Thursday, July 19, 2012

Who is Steven Allan Spielberg?

Who is Steven Allan Spielberg? The entertainment and movie world knows him as Steven Spielberg, he is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur.
In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered
many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure
films were seen as archetypes of modern Hollywood blockbuster
filmmaking. In later years, his films began addressing such issues as the Holocaust, slavery, war and terrorism. He is considered one of the most popular and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema.[5] He is also one of the co-founders of DreamWorks movie studio.

Spielberg won the Academy Award for Best Director for Schindler's List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998). Three of Spielberg's films—Jaws (1975), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Jurassic Park (1993)—achieved box office
records, each becoming the highest-grossing film made at the time. To
date, the unadjusted gross of all Spielberg-directed films exceeds
$8.5 billion worldwide. Forbes puts Spielberg's wealth at $3.0 billion.[2]
Early life
Spielberg was born December 18, 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio, to a Jewish family.[6] His mother, Leah Adler (née Posner, 1920- ),[7]
was a restaurateur and concert pianist, and his father, Arnold
Spielberg (1917- ), was an electrical engineer involved in the
development of computers.[8] He spent his childhood in Haddon Township, New Jersey, where he saw one of his first films in a theater, as well as in Scottsdale, Arizona.[9]
Throughout his early teens, Spielberg made amateur 8 mm "adventure"
films with his friends, the first of which he shot at the Pinnacle Peak
Patio restaurant in Scottsdale. He charged admission (25 cents) to his
home films (which involved the wrecks he staged with his Lionel train
set) while his sister sold popcorn.

In 1958, he became a Boy Scout, and fulfilled a requirement for the photography merit badge by making a nine-minute 8 mm film entitled The Last Gunfight.[10]
Spielberg recalled years later to a magazine interviewer, "My dad's
still-camera was broken, so I asked the scoutmaster if I could tell a
story with my father's movie camera. He said yes, and I got an idea to
do a Western. I made it and got my merit badge. That was how it all
started."[11] At age 13, Spielberg won a prize for a 40-minute war film he titled Escape to Nowhere
which was based on a battle in east Africa. In 1963, at age 16,
Spielberg wrote and directed his first independent film, a 140-minute
science fiction adventure called Firelight (which would later inspire Close Encounters). The film, which had a budget of US$500, was shown in his local cinema and generated a profit of $1.[12] He also made several WWII films inspired by his father's war stories.

After his parents divorced, he moved to Saratoga, California with his father. His three sisters and mother remained in Arizona. He attended Arcadia High School in Phoenix, Arizona for three years; Spielberg graduated from Saratoga High School in 1965. It was during this time Spielberg attained the rank of Eagle Scout.

Spielberg attended Hebrew school from 1953 to 1957, in classes taught by Rabbi Albert L. Lewis,[13] who would later be memorialized as the main character in Mitch Albom's Have a Little Faith.

As a child, Spielberg faced difficulty reconciling being an Orthodox
Jew with the perception of him by other children he played with. "It
isn't something I enjoy admitting," he once said, "but when I was 7, 8, 9
years old, God forgive me, I was embarrassed because we were Orthodox
Jews. I was embarrassed by the outward perception of my parents' Jewish
practices. I was never really ashamed to be Jewish, but I was uneasy at
times. My grandfather always wore a long black coat, black hat and long
white beard. I was embarrassed to invite my friends over to the house,
because he might be in a corner davening [praying], and I wouldn't know
how to explain this to my WASP friends."[14] Spielberg also said he suffered from acts of anti-Semitic
prejudice in his early life: he later said, "In high school, I got
smacked and kicked around. Two bloody noses. It was horrible."[15]

After moving to California, he applied to attend the film school at University of Southern California School of Theater, Film and Television two separate times, but was unsuccessful. He subsequently became a student at California State University, Long Beach. While attending Long Beach State in the 1960s, Spielberg became a brother of Theta Chi Fraternity.
His actual career began when he returned to Universal Studios as an
unpaid, seven-day-a-week intern and guest of the editing department
(uncredited). After Spielberg became famous, USC awarded him an honorary
degree in 1994, and in 1996 he became a trustee of the university.[16][17]
In 2002, thirty-five years after starting college, Spielberg finished
his degree via independent projects at CSULB, and was awarded a B.A. in
Film Production and Electronic Arts with an option in Film/Video
Production.[17]

As an intern and guest of Universal Studios, Spielberg made his first short film for theatrical release, the 26-minute Amblin' (1968),[8] the title of which Spielberg later took as the name of his production company, Amblin Entertainment.
After Sidney Sheinberg, then the vice-president of production for
Universal's TV arm, saw the film, Spielberg became the youngest director
ever to be signed for a long-term deal with a major Hollywood studio
(Universal). He dropped out of Long Beach State in 1969 to take up the
television director contract at Universal Studios and began his career
as a professional director.[citation needed] In 1969, Variety announced that Spielberg would direct his first full length film, Malcolm Winkler,
written by Claudia Salter, produced by John Orland, with Frank Price
being the executive producer. However, because of the difficulty in
casting the key male role, the film was not made. Steven Spielberg also
attended Brookdale Community College for undergrad.
Career
Early career (1969–75)
His first professional TV job came when he was hired to do one of the segments for the 1969 pilot episode of Night Gallery. The segment, "Eyes," starred Joan Crawford,
and she and Spielberg were reportedly close friends until her death.
The episode is unusual in his body of work, in that the camerawork is
more highly stylized than his later, more "mature" films. After this,
and an episode of Marcus Welby, M.D., Spielberg got his first feature-length assignment: an episode of The Name of the Game called "L.A. 2017".
This futuristic science fiction episode impressed Universal Studios and
they signed him to a short contract. He did another segment on Night Gallery and did some work for shows such as Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law and The Psychiatrist before landing the first series episode of Columbo (previous episodes were actually TV films).
Based on the strength of his work, Universal signed Spielberg to do four TV films. The first was a Richard Matheson adaptation called Duel. The film is about a psychotic Peterbilt 281 tanker truck driver who chases a terrified driver (Dennis Weaver) of a small Plymouth Valiant and tries to run him off the road. Special praise of this film by the influential British critic Dilys Powell was highly significant to Spielberg's career. Another TV film (Something Evil) was made and released to capitalize on the popularity of The Exorcist,
then a major best-selling book which had not yet been released as a
film. He fulfilled his contract by directing the TV film length pilot of
a show called Savage, starring Martin Landau. Spielberg's debut feature film was The Sugarland Express,
about a married couple who are chased by police as the couple tries to
regain custody of their baby. Spielberg's cinematography for the police
chase was praised by reviewers, and The Hollywood Reporter stated that "a major new director is on the horizon."[18] However, the film fared poorly at the box office and received a limited release.

Studio producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown offered Spielberg the director's chair for Jaws, a thriller-horror film based on the Peter Benchley
novel about an enormous killer shark. Spielberg has often referred to
the gruelling shoot as his professional crucible. Despite the film's
ultimate, enormous success, it was nearly shut down due to delays and
budget over-runs.

budget over-runs.
But Spielberg persevered and finished the film. It was an enormous
hit, winning three Academy Awards (for editing, original score and
sound) and grossing more than $470 million worldwide at the box office.
It also set the domestic record for box office gross, leading to what
the press described as "Jawsmania."[19] Jaws
made him a household name, as well as one of America's youngest
multi-millionaires, and allowed Spielberg a great deal of autonomy for
his future projects.[20] It was nominated for Best Picture and featured Spielberg's first of three collaborations with actor Richard Dreyfuss.
Mainstream breakthrough (1975–93)
Rejecting offers to direct Jaws 2,[21] King Kong and Superman, Spielberg and actor Richard Dreyfuss re-convened to work on a film about UFOs, which became Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). One of the rare films both written and directed by Spielberg, Close Encounters
was a critical and box office hit, giving Spielberg his first Best
Director nomination from the Academy as well as earning six other Academy Awards nominations. It won Oscars in two categories (Cinematography, Vilmos Zsigmond,
and a Special Achievement Award for Sound Effects Editing, Frank E.
Warner). This second blockbuster helped to secure Spielberg's rise. His
next film, 1941,
a big-budgeted World War II farce, was not nearly as successful and
though it grossed over $92.4 million dollars worldwide (and did make a
small profit for co-producing studios Columbia and Universal) it was
seen as a disappointment, mainly with the critics.

Spielberg then revisited his Close Encounters project and, with financial backing from Columbia Pictures, released Close Encounters: The Special Edition
in 1980. For this, Spielberg fixed some of the flaws he thought impeded
the original 1977 version of the film and also, at the behest of
Columbia, and as a condition of Spielberg revising the film, shot
additional footage showing the audience the interior of the mothership
seen at the end of the film (a decision Spielberg would later regret as
he felt the interior of the mothership should have remained a mystery).
Nevertheless, the re-release was a moderate success, while the 2001 DVD
release of the film restored the original ending.
Spielberg and Harrison Ford on the set of Raiders of the Lost Ark
Next, Spielberg teamed with Star Wars creator and friend George Lucas on an action adventure film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first of the Indiana Jones films. The archaeologist and adventurer hero Indiana Jones was played by Harrison Ford (whom Lucas had previously cast in his Star Wars films as Han Solo). The film was considered an homage to the cliffhanger serials of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
It became the biggest film at the box office in 1981, and the recipient
of numerous Oscar nominations including Best Director (Spielberg's
second nomination) and Best Picture (the second Spielberg film to be
nominated for Best Picture). Raiders is still considered a landmark example of the action-adventure genre. The film also led to Ford's casting in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner.[22]

A year later, Spielberg returned to the science fiction genre with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
It was the story of a young boy and the alien he befriends, who was
accidentally left behind by his companions and is attempting to return
home. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial went on to become the top-grossing film of all time. E.T. was also nominated for nine Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.

Between 1982 and 1985, Spielberg produced three high-grossing films: Poltergeist (for which he also co-wrote the screenplay), a big-screen adaptation of The Twilight Zone (for which he directed the segment "Kick The Can"),[23] and The Goonies (Spielberg, executive producer, also wrote the story on which the screenplay was based).[24]

His next directorial feature was the Raiders prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
Teaming up once again with Lucas and Ford, the film was plagued with
uncertainty for the material and script. This film and the
Spielberg-produced Gremlins led to the creation of the PG-13 rating due to the high level of violence in films targeted at younger audiences. In spite of this, Temple of Doom
is rated PG by the MPAA, even though it is the darkest and, possibly,
most violent Indy film. Nonetheless, the film was still a huge
blockbuster hit in 1984. It was on this project that Spielberg also met
his future wife, actress Kate Capshaw.
Spielberg and Whoopi Goldberg on the set of The Color Purple
In 1985, Spielberg released The Color Purple, an adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, about a generation of empowered African-American women during depression-era America. Starring Whoopi Goldberg and future talk-show superstar Oprah Winfrey, the film was a box office smash and critics hailed Spielberg's successful foray into the dramatic genre. Roger Ebert proclaimed it the best film of the year and later entered it into his Great Films archive. The film received eleven Academy Award
nominations, including two for Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey.
However, much to the surprise of many, Spielberg did not get a Best
Director nomination. The Color Purple is the second of two Spielberg films not to be scored by John Williams, the first being Duel.



In 1987, as China began opening to Western capital investment,
Spielberg shot the first American film in Shanghai since the 1930s, an
adaptation of J. G. Ballard's autobiographical novel Empire of the Sun, starring John Malkovich and a young Christian Bale.
The film garnered much praise from critics and was nominated for
several Oscars, but did not yield substantial box office revenues.
Reviewer Andrew Sarris called it the best film of the year and later included it among the best films of the decade.[25] Spielberg was also a co-producer of the 1987 film *batteries not included.
After two forays into more serious dramatic films, Spielberg then directed the third Indiana Jones film, 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Once again teaming up with Lucas and Ford, Spielberg also cast actor Sean Connery
in a supporting role as Indy's father. The film earned generally
positive reviews and was another box office success, becoming the
highest grossing film worldwide that year; its total box office receipts
even topped those of Tim Burton's much-anticipated film Batman, which had been the bigger hit domestically. Also in 1989, he re-united with actor Richard Dreyfuss for the romantic comedy-drama Always, about a daredevil pilot who extinguishes forest fires. Spielberg's first romantic film, Always was only a moderate success and had mixed reviews.

In 1991, Spielberg directed Hook, about a middle-aged Peter Pan, played by Robin Williams, who returns to Neverland.
Despite innumerable rewrites and creative changes coupled with mixed
reviews, the film proved popular with audiences, making over
$300 million worldwide (from a $70 million budget).
Spielberg on the set of Jurassic Park
In 1993, Spielberg returned to the adventure genre with the film version of Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park, about a theme park with genetically engineered dinosaurs. With revolutionary special effects provided by friend George Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic
company, the film would eventually become the highest grossing film of
all time (at the worldwide box office) with $914.7 million. This would
be the third time that one of Spielberg's films became the highest
grossing film ever.
Spielberg's next film, Schindler's List, was based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a man who risked his life to save 1,100 Jews from the Holocaust.[26] Schindler's List earned Spielberg his first Academy Award for Best Director (it also won Best Picture). With the film a huge success at the box office, Spielberg used the profits to set up the Shoah Foundation, a non-profit organization that archives filmed testimony of Holocaust survivors. In 1997, the American Film Institute listed it among the 10 Greatest American Films ever Made (#9) which moved up to (#8) when the list was remade in 2007.
1994–present


In 1987, as China began opening to Western capital investment,
Spielberg shot the first American film in Shanghai since the 1930s, an
adaptation of J. G. Ballard's autobiographical novel Empire of the Sun, starring John Malkovich and a young Christian Bale.
The film garnered much praise from critics and was nominated for
several Oscars, but did not yield substantial box office revenues.
Reviewer Andrew Sarris called it the best film of the year and later included it among the best films of the decade.[25] Spielberg was also a co-producer of the 1987 film *batteries not included.

After two forays into more serious dramatic films, Spielberg then directed the third Indiana Jones film, 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Once again teaming up with Lucas and Ford, Spielberg also cast actor Sean Connery
in a supporting role as Indy's father. The film earned generally
positive reviews and was another box office success, becoming the
highest grossing film worldwide that year; its total box office receipts
even topped those of Tim Burton's much-anticipated film Batman, which had been the bigger hit domestically. Also in 1989, he re-united with actor Richard Dreyfuss for the romantic comedy-drama Always, about a daredevil pilot who extinguishes forest fires. Spielberg's first romantic film, Always was only a moderate success and had mixed reviews.
In 1991, Spielberg directed Hook, about a middle-aged Peter Pan, played by Robin Williams, who returns to Neverland.
Despite innumerable rewrites and creative changes coupled with mixed
reviews, the film proved popular with audiences, making over
$300 million worldwide (from a $70 million budget).
Spielberg on the set of Jurassic Park
In 1993, Spielberg returned to the adventure genre with the film version of Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park, about a theme park with genetically engineered dinosaurs. With revolutionary special effects provided by friend George Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic
company, the film would eventually become the highest grossing film of
all time (at the worldwide box office) with $914.7 million. This would
be the third time that one of Spielberg's films became the highest
grossing film ever.

Spielberg's next film, Schindler's List, was based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a man who risked his life to save 1,100 Jews from the Holocaust.[26] Schindler's List earned Spielberg his first Academy Award for Best Director (it also won Best Picture). With the film a huge success at the box office, Spielberg used the profits to set up the Shoah Foundation, a non-profit organization that archives filmed testimony of Holocaust survivors. In 1997, the American Film Institute listed it among the 10 Greatest American Films ever Made (#9) which moved up to (#8) when the list was remade in 2007.
1994–present


In 1994, Spielberg took a hiatus from directing to spend more time with his family and build his new studio, DreamWorks,[27] with partners Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. In 1997, he helmed the sequel to 1993's Jurassic Park with The Lost World: Jurassic Park, which generated over $618 million worldwide despite mixed reviews, and was the second biggest hit of 1997 behind James Cameron's Titanic (which topped the original Jurassic Park to become the new recordholder for box office receipts).

His next film, Amistad, was based on a true story (like Schindler's List),
specifically about an African slave rebellion. Despite decent reviews
from critics, it did not do well at the box office. Spielberg released Amistad under DreamWorks Pictures,[28] which issued all of his films from Amistad until Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in May 2008 (see below).


His next theatrical release in that same year was the World War II film Saving Private Ryan, about a group of U.S. soldiers led by Capt. Miller (Tom Hanks) sent to bring home a paratrooper
whose three older brothers were killed in the last twenty four hours of
action in France. The film was a huge box office success, grossing over
$481 million worldwide and was the biggest film of the year at the
North American box office (worldwide it made second place after Michael
Bay's Armageddon).
Spielberg won his second Academy Award for his direction. The film's
graphic, realistic depiction of combat violence influenced later war
films such as Black Hawk Down and Enemy at the Gates. The film was also the first major hit for DreamWorks, which co-produced the film with Paramount Pictures (as such, it was Spielberg's first release from the latter that was not part of the Indiana Jones series). Later, Spielberg and Tom Hanks produced a TV mini-series based on Stephen Ambrose's book Band of Brothers. The ten-part HBO mini-series follows Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division's 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The series won a number of awards at the Golden Globes and the Emmys.

Spielberg and actor Tom Cruise collaborated for the first time for the futuristic neo-noir Minority Report, based upon the science fiction short story written by Philip K. Dick
about a Washington D.C. police captain in the year 2054 who has been
foreseen to murder a man he has not yet met. The film received strong
reviews with the review tallying website Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 92% approval rating, reporting that 206 out of the 225 reviews they tallied were positive.[29] The film earned over $358 million worldwide. Roger Ebert, who named it the best film of 2002, praised its breathtaking vision of the future as well as for the way Spielberg blended CGI with live-action.[30]

Spielberg's 2002 film Catch Me If You Can is about the daring adventures of a youthful con artist (played by Leonardo DiCaprio). It earned Christopher Walken an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The film is known for John Williams' score and its unique title sequence. It was a hit both commercially and critically.

Spielberg collaborated again with Tom Hanks along with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Stanley Tucci in 2004's The Terminal,
a warm-hearted comedy about a man of Eastern European descent who is
stranded in an airport. It received mixed reviews but performed
relatively well at the box office. In 2005, Empire magazine ranked Spielberg number one on a list of the greatest film directors of all time.
Also in 2005, Spielberg directed a modern adaptation of War of the Worlds
(a co-production of Paramount and DreamWorks), based on the H. G. Wells
book of the same name (Spielberg had been a huge fan of the book and
the original 1953 film). It starred Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning, and, as with past Spielberg films, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) provided the visual effects. Unlike E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which depicted friendly alien visitors, War of the Worlds featured violent invaders. The film was another huge box office smash, grossing over $591 million worldwide.

