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Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg (b.1946), film director, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to the concert pianist and restaurateur Leah Posner and electrical engineer and computer developer Arnold Spielberg. His grandparents were Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. Spielberg grew up in Haddon Township, NJ, Phoenix, AZ, and Saratoga, CA.

As a Boy Scout Spielberg made his first movie, a nine-minute 8mm film called "The Last Gunfight", in order to receive a photography merit badge - Spielberg would eventually achieve the rank of Eagle Scout. The teenage Spielberg would continue making amateur films, some of which would inspire his later blockbusters. Spielberg attended California State University Long Beach, but after he was offered a seven-year directing contract with Universal Studios—the youngest director ever signed for a long-term deal with a major studio—Spielberg dropped out to focus on his directing career.

During the early 1970s Spielberg directed a number of television episodes and tv movies. His feature film directorial debut was the 1974 film "The Sugarland Express", starring Goldie Hawn. A year later he would become a household name with the premiere of "Jaws", an enormous hit that is credited with ushering in the era of summer blockbusters. "Jaws" was also the first of Spielberg's films to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. In 1977 Spielberg reteamed with the actor Richard Dreyfuss, who also starred in "Jaws", on the classic UFO film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", a critical and commercial hit and the first time Spielberg was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director.

Spielberg's next smash hit and enduring classic would be with the action adventure film "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981), starring Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. "Raiders earned Spielberg his second Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Picture. "Raiders" would be followed a year later with the classic "E.T the Extra-Terrestrial", about a lost alien who befriends a young boy during his attempt to return home. "E.T." was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Picture.

In 1984 Spielberg directed a second Indiana Jones film, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom". This was followed in 1985 by the film adaptation of Alice Walker's book "The Color Purple", and starred Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. Though Spielberg did not receive an Oscar nomination for Best Director, the film received 11 Oscar nominations. Spielberg's 1987 film, "Empire of the Sun", was the first American film shot in China since the 1930s. At the end of the decade, in 1989, Spielberg directed the third Indiana Jones film, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". He also directed his first romantic comedy, "Always", his third collaboration with Richard Dreyfuss.

In 1991 Spielberg directed the film "Hook", starring Robin Williams as a grown-up Peter Pan. Two years later he directed the film adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel "Jurassic Park", about a park featuring genetically engineered dinosaurs. "Jurassic Park" was another smash hit, and was the third time that a movie directed by Spielberg topped box office records; in 1997 Spielberg would also direct the sequel to "Jurassic Park", "The Lost World: Jurassic Park". It was followed in 1993 by "Schindler's List", a film based on the real story of Oskar Schindler who saved over a thousand Jews from the Holocaust. Spielberg won his first Oscar for Best Director for "Schindler's list". Spielberg used his profits from the film to establish the "Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation," later renamed the "USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education", an organization that conducts and archives interviews with survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides.

Since the 1980s, Spielberg has also worked as a producer. Between directing "E.T." and "Indiana Jones", Spielberg produced three hits: the horror film "Poltergeist" (1982), the 1983 film adaptation of the television series "The Twilight Zone" (in which he directed the segment "Kick the Can"), and "The Goonies" (1985). He produced a number of classic cartoon films, including "An American Tail" (1986), "The Land Before Time" (1988), and the animation/live-action film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (1988). Spielberg also produced television cartoons, including "Tiny Toon Adventures", "Animaniacs", "Pinky and the Brain", "Toonsylvania", and "Freakazoid!" Spielberg would later produce the television series "The River", "Smash", "Under the Dome", "Extant", "The Whispers", as well as the tv adaptation of "Minority Report".

"Amistad" (1997) was Spielberg's first film released under the new studio he cofounded, DreamWorks Pictures; the studio would continue to release Spielberg's films until 2008's "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull".

