STEVEN SPIELBERG BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
Perhaps the most esteemed figure Hollywood has ever seen, Steven Spielberg has succeeded in creating a plethora of films that combine his intimate personal vision with a commercial-esque quality. The director, screen writer, and producer has managed to, in his five decade plus career, intrigue audiences of nearly every genre through his extensive use of special effects, recognizable emotion, and fascinating plots. With all of his hard work and dedication to the art of filmmaking, he managed to forever secure a spot in the hearts of movie buffs – ones from the past, and ones to come yet.
Steven Allan Spielberg was born December 18, 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio to an electrical engineer father and concert pianist mother. As a young boy, it has been believed that he suffered from Asperger’s Syndrome. Unfortunately, at school this meant he was treated differently than at home, where he was spoiled by his mother and three younger sisters. However, this also paved the way for his obsession with film when his father brought home an 8mm camera for him to play with as a pre-teen. Being a movie buff already, Spielberg took the opportunity to create his own masterpieces. By 1952, at only age twelve, he made his first amateur film, an eight minute western called “The Last Gun” that included casted actors and all. Soon after, at age thirteen, he won an award for his forty minute war film “Escape to Nowhere” (1961). Not long following, Spielberg filmed a full length science fiction feature called “Firelight” (1964). His father rented out a local movie theater to show the picture, and it earned back the cost it took to make it, and then some, in only one night.
The filmmaker tried to attend U.S.C film school after high school, but was denied three different times due to his poor grades. Instead, he enrolled at Long Beach State to study English. While in school, he made a twenty four minute film titled “Amblin’” (1968) that he submitted to the Atlanta Film Festival. It placed, and earned him a seven year contract with Universal Pictures. It also made its way to become the title of Spielberg’s own production company later.
At Universal, the youngest director to have ever been signed to a long term contract began directing a number of assorted television shows like “Marcus Welby, M.D.” (1970) and “The Psychiatrist” (1971), as well as TV movies such as “Duel” (1971) and “Savage” (1973). “Duel” was so successful that it was later released into theaters to win even more critical acclaim.
“The Sugarland Express” (1974) became Spielberg’s first major motion picture, and while well made, failed at the box office. However, his next film, “Jaws” (1975), made up for his first flop. “Jaws” quickly made an outstanding $260 million, astonishing audiences and working its way to become a classic. The film was so popular and realistic in fact, that beach attendance dramatically decreased that summer for people were too afraid to enter the possibly shark infested waters. His subsequent feature, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977), which was based off of his early picture “Firelight” about human contact with aliens, also proved to be a smash hit and earned the director his first Best Director Oscar nomination. Soon after, he made his production debut with the romantic comedy “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” (1978).
After putting out a forgettable failure, “1941” (1979), Spielberg decided to try producing once more for the Kurt Russell comedy “Used Cars” (1980). From this point on he continued to produce a large number of films, including many of his directorial efforts. As a matter of fact, he established his own production company a few years later called Amblin Entertainment.
In 1981, the director teamed up with his friend and fellow director George Lucas to put out the Harrison Ford adventure flick “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. The first installment of the Indiana Jones series became the biggest box office draw and won Spielberg his second Best Director Academy Award nomination. Two years later, the director released another sci-fi classic, “E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial” (1982), which served as the first film produced by his own studio. It also became the highest grossing picture of all time and earned nine Academy Award nominations, including Best Director. As well, the touching story of a boy who befriends a lost alien warmed the hearts of moviegoers of all ages. Right after, he produced three more impressive box office hits, “Poltergeist” (1982), “Twilight Zone: The Movie” (1983), and “The Gremlins” (1984).
Spielberg directed his first sequel in 1984, the highly anticipated “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”. With its violence, language, and racy content, but not overpoweringly present as seen in R-rated movies, the MPAA was inspired to create a new rating, PG-13. The next year, after being criticized about the abundant amount of adult content in his recent movies, the director was prompted to create an adaptation of Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” (1985). The film, which starred Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, followed the struggles of a group of African American women during the Depression. It fared well at the box office, despite diverging critical comments, and secured eleven Oscar nominations.
Meanwhile, the director oversaw the production of a number of fantasy adventure films like “Gremlins” (1984), “The Goonies” (1985), and “Back to the Future” (1985). His next directorial project was the World War II feature, “Empire of the Sun” (1987), and it was followed by another Indian Jones installment, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” (1989). The adventure film turned out to be the highest grossing film worldwide that year, even topping out the much anticipated “Batman”. Around the same time, he also produced a number of successes such as the animated “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (1988), family adventure “Back to the Future Part II” (1989), and romantic drama “Always” (1989).