Spielberg's film Munich, about the events following the 1972 Munich Massacre of Israeli athletes at the Olympic Games, was his second film essaying Jewish relations in the world (the first being Schindler's List). The film is based on Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team, a book by Canadian journalist George Jonas. It was previously adapted into the 1986 made-for-TV film Sword of Gideon.


Spielberg directed Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which wrapped filming in October 2007 and was released on May 22, 2008.[32][33] This was his first film not to be released by DreamWorks since 1997. The film received generally positive reviews from critics,[34] and has performed very well in theaters. As of May 10, 2010, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has grossed $317 million domestically, and over $786 million worldwide.

In early 2009, Spielberg shot the first film in a planned trilogy of motion capture films based on The Adventures of Tintin, written by Belgian artist Hergé,[35] with Peter Jackson. The Adventures of Tintin,
was not released until October 2011, due to the complexity of the
computer animation involved. The world premiere took place on October
22, 2011 in Brussels, Belgium.[36] The film was released in North American theaters on December 21, 2011, in Digital 3D and IMAX.[37] It received generally positive reviews from critics,[38] and grossed over $373 million worldwide.[39] The Adventures of Tintin won the award for Best Animated Feature Film at the Golden Globe Awards that year.[40] It is the first non-Pixar film to win the award since the category was first introduced.[41][42] Jackson has been announced to direct the second film,[43] which Spielberg will produce.

Spielberg followed that with War Horse, shot in England in the summer of 2010.[44] It was released just four days after The Adventures of Tintin, on December 25, 2011. The film, based on the novel of the same name written by Michael Morpurgo
and published in 1982, follows the long friendship between a British
boy and his horse Joey before and during World War I — the novel was
also adapted into a hit play in London which is still running there, as well as on Broadway. The film was released and distributed by Disney, with whom DreamWorks has made a 30-picture deal. War Horse received generally positive reviews from critics,[45] and was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture.[46]
Production credits
Since the mid-1980s, Spielberg has increased his role as a film
producer. He headed up the production team for several cartoons,
including the Warner Brothers hits Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Toonsylvania, and Freakazoid!, for which he collaborated with Jean MacCurdy and Tom Ruegger.
Due to his work on these series, in the official titles, most of them
say, "Steven Spielberg presents" as well as making numerous cameos on
the shows. Spielberg also produced the Don Bluth animated features, An American Tail and The Land Before Time, which were released by Universal Studios. He also served as one of the executive producers of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and its three related shorts (Tummy Trouble, Roller Coaster Rabbit, Trail Mix-Up), which were all released by Disney, under both the Walt Disney Pictures and the Touchstone Pictures banners. He was furthermore, for a short time, the executive producer of the long-running medical drama ER. In 1989, he brought the concept of The Dig to LucasArts.
He contributed to the project from that time until 1995 when the game
was released. He also collaborated with software publishers Knowledge Adventure on the multimedia game Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair,
which was released in 1996. Spielberg appears, as himself, in the game
to direct the player. The Spielberg name provided branding for a Lego Moviemaker kit, the proceeds of which went to the Starbright Foundation.

In 1993, Spielberg acted as executive producer for the highly anticipated television series seaQuest DSV; a science fiction series set "in the near future" starring Roy Scheider (who Spielberg had directed in Jaws) and Jonathan Brandis akin to Star Trek: The Next Generation that aired on Sundays at 8:00 pm. on NBC.
While the first season was moderately successful, the second season did
less well. Spielberg's name no longer appeared in the third season and
the show was cancelled mid way through it.
Spielberg served as an uncredited executive producer on The Haunting, The Prince of Egypt, Just Like Heaven,[47] Shrek, Road to Perdition,[48] and Evolution. He served as an executive producer for the 1998 film Men in Black, and its sequels, Men in Black II and Men in Black III. In 2005, he served as a producer of Memoirs of a Geisha, an adaptation of the novel by Arthur Golden, a film he was previously attached to as director. In 2006, Spielberg co-executive produced with famed filmmaker Robert Zemeckis a CGI children's film called Monster House, marking their eighth collaboration since 1990's Back to the Future Part III. He also teamed with Clint Eastwood for the first time in their careers, co-producing Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima with Robert Lorenz
and Eastwood himself. He earned his twelfth Academy Award nomination
for the latter film as it was nominated for Best Picture. Spielberg
served as executive producer for Disturbia and the Transformers live action film with Brian Goldner, an employee of Hasbro. The film was directed by Michael Bay and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and Spielberg continued to collaborate on the sequels, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Transformers: Dark of the Moon. In 2011, he produced the J. J. Abrams science fiction thriller film Super 8 for Paramount Pictures.[49]
Other major television series Spielberg produced were Band of Brothers, Taken and The Pacific. He was an executive producer on the critically acclaimed 2005 TV miniseries Into the West which won two Emmy awards, including one for Geoff Zanelli's score. For his 2010 miniseries The Pacific he teamed up once again with co-producer Tom Hanks, with Gary Goetzman
also co-producing'. The miniseries is believed to have cost
$250 million and is a 10-part war miniseries centered on the battles in
the Pacific Theater during World War II. Writer Bruce McKenna, who penned several installments of (Band of Brothers), was the head writer.

In 2007, Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett co-produced On the Lot
a short-lived TV reality show about filmmaking. Despite this, he never
gave up working on television. He currently serves as one of the
executive producers on United States of Tara, a show created by Academy Award winner Diablo Cody which they developed together (Spielberg is uncredited as creator).

In 2011, Spielberg launched Falling Skies, a science fiction television series, on the TNT network. He developed the series with Robert Rodat and is credited as an executive producer. Spielberg is also producing the Fox TV series Terra Nova. Terra Nova
begins in the year 2149 when all life on the planet Earth is threatened
with extinction resulting in scientists opening a door that allows
people to travel back 85 million years to prehistoric times.[50][51] Spielberg also produced The River[52] and Smash.[53]
Acting credits
Steven Spielberg had cameo roles in The Blues Brothers, Gremlins, Vanilla Sky, and Austin Powers in Goldmember, as well as small uncredited cameos in a handful of other films, such as a life-station worker in Jaws.
He also made numerous cameo roles in the Warner Brothers cartoons he
produced, such as Animaniacs, and even made reference to some of his
films. Spielberg voiced himself in the film Paul, and in one episode of Tiny Toon Adventures titled Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian.
Involvement in video games
Apart from being an ardent gamer Spielberg has had a long history of involvement in video games.[54] In 2005 the director signed with Electronic Arts to collaborate on three games including an action game and an award winning puzzle game for the Wii called Boom Blox (and its 2009 sequel: Boom Blox Bash Party).[55] Previously, he was involved in creating the scenario for the adventure game The Dig.[56] In 1996, Spielberg worked on and shot original footage for a movie-making simulation game called Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair. He is the creator of the Medal of Honor series by Electronic Arts.[57] He is credited in the special thanks section of the 1998 video game Trespasser.[58]
Upcoming and announced projects
Spielberg is currently in post-production on Lincoln, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln.[59] Based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's bestseller Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, the film follows Lincoln's leadership during the final portion of the American Civil War. Written by Tony Kushner, the film was shot in Richmond, Virginia in late 2011[60] and will be released at Christmas of 2012 by Disney's Touchstone Pictures division in the United States[61] and Twentieth Century Fox overseas.[62]
From July–September 2012 Spielberg is scheduled to shoot a $200 million adaptation of Daniel H. Wilson's novel Robopocalypse, adapted for the screen by Drew Goddard.[63] The film follows a global human war against a robot uprising about 15–20 years in the future[64] and will be shot in Montreal.[65] Like Lincoln, it will be released by Disney in the United States and Fox overseas.,[66] on April 25, 2014.[67]

In 2009, Spielberg reportedly tried to obtain the screen rights to make a film based on Microsoft's Halo series.[68] In September 2008, Steven Spielberg bought film rights for John Wyndham's novel Chocky and is interested in directing it. He is also interested in making an adaptation of A Steady Rain,[69] Pirate Latitudes,[70] The 39 Clues,[71] and Under the Dome,[72] along with a remake of When Worlds Collide.

In June 2006, Steven Spielberg announced he would direct a scientifically accurate film about "a group of explorers who travel through a worm hole and into another dimension",[75] from a treatment by Kip Thorne and producer Lynda Obst.[76]
A strong consistent theme in his family-friendly work is a childlike, even naïve, sense of wonder and faith, as attested by works such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Hook, and A.I. Artificial Intelligence.


