Alex Wurman

Early life and career

Wurman attended Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park, Illinois and the Chicago Academy for the Arts. He went on to study at the University of Miami in Coral Gables and later the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. The Chicago native's father, Hans Wurman, was an arranger and composer, who wowed the world of electronic music by recording music on the first Moog synthesizer.

Wurman has written many film scores, including those for the Oscar-winning documentary March of the Penguins, plus Hollywood Homicide, Criminal, Anchorman, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, What Doesn't Kill You, The Nines, Hero, The Switch, Unfinished Business, Run Fatboy Run, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, the contemporary interpretations of French impressionism in Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, the first season of Newsroom and Temple Grandin for which he won the 2010 Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Original Dramatic Score). He was previously nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 2008 for Bernard and Doris.

Wurman was also a judge for the 10th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.