Alex Wurman's talents are the result of both nature and nurture, hailing from a family with generations spent devoted to the study and performance of music. His father Hans Wurman was an arranger and composer who not only pioneered the world of electronic music by recording intricate works on the first Moog synthesizer, but was also the owner of a thriving business recording radio plays featuring well-known actors such as Richard Burton, James Earl Jones and Woody Allen. Alex Wurman initially spent afternoons at his father's workplace as a young child. He attended the Academy of Performing Arts High School in Chicago. He went on to study composition at the University of Miami in Coral Gables and the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago.
Alex Wurman's score for the Oscar-winning documentary March of the Penguins received outstanding critical acclaim and was integral to its commercial success. Soon after, Alex worked on another major box office blockbuster, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. With back-to-back hits, Alex has cemented his reputation as one of Hollywood's most versatile film composers. Equally adept at creating musical landscapes for emotional dramas, hilarious comedies, imaginative documentaries and quirky hybrids, Alex lends his musical talents to numerous film genres.
Examples of Alex's more evocative dramatic scores include: Mrs. Harris (starring Annette Bening and Ben Kingsley), Normal (starring Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson), the dramedy Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (directed and starring George Clooney, Sam Rockwell and Drew Barrymore), Thirteen Conversations About One Thing (with an all-star ensemble cast, including Matthew McConaughey, Alan Arkin and John Turturro), and the action-drama Hollywood Homicide (starring Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett).
Alex has also crafted musical scores for a variety of comedies, including: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (starring Will Ferrell), A Lot Like Love (starring Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet), Play it to the Bone (starring Woody Harrelson and Antonio Banderas), and the forthcoming comedies The Nines (directed by acclaimed screenwriter John August) and Homo Erectus (directed by and starring Adam Rifkin).
Upcoming projects for Alex include the drama Bernard and Doris (starring Ralph Fiennes and Susan Sarandon) and the National Geographic polar bear documentary Arctic Tale.
