WES ANDERSON
Date of Birth: May 1, 1969
Growing up in Texas, Wes Anderson has always been interested in
filmmaking,
shooting Super 8 movies in his spare time and filming shorts to air on the
local cable access station in Houston, where he also learned the art of
editing. He attended St. John's High School, during which time he wrote a
number of plays. Anderson was later accepted into Columbia University's
film school, but decided not to go so that he could shoot his short film
Bottle Rocket (1994), starring his two good friends, Luke and Owen Wilson.
Studying philosophy at the University of Texas, Anderson continued to work
on his hobby, filming shorts and documentaries. "I did read a lot of
film stuff in the library, they had a really good library at the University
of Texas. And I learned a lot of kind of important stuff about filmmaking
from reading about it."
Two years after filming the short version of Bottle Rocket (1994), Anderson
re-shot it with the same cast, but this time as a feature film. The
well-received film led to Anderson receiving a number of awards, including a
New Generation Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and Best
New Filmmaker award from the MTV Movie Awards.
He followed up his feature debut with the romantic comedy, Rushmore (1998),
starring Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray. The independent film not only
impressed critics and exceeded expectation at the box office, it garnered
numerous awards for both cast and crew, including Best Director and Best
Screenplay from the Lone Star Film & Television Awards. Anderson and Owen Wilson co-wrote the comedy The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), starring Ben Stiller. Anderson and Wilson received an Oscar nomination as well as a BAFTA Film nomination and a Writers Guild of America nomination for Best Screenplay. Bill Murray and Owen Wilson starred in Anderson's next film, The Life Aquatic (2004), which he directed and co-wrote with Noah Baumbauch.
Anderson lives in Los Angeles with actors Luke and Owen Wilson.
Filmography (director):
The Life Aquatic (2004)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Rushmore (1998)
Bottle Rocket (1996)
Bottle Rocket (1994)
Filmography (writer):
The Life Aquatic (2004)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Rushmore (1998)
Bottle Rocket (1996)
Bottle Rocket (1994)