In terms of casting and production itself, Spielberg has a known
penchant for working with actors and production members from his
previous films. For instance, he has cast Richard Dreyfuss in several films: Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Always. Aside from his role as Indiana Jones, Spielberg also cast Harrison Ford as a headteacher in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
(though the scene was ultimately cut). Although Spielberg directed him
only once (in Raiders of the Lost Ark, for which he voiced many of the
animals), veteran voice actor Frank Welker has lent his voice in a number of productions Spielberg has executively produced from Gremlins to its sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch, as well as The Land Before Time (and lending his voice to its sequels which Spielberg had no involvement in), Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and television shows such as Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, and SeaQuest DSV. Recently Spielberg has used Tom Hanks on several occasions and has cast him in Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, and The Terminal. Spielberg also has collaborated with Tom Cruise twice on Minority Report and War of the Worlds. Spielberg has also cast Shia LaBeouf in five films: Transformers, Eagle Eye, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
Spielberg prefers working with production members with whom he has
developed an existing working relationship. An example of this is his
production relationship with Kathleen Kennedy who has served as producer on all his major films from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial to the recent Munich. Other working relationships include Allen Daviau, a childhood friend and cinematographer who shot the early Spielberg film Amblin and most of his films up to Empire of the Sun; Janusz Kamiński who has shot every Spielberg film since Schindler's List (see List of film director and cinematographer collaborations); and the film editor Michael Kahn who has edited every film directed by Spielberg from Close Encounters to Munich (except E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial). Most of the DVDs of Spielberg's films have documentaries by Laurent Bouzereau.

A famous example of Spielberg working with the same professionals is his long time collaboration with John Williams and the use of his musical scores in all of his films since The Sugarland Express (except The Color Purple and Twilight Zone: The Movie).
One of Spielberg's trademarks is his use of music by John Williams to
add to the visual impact of his scenes and to try and create a lasting
picture and sound of the film in the memories of the film audience.
These visual scenes often uses images of the sun (e.g. Empire of the Sun, Saving Private Ryan, the final scene of Jurassic Park, and the end credits of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
(where they ride into the sunset), of which the last two feature a
Williams score at that end scene. Spielberg is a contemporary of
filmmakers George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, John Milius, and Brian De Palma, collectively known as the "Movie Brats".
Aside from his principal role as a director, Spielberg has acted as a
producer for a considerable number of films, including early hits for Joe Dante and Robert Zemeckis.
Personal life
Marriages and children
From 1985 to 1989 Spielberg was married to actress Amy Irving. In their 1989 divorce settlement, she received $100 million from Spielberg after a judge controversially vacated a prenuptial agreement written on a napkin. Their divorce was recorded as the third most costly celebrity divorce in history.[83] Following the divorce, Spielberg and Irving shared custody of their son, Max Samuel.
Spielberg and Kate Capshaw
Spielberg subsequently developed a relationship with actress Kate Capshaw, whom he met when he cast her in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. They married on October 12, 1991. Capshaw is a convert to Judaism.[84] They currently move among their four homes in Pacific Palisades, California; New York City; Quelle Farm, Georgica Pond in East Hampton, NY;[85] and Naples, Florida.

There are seven children in the Spielberg-Capshaw family:
  • Jessica Capshaw (born August 9, 1976) – daughter from Kate Capshaw's previous marriage to Robert Capshaw
  • Max Samuel Spielberg (born June 13, 1985) – son from Spielberg's previous marriage to actress Amy Irving
  • Theo Spielberg (born 1988) – son adopted by Capshaw before her marriage to Spielberg, who later also adopted him[86]
  • Sasha Rebecca Spielberg (born May 14, 1990, Los Angeles)[87]
  • Sawyer Avery Spielberg (born March 10, 1992, Los Angeles)[88]
  • Mikaela George (born February 28, 1996) – adopted with Kate Capshaw
  • Destry Allyn Spielberg (born December 1, 1996)
Wealth
Forbes magazine places Spielberg's personal net worth at $3.0 billion.[89]
Recognition
In 2002, Spielberg was one of eight flagbearers who carried the Olympic Flag into Rice-Eccles Stadium at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. In 2006, Premiere listed him as the most powerful and influential figure in the motion picture industry. Time listed him as one of the 100 Most Important People of the Century. At the end of the 20th century, Life named him the most influential person of his generation.[90]


  • Spielberg usually supports U.S. Democratic Party
    candidates. He has donated over $800,000 to the Democratic party and
    its nominees. He has been a close friend of former President Bill Clinton and worked with the President for the USA Millennium celebrations. He directed an 18-minute film for the project, scored by John Williams and entitled The American Journey. It was shown at America's Millennium Gala on December 31, 1999, in the National Mall at the Reflecting Pool at the base of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.[91]

  • On February 20, 2007, Spielberg, Katzenberg, and David Geffen invited Democrats to a fundraiser for Barack Obama.[96] However, on June 14, 2007, Spielberg endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton
    (D-NY) for President. While Geffen and Katzenberg supported Obama,
    Spielberg was always a supporter of Hillary Clinton. However Spielberg
    directed a video for Obama at the DNC in August 2008 and attended Obama's inauguration.
  • In February 2008, Spielberg pulled out of his role as advisor to the 2008 Summer Olympics in response to the Chinese government's inaction over the War in Darfur.[97] Spielberg said in a statement that "I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual." It also said that "Sudan's
    government bears the bulk of the responsibility for these on-going
    crimes, but the international community, and particularly China, should
    be doing more.
    ."[98] The International Olympic Committee respected Spielberg's decision, but IOC president Jacques Rogge admitted in an interview that "[Spielberg] certainly would have brought a lot to the opening ceremony in terms of creativity."[99] Spielberg's statement drew criticism from Chinese officials and state-run media calling his criticism "unfair".[100]
  • In September 2008, Spielberg and his wife offered their support to same-sex marriage, by issuing a statement following their donation of $100,000 to the "No on Proposition 8" campaign fund, a figure equal to the amount of money Brad Pitt donated to the same campaign less than a week prior.[101]
Hobbies


In June 1982 Steven Spielberg spent $60,500 to buy a Rosebud sled from the 1941 film Citizen Kane — one of three balsa sleds used in the closing scenes and the only one that was not burned.[102] Spielberg had paid homage to the Orson Welles classic in the final shot of the government warehouse in his 1981 film, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

 Since playing Pong while filming Jaws in 1974, Spielberg has been an avid video gamer. He owns a Wii, a PlayStation 3, a PSP, and Xbox 360, and enjoys playing first-person shooters such as the Medal of Honor series and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. He has also criticized the use of cut scenes
in games, calling them intrusive, and feels making story flow naturally
into the gameplay is a challenge for future game developers.[108]
Stalking
Diana Napolis
In 2001, Spielberg was stalked by conspiracy theorist and former social worker Diana Napolis. She accused him, along with actress Jennifer Love Hewitt, of controlling her thoughts through "cybertronic" technology and being part of a satanic conspiracy against her. Napolis was committed
for life in a mental institution before pleading guilty to stalking and
released on probation with a condition that she have no contact with
either Spielberg or Hewitt.[109][110][111][112]

Spielberg was a target of the 2002 white supremacist terror plot.[113]

Jonathan Norman was arrested after making two attempts to enter Spielberg's Pacific Palisades  home in June and July 1997. Norman was jailed for 25 years.

Spielberg has won three Academy Awards. He has been nominated for six Academy Awards for the category of Best Director, winning two of them (Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan), and seven of the films he directed were up for the Best Picture Oscar (Schindler's List won). In 1987 he was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for his work as a creative producer.

Drawing from his own experiences in Scouting, Spielberg helped the Boy Scouts of America develop a merit badge in cinematography. The badge was launched at the 1989 National Scout Jamboree, which Spielberg attended, and where he personally counseled many boys in their work on requirements.

That same year, 1989, saw the release of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The opening scene shows a teenage Indiana Jones in scout uniform bearing the rank of a Life Scout.
Spielberg stated he made Indiana Jones a Boy Scout in honor of his
experience in Scouting. For his career accomplishments and service to
others, Spielberg was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.[116]
Steven Spielberg received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1995.

In 1998 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit with Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Award was presented to him by President Roman Herzog in recognition of his film Schindler's List and his Shoa-Foundation.[117]

In 1999, Spielberg received an honorary degree from Brown University. Spielberg was also awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service by Secretary of Defense William Cohen at the Pentagon on August 11, 1999; Cohen presented the award in recognition of Spielberg's film Saving Private Ryan.

In 2001, he was honored as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II.[118][119][120]

In 2004 he was admitted as knight of the Légion d'honneur by president Jacques Chirac.[121] On July 15, 2006, Spielberg was also awarded the Gold Hugo Lifetime Achievement Award at the Summer Gala of the Chicago International Film Festival,[122] and also was awarded a Kennedy Center honour on December 3. The tribute to Spielberg featured a short, filmed biography narrated by Tom Hanks and included thank-yous from World War II veterans for Saving Private Ryan, as well as a performance of the finale to Leonard Bernstein's Candide, conducted by John Williams (Spielberg's frequent composer).
In November 2007, he was chosen for a Lifetime Achievement Award to be presented at the sixth annual Visual Effects Society Awards in February 2009. He was set to be honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the January 2008 Golden Globes; however, the new, watered-down format of the ceremony resulting from conflicts in the 2007–08 writers strike, the HFPA postponed his honor to the 2009 ceremony.[123][124] In 2008, Spielberg was awarded the Légion d'honneur.[125]

In June 2008, Spielberg received Arizona State University's Hugh Downs Award for Communication Excellence.[126]

On the 22th of October 2011 he was admitted as a Commander of the Belgian Order of the Crown. He was given the badge on a red neck ribbon by the Belgian Federal Minister of Finance Didier Reynders. The Commander is the third highest rank of the Order of the Crown.
Praise and criticism
Film
In 2005, Steven Spielberg was rated the greatest film director of all time by Empire Magazine.[127]

