Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg is a renowned filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is the most commercially successful director in film history. Among other accolades, he has received three Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and two BAFTA Awards, as well as the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1995, the Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2001, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2006, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2009 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. Seven of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant"

Spielberg studied film in college. After directing several episodes for television, including “Night Gallery” and “Columbo,” he directed the television film “Duel” (1971), his first full-length film which later received an international theatrical release. He made his debut with "American Graffiti" (1973) and “The Sugarland Express” (1974), then became a household name with the summer blockbuster “Jaws” (1975). He directed more escapist box office successes with “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977), “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” (1982) and the original Indiana Jones trilogy (1981–89). He explored drama in “The Color Purple” (1985) and “Empire of the Sun” (1987).

In 1993, Spielberg directed back-to-back blockbuster hits with the science fiction thriller “Jurassic Park,” the highest-grossing film ever at the time, and the Holocaust drama “Schindler's List,” which has often been listed as one of the greatest films ever made. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for the latter and the World War II epic “Saving Private Ryan” (1998). Spielberg has since directed the science fiction films “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” (2001), “Minority Report” (2002), and “War of the Worlds” (2005); the historical dramas “Amistad” (1997), “Munich” (2005), “War Horse” (2011), “Lincoln” (2012), “Bridge of Spies” (2015) and “The Post” (2017); the comedy “The Terminal” (2004); the animated film “The Adventures of Tintin” (2011); the musical “West Side Story” (2021); and the semi-autobiographical drama “The Fabelmans” (2022).

Spielberg co-founded Amblin Entertainment and DreamWorks, and he has served as a producer for many successful films and television series, among them “Poltergeist” (1982), “Gremlins” (1984), “Back to the Future” (1985), “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (1988) and “Band of Brothers” (2001). He has had a long collaboration with the composer John Williams, with whom he has worked for all but five of his feature films. Several of Spielberg's works are considered among the greatest films in history, and some are among the highest-grossing films ever. In 2013, Time listed him as one of the 100 most influential people, and in 2023, Spielberg was the recipient of the first ever Time 100 Impact Award in the US.