Ryan Wurmser was born in Los Angeles in 1973. He showed early promise in the visual arts, and it was his father who first encouraged his creative pursuits. He comes from an artistic family with a history of involvement in the motion picture industry. Wurmser's grandfather, Frank Wurmser was a highly respected creative engineer and set designer for Universal Studios and his father, Terry Wurmser was a professional sculptor and an art director.

While in high school Wurmser attended the Art Center College of Design on a Merit Scholarship that was later extended upon his graduation. Two years later he began studying at the California Art Institute. Wurmser was twenty-four when he began working as a concept artist in the entertainment industry (advertising and visual development). A brief list of clients includes Landmark Entertainment, Disney, Paramount Studios and Universal Studios. He carried on with his educational pursuits at Steve Huston Studio and Associates in Art. Since then he has studied at Andreeva Academy with Yuqi Wang, Studio Escalier, and L'Ecole de Albert Defois with Ted Seth Jacobs (the latter two located in the south of France). He now teaches at the California Art Institute, and has conducted several figurative and landscape painting workshops internationally.

In addition to solo exhibitions, Wurmser's work has appeared in several group exhibitions throughout the United States including the prestigious Salon d' Arts at the Colorado History Museum in Denver and "The Next Generation of Realists" Exhibition at the Forbes Gallery in New York City. He received the Grand Prize at the "Artists for the New Century" Exhibit (2006) hosted by the Bennington Center for the Arts in Vermont. In 2006 he was honored with the Gold Medal for Best Painting at the California Art Club's 95th Annual Gold Medal Exhibition, Pasadena Museum of Art.

Wurmser spent three years abroad studying in France, England and Italy. He lives and works in Los Angeles.