Janal Bechthold is a Canadian Screen Music Award-winning composer specializing in film, TV, games, & interactive media. Known for weaving playful and dark moods with intelligence and emotional maturity, her work has been nominated for three Canadian Screen Awards. Janal received the inaugural Canadian Screen Music Award: Best Original Music for Games and Interactive Media, and a Hollywood Music in Media Award nomination for No Reason to Apologize: The Resilient Legacy of Viola Desmond which she co-wrote with long-time collaborator La-Nai Gabriel.
 
Janal’s music can be heard on Apple TV+, Lifetime, PBS, CBC, CTV, TSN, and Discovery. You can also hear her projects screened at notable festival such as SXSW, Fantastic Fest, Hot Docs, IDFA, Whistler Film Festival, LA Shorts, Santa Barbara Film Festival, and used as testimony at the United Nations and the Supreme Court of India.
 
Janal has a keen interest in animation, composing the score to the upcoming series Millie Magnificent (Nelvana) and Super Wish Shorts (YTV/Discovery). She also worked as a music supervisor and song producer on productions such as Hotel Transylvania: The Series (Disney/Sony) Season 2, Corn and Peg (Nickelodeon) Seasons 1 & 2, and The Remarkable Mr King (Teletoon). She loves that in animation you can craft a song from burps and turn the fun up to 11!
 
As an industry leader she spearheaded the research report Gender in the Canadian Screen Composing Industry. Janal is the founder of Toronto Women Composers, served as 2nd Vice President and Chair of the Women Composer Advisory Council to the Screen Composers Guild of Canada, is a former member of the Board of Directors of the SOCAN Foundation, and holds membership in The Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL), The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, and Women in Film and Television (WIFT). 
Janal's most recent project, The Choice: Chapters 2 & 3 (VR documentary ) premiered at SXSW 2025.