Natural around Frankfurt, Zimmer began his musical career playing keyboards & synthesizers by using, among others, a elastic Ultravox and The Buggles ("Video Killed the Radio Star").

In the 1980s, he started composing & producing healthy tracks for picture show. His breakthrough come around 1988, with a theme for Rain Man, which was nominated for an Academy Award.

Since so, Zimmer has composed music for several major film, like Crimson Tide, The Rock, True Romance, The Peacemaker, Gladiator, The Last Samurai, Thelma and Louise, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Pearl Harbor, The Thin Red Line, Black Hawk Down, Mission: Impossible II and King Arthur. Around 1995, he received an Academy Award for Best Original Score for the animated picture The Lion King.

He as well recently composed music for the picture show Batman Begins and Der kleine Eisbär 2 - Die geheimnisvolle Insel.

He recently split by using his long-instance business partner Jay Rifkin, with whom he cofounded Media Ventures, over allegations that Rifkin skimmed profit from either a company. The counter-lawsuit alleges Zimmer sought to begin the recently company known as Remote Control Productions without Rifkin. A suit is presently pending.