Malaysian-Born Composer Wins Emmy for Work on ‘WondLa’

By Danial Martinus • 12 Mar 2026 in Music

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Malaysian-born composer, Joy Ngiaw, has won the award for Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for an Animated Program at the 4th Children’s & Family Emmy Awards.

This immense achievement makes her the first Malaysian in history to take home an Emmy. The win came for her work on WondLa, an animated sci-fi adventure series currently streaming its second season on Apple TV.

If you’re not familiar with WondLa, it’s a show filled with strange worlds, a bunch of curious creatures, and many emotional journeys that are beautifully complemented by Ngiaw’s seemingly boundless orchestral scores.

A significance that’s difficult to overstate

The award means a lot, considering how hard Joy has worked to get to this point. It puts her in an elite circle of composers shaping global television as we know it.

Born in Kemayan, Pahang, Joy comes from a family who instilled in her a deep appreciation of music and art, despite not having the means to study it themselves.

At just six years old, Joy and her family moved to Shanghai, China in hopes that she could get a better education there. But life certainly wasn’t easy, especially in the beginning.

She recalls having a hard time adjusting to her new environment, while always feeling like she’s “in-between the two different cultures”; not quite fitting into China, but also not immersed enough in Malaysian culture.

Her only relief at the time was a one-hour lunch break, when she would sneak into the school auditorium and play the Yamaha Grand Piano. She eventually went on to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston, majoring in Film Scoring and minoring in Video Game Scoring.

In a Q&A with the Alliance for Women Film Composers, Joy shares that her love for orchestra stemmed from a very early exposure to music. She learned classical piano at a young age, and took part in after-school choirs and orchestras in high school.

She even recalls being able to remember the songs and scores of childhood movies she hadn’t watched for a long time, solidifying her passion for music, and more specifially film scores.

“From those first experiences of playing with people, feeling their energy, and hearing each instrumental section come together—I fell in love with the orchestra,” she says.

Her resume (before WondLa) spans a range of different projects across film, television, and interactive media, with productions linked to studios like Disney, Netflix, and Amazon.

Past accolades say a lot about Joy’s talent

Joy was already an award-winning composer before even receiving this coveted Emmy. She first gained recognition with Apple TV’s Blush, which earned her the Best Music Award from the Hollywood Music in Media Awards, along with her first Annie nomination.

She was named a BAFTA Breakthrough USA honoree in 2024, and also one of eight composers selected for the highly competitive NBCUniversal Composers Initiative in the same year.

Currently, Joy serves as an executive board member of the Composers Diversity Collective, where she champions underrepresented voices in the film scoring world.

Watch her Emmy acceptance speech below: