Warren Ellis (born 14 February 1965, Ballarat, Victoria) is an Australian multi-instrumentalist and composer who co-founded the instrumental trio Dirty Three in Melbourne in 1992 and has served as musical director of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds since the early 2000s. Alongside his band work he has built a parallel career as a film composer - solo and with Cave - earning a César for Mustang (2015) and scoring the Oscar-winning Brazilian drama I'm Still Here (2024). A documentary about his life and his co-founded wildlife sanctuary in Indonesia, Ellis Park, premiered at the 2025 Sydney Film Festival.
Cave and Ellis scored Netflix's Detective Hole, a TV adaptation of Jo Nesbø's Harry Hole crime novels.
The documentary Ellis Park, directed by Justin Kurzel and exploring Ellis's life and his co-founded wildlife sanctuary in Sumatra/Indonesia, screened at the 2025 Sydney Film Festival.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds released the live double album Live God, produced by Cave and Ellis, recorded during the 2024 Wild God European tour.
Dirty Three announced their first North American tour since 2012, running March-April 2026 across the US and Canada.
Ellis's score for Walter Salles' Brazilian film I'm Still Here won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