After watching the unconventional, off-center camera techniques of Jaws, Alfred Hitchcock praised "young Spielberg," saying "He's the first one of us who doesn't see the proscenium arch." Or, to paraphrase, he was the first mainstream director to think outside the visual dynamics of the theater,[128] although that didn't stop Hitchcock from removing Spielberg from the set of Family Plot, his last film.[129]

Some of Spielberg's most famous fans include film legends Robert Aldrich,[130] Ingmar Bergman,[131] Werner Herzog,[132] Stanley Kubrick,[133] David Lean,[134] Sidney Lumet,[135] Roman Polanski,[136] Martin Scorsese,[137] Francois Truffaut,[138] David Lynch[139] and Zhang Yimou.[140]

Subsequently, Spielberg's movies have also influenced many directors that followed, including Adam Green, J.J Abrams,[141] Paul Thomas Anderson,[142] Neill Blomkamp,[143] James Cameron,[144] Guillermo del Toro,[145] Roland Emmerich,[146] David Fincher, Peter Jackson,[147] Kal Ng,[148] Robert Rodriguez,[149] John Sayles,[150] Ridley Scott,[151] John Singleton,[152] Kevin Smith,[153] Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino.[154]

British film critic Tom Shone
has said of Spielberg, "If you have to point to any one director of the
last twenty-five years in whose work the medium of film was most fully
itself – where we found out what it does best when left to its own
devices, it has to be that guy."[155] Jess Cagle, the managing editor of Entertainment Weekly, called Spielberg "...arguably (well, who would argue?) the greatest filmmaker in history."[156]

Critics of mainstream film such as Ray Carney and American artist and actor Crispin Glover (who starred in the Spielberg-produced Back to the Future and also sued Spielberg for using Glover's likeness in Back to the Future Part II)[161] claim that Spielberg's films lack depth and do not take risks.[162][163]



In 1999, Spielberg, then a co-owner of DreamWorks, was involved in a heated debate in which the studio proposed building on wetlands near Los Angeles, California, though development was later dropped for economic reasons.[170]

In August 2007, Ai Weiwei, artistic designer for the Beijing Olympic Stadium,
known as the "Bird's Nest", accused those choreographing the Olympic
opening ceremony, including Spielberg, of failing to live up to their
responsibility as artists. Ai said, "It's disgusting. I don't like
anyone who shamelessly abuses their profession, who makes no moral
judgment."[171]


Awards and nominations
YearAwardCategoryNominated workResult
1973Avoriaz Fantastic Film FestivalGrand PrizeDuelWon
1974Cannes Film FestivalBest ScreenplayThe Sugarland ExpressWon
Cannes Film FestivalPalme d'OrThe Sugarland ExpressNominated
1975Writers Guild of AmericaBest Comedy Written Directly for the ScreenThe Sugarland ExpressNominated
1976BAFTA AwardBest DirectorJawsNominated
Directors Guild of AmericaOutstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion PicturesJawsNominated
Golden GlobeBest DirectorJawsNominated
1978Academy AwardBest DirectorClose Encounters of the Third KindNominated
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror FilmsBest DirectorClose Encounters of the Third KindWon
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror FilmsBest WritingClose Encounters of the Third KindWon
Directors Guild of AmericaOutstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion PicturesClose Encounters of the Third KindNominated
Golden GlobeBest DirectorClose Encounters of the Third KindNominated
Golden GlobeBest ScreenplayClose Encounters of the Third KindNominated
Writers Guild of AmericaBest Drama Written Directly for the ScreenClose Encounters of the Third KindNominated
1979BAFTA AwardBest DirectorClose Encounters of the Third KindNominated
BAFTA AwardBest ScreenplayClose Encounters of the Third KindNominated
1982Academy AwardBest DirectorRaiders of the Lost ArkNominated
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror FilmsBest DirectorRaiders of the Lost ArkWon
American Movie AwardsBest DirectorRaiders of the Lost ArkWon
Boston Society of Film Critics AwardsBest DirectorRaiders of the Lost ArkWon
César AwardBest Foreign FilmRaiders of the Lost ArkNominated
Directors Guild of AmericaOutstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion PicturesRaiders of the Lost ArkNominated
Golden GlobeBest DirectorRaiders of the Lost ArkNominated
Kinema Junpo AwardsBest Foreign Language FilmRaiders of the Lost ArkWon
Los Angeles Film Critics Association AwardsBest DirectorE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialWon
New York Film Critics Circle AwardsBest DirectorE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialNominated
ShoWestDirector of the YearWon
1983Academy AwardBest DirectorE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialNominated
Academy AwardBest PictureE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialNominated
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror FilmsBest DirectorE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialNominated
BAFTA AwardBest DirectionE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialNominated
BAFTA AwardBest FilmE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialNominated
Blue Ribbon AwardBest Foreign Language FilmE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialWon
Boston Society of Film Critics AwardsBest DirectorE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialWon
César AwardsBest Foreign FilmE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialNominated
David di Donatello AwardsBest Foreign DirectorE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialWon
Directors Guild of AmericaOutstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion PicturesE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialNominated
Fotogramas de PlataBest Foreign FilmE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialWon
Golden GlobeBest DirectorE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialNominated
Hasty Pudding TheatricalsMan of the YearWon
Kansas City Film Critics Circle AwardsBest DirectorE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialWon
Kinema Junpo AwardsBest Foreign Language FilmE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialWon
Kinema Junpo AwardsReaders' Choice AwardE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialWon
National Society of Film Critics AwardsBest DirectorE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialWon
Sant Jordi AwardsMejor Película InfantilE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialWon
1984FantasportoBest FilmTwilight Zone: The MovieNominated
Giffoni Film FestivalNocciola d'OroWon
1985Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror FilmsBest DirectorIndiana Jones and the Temple of DoomNominated
1986Academy AwardBest PictureThe Color PurpleNominated
BAFTA AwardAcademy FellowshipWon
David di Donatello AwardsBest Foreign ProducerBack to the FutureWon
Directors Guild of AmericaOutstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion PicturesThe Color PurpleWon
Emmy AwardOutstanding Directing in a Drama SeriesSteven Spielberg Presents Amazing StoriesNominated
Golden GlobeBest DirectorThe Color PurpleNominated
Kansas City Film Critics Circle AwardsBest DirectorThe Color PurpleWon
1987Academy AwardIrving G. Thalberg Memorial AwardWon
Blue Ribbon AwardBest Foreign Language FilmThe Color PurpleWon
Christopher AwardBest PictureEmpire of the SunWon
National Board of ReviewBest DirectorEmpire of the SunWon
1988Directors Guild of AmericaOutstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion PicturesEmpire of the SunNominated
Kansas City Film Critics Circle AwardsBest DirectorEmpire of the SunWon
1989American Cinematheque AwardAmerican Cinematheque AwardWon
1990American Cinema EditorsGolden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year AwardWon
Retirement Research FoundationTelevision and Theatrical Film FictionDadWon
1991Daytime Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated ProgramTiny Toon AdventuresWon
Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated ProgramTiny Toon AdventuresNominated
1992Daytime Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated ProgramTiny Toon AdventuresNominated
1993Boston Society of Film Critics AwardsBest DirectorSchindler's ListWon
Daytime Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated ProgramTiny Toon AdventuresWon
New York Film Critics Circle AwardsBest DirectorSchindler's ListNominated
Venice Film FestivalCareer Golden LionWon
1994Academy AwardBest DirectorSchindler's ListWon
Academy AwardBest PictureSchindler's ListWon
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror FilmsPresident's AwardWon
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror FilmsBest DirectorJurassic ParkWon
Amanda AwardsBest Foreign FilmSchindler's ListWon
American Society of CinematographersBoard of the Governors AwardWon
Australian Film InstituteBest Foreign FilmSchindler's ListNominated
BAFTA AwardBest FilmSchindler's ListWon
BAFTA AwardDavid Lean Award for DirectionSchindler's ListWon
Blue Ribbon AwardBest Foreign Language FilmJurassic ParkWon
Chicago Film Critics Association AwardsBest DirectorSchindler's ListWon
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association AwardsBest DirectorSchindler's ListWon
David di Donatello AwardsBest Foreign FilmSchindler's ListNominated
Daytime Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Children's ProgramAnimaniacsNominated
Directors Guild of AmericaOutstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion PicturesSchindler's ListWon
Golden GlobeBest DirectorSchindler's ListWon
Hochi Film AwardsBest Foreign Language FilmSchindler's ListWon
Kansas City Film Critics Circle AwardsBest DirectorSchindler's ListWon
Mainichi Film ConcoursBest Foreign Language FilmJurassic ParkWon
National Society of Film Critics AwardsBest DirectorSchindler's ListWon
PGA AwardMotion Picture Producer of the Year AwardSchindler's ListWon
People's Choice AwardsPeople's Choice Awards HonoreeWon
ShoWestDirector of the YearWon
Society of Camera OperatorsGovernors' AwardWon
Young Artist AwardsJackie Coogan AwardWon
1995American Film InstituteLife Achievement AwardWon
César AwardsHonorary CésarWon
César AwardsBest Foreign FilmSchindler's ListNominated
Czech LionsBest Foreign Language FilmJurassic ParkWon
Daytime Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Children's ProgramAnimaniacsNominated
Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated ProgramTiny Toons' Night GhouleryNominated
Italian National Syndicate of Film JournalistsBest DirectorSchindler's ListNominated
Kinema Junpo AwardsBest Foreign Language FilmSchindler's ListWon
London Critics Circle Film AwardsDirector of the YearSchindler's ListWon
Mainichi Film ConcoursBest Foreign Language FilmSchindler's ListWon
1996Daytime Emmy AwardOutstanding Children's Animated ProgramAnimaniacsWon
Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated ProgramA Pinky & the Brain Christmas SpecialWon
1997Daytime Emmy AwardOutstanding Children's Animated ProgramAnimaniacsWon
Daytime Emmy AwardOutstanding Special Class Animated ProgramFreakazoid!Won
Daytime Emmy AwardOutstanding Children's Animated ProgramPinky and the BrainNominated
1998Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror FilmsBest DirectorThe Lost World: Jurassic ParkNominated
David di Donatello AwardsBest Foreign FilmAmistadNominated
Daytime Emmy AwardOutstanding Children's Animated ProgramAnimaniacsNominated
Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Children's Animated ProgramPinky and the BrainNominated
Directors Guild of AmericaOutstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion PicturesAmistadNominated
European Film AwardsScreen International AwardSaving Private RyanNominated
Golden GlobeBest DirecorAmistadNominated
Las Vegas Film Critics Society AwardsBest DirectorSaving Private RyanWon
Los Angeles Film Critics Association AwardsBest DirectorSaving Private RyanWon
PGA AwardsTheatrical Motion PictureAmistadWon
PGA AwardMotion Picture Producer of the Year AwardAmistadNominated
Rembrandt AwardsBest DirectorThe Lost World: Jurassic ParkWon
Russian Guild of Film CriticsBest Foreign FilmSaving Private RyanNominated
Satellite AwardsBest DirectorAmistadNominated
Satellite AwardsBest Motion Picture - DramaAmistadNominated
Toronto Film Critics Association AwardsBest DirectorSaving PrivateWon
1999Academy AwardBest DirectorSaving Private RyanWon
Academy AwardBest PictureSaving Private RyanNominated
Amanda AwardsBest Foreign FilmSaving Private RyanNominated
BAFTA AwardBest FilmSaving Private RyanNominated
BAFTA AwardDavid Lean Award for DirectionSaving Private RyanNominated
Broadcast Film Critics Association AwardsBest DirectorSaving Private RyanWon
Chicago Film Critics Association AwardsBest DirectorSaving Private RyanNominated
Czech LionsBest Foreign Language FilmSaving Private RyanWon
César AwardsBest Foreign FilmSaving Private RyanNominated
Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Special Class Animated ProgramPinky and the BrainWon
Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Children's Animated ProgramAnimaniacsNominated
Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Children's Animated ProgramPinky, Elmyra & the BrainNominated
Directors Guild of AmericaOutstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion PicturesSaving Private RyanWon
Empire AwardBest DirectorSaving Private RyanWon
Golden GlobeBest DirectorSaving Private RyanWon
Italian National Syndicate of Film JournalistsBest Foreign DirectorSaving Private RyanWon
Kansas City Film Critics Circle AwardsBest DirectorSaving Private RyanWon
London Critics Circle Film AwardsDirector of the YearSaving Private RyanNominated
Online Film Critics Society AwardsBest DirectorSaving Private RyanWon
PGA AwardsMilestone AwardWon
PGA AwardsMotion Picture Producer of the Year AwardSaving Private RyanWon
Satellite AwardsBest DirectorSaving Private RyanNominated
Satellite AwardsBest Motion Picture - DramaSaving Private RyanNominated
Southeastern Film Critics Association AwardsBest DirectorSaving Private RyanWon
2000Daytime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Children's Animated ProgramPinky, Elmyra & the BrainWon
Directors Guild of AmericaLifetime Achievement AwardWon
Image AwardsVanguard AwardWon
PGA AwardsPGA Hall of Fame - Motion PicturesE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialWon
2001National Board of ReviewBilly Wilder AwardWon
Venice Film FestivalFuture Film Festival Digital AwardA.I. Artificial IntelligenceWon
2002Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror FilmsBest WritingA.I. Artificial IntelligenceWon
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror FilmsBest DirectorA.I. Artificial IntelligenceNominated
Broadcast Film Critics Association AwardsBest DirectorMinority ReportNominated
Broadcast Film Critics Association AwardsBest DirectorCatch Me If You CanNominated
Christopher AwardTelevision and CableBand of BrothersWon
Emmy AwardOutstanding MiniseriesBand of BrothersWon
Emmy AwardOutstanding Non-Fiction SpecialWe Stand Alone TogetherNominated
Empire AwardBest DirectorA.I. Artificial IntelligenceNominated
European Film AwardsScreen International AwardMinority ReportNominated
Golden GlobeBest DirectorA.I. Artificial IntelligenceNominated
Hollywood Film FestivalHollywood Movie of the YearMinority ReportWon
Mainichi Film ConcoursBest Foreign Language FilmA.I. Artificial IntelligenceWon
Online Film Critics Society AwardsBest ScreenplayA.I. Artificial IntelligenceNominated
PGA AwardsTelevision Producer of the Year Award in LongformBand of BrothersWon
ShoWestLifetime Achievement AwardWon
2003Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror FilmsBest DirectorMinority ReportWon
Broadcast Film Critics Association AwardsBest DirectorCatch Me If You Can

