John Paesano is an American film and television composer known for Marvel series such as Daredevil and The Defenders, and films including The Maze Runner franchise.

Inspired by seeing the Steven Spielberg film Empire of the Sun at the age of ten and hearing John Williams' score, Paesano began taking piano lessons in his hometown of Birmingham, Michigan. He went on to study music at the Conservatoire de Paris and graduated with a degree in film scoring from the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Relocating to Los Angeles at the age of 21, Paesano eventually built his reputation in Hollywood by providing additional music for films like 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis and 2003's Timeline. In the meantime, he earned main composer credits on lower-budget films such as the 2002 thriller Unstable Minds and 2005's USA the Movie. Paesano co-wrote the score for the 2007 Cartoon Network movie Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix with Don Spangler and Andy Sturmer, then received sole credit for 2008’s Another Cinderella Story, starring Selena Gomez. The animated direct-to-video feature Superman/Batman: Apocalypse followed in 2010, and he was main composer for the series Dragons: Riders of Berk, which premiered in 2012.

Paesano had his first blockbuster theatrical release with the sci-fi thriller The Maze Runner in 2014. He also wrote the score for its sequel, 2015's Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. That same year, the animated series Dragons: Race to the Edge premiered with Paesano returning as composer, as did the Marvel superhero series Daredevil. In 2016, he added the Fox sci-fi series Second Chance to his assignments. Marvel's The Defenders followed on Netflix in 2017, as did his video game debut, Mass Effect: Andromeda. The year 2018 brought more sci-fi action, including Pacific Rim Uprising and Maze Runner: The Death Cure. ~ Marcy Donelson