Early life

Wedge was born in Binghamton, New York. He became interested in animation when he was 12 years old: "Back then, there was a TV special about kids making cut-out animation in a workshop—as I recall it was Yellow Ball Workshop—it was a clear technique to follow and I followed it. That fascinated me and it got me started. It was so simple, effective and magical in outcome and I stuck with creating things throughout my childhood, teenage years and then college."

He attended Fayetteville-Manlius High School, graduating in 1975. He received his BFA in Film from State University of New York at Purchase in Purchase, New York in 1981, and subsequently earned his MA in computer graphics and art education at the Ohio State University. He has taught animation at the School of Visual Arts in New York City where he met his future film directing partner, Carlos Saldanha.

Career

In 1982, Wedge worked for MAGI/SynthaVision, where he was a principal animator on the Disney film Tron, credited as a scene programmer. Some of his other works include Where the Wild Things Are (1983), Dinosaur Bob, George Shrinks, and Santa Calls.

Wedge is co-founder and Vice President of Creative Development at Blue Sky Studios, one of the premier computer animation studios and producer of Wedge's films. He is the owner of WedgeWorks, a film production company founded by Wedge.

In 1998, he won an Academy Award for the short animated film, Bunny. In 2002, Wedge directed Blue Sky Studios' first computer-animated film, Ice Age. He also voiced Scrat in the film and its following sequels, performing the character's "squeaks and squeals." In 2005, Wedge directed Robots, based on a story he created with William Joyce. In 2013 followed Epic, loosely based on Joyce's book, The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs.

In 2009, it was reported that Wedge would direct an animated feature film adaptation of Will Wright's Spore, but since then there has been no further news about the film.

In August 2013 Paramount Animation announced that they will create a new live action/animated franchise with its first film titled Monster Trucks with $100 million budget. Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger are set to write the film, Wedge is set to direct the animated film which will be produced by Mary Parent.

Personal life

Wedge lives in Katonah, New York with his wife Jeanne Markel. They have a daughter and a son, Sarah and Jack.

Filmography

Director

Year	Title	Notes
1985	Tuber's Two-Step	Short film
1987	Balloon Guy	Short film
1998	Bunny	Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film Also writer
2002	Ice Age	Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature
2005	Robots
2013	Epic
2017	Monster Trucks	Post-production
2018	Anubis

Producer

Year	Title	Notes
1990	The Mind's Eye	Short film
2002	Gone Nutty	Executive producer
2006	Ice Age: The Meltdown	Executive producer
	No Time for Nuts	Executive producer
2008	Horton Hears a Who!	Executive producer
	Surviving Sid	Short film Executive producer
2009	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs	Executive producer
2011	Rio	Executive producer
2012	Ice Age: Continental Drift	Executive producer
2014	Rio 2	Executive producer
2016	Ice Age: Collision Course	Executive producer

Actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Ice Age	Scrat, Dodo
	Gone Nutty	Scrat	Short film
2005	Robots	Wonderbot, Phone Booth
	Aunt Fanny's Tour of Booty	Hacky	Short film
2006	Ice Age: The Meltdown	Scrat
	No Time for Nuts	Scrat	Short film
	Family Guy	Scrat	Episode "Sibling Rivalry"
2008	Surviving Sid	Scrat	Short film
2009	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs	Scrat
2011	Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas	Scrat	TV Special
2012	Ice Age: Continental Drift	Scrat
2015	The Simpsons	Scrat	Episode: "Treehouse of Horror XXVI"
2016	Ice Age: Collision Course	Scrat

Critical reception

Film	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic	IMDb
	Overall
Ice Age (2002)	77%	60%	7.6
Robots (2005)	64%	64%	6.3
Epic (2013)	64%	52%	6.7

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1996	Ottawa International Animation Festival Award	Best Production Under 10 Minutes in Length	Joe's Apartment	Won
1999	Academy Award	Best Animated Short Film	Bunny	Won
	Drama International Short Film Festival Award	Special Prize for Animation		Won
	Nashville Film Festival Award	Best Animation		Won
	Jury Award	Best Short		Nominated
	Oberhausen International Short Film Festival Award	Prize of the Children's Short Film Competition		Won
2003	Academy Award	Best Animated Feature	Ice Age	Nominated
	Annie Award	Outstanding Directing in an Animated Feature Production		Nominated
	DVD Exclusive Award	Best Audio Commentary, New Release		Nominated
	ShoWest Convention Award	Animation Director of the Year		Won
2013	Behind the Voice Actors Award	Best Vocal Ensemble in a Feature Film	Ice Age: Continental Drift	Nominated
2014	Annie Award	Outstanding Achievement in Directing in an Animated Feature Production	Epic	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]