Steven Spielberg was born on Dec. 18, 1946 in Cincinnati. He is the most successful director of our time and one of the most acclaimed of any era. His movies amuse and amaze us, startle and move us, make us laugh, cry, think and dream, in some cases all at once. In the 100 or so years that the world has been going to the movies "no director or producer has ever put together a more popular body of work," wrote Roger Ebert in Time magazine which, at the end of the 20th century, named him the most influential person of his generation. "That's why the movies we're now seeing are made in his image," continued Ebert. That image, powerful, dynamic and wondrous, was first outlined by his feature debut in 1974, "The Sugarland Express." It was subsequently enriched and refined by hit after hit, masterpiece after masterpiece: "Jaws" (1975), "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977), "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) and its sequels "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984) and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989), "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" (1982), "The Color Purple" (1985), "Empire of the Sun" (1987), "Jurassic Park" (1993), "Schindler's List" (1993), "Saving Private Ryan" (1998), "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence" (2001), "Minority Report" (2002), "Catch Me if You Can" (2002), "War of the Worlds" (2005) and "Munich" (2005).
Spielberg has been nominated for six Academy Awards for Best Director, winning for "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan," and seven of his films have been nominated in the Academy Awards' Best Picture category, including "Schindler's List" which won the award. As a producer, he was honored by the Academy with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. He is the director who defined the modern summer blockbuster with "Jaws," made dinosaurs walk the earth in "Jurassic Park," introduced us to present and future aliens and robots in "Close Encounters," "E.T." and "A.I.," and created a true adventure hero in Indiana Jones at a time when the cinema was filled with anti heroes. His most powerful films portray deeply flawed people, explore slavery and racism, war and the Holocaust, loneliness and friendship, terrorism, the search for identity and the quest for freedom. He has depicted the human condition in comedy, fantasy, adventure and drama. "Steven's passion and enthusiasm for ideas and for human understanding is very much what fuels his work," says Harrison Ford.
His films, particularly the early ones, often focused on children and young people. When he was young, he focused on making amateur 8mm adventure and horror movies that often featured his family and friends.
Spielberg has been nominated for six Academy Awards for Best Director, winning for "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan," and seven of his films have been nominated in the Academy Awards' Best Picture category, including "Schindler's List" which won the award. As a producer, he was honored by the Academy with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. He is the director who defined the modern summer blockbuster with "Jaws," made dinosaurs walk the earth in "Jurassic Park," introduced us to present and future aliens and robots in "Close Encounters," "E.T." and "A.I.," and created a true adventure hero in Indiana Jones at a time when the cinema was filled with anti heroes. His most powerful films portray deeply flawed people, explore slavery and racism, war and the Holocaust, loneliness and friendship, terrorism, the search for identity and the quest for freedom. He has depicted the human condition in comedy, fantasy, adventure and drama. "Steven's passion and enthusiasm for ideas and for human understanding is very much what fuels his work," says Harrison Ford.
His films, particularly the early ones, often focused on children and young people. When he was young, he focused on making amateur 8mm adventure and horror movies that often featured his family and friends.
His first professional short film was "Amblin," which later became the moniker for his production company, Amblin Entertainment. He left California State University in Long Beach early (although he returned four years ago to finish his degree) to accept a television directing contract with Universal Studios. The contract resulted in the cult Joan Crawford segment of "Night Gallery," as well as episodes for such '60s classics as "Marcus Welby, M.D.," "Name of the Game," "Columbo" and one of the classic made-for-television movies, "Duel," first broadcast in 1971. That led to "The Sugarland Express" and then to "Jaws." Famously a disaster-in-the-making, "Jaws" won three Academy Awards (for editing, score and sound), was the first film to gross over $100 million and scared more people than anything that had come before. Its musical theme became synonymous for unbearable suspense and horror and its composer, John Williams, became Spielberg's lifelong collaborator. As the first summer blockbuster, "Jaws" changed our movie-going habits and transformed Hollywood forever.
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