Interesting Facts About Steven Spielberg

With the release of Jaws in 1975, 28-year-old film director Steven Spielberg was hailed as Hollywood's new boy wonder. His thrilling movie about a giant shark that terrorizes a beach community earned more than $125 million at the box office. Jaws was the first in a string of blockbusters.

As a child, Steven Allan Spielberg loved films filled with adventure and heroism. He is still attracted to exciting, suspenseful stories. Spielberg brings these to life with his superb moviemaking skills. Among his more famous films are Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977); E.T.—the Extra-Terrestrial (1982); and a series of Indiana Jones movies. His films are characterized by heart-stopping action, imaginative special effects, humor, and optimistic conclusions. In many Spielberg films, the main characters include children whose innocence triumphs over adult wickedness.

Spielberg was once criticized for not making serious films. He rose to the challenge in 1985 when he directed The Color Purple. While Spielberg did not earn an Oscar, the film earned 11 Oscar nominations. Spielberg liked to experiment with special effects. His 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? delighted audiences by superimposing animation and live action.

In 1993, the release of Jurassic Park and Schindler's List confirmed Spielberg's position as one of the most successful film directors of all time. Movie critic Roger Ebert wrote, "If Spielberg never directed another film, his place in movie history would be secure." Schindler's List was a grim yet inspiring depiction of one man's fight against the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. It was a stunning departure from Spielberg's action films. The movie was named Best Picture of the Year, and Spielberg won his first Best Director Oscar.

In 1994, Spielberg formed the first new Hollywood movie studio in over 75 years. Named DreamWorks, the studio's first production was Amistad, about a mutiny aboard a slave ship bound for America in 1839. The next production, in 1998, was Saving Private Ryan. For it, Spielberg was awarded his second Oscar. During the next decade, Spielberg directed The Terminal (2004); The War of the Worlds (2005); and Munich (2005). Munich told the story of the aftermath of the kidnapping and murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics. A fourth Indiana Jones film was released in 2008.
 
Spielberg directed two films in 2011. The Adventures of Tintin was a 3-D animated version of the popular French comic-book series by Hergé (Georges Remi). And War Horse was an epic drama that followed the experiences of a horse caught up in the battlegrounds of Europe during World War I (1914–18).

Spielberg's film Lincoln, a riveting portrait of Abraham Lincoln during the height of the Civil War, opened to wide critical acclaim in late 2012. It received 12 Academy Award nominations including best picture and best director.

In 2006, Spielberg was a recipient of one of the Kennedy Center Honors. He was cited as "one of the most successful and accomplished directors of all time."

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