Spielberg's second Academy Award for Best Director was for the 1998 World War II film "Saving Private Ryan". The film won a total of five Oscars as well as numerous other awards and its graphic and realistic battle scenes influenced later war films. Spielberg would reteam with the star of "Saving Private Ryan", Tom Hanks, a number of times; in 2001 they would produce the HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers", based on Stephen Ambrose's book about Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division's 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment during World War II.

In 2001 Spielberg finished Stanley Kubrick's final film "A.I. Artificial Intelligence"; Kubrick had died before it could be completed. Next he directed Tom Cruise in the hit "Minority Report". "Catch Me If You Can", based on the true story of a young con artist and starring Christopher Walken and Leonardo DiCaprio, was released in 2002. His next film, 2004's "The Terminal", saw Spielberg again working with Tom Hanks. The next year saw him return to the science fiction genre, with the modern adaptation of H.G Wells' book "War of the Worlds". That same year he directed "Munich", which portrayed the events following the 1972 massacre of the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. "Munich" earned Spielberg his sixth Best Director and fifth Best Picture Oscar nominations.

In 2009 Spielberg directed the motion capture film "The Adventures of Tintin", based on the comics written by the Belgian artist Herge; due to the complex nature of the animation technology, the film was not released until 2011. Tintin was followed by the World War I drama "War Horse", another Spielberg film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. "Lincoln", Spielberg's next film, was shot in 2011 and released in 2012. It starred Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Field as Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln and was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. In 2015 Spielberg again directed Tom Hanks in the Cold War thriller "Bridge of Spies", a film that was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Collectively, Spielberg is the top-grossing director of all time. He has been nominated seven times for the Academy Award for Best Director and nine of the films he directed were nominated for Best Picture. Spielberg won three Academy Awards: two for "Schindler's List" (Best Picture, Best Director), and one for "Saving Private Ryan" (Best Director).

Spielberg's first marriage to Amy Irving ended in divorce. He married the actress Kate Capshaw in 1991; they met when she starred in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Spielberg has seven children: one son from his first marriage, Capshaw's daughter from her first marriage and a son she adopted before she married Spielberg, and four children with Capshaw.

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Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg (b.1946), film director, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to the concert pianist and restaurateur Leah Posner and electrical engineer and computer developer Arnold Spielberg. His grandparents were Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. Spielberg grew up in Haddon Township, NJ, Phoenix, AZ, and Saratoga, CA.

As a Boy Scout Spielberg made his first movie, a nine-minute 8mm film called "The Last Gunfight", in order to receive a photography merit badge - Spielberg would eventually achieve the rank of Eagle Scout. The teenage Spielberg would continue making amateur films, some of which would inspire his later blockbusters. Spielberg attended California State University Long Beach, but after he was offered a seven-year directing contract with Universal Studios—the youngest director ever signed for a long-term deal with a major studio—Spielberg dropped out to focus on his directing career.

During the early 1970s Spielberg directed a number of television episodes and tv movies. His feature film directorial debut was the 1974 film "The Sugarland Express", starring Goldie Hawn. A year later he would become a household name with the premiere of "Jaws", an enormous hit that is credited with ushering in the era of summer blockbusters. "Jaws" was also the first of Spielberg's films to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. In 1977 Spielberg reteamed with the actor Richard Dreyfuss, who also starred in "Jaws", on the classic UFO film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", a critical and commercial hit and the first time Spielberg was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director.

Spielberg's next smash hit and enduring classic would be with the action adventure film "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981), starring Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. "Raiders earned Spielberg his second Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Picture. "Raiders" would be followed a year later with the classic "E.T the Extra-Terrestrial", about a lost alien who befriends a young boy during his attempt to return home. "E.T." was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Picture.

In 1984 Spielberg directed a second Indiana Jones film, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom". This was followed in 1985 by the film adaptation of Alice Walker's book "The Color Purple", and starred Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. Though Spielberg did not receive an Oscar nomination for Best Director, the film received 11 Oscar nominations. Spielberg's 1987 film, "Empire of the Sun", was the first American film shot in China since the 1930s. At the end of the decade, in 1989, Spielberg directed the third Indiana Jones film, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". He also directed his first romantic comedy, "Always", his third collaboration with Richard Dreyfuss.

