Michael Thurmeier is the Director of the blockbusters Ice Age: Collision Course (2016), Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012), and Co-Director of the global smash and BAFTA nominated Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) - which earned a combined total of over $2 billion USD.

Thurmeier began his directing career with his short film No Time For Nuts (2006), which was nominated for a 2007 Oscar®, and won the Annie for best animated short. Prior to directing, he was the supervising animator on the animated features Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who! (2008), Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) and Robots (2005), as well as a story artist and lead animator on the big screen animated hit Ice Age (2002) – which earned him an Annie Award nomination for best character animation. In 2023 Thurmeier’s animated commercial Today's Holiday Moments Are Tomorrow's Memories earned him several industry awards as well as another Annie Award nomination.

He was born in Canada and studied in the world-renowned animation department at Sheridan College. Upon graduation, he was hired as an animator at Blue Sky Studios and worked on special animation for the film Fight Club (1999) and the television series The Sopranos (1999-2007).

Thurmeier has several animated and live action projects in development at various studios.