Michael Thurmeier is a Canadian film director and animator. He is best known for directing the Blue Sky Studios animated films Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) and Ice Age: Collision Course (2016), which are the fourth and fifth installments in the Ice Age franchise. Along with Chris Renaud, he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for the Ice Age short film No Time for Nuts (2006).
Early life and education Thurmeier was born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and went to Archbishop M.C. O'Neill High School. Although he enjoyed drawing for much of his early life, he was more interested in becoming a lawyer, but he changed his mind after seeing Aladdin in his last year of high school.
Career After he joined Blue Sky Studios, Thurmeier served as an animator for Fight Club and The Sopranos. He later served as a supervising animator for Ice Age, Robots, and Ice Age: The Meltdown.
His first directing job was in 2006, when he co-directed the short animated film No Time for Nuts, starring Scrat for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. He was a co-director on Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), and made his feature directing debut with Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012). Thurmeier returned to direct Ice Age: Collision Course (2016).
Filmography
Feature films Year Title Director Animator Other Notes 1999 Fight Club Animator: Blue Sky Studios 2002 Ice Age Additional Story, Lead Animator 2005 Robots Supervising Animator 2006 Ice Age: The Meltdown Supervising Animator 2008 Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who Senior Supervising Animator 2009 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs 2012 Ice Age: Continental Drift 2016 Ice Age: Collision Course Voice of Gravedigger Beaver/Party Molehog 2019 Spies in Disguise Senior Creative Team 2023 Nimona Blue Sky Studios
Short films Year Title Director Animator Layout Artist Other Notes 2002 Gone Nutty 2006 No Time for Nuts Also 4-D extended version 2010 Scrat's Continental Crack-Up Act as Ice Age: Continental Drift Teaser Trailers #1 & #2 2011 Scrat's Continental Crack-Up Part 2 2015 Cosmic Scrat-tastrophe Acts as extended Ice Age: Collision Course Teaser Trailer 2016 Scrat: Spaced Out Ice Age: Collision Course archive and deleted footage 2022 Ice Age: Scrat Tales Disney+ Original Short Films; Ice Age Creative Trust; Story - Episode: "Nut the End"
Television Year Film Role Notes 2000 The Sopranos animator: Blue Sky Studios episode: "Funhouse"
References
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