Gerard K. Marino is a game, film, and trailer composer best known for leading the God of War series. After receiving a BA in music, he studied film scoring at UCLA under Elmer Bernstein and Christopher Young. Following a stable career as a strip-club DJ, he moved to Los Angeles to become a film and television composer in 1999. He had a range of low-profile roles on big budget projects such as synthesizer operation in The Gift and The Matrix: Reloaded and additional music on Supernatural and Swordfish. He also composed dramatic music for numerous trailers to various Hollywood blockbusters.

The majority of Marino's early scores were for little-known films. Among them were The Entrepeneurs, Lethal Force, Phoenix, Shade of Pale, and Cortex. He also worked on some lifestyle shows and documentaries. He initially worked on video games alongside Christopher Lennertz as an additional orchestrator for Medal of Honor: Rising Sun, drum programmer for GUN, and co-composer for The Punisher. Other game works included the cinematic music of 187 Ride or Die and a role on Rik Schaffer's Fantastic 4 score.

Marino got his big break in 2005 when he was selected to lead the score for the PlayStation 2 epic God of War. His background as a trailer composer allowed him to create several striking themes for synthesized orchestra. He also integrated various cultural influences into the score, including Middle East, Eastern European, and Meditteranean music. Directed by Chuck Doud, he worked with six other composers on the project and featured on 13 of the pieces on the incomplete official soundtrack.

The game and soundtrack were so successful that they were commemorated at the Video Games Live performance at the Hollywood Bowl in 2005. Marino arranged an orchestral suite featuring "The Great Sword Bridge of Athena" and "The Vengeful Spartan" that has since been used in subsequent stops on the tour and the Video Games Live Volume One CD. Marino has also returned with smaller teams to score its similarly acclaimed sequel and the spinoff Chains of Olympus. Having recently contributed a God of War II heavy metal arrangement  to Guitar Hero III and an Aztec song to the film The Midnight Meat Train, his next major game project is God of War III.