Born in Belgium, Rafaël Leloup graduated from the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles in classical composition with “Grande Distinction”. He also studied composition at the Conservatorio di Musica di Bologna (Italy), accordion at the Conservatoire Royal de Mons (Belgium), and film scoring at New York University. He received several honors for his work and curriculum from Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles, Belgian Vocation Foundation, SPES Foundation, Los Angeles Film Music Foundation, Wurlitzer Foundation, Manhattan Producers Alliance, ASCAP, and NYU.

He has worked on a number of independent films including The Other Lamb by Malgorzata Szumowska (jury at Berlinale 2016 and Venice’s Mostra 2018) from the producers of Whiplash, Drive and Nightcrawler, as well as Lionsgate's Consumed for the Twilight Saga, But Not For Me winning Best Original Score award @ Brooklyn Film Festival, Tristan shortlisted for BAFTA Student Film Awards, and Lily In The Grinder finalist of HBO's Project Greenlight. Some of his projects and collaborations have been played in MoMA (New York), Berlinale, SXSW, BFI London, Toronto International Film Festival and Tribeca Film Festival, and appeared in New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Variety, Smithsonian Channel & MTV.

Rafaël was nominated for Best Young European Composer at World Soundtrack Awards in 2013, selected for Berlinale Talents program in 2016, and was invited to become a voting member of the World Soundtrack Academy in 2018.