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Steven Spielberg
Biography:
 Steven Allen Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on December 18th, 1946. His family moved around the country until finally settling in Scottsdale, Arizona where Spielberg would spend most of his adolescent and teenage years. Like many children of his generation, most of his free hours were spent watching television. At the age of twelve he began to show an interest in filmmaking, shooting his own 8mm shorts.
His World War II film “Escape from Nowhere” won him first prize in a state amateur filmmaking contest. With the prize money he would fund his first full length film, an ambitious sci-fi project he called Firelight. Meanwhile, his family troubles had reached a breaking point and his parents separated. Spielberg moved with his father to California’s Silicon Valley where he would graduate from Saratoga High School.
The summer vacations before and after graduation would be spent in Los Angeles serving an internship at Universal Studios. Spielberg used this time to obtain valuable insight to filmmaking processes and make many contacts that would help him later in his career. In effort to add academic credentials to his resume Spielberg enrolled at the California State College in Long Beach, but he would not end up completing his English major.
Instead he would spend more and more time at Universal gaining practical experience. It was around this time that he would make his first professional film project, Amblin’, a short road movie that would ultimately earn him a seven year contract at Universal directing television.
During these seven years Spielberg would direct episodes of “Night Gallery”, “Marcus Welby, M.D.”, and “Columbo” and made-for-TV movies like Something Evil and Savage. His first real critical recognition would come from his adaptation of Richard Matheson’s “Duel” for ABC’s “movie of the week” series. Duel was such a success that it was released in theaters overseas and even played at the Cannes Film Festival.
When his contract with Universal was up, Spielberg turned to a project that he had been considering for four years called The Sugarland Express. The film was a critical success but financial disappointment, but this would be the end of his box office obscurity. Jaws, his next feature, would become the first “summer blockbuster” and the highest grossing film of all time. Two years later he would own the box office again with Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Spielberg continued his winning streak into the eighties with movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. the Extra Terrestrial. He would also start tackling more serious issues in films like The Color Purple and Empire of the Sun. He also established himself as an executive producer by lending his hand to projects like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Gremlins, and the Back to the Future trilogy.
After disappointments with Always and Hook, Spielberg blew critics and audiences away in 1993 with both Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List. He continues his domination of the filmmaking community today with films like Saving Private Ryan, Minority Report, and Catch Me If You Can.
Films:
Firelight (1964)
Duel (1971)
Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies (1973)
The Sugarland Express (1974)
Jaws (1975)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
1941 (1979)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Poltergeist (1982)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
The Goonies (1985)
The Color Purple (1985)
Amazing Stories: The Movie (1986)
Empire of the Sun (1987)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Always (1989)
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991)
Hook (1991)
JurassicPark (1993)
Schindler's List (1993)
The Lost World: JurassicPark (1997)
Amistad (1997)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001)
Minority Report (2002)
Catch Me if You Can (2002)
The Terminal (2004)
War of the Worlds (2005)
Upcoming Projects:
Monster House (2005) (executive producer)
Legend of Zorro (2005) (executive producer)
Into the West (miniseries 2005) (executive producer)
The Talisman (2005) (executive producer)
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) (executive producer)
Indiana Jones 4 (2008)
Vengeance (2006)
Untitled Transformers Film (2006) (executive producer)
Flags of Our Fathers (2006) (executive producer)
The Pacific War (miniseries 2006) (executive producer)
Jurassic Park IV: The Extinction (2006) (executive producer)
Other Film Credits:
Faces (1968) (uncredited production assistant)
Taxi Driver (1976) (uncredited supervising editor)
I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978) (executive producer)
Used Cars (1980) (executive producer)
Continental Divide (1981) (executive producer)
Gremlins (1984) (executive producer)
Fandango (1985) (uncredited executive producer)
Back to the Future (1985) (executive producer)
Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) (executive producer)
The Money Pit (1986) (executive producer)
An American Tail (1986) (executive producer)
Harry and the Hendersons (1987) (uncredited executive producer)
Innerspace (1987) (executive producer)
*batteries not included (1987) (executive producer)
Three O’ Clock High (1987) (uncredited executive producer)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) (executive producer)
Dad (1989) (executive producer)
Back to the Future Part II (1989) (executive producer)
Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) (executive producer)
Yume (1990) (executive producer)
Back to the Future Part III (1990) (executive producer)
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) (executive producer)
Arachnophobia (1990) (executive producer and second unit director)
CapeFear (1991) (uncredited executive producer)
We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993) (executive producer)
The Flintstones (1994) (executive producer)
Casper (1995) (executive producer)
Balto (1995) (executive producer)
Twister (1996) (executive producer)
Men in Black (1997) (executive producer)
Deep Impact (1998) (executive producer)
The Mask of Zorro (1998) (executive producer)
The Last Days (1998) (executive producer)
The Haunting (1999) (uncredited executive producer and second unit director)
What Lies Beneath (2000) (idea)
A Holocaust szemei (2000) (executive producer)
Shrek (2001) (uncredited executive producer)
Evolution (2001) (uncredited executive producer)
Jurassic Park III (2001) (executive producer)
Price for Peace (2002) (executive producer)
Men in Black II (2002) (executive producer)
Short Films:
The Last Gun (1959) (writer, director, and editor)
Fighter Squad (1961) (writer, director, and editor)
Escape to Nowhere (1961) (writer, director, and editor)
Amblin’ (1968) (writer, director, and editor)
Tummy Trouble (1989) (executive producer)
Roller Coaster Rabbit (1990) (executive producer)
Trail Mix-Up (1993) (executive producer)
I’m Mad (1994) (executive producer)
The Unfinished Journey (1999) (director)
Music Video Projects:
“What About Us?” by Ministry
Television Projects:
Wagon Train (series 1957-1965) (uncredited assistant editor)
The Name of the Game (series 1968-1971) (directed the episode “L.A. 2017”)
Marcus Welby, M.D. (series 1969-1976) (directed the episode “The Daredevil Gesture”)
Night Gallery (1969) (directed the segment “Eyes”)
Night Gallery (series 1970-1973) (directed the episode “Make Me Laugh”)
The Psychiatrist (series 1971) (directed the episode “Par for the Course”)
Columbo: Murder by the Book (1971) (director)
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law (series 1971-1974) (directed the episode “Eulogy for a Wide Receiver”)
Duel (1971) (director)
Something Evil (1972) (director)
Savage (1973) (director and uncredited editor)
Strokes of Genius (miniseries 1984) (uncredited director of introductory segments)
Amazing Stories (series 1985-1987) (series developer, writer of episode “Vanessa in the Garden”, director of episodes “Ghost Train” and “The Mission”)
Tiny Toon Adventures (series 1990-1992) (executive producer)
A Wish for Wings That Work (1991) (executive producer)
The Plucky Duck Show (series 1992) (executive producer)
Class of ’61 (1993) (executive producer)
Animaniacs (series 1993-1998) (executive producer)
Family Dog (series 1993) (executive producer)
SeaQuest DSV (series 1993-1996) (executive producer)
ER (series 1994-current) (executive producer)
Pinky and the Brain (series 1995-1998) (executive producer)
Freakazoid! (series 1995-1997) (executive producer)
Survivors of the Holocaust (1996) (executive producer)
High Incident (series 1996-1997) (executive producer)
Toonsylvania (series 1998-2000) (executive producer)
Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain (series 1998) (executive producer)
Semper Fi (2001) (executive producer)
Band of Brothers (miniseries 2001) (executive producer)
Broken Silence (miniseries 2002) (executive producer)
Taken (miniseries 2002) (executive producer)
Burma Bridge Busters (2003) (executive producer)
Non Film Projects:
Founded the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation in 1994.
Founded the Righteous Persons Foundation in 1994.
Wrote the storyline for the computer game “The Dig” in 1995.
Directed segments for the computer game “Steven Spielberg’s Director’s Chair” in 1996.
Wrote the story for the video game “Metal of Honor” in 1999. The game has since become the first in a long series of WWII video games.
Designed the “LEGO & Steven Spielberg Moviemaker Set” in 2000.
Production and Other Companies:
Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Television
Amblimation Studios
DreamWorks SKG
Film Award Ratios (wins/nominations):
Academy Awards – 29/98 (29.5%)
Golden Globes – 9/44 (20.4%)
Sundance Film Festival – 0/0 (0.0%)
Cannes Film Festival – 1/2 (50.0%)
Writers Guild of America – 3/8 (37.5%)
Directors Guild of America – 3/9 (33.3%)
AFI Top One Hundred Films of All Time – 5
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