Born in 1977 in Switzerland, Julien Painot grew up in Geneva and began playing the piano and composing at the age of nine. Fascinated about film music, he goes to the United States in 2001 where he stays for five years. He graduates Magna Cum Laude from Berklee College of Music in Boston , then flies to Hollywood. There he makes his first steps by assisting experienced composers such as Alex Wurman, Michel Colombier or Vincent Gillioz. Back in Switzerland, in parallel to his career as a composer, he obtains his Master's Degree in Piano performance at the The Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne.

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Since then, Julien has been composing and arranging for many projects. As a film music composer, his films are selected in festivals such as Sundance 2021, Locarno International Film Festival 2015 and 2018, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2012, Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur 2015, International Short Film Festival in Clermont-Ferrand 2018, Geneva International Film Festival 2018. He records his music in eclectic genres, from electro to symphonic orchestras. As an arranger, Julien collaborates with Angela Gheorghiu, and is credited on her album « Guardian Angel ». As a performer, he plays piano for silent films such as Metropolis, the General, Sherlock Jr. and many other. He creates in 2020 the « Modern Theater Organ », that enables him to score silent films live with contemporary orchestral film scoring sounds. 

As a pedagogue, he is faculty professor at The Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne (HEMU) in Film Scoring and Piano teacher at the Conservatory of Fribourg.