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Spielberg
A Short Biography

Steven Spielberg (Director/Producer) has directed, produced, or executive produced eight of the top grossing films of all time. This past summer, he had back-to-back blockbuster hits with "The Lost World: Jurassic Park," which he directed, and "Men in Black," which he executive produced. The original "Jurassic Park," based on Michael Crichton's bestseller, still ranks worldwide as the highest grossing film of all time.

In 1994, Spielberg won two Academy Awards®, for Best Director and Best Picture, for the internationally lauded "Schindler's List," which received a total of seven Oscars. The film also collected Best Picture honors from the major critics organizations, in addition to seven British Academy Awards, including two for Spielberg. He also won the Golden Globe Award and was honored by his peers with his second Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award, the first having come for "The Color Purple." In February 1997, "Schindler's List" was seen by a television audience of 65 million people in NBC's unprecedented airing of the film in its entirety, without commercial interruption.

Spielberg has also been recognized with Academy Award® nominations for "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial," "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Additionally, he earned DGA Award nominations for those films, as well as "Empire of the Sun," and "Jaws." He is also the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute and the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Spielberg was born in Cincinnati and raised in the suburbs of Haddonfield, New Jersey and Scottsdale, Arizona. He started making amateur films while still in his teens, later studying film at California State University, Long Beach. In 1969, his 22-minute short, "Amblin," was shown at the Atlanta Film Festival, which led to his becoming the youngest director ever to be signed to a long-term deal with a major Hollywood studio.

Four years later, he directed the suspense-filled telefilm "Duel," which garnered both critical and audience attention. He made his feature film directorial debut on "The Sugarland Express" from a screenplay he co-wrote. His film credits also include the successful "Raiders of the Lost Ark" sequels "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," "Hook" and "Always."

Since forming his own production company, Amblin Entertainment, in 1984, Spielberg has also served as producer or executive producer on more than a dozen films, including such successes as "Gremlins," "Goonies," "Back to the Future I, II, and III," "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?," "An American Tail," "The Land Before Time," "The Flintstones" and "Casper."

In 1994, he announced the formation of the new studio DreamWorks SKG, in partnership with Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. "Amistad" is the first film directed by Spielberg under the new studio banner. He more recently directed DreamWorks' "Saving Private Ryan," starring Tom Hanks, due out in 1998.