Born in Tokyo, Rika Muranaka moved to Chicago in her teenage years to study Jazz piano with Alan Swain and soon enough was working with a number of influential figures in the Jazz world including Woody Shaw, Stan Kenton, Art Blakey and Freddie Hubbard. Graduating Northeastern Illinois University, she returned to Japan and received critical acclaim for her jazz performances which led to a contract with Columbia Records as a producer and artist.
Muranaka went on to work with Konami to compose some of the themes to Castlevania: Symphony of the Wind, Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. She has since worked with Harry Gregson-Williams at the Remote Control studio in Venice Beach California and created the music for the film Broken English (2007).