The nineties proved to find Spielberg even more triumph. He started out with the crowd pleasing Peter Pan adventure “Hook” (1991), and followed with the revolutionary “Jurassic Park” (1993). For a short time, this film held the record for highest grossing movie of all time. Dinosaurs ruled again with two sequels later down the line, but not before Spielberg released his mature Holocaust drama “Schindler’s List” (1993). Possibly the most respectable film of his career, it finally won him the Best Director and Best Picture Oscars. While the flick brought in a large amount of money, Spielberg chose to direct all profit to setting up the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation which records and stores tales from Holocaust survivors.
In the mid nineties, he took a break from directing to set up his own film studio, DreamWorks. This meant, however, that he remained producing a handful of movies, as well as a great number of TV series and movies like “Tiny Toon Adventures” (1990-92), “A Pinky & the Brain Christmas Special” (1995), “Tiny Toons’ Night Ghoulery” (1995), and “Animaniacs” (1993-96). In 1997, he returned to the director’s chair in “The Last World: Jurassic Park” and “Amistad”.
A year later, Spielberg regained his directorial prominence with the dramatic World War II film “Saving Private Ryan” (1998), winning his second Academy Award for Best Director. This picture also served as the first major hit for DreamWorks. 2001 brought Spielberg’s next accomplishment, “A.I. Artificial Intelligence”, which was also a victory for DreamWorks. Although it was one more year before he directed another feature, he produced the popular children’s animation “Shrek” and adventure filled “Jurassic Park III” also in 2001.
2002 saw “Minority Report” and “Catch Me If You Can”, and 2004 brought “The Terminal”. Spielberg seemed to prove that he could still direct blockbusters with the release of these movies. The Tom Cruise sci-fi vehicle “War of the Worlds” (2005) came next, followed by the historical drama “Munich” (2005). In 2008, another Indiana Jones feature, “Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull” came out, trailed by the documentary short “A Timeless Call” (2008).
At the same time, DreamWorks was really taking off. Spielberg assisted in the production of popular features that included the action “The Legend of Zorro” (2005), drama “Memoirs of a Geisha” (2005), WWII pictures “Flags of Our Fathers” (2006) and “Letters From Iwo Jima” (2006), adventures “Eagle Eye” (2008), “Transformers” (2007), “Transformers” (2009), and “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” (2011), as well as other box office smashes like “The Lovely Bones” (2009) and “True Grit” (2011). Additionally, he worked on the production of some television shows such as “United States of Tara” (2009-10), “The Pacific” (2010), and “Falling Skies” (2011).
In 2011 and beyond, Spielberg still has managed to have projects. 2011 is supposed to see the directorial effort “War Horse”, 2012 “Lincoln”, and 2013 “Robopocalypse”. As well, production efforts are to include, but are not limited to “Cowboys and Aliens” (2011), “Men in Black III” (2012), “When Worlds Collide” (2012), and a fourth Jurassic Park feature.
In addition to Spielberg’s work in directing and producing, he has many times been seen in front of the camera. He played cameo roles in his “Jaws” (1975), “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” (1984), “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” (1997), and “Men in Black” (1997). However, he has also played wee parts in films that he did not work on otherwise, like “The Blues Brothers” (1980), “Vanilla Sky” (2001), and “Austin Powers in Goldmember” (2002).
Throughout his career, the famed director and producer has won countless awards and recognitions. Along with his two Best Director wins, he has earned an Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award from the Oscars. In addition, he has won multiple Daytime Emmys and Emmys, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild of America and other DGAs, a few Golden Globes, an American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award, an unprecedented amount of honors from various film festivals and societies, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As well, he has been featured in Forbes, had the honor of carrying the Olympic Flag during the 2002 opening ceremony, become one of Time’s top 100 Most Important People of the Century, been named Premiere’s most powerful and influential people in the motion picture industry, and given the title of Greatest Film Director of All Time by Empire magazine.
Spielberg, married twice, currently has a son from his first marriage to Amy Irving, and five children and two stepchildren from his present wife, Kate Capshaw. While he manages to be there for his family and “have dinner at home every night”, he still impresses audiences and critics every day with his movies and TV programs. Many of his prior features have been hailed as classics, and it’s a safe bet that some of his future pictures will, too. The secret to his success? “I dream for a living. I interpret my dreams one way and make a movie out of them and people see my movies and make them part of their dreams.”