In 1991 Spielberg directed the film "Hook", starring Robin Williams as a grown-up Peter Pan. Two years later he directed the film adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel "Jurassic Park", about a park featuring genetically engineered dinosaurs. "Jurassic Park" was another smash hit, and was the third time that a movie directed by Spielberg topped box office records; in 1997 Spielberg would also direct the sequel to "Jurassic Park", "The Lost World: Jurassic Park". It was followed in 1993 by "Schindler's List", a film based on the real story of Oskar Schindler who saved over a thousand Jews from the Holocaust. Spielberg won his first Oscar for Best Director for "Schindler's list". Spielberg used his profits from the film to establish the "Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation," later renamed the "USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education", an organization that conducts and archives interviews with survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides.

Since the 1980s, Spielberg has also worked as a producer. Between directing "E.T." and "Indiana Jones", Spielberg produced three hits: the horror film "Poltergeist" (1982), the 1983 film adaptation of the television series "The Twilight Zone" (in which he directed the segment "Kick the Can"), and "The Goonies" (1985). He produced a number of classic cartoon films, including "An American Tail" (1986), "The Land Before Time" (1988), and the animation/live-action film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (1988). Spielberg also produced television cartoons, including "Tiny Toon Adventures", "Animaniacs", "Pinky and the Brain", "Toonsylvania", and "Freakazoid!" Spielberg would later produce the television series "The River", "Smash", "Under the Dome", "Extant", "The Whispers", as well as the tv adaptation of "Minority Report".

"Amistad" (1997) was Spielberg's first film released under the new studio he cofounded, DreamWorks Pictures; the studio would continue to release Spielberg's films until 2008's "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull".

Spielberg's second Academy Award for Best Director was for the 1998 World War II film "Saving Private Ryan". The film won a total of five Oscars as well as numerous other awards and its graphic and realistic battle scenes influenced later war films. Spielberg would reteam with the star of "Saving Private Ryan", Tom Hanks, a number of times; in 2001 they would produce the HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers", based on Stephen Ambrose's book about Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division's 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment during World War II.

In 2001 Spielberg finished Stanley Kubrick's final film "A.I. Artificial Intelligence"; Kubrick had died before it could be completed. Next he directed Tom Cruise in the hit "Minority Report". "Catch Me If You Can", based on the true story of a young con artist and starring Christopher Walken and Leonardo DiCaprio, was released in 2002. His next film, 2004's "The Terminal", saw Spielberg again working with Tom Hanks. The next year saw him return to the science fiction genre, with the modern adaptation of H.G Wells' book "War of the Worlds". That same year he directed "Munich", which portrayed the events following the 1972 massacre of the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. "Munich" earned Spielberg his sixth Best Director and fifth Best Picture Oscar nominations.

In 2009 Spielberg directed the motion capture film "The Adventures of Tintin", based on the comics written by the Belgian artist Herge; due to the complex nature of the animation technology, the film was not released until 2011. Tintin was followed by the World War I drama "War Horse", another Spielberg film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. "Lincoln", Spielberg's next film, was shot in 2011 and released in 2012. It starred Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Field as Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln and was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. In 2015 Spielberg again directed Tom Hanks in the Cold War thriller "Bridge of Spies", a film that was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Collectively, Spielberg is the top-grossing director of all time. He has been nominated seven times for the Academy Award for Best Director and nine of the films he directed were nominated for Best Picture. Spielberg won three Academy Awards: two for "Schindler's List" (Best Picture, Best Director), and one for "Saving Private Ryan" (Best Director).

Spielberg's first marriage to Amy Irving ended in divorce. He married the actress Kate Capshaw in 1991; they met when she starred in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Spielberg has seven children: one son from his first marriage, Capshaw's daughter from her first marriage and a son she adopted before she married Spielberg, and four children with Capshaw.

Written by researchers of ANU Museum of the Jewish People