Minority Report
Won
César AwardsBest Foreign FilmMinority ReportNominated
Emmy AwardOutstanding MiniseriesTakenWon
Empire AwardsBest DirectorMinority ReportWon
Italian National Syndicate of Film JournalistsBest Foreign DirectorMinority ReportNominated
Online Film Critics Society AwardsBest DirectorMinority ReportNominated
SFX AwardsBest SF or Fantasy Film DirectorMinority ReportNominated
Walk of FameMotion PictureWon
2004David di Donatello AwardsSpecial DavidWon
Tokyo International Film FestivalAkira Kurosawa AwardWon
2005American Film InstituteAFI Movie of the YearMunichWon
Washington DC Area Film Critics Association AwardsBest DirectorMunichWon
2006American Film InstituteAFI Movie of the YearLetters from Iwo JimaWon
Academy AwardBest Achievement in DirectingMunichNominated
Academy AwardBest Motion Picture of the YearMunichNominated
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror FilmsBest DirectorWar of the WorldsNominated
Art Directors GuildContribution to Cinematic Imagery AwardWon
Broadcast Film Critics Association AwardsBest DirectorMunichNominated
Chicago Film Critics Association AwardsBest DirectorMunichNominated
Chicago International Film FestivalLifetime Achievement AwardWon
Directors Guild of AmericaOutstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion PicturesMunichNominated
Emmy AwardOutstanding MiniseriesInto the WestNominated
Empire AwardsBest DirectorWar of the WorldsNominated
Golden Eagle AwardsBest Foreign FilmMunichNominated
Golden GlobeBest DirectorMunichNominated
International Emmy AwardsFounders AwardWon
Kansas City Film Critics Circle AwardsBest DirectorMunichWon
Online Film Critics Society AwardsBest DirectorMunichNominated
PGA AwardsTelevision Producer of the Year Award in LongformInto the WestNominated
Western Heritage AwardsOutstanding Television Feature FilmInto the WestWon
2007Academy AwardBest Motion Picture of the YearLetters from Iwo JimaNominated
2008Golden GlobeCecil B. DeMille AwardWon
Visual Effects Society AwardsLifetime Achievement AwardWon
2009Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror FilmsBest DirectorIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal SkullNominated
BAFTA AwardBest Casual GameBoom BloxWon
2010Emmy AwardOutstanding MiniseriesThe PacificWon
Motion Picture Sound EditorsFilm Maker's AwardWon
2011American Film InstituteAFI Movie of the YearWar HorseWon
PGA AwardTelevision Producer of the Year Award in LongformThe PacificWon
Satellite AwardsBest DirectorWar HorseNominated
Western Heritage AwardsOutstanding Theatrical Motion PictureTrue GritWon
2012Academy AwardBest Motion Picture of the YearWar HorseNominated
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror FilmsBest DirectorThe Adventures of TintinNominated
BAFTA AwardBest Animated FilmThe Adventures of TintinNominated
Broadcast Film Critics Association AwardsBest DirectorWar HorseNominated
Empire AwardsBest DirectorWar HorseNominated
PGA AwardsLifetime Achievement Award in Motion PicturesWon
Animated Theatrical Motion PicturesThe Adventures of TintinWon
Theatrical Motion PictureWar HorseNominated
Golden GlobeBest Animated Feature FilmThe Adventures of TintinWon
Robert FestivalBest American FilmThe Adventures of TintinNominated
Other



To see more of Who Is click here

Who is Kirstie Louise Alley?

Who is Kirstie Louise Alley?  The entertainment and acting world knows her as Krstie Alley, she is an American actress known for her role in the TV show Cheers, in which she played Rebecca Howe from 1987–1993, winning an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award as the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1991. She is also known for her role in the thriller Shoot to Kill and the Look Who's Talking film series as Mollie Ubriacco. More recently, Alley has appeared in reality shows revolving around her life.

Early life

Kirstie Alley was born January 12, 1951 in Wichita, Kansas, the daughter of Lillian Mickie (née Heaton), a homemaker, and Robert Deal Alley, who owned a lumber company.[1] Alley is of Irish descent.[2] She has two siblings, Colette and Craig. Alley attended Wichita Southeast High School, graduating in 1969.[3] She attended college at Kansas State University in 1969.[3] In 1981, a car accident caused by a drunk driver killed her mother and left her father seriously injured. Her father eventually recovered.[3] Kirstie came to Los Angeles to work as an interior designer and appeared as a contestant on the popular game show Match Game, where she won multiple games. She also appeared on the game show Password Plus in 1980.