Filmography
2015 (Untitled Third Tintin Film)
2013 Robopocalypse
2012 Lincoln
2012 When Worlds Collide
2012 Men in Black III
2011 War Horse
2011 Smash
2011 The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
2011 Transformers
2011 Real Steel
2011 Cowboys & Aliens
2011 Locke & Key
2011 Terra Nova
2011 Falling Skies
2011 Transformers: Dark of the Moon
2011 Super 8
2011 Rebuilding Ground Zero
2010 True Grit
2010 Hereafter
2010 The Pacific
2009 United States of Tara
2009 The Lovely Bones
2009 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
2008 A Timeless Call
2008 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
2008 Eagle Eye
2007 On the Lot
2007 Dance with the Devil
2007 Transformers
2007 The Big Bad Heist
2006 Letters from Iwo Jima
2006 Flags of Our Fathers
2006 Spell Your Name
2006 Monster House
2005 Memoirs of a Geisha
2005 The Legend of Zorro
2005 Into the West
2005 Dan Finnerty & the Dan Band: I Am Woman
2005 Scoring 'War of the Worlds'
2005 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
2005 Munich
2005 War of the Worlds
2004 The Terminal
2004 A Remarkable Promise
2004 Voices from the List
2003 Burma Bridge Busters
2002 Taken
2002 Men in Black II
2002 Price for Peace
2002 Broken Silence
2002 Austin Powers in Goldmember
2002 Catch Me If You Can
2002 Minority Report
2001 A.I. Artificial Intelligence
2001 Vanilla Sky
2001 We Stand Alone Together
2001 Band of Brothers
2001 Evolution
2001 Shrek
2001 Semper Fi
2000 Eyes of the Holocaust
2000 What Lies Beneath
2000 Men in Black Alien Attack
2000 Shooting War
1999 The Haunting
1999 The Unfinished Journey
1999 Wakko's Wish
1998 Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain
1998 The Last Days
1998 The Mask of Zorro
1998 Deep Impact
1998 Toonsylvania
1998 Saving Private Ryan
1997 Amistad
1997 Men in Black
1997 The Lost World: Jurassic Park
1997 Freakazoid!
1997 The Lost Children of Berlin
1996 The Best of Roger Rabbit
1996 Twister
1996 Survivors of the Holocaust
1996 High Incident
1995 Your Studio and You
1995 Pinky and the Brain
1995 Balto
1995 Tiny Toons' Night Ghoulery
1995 Casper
1995 A Pinky & the Brain Christmas Special
1994 The Flintstones
1994 I'm Mad
1994 Tiny Toons Spring Break
1994 Yakko's World: An Animaniacs Singalong
1993 SeaQuest 2032
1993 Animaniacs
1993 Schindler's List
1993 Jurassic Park
1993 We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story
1993 Family Dog
1993 Class of '61
1993 Trail Mix-Up
1992 Fievel's American Tails
1992 The Plucky Duck Show
1992 Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation
1991 Hook
1991 A Wish for Wings That Work
1991 An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
1991 Cape Fear
1991 A Brief History of Time
1991 Back to the Future
1990 Tiny Toon Adventures
1990 Gremlins 2: The New Batch
1990 Roller Coaster Rabbit
1990 Back to the Future Part III
1990 Dreams
1990 Joe Versus the Volcano
1990 Warner Bros. Celebration of Tradition, June 2, 1990
1990 Arachnophobia
1990 The Visionary
1989 Always
1989 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
1989 Back to the Future Part II
1989 Dad
1989 Tummy Trouble
1988 The Land Before Time
1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit
1987 *batteries not included
1987 Three O'Clock High
1987 Innerspace
1987 Harry and the Hendersons
1987 Empire of the Sun
1986 An American Tail
1986 The Money Pit
1985 Back to the Future
1985 The Color Purple
1985 Amazing Stories
1985 Young Sherlock Holmes
1985 Fandango
1985 The Goonies
1984 The NeverEnding Story
1984 Gremlins
1984 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
1984 Strokes of Genius
1983 Twilight Zone: The Movie
1982 Poltergeist
1982 E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark
1981 Continental Divide
1980 Used Cars
1980 The Blues Brothers
1979 1941
1978 The Incredible Hulk
1978 I Wanna Hold Your Hand
1977 Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1976 Taxi Driver
1975 Jaws
1974 The Sugarland Express
1973 Savage
1973 Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies
1972 Something Evil
1971 Duel
1971 Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
1971 Columbo
1971 The Psychiatrist
1971 The Name of the Game
1970 Marcus Welby, M.D.
1969 Rod Serling's Night Gallery
1968 Amblin'
1968 Faces
1967 Slipstream
1964 Firelight
1962 Lawrence of Arabia
1961 Escape to Nowhere
1961 Fighter Squad
1959 The Last Gun
