song producer and arranger)

Credited as associate producer on "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit"

Reteamed with Underwood on "Heart and Souls"

Again collaborated with Underwood on "Speechless"

Earned Oscar nod for Best Original Comedy or Musical Score for Rob Reiner's "The American President"

Reteamed with Crystal on his sophomore directing effort, "Forget Paris"

Received Academy Award nomination for the score of "The First Wives Club", starring Midler and Goldie Hawn

Seventh film with Rudin, "In & Out"; co-wrote the song "Hail to Thee O Greenleaf High" with screenwriter Paul Rudnick

Picked up fourth Oscar nomination for the score of "Patch Adams"

Wrote the musical score for the animated "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut"; also contributed to the songs; shared a Best Original Song Academy Award nomination with Trey Parker for "Blame Canada"; film executive produced by Rudin

Collaborated with Eric Clapton on the score for Reiner's "The Story of Us"; also scored "The Out-of-Towners", featuring Hawn and Steve Martin

Penned the score for "Disney's The Kid"

With Scott Wittman, wrote the score for the stage musical version of John Waters' film "Hairspray"; performed in workshop; premiered on Broadway in summer 2002

Wrote the music for an original musical for ABC TV called "Livin' Dolls"; first TV-movie