Career

Alley in Star Trek
Alley made her movie debut in 1982 in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, playing the half-Vulcan/half-Romulan Starfleet officer Lieutenant Saavik. In 1989, Alley starred in Look Who's Talking alongside John Travolta, which grossed over $295,000,000 worldwide. They then went on to make two other films centered around the same theme, Look Who's Talking Too and Look Who's Talking Now![4]
Alley has won two Emmy Awards[5] during her career. Her first two nominations for her work on Cheers did not earn her the award, but her third, in 1991, garnered her the statuette for that series. In her speech, she thanked then-husband Parker Stevenson, calling him "the man who has given me the big one for the last eight years."[6]
Alley on the show Cheers
For contributions to the motion picture industry, Alley was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard.[7]
Alley played the title character in the NBC sitcom Veronica's Closet, as one of whose executive producers she also served. She served as the spokesperson for Pier One from 2000–04 and for Jenny Craig from 2005–08.


Dancing With The Stars

In February 2011, Alley was announced as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. She was partnered with Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Their first dance, a cha-cha-cha, earned them the second-highest score, 23 points of a possible 30. On May 24, 2011, Alley and Chmerkovskiy performed their final dance, also a cha-cha-cha, which earned them a perfect score of 30 out of 30. Alley finished the competition in second place, behind NFL Super Bowl champion Hines Ward.

Personal life

Alley's adopted children William Truce and Lillie Price
Kirstie met and dated a distant cousin, Bob Alley, in high school. They married in 1970, but divorced seven years later as their career paths diverged.[8] Alley was married to her second husband, Parker Stevenson (Richard Stevenson Parker, Jr.) on December 22, 1983. They divorced in 1997. Alley and Stevenson share custody of their two children, William True and Lillie Price, whom they adopted.[9]
In 2010, Alley put her Encino, CA, house on the market for $6.5 million.[10]
Alley is a well-documented animal lover, and owns 14 pets including a family of lemurs.[11]

Weight loss

In March 2010 Alley launched Organic Liaison, which includes Rescue Me, the first USDA-certified organic weight loss product. She announced that she lost 100 lbs using the program in September 2011.[12]

Scientology

Alley was raised Methodist but is now a member of the Church of Scientology. At the time she became a Scientologist, Alley admitted to having had a cocaine addiction and went through Narconon, a Scientology-affiliated drug treatment program,[13] to end her dependency.[14] She has continued her Scientology training and, as of 2007, had attained the level of OT VII (Operating Thetan level 7).[15]
In May 2000, she purchased, for $1.5 million, the former home of fellow Scientologist Lisa Marie Presley, a 5,200 sq ft (480 m2) waterfront mansion in Clearwater, Florida, the spiritual headquarters of the Church of Scientology. In 2007, Alley gave $5 million to the Church of Scientology.[16]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1982 Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan Lt. Saavik Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1983 One More Chance Sheila
1984 Champions Barbara
1984 Blind Date[17] Claire Simpson
1984 Runaway Jackie Rogers Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress
1987 Summer School Ms. Robin Bishop
1988 Shoot To Kill Sarah Renell
1989 Look Who's Talking Mollie Jensen
1989 Loverboy Dr. Joyce Palmer
1990 Madhouse Jessie Bannister
1990 Look Who's Talking Too Mollie Ubriacco
1990 Sibling Rivalry Marjorie Turner
1993 Look Who's Talking Now! Mollie Ubriacco
1994 3 Chains o' Gold Vanessa Bartholomew
1995 Village Of The Damned Dr. Susan Verner
1995 It Takes Two Diane Barrows
1997 Deconstructing Harry Joan
1997 For Richer Or Poorer Caroline Sexton
1997 Toothless Dr. Katherine Lewis, D.D.S., and the Tooth Fairy
1999 Drop-Dead Gorgeous Gladys Leeman
2002 Back By Midnight Gloria Beaumont
2010 Nailed Aunt Rita
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1979 Match Game Herself-Contestant
1983 Masquerade Casey Collins (2 episodes)
1984 Sins of the Past Patrice Cantwell
1985 A Bunny's Tale Gloria Steinem
1985 The Hitchhiker Angelica Episode "Out of the Night"
Nominated—CableACE Award for Actress in a Dramatic Series
1985 North and South Virgilia Hazard (miniseries)
1986 North and South II Virgilia Hazard (miniseries)
1986 Stark: Mirror Image Maggie Carter
1987 The Hitchhiker Jane L. Episode "The Legendary Billy B."
1987 Infidelity Eliot 'Ellie' Denato
1987–1993 Cheers Rebecca Howe Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Comedy Series (1991)
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy (1991)
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Comedy Series (1988, 1990, 1992, 1993)
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy (1990, 1992, 1993)
1994 David's Mother Sally Goodson Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1996 Peter And The Wolf Annie / Bird / Duck / Cat
1996 Radiant City Gloria Goodman
1997 The Last Don Rose Marie Clericuzio (miniseries)
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1997 Toothless Dr. Katherine Lewis (TV movie)
1997–2000 Veronica's Closet Veronica Chase (also producer)
Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Comedy Series (1997)
Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy (1998)
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
1998 The Last Don II Rose Marie Clericuzio (miniseries)
2001 Blonde Elsie (miniseries)
2002 Salem Witch Trials Ann Putnam (miniseries)
2003 Profoundly Normal Donna Lee Shelby Thornton (also executive producer)
2004 Family Sins Brenda Geck
2004 While I Was Gone Jo Beckett
2004 Without A Trace Noreen Raab Episode "Risen"
2005 Fat Actress Self (also joint creator and co-writer w/Brenda Hampton)
(7 episodes)
2006 The King Of Queens Self Episode "Apartment Complex"
2007 Write & Wrong Byrdie Langdon
2007 The Minister Of Divine Sydney Hudson
2010 The Marriage Ref Self (guest judge)
2010 Kirstie Alley's Big Life Self (documentee) Reality Television
2011 Dancing With The Stars Herself-Contestant Season 12 Reality Television

 





 

To see more of Who Is click here

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Who is Mona Scott?


Who is Mona Scott? The entertainment worlds knows her as Mona Scott-Young , she is the owner of Monami Entertainment, as well as a former co-owner and president of Violator Management.

Mona has professionally represented, Missy Elliott, 50 Cent and Busta Rhymes.[1][2][3] As the former President and Co-founder of Violator Management, Scott has also professionally managed LL Cool J and Fantasia. Scott’s business and philanthropic achievements have garnered recognition from a variety of business organizations and media outlets, including Vibe Magazine and The Hollywood Reporter.


Scott and her husband Shawn
Mona is the proud mother of a son and a daughter, and happily married to her husband Shawn.
She has been honored several times with awards from The National Association of Black Female Executives in Music Entertainment, Ad Age, and The National Congress and Convention of Haitian Americans.
After 18 years of partnership, Scott ultimately went on to create Monami Entertainment, a multifaceted entertainment conglomerate that encompasses an exclusive management division (Monami Management), a film and television entity (Monami Productions), an animation house (Vibrant Films), and a digital platform (The Rocbox). The company has also partnered with Friederici(the former parent company of John Frieda Hair Products), to develop and market a line of beauty and skin care cosmetics.

Scott with the stars of Love & Hip Hop
On February 2, 2012, It was announced that Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta would be the first spin off of the series and that there will be a season 3 of the original show. Love & Hip Hop is a reality television series that premiered on the VH1 cable television network on March 14, 2011.
It was created by Jim Ackerman and executive produced by Stefan Springman, Toby Barraud, Kenny Hull, and Mona Scott.
The company has recently been joined by rapper Jim Jones. Their roster also includes BET Host Toccara, as well as video and film director Dale “Rage” Restighini.


 

 

 

 

 

 

To see more of Who Is click here

Monday, July 9, 2012

Who is Laurence John Fishburne III?

Who is Laurence John Fishburne III? The entertainment and acting world knows Laurence Fishburne as an American film and stage actor, playwright, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known f or his roles as Morpheus in the Matrix science fiction film trilogy, as Cowboy Curtis on the 1980s television show Pee-wee's Playhouse, and as singer-musician Ike Turner in the Tina Turner biopic What's Love Got to Do With It. He became the first African American to portray Othello in a motion picture by a major studio when he appeared in Oliver Parker's 1995 film adaptation of the Shakespeare play. From 2008 to 2011, he starred as Dr. Raymond Langston on the CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
Fishburne has won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in Two Trains Running (1992) and an Emmy Award for Drama Series Guest Actor for his performance in TriBeCa (1993).

Early years

Fishburne was born July 30, 1961 in Augusta, Georgia, the son of Hattie Bell (née Crawford), a junior high school mathematics and science teacher, and Laurence John Fishburne, Jr., a juvenile corrections officer.[2] His parents divorced during his childhood, and he moved with his mother to Brooklyn, New York, where he was raised. Fishburne's father saw him once a month.[3][4] He is a graduate of Lincoln Square Academy in New York, which closed in the 1980s.

