Pasek & Paul

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, known collectively as Pasek & Paul, are a songwriting duo recognized for their work across pop music, musical theater, film, stage, and television as composers, lyricists, and producers. Pasek and Paul began collaborating as freshmen at the University of Michigan, where they shifted their focus from performing to composing. Their first joint project was the revue "Edges," a song cycle that explores themes of young adulthood, relationships, and self-discovery. "Edges" gained popularity on social media and has been produced in more than 200 productions worldwide, including in Australia, South Africa, Denmark, France, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Philippines, and the United States. During their senior year, the duo became the youngest recipients of the Jonathan Larson Award for promising musical theater songwriters.

After graduation, Pasek and Paul built their theatrical résumé with a Broadway debut for their Tony-nominated score for the musical "A Christmas Story," an adaptation of the holiday film that was later produced as a live telecast for FOX. They contributed songs to NBC's "Smash" and received recognition for their musical "Dogfight," which won the Lucille Lortel Award for Best New Musical. Their breakthrough came with the original musical "Dear Evan Hansen." Pasek and Paul wrote the music and lyrics for the production, which features a book by Steven Levenson, direction by Michael Greif, and Ben Platt in the title role. For "Dear Evan Hansen," which won six Tony Awards including Best Musical, the duo received an Obie Award, Drama Desk Award, Olivier Award, Grammy Award, and the Tony Award for Best Score.

Pasek and Paul expanded into film with projects such as "La La Land," co-writing the Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning song "City of Stars" with Justin Hurwitz, and earning an additional Academy Award nomination for "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)." They won a second Golden Globe for "This Is Me" from "The Greatest Showman," which also earned a Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. Albums from these projects reached the Top 10 on the Billboard 200, with "The Greatest Showman" spending multiple weeks at No. 1 and becoming a global best-seller. Their film work also includes contributions to Disney's live-action "Aladdin," the Oscar-shortlisted song "Speechless," as well as scores for "Spirited," "Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile," and Disney's live-action "Snow White."

In television, Pasek and Paul's credits include Apple TV+'s "Dear Edward," NBC's "Smash," The CW's musical episode of "The Flash," the Amazon concert documentary "Pink: All I Know So Far" (which earned a Grammy nomination for "All I Know So Far" co-written with Pink), and FX's sports documentary series "Welcome to Wrexham." They achieved EGOT status with an Emmy Award win for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for the song "Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It," co-written with Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman for Hulu's musical-themed third season of "Only Murders in the Building," where they also served as consulting producers. The duo set a record for the fastest EGOT interval, completing the achievement in just over seven years.

Pasek and Paul have also contributed to the industry as co-producers of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical "A Strange Loop," which received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. They were the first writers for stage or screen to be honored with the ASCAP Vanguard Award. Both are graduates of the University of Michigan Musical Theatre Program and serve on the Board of Directors for the Dramatists Guild Foundation. With projects such as stage adaptations of "The Greatest Showman" and "La La Land" in development, Pasek and Paul continue to influence contemporary musical storytelling across multiple platforms.