Wesley Wales Anderson was born in Houston, Texas. His mother, Texas Ann (Burroughs), is an archaeologist turned real estate agent, and his father, Melver Leonard Anderson, worked in advertising and PR. He has two brothers,
Eric and Mel. Anderson's parents divorced when he was a young child, an
event that he described as the most crucial event of his brothers and his
growing up. During childhood, Anderson also began writing plays and
making super-8 movies. He was educated at Westchester High School and
then St. John's, a private prep school in Houston, Texas, which was
later to prove an inspiration for the film
Rushmore (1998).
Anderson attended the University of Texas in Austin, where he majored
in philosophy. It was there that he met
Owen Wilson. They became friends and
began making short films, some of which aired on a local cable-access
station. One of their shorts was
Bottle Rocket (1993), which starred
Owen and his brother
Luke Wilson.
The short was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was
successfully received, so much so that they received funding to make a
feature-length version.
Bottle Rocket (1996) was not a
commercial hit, but it gained a cult audience and high-profile fans,
which included
Martin Scorsese.
Success followed with films such as
Rushmore (1998),
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004),
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
and an animated feature,
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009). The
latter two films earned Anderson Oscar nominations.