Career

1970s

Fishburne on One Life to Live
Fishburne started acting at age eleven (according to his January 13, 2012 interview on The View which commemorated One Life to Live) getting his first job in 1973 as a short-lived member of the Mod Squad followed by portraying Joshua Hall on the ABC soap opera, One Life to Live. He was initially cast in the hit television series Good Times, but the role was eventually given to Ralph Carter. Fishburne's most memorable childhood role was in Cornbread, Earl and Me in which he played a young boy who witnessed the police shooting of a popular high school basketball star. Fishburne later earned a supporting role in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, in which he played a 17-year-old sailor nicknamed 'Mr. Clean'. When production began in March 1976 he was just fourteen, apparently lying about his age to get the part. Filming took so long that he was seventeen upon its completion. Fishburne was also a guest star on Mash as "Corporal Dorsey" in "The Tooth Shall Set You Free" (episode 1014).

1980s

Fishburne in The Color Purple
Fishburne spent much of the 1980s in and out of television and periodically on stage. In the early 1980s, he worked as a bouncer at punk rock clubs.[5] He had a minor role in the critically acclaimed Steven Spielberg film The Color Purple. He also had a role in the 1984 movie The Cotton Club. Fishburne had a recurring role as Cowboy Curtis on Paul Reubens' CBS children's television show Pee-wee's Playhouse. He also appeared in the M*A*S*H episode, "The Tooth Shall Set You Free", as Corporal Dorsey (billed as Larry Fishburne in the credits). In Spenser: For Hire, he was a guest star for the 2nd season episode "Personal Demons". He appeared as a thug named Cutter in Death Wish 2 (1982). He also appeared alongside Kevin Bacon in Quicksilver. His stage work during the 1980s included Short Eyes (1984), and Loose Ends (1987), both produced at Second Stage Theatre in New York City. Also in 1987 he played a part in the third Nightmare On Elm Street film as a hospital orderly. Fishburne played as Lt. Charlie Stobbs (under Larry Fishburne) in Red Heat (1988) beside Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Belushi. Fishburne also starred as "Dap" in Spike Lee's School Daze (1988). Fishburne's character was the depiction of an African American, culturally inclined college student at an HBCU (Historically Black College/University).

1990s

Fishburne in Boyz n the Hood
In 1990, he played Jimmy Jump in the controversial King of New York, and in 1991, Fishburne starred in Boyz n the Hood. The following year, in 1992, he won a Tony Award for his stage performance in the August Wilson play, Two Trains Running and an Emmy Award[6] for his performance in the opening episode, "The Box," of the short-lived anthology series television drama TriBeCa. He also starred in "Deep Cover" along side Jeff Goldblum.

Fishburne & Angela Basset in What's Love Got to Do With It
Fishburne in The Matrix.
In 1993, he received his first Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Ike Turner in What's Love Got to Do With It. In an 1995 American drama film, starring an ensemble cast, Laurence Fishburne won an Image Award for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture" for his performance in Higher Learning as West Indian Professor Maurice Phipps. He played the title role in Othello, the second African American actor, behind Paul Robeson to be so cast. In 1997, Fishburne starred in the science fiction horror Event Horizon alongside Sam Neill. Fishburne is perhaps best known for his role as Morpheus, the hacker-mentor of Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, in the 1999 blockbuster science fiction film, The Matrix.

2000s – 2010s

Fishburne provided the voice of Thrax in Osmosis Jones in 2001. Fishburne reprised his role as Morpheus in the Matrix sequels, The Matrix Reloaded, and The Matrix Revolutions in 2003. He briefly featured as a stretcher-bearer in one version of the video for The Spooks' song "Things I've Seen" (2000) and appeared with Tom Cruise as Theodore Brassell, IMF superior of Cruise's character in Mission: Impossible III.
Fishburne has worked with actress Angela Bassett on four projects. He said that "An electrifying thing happens when the two of us work together. I haven't experienced it with anyone else. A freedom happens when we work together."[cite this quote] In 2006, they appeared onstage in a Pasadena Playhouse production of August Wilson's Fences.[7]
He provided the voice of the narrator in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) movie, which was released on March 23, 2007.[8] The same year, he provided the voice of the Silver Surfer in 2007 film Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
On February 24, 2007, Fishburne was honored with the Harvard Foundation's Artist of the Year award at the annual show Cultural Rhythms. He received this honor for his prowess as an actor and entertainer and for his humanitarian pursuits. Fishburne is a UNICEF ambassador.[9] The mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Mayor Kenneth Reeves awarded him the key to the city and declared February 24 "Laurence Fishburne" day in the city of Cambridge.[10]
Fishburne in Thurgood
In April 2008, Fishburne returned to the stage in the Broadway production of Thurgood, a new play by George Stevens, Jr. Thurgood opened at the Booth Theatre on April 30, 2008.[11] He won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show for his performance. On February 24, 2011, HBO screened a filmed version of the play performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.[12][13] On February 16, 2011, the White House hosted a screening of the film as part of its celebrations of Black History Month.[14]
Fishburne on CSI
On August 18, 2008, it was reported that Laurence Fishburne would join the cast of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation after William Petersen (aka Gil Grissom) left the series. John Malkovich was also considered for the role prior to the announcement.[15] Fishburne joined the show on the ninth episode of the 9th season as a college professor and former pathologist whose area of expertise involves some criminals' predisposition to commit acts of violence.[16] The character was introduced as a consultant on a case ("19 Down"), who winds up joining the CSI team ("One to Go").
In May 2009, Fishburne performed on-stage in the National Memorial Day Concert on the Mall in Washington, D.C.[17]
Fishburne starred in 2010's Predators.[18] He co-starred with Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, and Marion Cotillard in Steven Soderbergh's Contagion (2011).[19]
On June 7, 2011, Fishburne announced that he was leaving C.S.I. to return to movies and theatre, opting not to renew his contract and would not appear in Season 12.
On August 2, 2011 it was announced that Fishburne had been cast in the role of Perry White in the Christopher Nolan produced, Zack Snyder directed Superman reboot Man of Steel.[20] This will mark the first time that the character has been played by an African American actor.

Personal life

Montana Fishburne
Hajna O. Moss
Fishburne married actress Hajna O. Moss in 1985, in New York. They have two children together: a son, Langston, born in 1987, and a daughter, Montana, born in 1991. Hajna and Laurence divorced in the 1990s. In 2010, it was reported that Fishburne had cut ties with his daughter Montana Fishburne after she started starring in hardcore pornographic films.[21][22][23]
Gina Torres
Fishburne met actress Gina Torres while filming The Matrix Reloaded. He and Torres were engaged in February 2001 and married on September 22, 2002,[24] at The Cloisters museum in New York City. On January 8, 2007, Fishburne's spokesman Alan Nierob announced the couple were expecting their first child together.[25][26] A daughter, Delilah, was born to the couple in June 2007.[27]
Fishburne lives in Hollywood[28] and also maintains a residence in New York City, in the Castle Village Co-Op in the Hudson Heights section of Washington Heights.[29] He is a big fan of Paulo Coelho and plans to produce a movie based on the novel The Alchemist.[30]

Stage and screen credits

Stage

Awards and nominations

Film







Academy Awards
Year Award Category Title Result
1994 Academy Award Best Actor in a Leading Role What's Love Got to Do with It Nominated






Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films
Year Award Category Title Result
2000 Saturn Award Best Supporting Actor The Matrix Nominated






Acapulco Black Film Festival
Year Award Category Title Result
1997 Black Film Award Best Actor Hoodlum Nominated






BET Awards
Year Award Category Title Result
2004 BET Award Best Actor The Matrix Reloaded
The Matrix Revolutions
Mystic River
Nominated






Black Movie Awards
Year Award Category Title Result
2006 Black Movie Award Outstanding Motion Picture (Producer) Akeelah and the Bee Nominated
2006 Black Movie Award Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Akeelah and the Bee Won






Black Reel Awards
Year Award Category Title Result
2000 Black Reel Award Best Actor The Matrix Nominated
2007 Black Reel Award Best Supporting Actor Akeelah and the Bee Nominated
2007 Black Reel Award Best Motion Picture (Producer) Akeelah and the Bee Nominated






MTV Movie Awards
Year Award Category Title Result
2000 MTV Movie Award Best Fight (shared with Keanu Reeves) The Matrix Won
2000 MTV Movie Award Best On-Screen Duo (shared with Keanu Reeves) The Matrix Nominated

Television







Emmy Awards
Year Category Title Result
2011 Outstanding Actor in a Mini-Series or Television Special Thurgood Nominated
1997 Outstanding Made for Television Movie Miss Evers' Boys Won
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Mini-Series or Television Special Miss Evers' Boys Nominated
1996 Outstanding Actor in a Mini-Series or Television Special The Tuskegee Airmen Nominated
1993 Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series TriBeCa Won






NAACP Image Award
Year Category Title Result
2011 Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Nominated
2010 Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Nominated
2009 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Nominated
1999 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-Series Always Outnumbered Nominated
1998 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-Series Miss Evers' Boys Won
1996 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-Series The Tuskegee Airmen Won

Theatre







NAACP Theatre Awards
Year Category Play Result
2007 Best Male Lead – Equity Without Walls Won
2005 Lifetime Achievement Award N/A Won






Tony Awards
Year Category Play Result
1992 Best Actor in a Featured Role Two Trains Running Won


 

 

To see more of Who Is click here

Who is Luigi "Geno" Auriemma?

W ho is  Luigi   " Geno "   Auriemma? The college basketball world recognizes him as the most successfull division 1  college bas...